LINCOLN, R.I. (WSJ.COM) — A.T. Cross officials said that the company’s top pen-computing executive, John E. Buckley, is retiring as executive vice president and chief operating officer at the end of the year.
Cross, a maker of pens and pen-based computers, said it would name a new head of the pen-computing business next month.
Buckley joined Cross in 1975 as controller and became executive vice president and COO in 1993. Following his resignation, he will remain a member of the Cross board. The company said his work this year on the pen-computing business culminated in the recent launch of the Cross Convergence pen, which links print to the Internet.
The announcement of Mr. Buckley’s resignation came a day after a separate announcement that the company will consolidate its U.S. and Irish distribution operations at its headquarters in Lincoln, and will take a related pretax restructuring charge of about $5 million in the fourth quarter. The move will result in about 60 permanent job cuts, or 8 percent of the company’s work force, as well as “a number of” temporary positions, A.T. Cross officials said. The move is expected to generate about $2 million of pretax annual savings, officials said.
