First Data names Forehand CEO; Capellas steps back

First Data, a leading e-commerce and payments player, named Joe Forehand as new CEO. Meanwhile, Michael Capellas will join buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) as a senior advisor focused on technology. The CEO swap occurs on March 31.

Forehand is the former chairman and CEO of Accenture. Capellas is best known as the former CEO of Compaq, which was sold to HP following a messy trial. Capellas also led WorldCom, following an accounting scandal. WorldCom became MCI and was later sold to Verizon. In 2007, Capellas took the helm at First Data, which was being bought out by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. First Data has a bevy of assets such as the STAR ATM network, TeleCheck and various back-end commerce systems. First Data had $9.3 billion in revenue in 2009 and generated $1 billion in cash from operations.

Forehand's charge will be to take First Data to the next level. Like Capellas, Forehand will have some nice assets to work with. First Data has been expanding into new markets, has 6 million merchants in its network and partnerships with leading banks. Under Capellas First Data has also consolidated data centers, call centers and platforms.

Forehand was CEO at Accenture from 1999 to 2004 and chairman from 2001 to 2006.