GATEWAY HAS HIRED Joe Formichelli, formerly general manager of IBM’s Thinkpad line, as the company’s executive vice president of operations, the Poway, California, company announced Friday. Formichelli has been around the block in the PC industry, spending time with IBM, Toshiba’s Computer Systems Group, and as president of a startup called Clearcube, which makes network-controlled PCs similar to Gateway’s line of Managed PCs. He was named as chief operating officer at Valence Semiconductor in January, according to a release from that company. His 28 years at IBM focused on operations, and he was hired to help Gateway continue to improve its operational efficiencies, said a Gateway spokesman. Formichelli will report directly to Ted Waitt, Gateway’s founder, chairman, and chief executive officer, the spokesman said. His post as an executive vice president will make him second in command, above the 12 senior vice presidents listed on Gateway’s Web site. The current senior vice president of operations and company co-founder, Michael Hammond, will report to Formichelli, the spokesman said. After wrapping up his current work at Core Strategies, a consulting firm in Irvine, California, Formichelli will start on Jan. 6, the spokesman said. Technology Industry