Carly Fiorina, fired as Hewlett-Packard Co.’s chief executive in February, said she has “no regrets” about her five years at the helm of the world’s largest printermaker.
In her first public appearance since her ouster, Fiorina told students of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in a Saturday commencement address that she is “at peace” and her “soul is intact.”
“The worst thing I could have imagined happened,” Fiorina said in the speech, which she agreed to give before being fired. “I lost my job in the most public way possible, and the press had a field day with it all over the world. And guess what? I’m still here.”
Fiorina, 50, cracked jokes about dusting off her résumé, buying a new interview suit and lining up references. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Hewlett-Packard’s board ousted her Feb. 8 for failing to meet profit goals set after the $18.9 billion acquisition of Compaq Computer Corp. Former NCR Corp. CEO Mark Hurd took over the position April 1.
“Many people have asked me how I feel now that I’ve lost my job,” Fiorina told the students, according to a copy of her prepared remarks given to Bloomberg News by her publicist. “The truth is, I’m proud of the life I’ve lived so far and, though I’ve made my share of mistakes, I have no regrets.”
Fiorina, who was paid a total of $188.6 million during her five-year reign, told students she endured discrimination. She said colleagues at AT&T Corp. dubbed her a “token bimbo.” She felt the same prejudice from competitors at Hewlett-Packard.
The first outsider tapped to run Hewlett-Packard in its 67-year history, Fiorina warned students that others may “try to diminish and disgrace” them.
“You can spend a lifetime resenting the tests, angry about the slights and the injustices. Or you can rise above it,” she told the students.
Fiorina said she called James Renick, chancellor of the Greensboro, N.C., school, soon after she was fired from the company, which employs 145,000, to see if the school still wanted her to talk.
“He said, ‘Carly, if anything, you probably have more in common with these students now than you did before,”‘ Fiorina said in her 2,900-word speech. “And he’s right. After all, I’ve been working on my résumé. I’ve been lining up my references. I bought a new interview suit.
“If there are any recruiters here, I’ll be free around 11.”
