Mike was previously a senior marketing executive at Intel where he learned the industry and met everyone in it.

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Penney, as another senior marketing executive leaves for greener pastures.

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Rometty, 54, is currently IBM senior vice president and group executive for sales, marketing and strategy.

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Dick Patton: The latter course may be more of a long game, but we believe it is the new path to executive leadership in marketing, as opposed to being a highly prized senior marketing specialist operating a level or two down.

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Recent departures include Thomas Hogan, executive vice president of enterprise sales, marketing and strategy, and Gary Budzinski, senior vice president of HP Technology Services.

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Recently, I had the chance to visit about missionary versus mercenary leadership with the senior executive of another mission-driven company in our region, Burke Alder, vice president of marketing for Lendio.

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In a separate release, the company announced some executive changes, including the departure next month of Werner Held, senior VP of worldwide sales and marketing.

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