HPE Nominates Microsoft Director Veteran Charles Noski To Its Board

Paul Cohen, vice president of sales for New York-based PKA Technologies Inc., one of HPE’s top Platinum enterprise partners, said Noski’s board nomination is yet another “validation” of the HPE GreenLake pay-per-use strategy.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise has nominated Charles Noski, who served on software giant Microsoft’s board of directors for 16 years, to the HPE board of directors.

Noski -- who served as a chief financial officer for Bank of America, AT&T and Northrop Grumman -- served on Microsoft’s board of directors from 2003 to 2019.

Noski would replace Michael Angelakis, chairman and CEO of private investment firm Atairos. Angelakis, 53, a former chief financial officer for Comcast, has decided not to stand for reelection.

The HPE nomination of Noski to the board of directors for the April 1 stockholder’s meeting is another sign that the company is doubling down on its GreenLake pay per use offering, HPE partners said. HPE CEO Antonio Neri has pledged to transform the entire HPE portfolio to an as a service offering by 2022.

In December, HPE snatched away one of Microsoft’s top cloud executives, Keith White, to lead the fast-growing HPE GreenLake business unit as general manager and senior vice president.

White, a 20-year Microsoft veteran, played a critical role in driving dramatic Microsoft Azure sales growth, most recently as vice president of the intelligent cloud, worldwide commercial business.

Neri, for his part, said Noski’s nomination to the HPE board comes at a pivotal moment in HPE’s as a service journey. In fact, he said Noski’s “experience in helping companies transform and bring innovation and new consumption models to customers in a digital world will be of huge value” to HPE.

“I look forward to working with him and the other members of our experienced board as we strengthen our edge-to-cloud portfolio and deliver new as-a-service experiences,” said Neri.

Noski in a prepared statement said that he was “pleased” with the opportunity to join HPE’s board. “HPE has an impressive history and an exciting vision to redefine the customer experience and the industry model,” he said. “I welcome the chance to be a part of this next chapter.”

Paul Cohen, vice president of sales for New York-based PKA Technologies Inc., one of HPE’s top Platinum enterprise partners, said Noski’s board nomination is yet another “validation” of the HPE GreenLake pay per use strategy.

“I am sure that Charles Noski is going to make a big contribution to helping HPE up its as a service game,” he said.

Cohen said HPE’s GreenLake pay per use model is resonating with customers. He said PKA’s GreenLake sales pipeline is on the rise.

“Customers want to pay for what they use,” he said. “The days of over-provisioning on premise infrastructure are over. GreenLake is a more cost effective cloud like experience with the security of an on premise solution.”