HP’s Whitman Helps Tech VIPs Raise Funds for Romney
By Aaron Ricadela
Silicon Valley is putting on the ritz for Romney. Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman is among the tech luminaries hosting a fundraising dinner for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney tonight in Burlingame, according to an invitation posted on a Web site of Bay Area Republican Party events.
The CEO of the world’s largest computer maker and her husband, Griffith Harsh, are among the chairs of the fundraiser, which will be held at the Marriott hotel not far from San Francisco International Airport, according to the invitation.
Whitman, who was also CEO of EBay from 1998 to 2008 and ran for California governor last year, is one of the fundraiser’s “dinner chairs,” according to the invitation. TPG Capital partner Dick Boyce and former Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy and his wife Susan McNealy are among the other chairs listed.
Whitman, who became HP’s CEO Sept. 22 after the ouster of former chief executive Leo Apotheker, worked with Romney at Bain & Co. in the 1980s and supported his 2008 presidential campaign. Romney also was a supporter of Whitman’s failed bid for California governor. In October, Whitman said at a conference that she consulted with mentors including Romney when weighing whether to take the HP job. Romney advised her to work for the company, which he called an “American icon,” she said.
Romney, the former Governor of Massachusetts, is vying with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for the Republican nomination to run against President Barack Obama next November.
