HP hires new VP to oversee IT
Company is bringing aboard John Hinshaw to serve as executive vice president of global technology and business processes. He is CEO Meg Whitman's first major hire at HP.
Hewlett-Packard has made its first major executive hire under new CEO Meg Whitman.
The company announced today that it's hired John Hinshaw to fill the new role of executive vice president for global technology and business processes. That long title means he'll oversee the information technology and administrative groups, be responsible for procuring services, and manage all of the company's business processes.
Reporting directly to Whitman, Hinshaw will join HP on November 15 and also take a seat on the executive council.
The 41-year-old Hinshaw hails from Boeing, where he was vice president and general manager for the company's information solutions group and was responsible for IT business with the federal government. He also served Boeing as global chief information officer, managing the company's IT strategy, operations, and staff.
"John has an outstanding track record of process excellence and leading large, complex organizations," Whitman said in a statement.
Beyond bringing Hinshaw aboard, HP has also promoted Craig Flower to the role of senior vice president and chief information officer. Reporting directly to Hinshaw, Flower will now be responsible for data management, application architecture, global business intelligence, sales, and product development and engineering applications. Flower has been with HP since 1984, holding a variety of IT management positions.
"Craig is a leader who has proven that he can simultaneously deliver more value to the business while achieving significant cost reductions," Whitman said.
The two appointments follow the recent decision by Phil McKinney to retire from HP. McKinney had served as vice president and chief technology officer for HP's Personal Systems Group.
HP has been struggling with its identity and business direction as of late.
In August, the company announced that it would jettison its consumer PC unit and pull the plug on its WebOS division to focus more on the enterprise market. Then last week, the company abruptly reversed itself and said it would keep its PC operations up and running after all.
But questions persist as to where HP will go from here and whether it will refocus its attention on the PC trade, forge ahead as an enterprise services company, or continue to try to juggle both roles.