Intel board changes, Mar Ishrak takes office

Intel announced new personnel changes - the current chairman Andy Bryant will step down, and the position of chairman will be taken over by Medtronic CEO and Intel independent director Omar Ishrak. In addition, Alyssa Henry will serve as independent director.

Andy Bryant has served as Intel's chairman since May 2012, a position he has held for seven years. However, in March 2019, he announced that he would not run for the new chairmanship. He will step down as chairman in January this year and officially retire in May this year. Before that, he will continue to serve as Intel's director and executive advisor.

“It has been an honor to serve as Intel’s chairman, and I plan to retire in May with great optimism for Intel’s future,” Bryant said. “I have every confidence in Omar’s leadership of the board, as he has the expertise to lead innovative global companies. Additionally, Alisha’s extensive senior leadership, cloud computing and emerging technology experience will further strengthen the board.”

Intel CEO Pat Swan also highly praised Andy Bryant's contributions, saying that in this era of change and transformation, Andy Bryant is the helmsman of Intel. He has always led the chairman with integrity and always kept Intel's highest interests in mind.

Succeeding Andy Bryant as chairman is Omar Ishrak (pictured above), who has served as Intel's independent director since March 2017. He is the CEO of Medtronic, the world's largest medical technology company, and has held this position since 2011. However, he will retire from Medtronic in April this year.

Prior to Medtronic, he worked at General Electric's Healthcare division for 16 years as CEO and president.

Omar Ishrak was born in Bangladesh and received his Bachelor of Science and PhD degrees from King's College, University of London, UK, where he is a Fellow.

Alyssa Henry, 49, started working as sales director at Square in 2014. She served as an executive at Amazon and other companies from 2006 to 2014. Before that, she worked at Microsoft for 12 years. She will serve as an independent director of Intel, the seventh independent director of Intel since 2016.