Symbol Technologies

Company: Symbol Technologies, Holtsville, New York
Company Description: Symbol Technologies is a global leader in enterprise mobility, delivering products and solutions that capture, move and manage information in real time to and from the point of business activity. Symbol products and solutions increase workforce productivity and reduce operating costs for government agencies and leading retailers, logistics, healthcare and security companies.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Turnaround Executive

Nomination Title: William Nuti, CEO and President of Symbol Technologies

   1. Tell the story about what this nominee achieved in 2004 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

When Bill Nuti became CEO of Symbol Technologies in the end of 2003, he took
the reins of a company facing shareholder and government lawsuits and mounting
financial losses. Mr. Nuti found himself leading the operations of a company facing
a Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and Department of Justice (DoJ)
investigation into its past accounting and stock trading practices of former
executives. In addition, Symbol's operational organization was bleeding costs, and
the corporate brand was associated with 25 years of leadership in the bar code
industry, not as a company poised for future growth in the enterprise mobility
space.

Working with his handpicked management team comprised of 18 new senior
managers, including a new CFO, Mr. Nuti orchestrated a plan to set Symbol
straight. By replaceing all of its top executives and 97% of the leaders of the
Company., Mr. Nuti hoped to sweep out the toxic culture that led to Symbol’s
problems. Working closely with the SEC and DoJ, Nuti settled the investigations
and the associated shareholder lawsuits against the Company by taking
significant steps operationally, organizationally, financially and culturally to
ensure a high-integrity corporation. 

In addition, Mr. Nuti initiated an ambitious business transformation program to
significantly improve Symbol's cross-company IT/IS systems and infrastructure so
that the Company can fulfill Mr. Nuti's market leadership vision. As part of this
program, Mr. Nuti unified five critical business initiatives requiring significant
changes to business processes and data management, including the complete
redesign of Symbol's sales force, services, supply chain, manufacturing,
operations, legal, marketing, human capital management systems, and product
lifecycle management (PLM) processes and systems. Symbol also launched a
new channels program to tighten the control over its authorized business partners.
Finally, Mr. Nuti established a new corporate vision and mission for the company,
supported by a new associate communications program and created a new brand
for Symbol - The Enterprise Mobility Company.

Mr. Nuti’s change management program completely reversed adverse perceptions
of Symbol Technologies and produced positive results, as evidenced by the 13
percent increase in revenue from 2003 to 2004. In 2004, Symbol’s operating
income grew to $140.4 million – growth of nearly 1,900 percent. 2004 also
represented the second sequential year of cash flow in excess of $200 million.
Company’s market capitalization at the end of 2004 had doubled.  Symbol also
recently announced that it will be certifying its compliance with the internal
control provisions of Sarbanes-Oxley 404 -- an outstanding achievement in light of where the company was from an internal controls perspective two years ago.

With all of the odds against him, Mr. Nuti successfully overcame numerous
obstacles to recast Symbol as a stronger and trustworthy industry leader with all
the constituencies the Company serves - shareholders, customers, business
partners and employees. He successfully brought Symbol out from under a cloud
of various investigations and litigation and is now progressing full speed ahead on
a positive growth path. Mr. Nuti is driven to making Symbol an undisputed global
market leader for Enterprise Mobility.

   2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: List each link on a separate line, begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.website.com]:

http://www.forbes.com/business/forbes/2004/0426/062.html

http://www.symbol.com/news/pressreleases/CEO_Named_to_Fast_50_List.html

http://www.newsday.com/search/dispatcher.front?Query=Nuti&target=article

http://www.varbusiness.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=18825387

http://www.varbusiness.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=18841154

http://wirelessreview.com/mag/wireless_symbol_change/index.html

   3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about this nominee:

Bill Nuti has been president and chief executive officer of Symbol Technologies
since December 2003.  Nuti joined Symbol as president and chief operating officer
in August 2002 following, 10+ years with Cisco Systems, Inc. During his tenure at
Cisco, he held positions of increasing responsibility, rising to senior vice
president of the U.S. Theater Operations and Worldwide Service Provider Operations.  In the context of this dual role, he managed Cisco's field operations, systems engineering, professional services and marketing for the global service provider arena as well as their U.S. sales divisions, including Enterprise, Service
Provider, and Commercial business.