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Hewlett-Packard chairwoman Patricia Dunn (pictured) announced she will resign (but stay on the board) in January and CEO Mark Hurd will take her place.

Dunn got in trouble last week for her 2004 boardroom investigation, in which a hired company used "pretexting" to get people's personal phone records by calling phone companies and posing as customers. While Dunn said she didn't know about the pretexting, she's taken the blame since, well, it was her investigation.

Meanwhile, the leaker she caught with the investigation (board member George Keyworth) refused to resign when he was discovered in 2004. The board said this year they will not offer him a re-election chance when his term expires in March.

So while HP would look stupid keeping Dunn in charge, the board knew that Keyworth was the real bad guy. The most surprising (but not totally unexpected) move is the choice of Hurd for chairman. Oracle CEO Larry Ellison told San Francisco Chronicle reporter Dan Fost last night that Hurd would make a great chairman.

Embattled H.P. Chairwoman to Step Down [NY Times]