Kevin Barney Rollins (born November 15, 1952) is an American businessman and philanthropist. The former President and CEO of Dell Inc., in 2006 Rollins was named by London's CBR as the 9th Most Influential person in the Enterprise IT sector.[1]

Rollins was born and raised in Utah and met his wife Debra while attending Brigham Young University (BYU).[2] While at BYU, Rollins earned a bachelors in Humanities and Civil Engineering in 1983 and an MBA a year later.[3] Before joining Dell in April 1996, Rollins was vice president and partner of Bain & Company where he specialized in strategies and management for high technology and consumer product clients. He helped develop strategies that propelled Dell into a commanding position in the direct selling of computer systems in the United States.[2]

Rollins and his wife have four children and seven grandchildren.[2]

Rollins became the chairman of the American Enterprise Institute's Board of Trustees on January 1, 2009.
Rollins worked at Dell for over a decade in various positions, including Senior VP of Corporate Strategy (1996), president of Dell Americas (1996–2001) overseeing operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Latin America, COO (2001–2004), president (2001–2007), and CEO (2004–2007).[3] During the last four quarters of his leadership, the company employed approximately 50,000 workers worldwide and reported revenues of $45.4 billion.[2]

While at Dell, Rollins oversaw company plans to spend more on staff training and customer services, and sales increased $14.2 billion—up 6% year on year with a net income of $762 million. He also announced that Dell would add support for AMD chips. In 2006, Forbes magazine listed Rollins as the 18th highest compensated CEO in the world at $39.31 million for achieving a 9% decline in stock performance during his tenure with a stock performance that was 81 percent that of the S&P 500.[4] He also oversaw amongst one of the largest layoffs that Dell had until then (2006-2007) of 8000 people worldwide. [5] There was resentment at his below-par decisions and execution, which could have contributed to his removal from Dell. Rollins was fired from Dell in January, 2007.[6]

Upon leaving Dell in 2007, Rollins was paid $48.5 million in cash related to expired stock options.[7]

Philanthropic efforts[edit]