Hewlett-Packard said yesterday that Bob Wayman, the computer maker's long-serving chief financial officer, is to retire at the end of this month.

Mr Wayman, a 37-year company veteran and one of the most experienced executives in Silicon Valley, will also relinquish his seat on the board in March. He will be replaced by Cathie Lesjak, HP's treasurer.

In his 22 years as chief financial officer, Mr Wayman (61) helped lead HP through its transformation from a maker of calculators and computing equipment into one of the biggest IT groups.

He was a key supporter of then chief executive Carly Fiorina's controversial plan to buy Compaq, the computer maker, for $19 billion in 2002.

More recently, he helped oversee $1.9 billion (€1.43 billion) in cost cuts that have contributed to HP's resurgence under current chief executive Mark Hurd.

Speaking yesterday, Mr Wayman said that he had first considered retiring three years ago after the Compaq merger. But he stayed on and served briefly as acting chief executive after the ousting of Ms Fiorina last year.

"When Mark Hurd came up, he asked me to stay a little longer," Mr Wayman said, noting that he made the decision to retire last spring.

Mr Hurd paid tribute to Mr Wayman. "Bob Wayman is one of the most distinguished CFOs in America," he said.

Mr Wayman said his exit was not related to HP's boardroom spying scandal, which led to the departures of several top officials this year. His decision to leave the board was "based on the guideline that only one inside director be on the board" at a given time.

Ms Lesjak, a 20-year HP veteran, has been treasurer since 2003.

Mr Wayman is the second HP veteran to announce his departure in recent days. On Friday, HP said Richard Lampman, head of HP Labs, would step down next year after 35 years at the company. - (Financial Times service)