HP's Massive Executive Reorg: Three Out, Three Up

HP said that three key executives are stepping aside, leaving room for three others to report directly to Apotheker in a streamlining of the company's executive team. The company is also eliminating the role of chief administration officer, and plans to broaden the role of its CIO.

Apotheker took the reins at HP in September following the departure of his predecessor, Mark Hurd.

Ann Livermore, executive vice president of enterprise business, will leave her post and join HP's Board of Directors. Livermore will also continue to serve as the lead executive for HP enterprise services in an interim basis until a replacement can be found.

Pete Bocian, executive vice president and chief administrative officer, is leaving effective immediately, HP said. His functions will be absorbed into other HP positions.

HP said that Randy Mott, executive vice president and CIO, is also leaving effective immediately, and that it is currently searching for his replacement.

As a result of the reorganization, three other HP execs will be reporting directly to Apotheker.

They include Dave Donatelli, executive vice president of HP's enterprise servers, storage, networking and technology services; Bill Veghte, executive vice president of software, and Jan Zadak, executive vice president of global sales.

Apotheker, in a statement, said, "These businesses play a vital role in our continued growth and success, and as such, Dave, Bill and Jan will report directly to me and help drive the overall direction for HP. In our ongoing effort to accelerate our progress in executing our strategy, we will continue to make the necessary changes that streamline our operations, drive focus and agility, and position us for success."

HP was unable to provide further comment by the time this article was published.

HP solution providers said the reorganization is not unexpected when a new CEO joins takes over a major company

These things eventually happen, but need time for all the necessary due diligence to happen, said John Convery, executive vice president of vendor relations and marketing at Denali Advanced Integration, a Redmond, Wash.-based solution provider and HP partner.

The good news for the channel is a simpler executive infrastructure which could make it easier to work across multiple parts of HP, Convery said.

HP's PartnerOne is the seam across all of HP's products, but when a purchase such as virtual desktop infrastructure with storage cuts across different groups, it requires a lot of communications between those groups, he said.

"So now that Donatelli reports directly to Leo, we get direct communications between the different sides," he said. "One throat to choke is a good thing."

Dave Butler, president of Enterprise Computing Solutions, a Mission Viejo, Calif.-based solution provider and HP partner, said he is not alarmed about the reorg, and sees it par for the course for a company like HP.

"It seems Apotheker is building his team," he said.

It is nice to see Livermore go to the HP board, Butler said. "Ann's a very good person, and very smart," he said. "So with her staying with the board, it seems very respectful to her."