Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Search challenge (11/12/14): Digging deeply



Sometimes research projects require that you go a little more deeply.  This is especially true when you're searching out information about a company, its people, and their connections.  For obvious reasons, sometimes this information can be closely held. 

In this weeks's Challenge I ask you to look a little into the present and past of one such well-known company.  Imagine that you're a reporter and you need to fill in a few of the missing parts of your story.  Can you do this on deadline?  

1.  Is is possible for you to find a relatively recent organization chart for the Xerox company?  (Say, within the past year.)
2.  If so, where does Steve Hoover sit in this organization?  
3.  How many people directly report to him?   
4.  What boards does he sit on?  
5.  What was MY (Dan's) first job after getting my PhD?  
6.  Did Steve Hoover and I ever work at the same place at the same time? 

These questions aren't hard by themselves, but they might require a bit of looking in non-standard places for the answers.  

Be sure to tell us HOW you found these answers. I'm really interested in the places where you found the solutions.  (I'm pretty sure they're not all in the same place.) 

Search on! 

12 comments:

  1. Query [annual report Xerox] - Annual reports generally contain a lot more information than just financial. However other than the Board of Directors there are no organizations charts of executives.

    Query [xerox 2014 “organizational chart”] http://bit.ly/srs_12Nov14_Xerox_Org
    The Official Board site provides a chart dd. Oct. 2014. This site provides company charts throughout the world.

    On the above site I searched for Steve Hoover http://bit.ly/srs_12Nov14_Hoover_ParcSubsid
    CEO of Parc a subsidiary of Xerox. Without going to membership of The Official Board using the organizational chart he has as of April 2014 8 people reporting directly to him.

    I headed over to Parc but his bio doesn’t include his positions of various boards. LinkedIn provides these details http://bit.ly/srs_12Nov14_Hoover_Boards and in his summary he has been on several boards but doesn’t appear to be on any at the present time.

    Continuing at LinkedIn after signing in Daniel Russell’s profile indicates first employment in 1983 at Research Scientist, Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) 1983 – 1993 (10 years) and Research Scientist Xerox PARC August 1983 – October 1994 . But when did you get your Doctorate. In the education section your Doctorate was achieved in 1984 & I confirmed the year at the University of Rochester. So I would say your first job after graduation was with PARC.

    Steve Hoover took a slightly different path Carnegie Mellon University Ph.D., Engineering 1986 – 1994 Cornell University B.S., Mechanical Engineering 1978 – 1983. His employment history doesn’t suggest that you worked with him but I am not yet convinced. What’s your connection? I’ll dig deeper.

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  2. This is what I have at the moment. Still need to work more on challenge.

    Searches and Answers


    ["Dan M. Russell"]

    With this query, it is easy to find and read Dr. Russell's CV.

    [Steve Hoover Xerox] in Google search suggestions [Steve Hoover PARC]

    Steve's Linkedin CEO at PARC

    [PARC], [parc palo alto]
    Parc home page Found on Parc, Wikipedia, very interesting things and facts too.

    [Xerox organizational chart] Some charts that don't mention Steve.
    [Xerox organizational chart intext:"Steve Hoover"]
    [xerox organizational chart intext:"PARC"]

    Xerox Board. October, 2014 Need to find another way or sign up to find PARC.
    PARC Board. Here is the chart that mention Steve.

    I'll be back with more data.

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    1. [stephen hoover organizational chart intext:xerox]

      Xerox Innovation team

      [Steve Hoover Palo Alto Research Center]
      Steve Hoover Named CEO of PARC Steve joined Xerox in 1994 and has held a variety of research, development and engineering positions


      From Wikipedia PARC (company)
      Our customers inspire innovation

      [stephen hoover parc information]
      Innovation, R&D, Future, Facebook: Interview With Stephen Hoover, CEO Of Xerox PARC


      Answers:

      1. Is is possible for you to find a relatively recent organization chart for the Xerox company? (Say, within the past year.)
      A:Xerox Board. October, 2014


      2. If so, where does Steve Hoover sit in this organization?
      A: CEO of Palo Alto Research Center. Part of Innovation in Xerox.

      3. How many people directly report to him?
      A: 8


      4. What boards does he sit on?
      Board of Directors of the Rochester Museum and Science Center. From his Linkedin Profile

      5. What was MY (Dan's) first job after getting my PhD?
      A. With your CV. Looked with Ctrl-F 1984, the year of your PH.D.

