HP shuffles deck, promotes Bill Veghte to COO gig
Following a major slew of layoffs last week, Hewlett-Packard is in a contrast mode this week by shuffling the deck at the top slightly with some executive promotions.
Previously executive vice president of the HP's software unit, Bill Veghte has been bumped up to chief operating officer. According to a statement, Veghte has been assigned the task to "further accelerate the execution of the company’s strategy by working across HP to drive innovation and customer satisfaction."
George Kadifa will replace Veghte as EVP of the software division. Previously serving in executive roles at IBM and Corio, Kadifa comes to HP from global technology investment firm Silver Lake.
At HP, Kadifa will be responsible for overseeing the IT Performance Suite software portfolio, which is designed to enable enterprise IT organizations to manage and secure IT applications on the cloud as well as through on-premise platforms.
His upgrade appears to be the more significant one of the day. HP CEO Meg Whitman, to whom Kadifa will report, commented in prepared remarks:
George brings a wealth of experience gained at traditional software companies, service providers and startups. His ability to manage multiple business models will prove extremely valuable to HP as we extend our software offerings in cloud, information and security.
Both announcements are effective immediately.
These promotions also follow the announcement that HP is planning to cut 27,000 employees across the company -- despite better-than-expected second quarter earnings. Whitman had said the layoffs will be spread out over the next two years through the end of fiscal year 2014 in order to reduce the short-term harm to morale within the company.
Related: