Kaypro Leadership

The Kaypro Corporation, the California computer maker, said yesterday that its founder, Andrew F. Kay, would step down as president and be replaced by his son David.

The elder Mr. Kay, 65 years old, will remain chairman of the company, which he founded in 1952. But analysts said the promotion of David A. Kay, who has been Kaypro's vice president for marketing and product development and was instrumental in its move into computers, formalizes his active management role at a time when the company is battling a sales slump and is also facing losses brought on by inventory problems.

"I've been really involved in a lot of the operations previous to this time, and this really kind of makes it official," said David Kay in a telephone interview. "My father is feeling he'd like to work more on the overall picture than in the day-to-day operations he's been so intimately involved with."

Although the company does not use the title of chief executive, Mr. Kay, 40, said his father would continue to fill that function for the time being.

Kaypro also promoted John J. Hentrich, 35, its vice president for finance and its general counsel, to the new post of executive vice president. In that role he will continue to be responsible for financial matters, but will also assume some operating responsibilities, Mr. Kay said.

Since the strong success of its early portable computer, the Kaypro II, in 1982, the company has faced problems as its sales sagged in the hotly competitive microcomputer market. It has had difficulties in introducing a new line of machines compatible with computers made by the International Business Machines Corporation.

In addition, Kaypro has had to take charges related to missing or obsolete inventories, and for the nine months ended May 31, it reported a loss of $6.1 million in contrast to net income of $10 million in the period a year earlier. Sales dropped to $60.6 million, from $97.3 million, and the company has said it expected to report a loss for its fiscal year ended in August.

But Mr. Kay, who joined the company in 1980 after a career as a contractor, said he was confident that Kaypro's new I.B.M.-compatible machines would be a success.

Mr. Kay, a graduate of the University of California at San Diego with a degree in mathematics, is married and has three children.
(New York Times, October 15, 1985)