      Member of the Research Staff Xerox Corporation, Palo Alto Research Center, Palo Alto, CA

      6. Did Steve Hoover and I ever work at the same place at the same time?
      I think Steve and Dr. Russell worked at Xerox. Steve is there since 1994. Dr. Russell was there from December, 1997 to January, 2000.

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    2. Nicely done! Great use of intext:

      Delete
  3. I’ve attempted to cross-match employment, skills, and affiliations with organizations on LinkedIn and Stever Hoover’s 7 patents[Google Scholar-inventors] to see if both Hoover and Russell show up in the same place at the same time. So far nothing concrete. What I’m thinking now is how to cross-match say PARC and Google on joint partnerships. Again nothing so far.

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  4. Cute video Dr. Dan http://bit.ly/srs_12Nov14_ChangesUTube

    I found a link (somewhat weak) indicating that Steve Hoover joined Xerox in 1994. Keep in mind Daniel Russell left PARC ( a Xerox subsidiary) in Oct 1994. http://bit.ly/srs_12Nov14_Hoover_Interview
    I had noticed a lapse in Steve Hoover’s history between 1986 -2006. I should have paid more attention to that. Based on an interview http://bit.ly/srs_12Nov14_Xerox17yrs his 17 years at Xerox included R&D which one could expect means he would cross paths with Daniel Russell Research Scientist @ PARC.

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    1. Switching my focus to 1994 and Xerox (rather than PARC) I have a thread between Steve Hoover & Dan Russell. In this Xerox announcement Steve Hoover takes over the reigns of PARC and that he had “ Steve joined Xerox in 1994 and has held a variety of research, development and engineering positions including vice president of the Xerox Research Center Webster “. http://bit.ly/srs_12Nov14_Hoover . Then searching Xerox 1994 “Dan Russell” I find this article from the Stanford HCI Group that refers to previous experience “Prior to PARC, Dr. Russell worked in the Xerox Webster Research Center gaining practical experience in printing systems and computer architecture.” http://bit.ly/srs_12Nov14_Stanford_Russell

      We know from the PARC bio on http://bit.ly/srs_12Nov14_PARC_Hoover Steve Hoover that he was working on advance printing technologies which I believe is the thread. Not all resumes include absolutely ever position & sometimes as we saw in this search dates may not tell the whole picture.

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    2. I knew you had an eagle eye when it comes to these things! Nice.

      Delete
  5. 1. Is is possible for you to find a relatively recent organization chart for the Xerox company? (Say, within the past year.)
    Yes, it was easy. Googled Xerox Organizational Chart and got a PDF from July 1, 2014: http://www.xerox.com/downloads/usa/en/x/Xerox_Corp_Org_Structure.pdf
    There was a note however that said, “Note: These charts are illustrative only and do not show all organizations or reporting relationships,” so I looked for more. Second link on the search brought up a website with 32, better than 14, names with photos and positions listed.
    Further down from those I found what looks to be the most recent, Oct. 1, 2014. It has 30-some-odd names listed and a more complex hierarchy or relational chart visually laid out. Here’s the link: http://www.theofficialboard.com/org-chart/xerox

    2. If so, where does Steve Hoover sit in this organization?
    He is the CEO of Parc which is owned by Xerox. Found this by creating a profile at The Official Board. Link: http://www.theofficialboard.com/biography/steve-hoover

    3. How many people directly report to him?
    Eight people directly report to Mr. Hoover. Source: Organizational Chart of Parc http://www.theofficialboard.com/org-chart/parc#443723
    4. What boards does he sit on?
    Currently, it looks like he serves on one, FIRST Robotics, and served on one other in the past, Rochester Museaum and Science Museum. I got this from this biography: http://www.parc.com/about/people/2520/stephen-hoover.html

    In his LinkedIn profile it lists a couple other past boards that he was on.
    5. What was MY (Dan's) first job after getting my PhD?
    Member of the Research Team at Xerox Corporation, 1984, from your CV published on your Google Site.
    6. Did Steve Hoover and I ever work at the same place at the same time?
    Here is another line from your CV: “created, taught, administered two in-house Interlisp-D courses for Xerox PARC employees.” If I can connect Steve Hoover’s biography to working here at this time, I’m going to say that you were working for Parc at the same time that Steve Hoover was there. Doh! No, Steve started working for Parc in 2011. But there is a connection perhaps to Steve Russell, which is in the board that Hoover served on, Rochester Museum and Science Center. Were you students together at the University of Rochester and have some connection to this museum?

