New Zealander shoots to top in US giant EDS

By PETER GRIFFIN

For the ultimate salesman, it's the ultimate job and comes just three years after the requisite career-boosting move to the United States.

High-flying IT sales executive Michael Boustridge was last week named the new vice-president of global sales at EDS, an unprecedented move for a company with a management dominated by Americans.

The promotion probably makes Boustridge the highest-ranking Kiwi executive working outside New Zealand. He will report to EDS president and chief operating officer Jeff Heller, who reports to Michael Jordan, the new chairman and chief executive appointed in March after Dick Brown was forced out with a US$35 million severance deal.

Boustridge's stellar record of signing US$7 billion in deals for EDS has obviously impressed Jordan.

EDS (Electronic Data Systems) is one of the biggest IT companies in the world, employing 135,000 people globally and taking on contracts to operate the IT systems of major companies and state departments.

Boustridge was plucked from the ranks of EDS New Zealand after impressing the Americans with his negotiating of the $1.8 billion outsourcing deal he sealed with Telecom in 1999.

""Taking a New Zealander and putting him into the US to sell was a big risk for them," said Boustridge from Plano, Texas, the headquarters of EDS.

In the US he has led pitches for multi-billion-dollar deals with the likes of Bank of America and WorldCom.

He said nurturing his team of salespeople meant he would still be involved in the deal-making process which was what excited him most.

"When they do these big deals, I'm going to be there to help, guide and give them my experience. They're the guys who are going to do the deals."

Boustridge will have his work cut out: EDS has seen better days.

In the three months to September it reported a small loss of US$600,000 after being hit by slumping demand for IT services and a disruptive change in accounting practices that saw reported revenue retrospectively slashed.

EDS has signed more than US$9.7 billion in deals this year, down from US$16.4 billion in the same period last year. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating events leading to an earnings warning in September last year which sent the share price plummeting.

In the third quarter EDS lost US$90 million on a huge communications contract with the US Navy. Around 5700 jobs are to be cut by the end of next year.

Boustridge, who will now have direct responsibility for rebuilding the sales force, said the same trends seen this year in IT outsourcing were expected to continue.

Last year's EDS sales executive of the year, Boustridge assumes the vice-president role after being responsible for some of the biggest EDS accounts.

Used to working 80-hour weeks, Boustridge, who built his career in New Zealand in sales at Hitachi Data Systems and IBM, will enjoy no let-up in his workload.

"I don't count hours, it's all about selling and customer satisfaction and if it takes 20 hours or 100 hours it doesn't bother me. I like working."