Compaq's vice president and assistant general counsel for federal government affairs Joe Tasker has left the company. Tom Grilk, who is the vice president associate general counsel for the company's Stowe, MA, office will fill in as the company looks for a replacement. "I have no plans to foul up or alter plans that already work well," Grilk said. Tasker's reasons for leaving the company are unknown.

     Qwest Communications announced the appointment of former government marketing executive for Sprint and GTE, James Payne, as senior vice president for government markets. Payne is expected to direct sales and marketing efforts at the federal level and oversee the operations that support Qwest's current government customers, which include the Treasury Department. "We're extremely fortunate to have someone with the depth of experience and knowledge of the government services marketplace that Jim possesses," Shaun Gilmore, senior vice president of national accounts and government markets, said in a press release. "Jim will help us expand our presence in this very important market and drive demand for the leading-edge, broadband applications and services that Qwest has to offer." Payne will be based in Qwest's offices in Arlington, VA, and report directly to Gilmore.

     To help finance his growing collection of acquisitions, Paul Allen, Microsoft co-founder and owner of the cable TV firm Charter Communications, is borrowing $1 billion from German bank Commerzbank and other lenders, Bloomberg News reports. In the past year, Allen has made acquisitions valued at $12 billion in an attempt to create a wired world, where consumers can have access to nearly every entertainment and communications services via the Internet. Commerzbank is the lead arranger of the current loan, which is expected to be finished in mid-September. Co-arrangers Credit Lyonnais, Bank of Montreal and Paribas have agreed to lend $125 million each. Bloomberg notes that as of June, Allen owned 135.9 million shares of Microsoft — 2.47 percent of the world's biggest software maker — a stake valued at about $13 billion.

     When CEO of computer maker SGI Richard Belluzzo resigned unexpectedly to take a "non-competitive, non-CEO position with another company," it was unclear to outsiders where he would go next. But rumors of a possible appointment at Microsoft soon materialized. Microsoft appointed Belluzzo to lead its Internet business unit against rivals America Online and Yahoo!. After working at Hewlett Packard for 22 years, Belluzzo, 45, headed to SGI last year, where he was chief executive. Belluzzo will oversee Microsoft's Consumer and Commerce Group, which was previously headed by Brad Chase and Jon DeVaan since its formation in March. Belluzzo's appointment ends a nearly year-long search for someone to fill the position after group Vice President Pete Higgins stepped down to take an indefinite leave of absence last November.

     After a little more than a year, Amazon.com Chief Logistics Officer Jimmy Wright resigned and will be succeeded by a former vice president and general manager at AlliedSignal, Jeffrey Wilke. Chief Executive Jeffrey Bezos hired Wright to expand the online bookseller's distribution system, enabling it to stock more goods and ship them faster. And according to Wright, he was successful in doing so. "They've got a bunch of good people that can operate it, so I wanted to come back and be with my wife," he said. "The project is exactly on track, and now it's just a matter of them wrapping it up." Amazon.com also said it hired Ben Slivka, 39, a 14-year veteran of Microsoft, for the new position of director of information technology.

     Microworkz President Rick Latman will be moving aside to make room for a new management team that is expected to navigate the PC and Internet appliance maker through the problem areas in the new market. Latman's resignation will take effect on or before November 15, and comes as Microworkz.com prepares to release its iToaster information access device — a bare-bones PC that offers Web surfing capabilities. "Microworkz.com is beginning to outgrow the start-up mode, and it is crucial that our internal systems and controls develop within the context of a larger company. "We have grown remarkably fast, perhaps too fast, and it's time for a more seasoned management influence to take hold. This company, its dreams and potential can only be realized through an expansion of its organizational bandwidth," Latman said in a press release. He will stay on as chairman of the board. Earlier in the month, Microworkz.com started its internal makeover with the appointment of Chief Operations Officer Lance Rosen, formerly of the Disney Channel and Vulcan Northwest.

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