Dell’s president is leaving, the first senior executive to depart since the company changed ownership last month.

Steve Felice, a 14-year veteran who was also Dell’s chief commercial officer, is the new chief executive at Filtration Group Corp., a Chicago maker of industrial equipment.

Felice has been in charge of Dell’s sales and marketing efforts. Chief Executive Michael Dell and private-equity firm Silver Lake — which completed a $24.9 billion buyout of the company in October — have said they want to improve the company’s sales force to sell a broader range of equipment and services.

Reached on Friday, the 56-year-old Felice said he has been interested in a CEO job, and his departure wasn’t related to the new ownership at Dell. “I think they have a terrific strategy,” he said.

A spokesman for Silver Lake declined to comment Friday. In a statement, Michael Dell said Felice’s “counsel, vision and insight will definitely be missed by me and the entire leadership team, and I will always be grateful for his contributions.”

Earlier in his career at Dell, Felice helped lead the company’s operations in Asia. For a time, he ran sales of Dell’s computers and other products to small-and-medium-sized businesses.

Filtration Group makes filtering machinery for a variety of industries, including oil and gas, pharmaceuticals and water treatment.

“Our goal was to find someone who was extremely good with people, and also someone who was very comfortable with technology and very good globally,” said Larry Gies, owner of Filtration Group. “He is the perfect guy.” Gies is chief executive of private-equity firm Madison Capital Partners.

Marius Haas, who has handled part of Dell’s product lineup of corporate-tech gear, is adding Felice’s responsibilities as chief commercial officer, Dell said. Haas, a former executive at Hewlett-Packard Co. and Intel Corp., was hired last year from private-equity firm KKR & Co.

The Wall Street Journal

By Shira Ovide