Salvino is leaving to be the managing director of Accenture's finance solutions group, its finance and accounting outsourcing business. He will report to Kevin Campbell, senior managing director-business process outsourcing.

Salvino's departure isn't in itself surprising, analysts say. Many believe that Doyle and Gifford were pushed out, and that probably accelerated Salvino's departure, they say. "Salvino and Campbell used to work together at Accenture, and so it isn't surprising that Salvino would want to go with with Campbell again," says Marc Pramuk, v.p. of research at Everest Group.

The fact that Salvino wasn't named to replace Doyle may have also prompted his departure, says Lisa Rowan, an analyst at IDC.

What does surprise Pramuk and other experts, however, is that Hewitt doesn't have a successor in place for Salvino. "That certainly could be hinting at a sale of its HRO business," he says.

With the departure of Salvino, Hewitt is left without the key leaders of the HRO team it inherited when it acquired Exult in 2004, says Jason Corsello, an analyst at Yankee Group. "I wouldn't be surprised if Hewitt sold its HRO business," he says. Corsello pegs ADP and Fidelity Investments as potential buyers. "They both have the money to do it and it would make sense for each of their business models," he says.

If Hewitt isn't selling its HRO business, its going to have a lot of work to do, Rowan says. First of all, it will need to replace Gifford and Doyle before it can even think about replacing Salvino, she says. "Who would want to work there without knowing who they would be reporting to," she says.

Salvino is staying on until mid-July to help with the transition, says Jennifer Frighetto, a spokeswoman at Hewitt. She declined to comment on rumors of a sale. Salvino was unavailable for comment.

--Jessica Marquez