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  6. 1. There is a current organizational chart on Xerox's website. http://www.xerox.com/downloads/usa/en/x/Xerox_Corp_Org_Structure.pdf but Hoover isn't on it.

    2. Searching [Hoover Xerox] brought me to the website for Hoover's company, PARC, a XEROX company. Hoover is the CEO. According to the website, PARC (the Palo Alto Research Center) is a wholly owned subsidiary of XEROX.

    3. I had a hard time finding how many people report to him, since I didn't find an actual organizational chart. Searching [xerox parc organizal chart] did bring me to a factsheet (that I should have been able to, but didn't, find on their website) giving the number of employees. 170 scientists and 80 business and operational staff. I'm sure they don't all report directly to Hoover, though.

    4. Hoover's Linked In shows that he has served on the board of directors of the Rochester Museum and Science Center, the Infotonics Technology Center, and the Rochester Engineering Society, but doesn't show any current memberships.

    5. Your Linked In does not show your work history, so I searched [Daniel M Russell curriculum vita]. Your vita shows your thesis in 1984, so I'm guessing that was the year you got your Ph.D. Your vita shows that you worked at PARC from 1984-1993.

    6. However, Hoover didn't join PARC until 2006, so you didn't work there at the same time.

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  7. Worked on this challenge alone today. For first question used query [current organization chart xerox corporation] and got this result http://www.xerox.com/downloads/usa/en/x/Xerox_Corp_Org_Structure.pdf But since this was from July 2014 wanted to see if there was anything more recent and one of the next results was the same one Rosemary found - http://www.theofficialboard.com/org-chart/xerox I also checked the wikipedia article on Xerox and found a link to the Reuters report on Xerox. There was a listing of the top execs so it confirmed that the list from the officialboard.com site had correct information.
    For question 2 search for Steve Hoover Xerox shows that he is CEO of PARC a subsidiary of Xerox. Clicking on the link for subsidiaries and then on PARC on the http://www.theofficialboard.com/org-chart/xerox site shows the organization chart for PARC. 8 people directly report to Dr. Hoover.
    Moving on to question 4) Dr. Hoover's LinkedIn profile he doesn't currently serve on any boards although he formerly served on the Rochester Museum and Science Center board. I then did a search for steve hoover boards of directors which led me to the article https://www.parc.com/about/people/2520/stephen-hoover.html which indicates that he currently serves on the board of First Robotics, "an organization which inspires young science, technology, and engineering leaders through mentor-based programs."
    For question 5 I did a search for Dan Russell education and from the result https://sites.google.com/site/dmrussell2/dmr-bio-info found that he got his Ph.D from the University of Rochester in November, 1984. On that same site found that from 1984 to 1991 Dan worked at PARC where he led the "Instructional Design Environment" project (with both Richard Burton and Tom Moran) to develop a practical computer-aided design and analysis system for use in ill-structured design tasks."
    Question 6 took a little more work. On Steve Hoover's linked in site there is an almost 20 year gap in his employment so had to figure out where he was during that time. Didn't write down my search terms but found this aricle - http://www.techtaffy.com/innovation-rd-future-facebook-interview-with-ceo-of-xerox-parc/ which indicated that Steve Hoover started at Xerox in 1994. Going to Dan's curriculum vitae https://sites.google.com/site/dmrussell2/danielmrussell-cv I found that Dan returned to Xerox in Dec. 1997 and stayed there until Jan. 2000. It seems like Dan and Steve's paths should have crossed but it appears that Steve Hoover was working in the Rochester area during this time. So while they were working for the same company it looks like they were at opposite ends of the country. I even looked up phone records for Steve Hoover to see if maybe he did live in the Palo Alto area but these records seemed to indicate that he was in the NY area. I will keep looking to see if there was a project the two worked on together.

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    Replies
    1. Wow. That's a lot of details. Thanks for the time and effort! You're right--we COULD have crossed, but we never did.
      Well done.

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