Mark Hurd, Chairman & CEO, Hewlett-Packard

By Craig Zarley, ChannelWeb

9:00 AM EST Mon. Nov. 13, 2006
From the November 13, 2006 issue of CRN

2006 TOP 25: 1-5 | 6-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25

It should have been his finest hour. In September, Mark Hurd ascended to the chairmanship of Hewlett-Packard, becoming chairman, president and CEO of one of Silicon Valley's oldest and most respected companies.

Under his brief tenure, HP was riding a resurgence in all facets of its business and was on the verge of surpassing IBM as the world's largest technology company. And the fast-rising, 50-year-old executive who replaced Carly Fiorina was certainly on track to win the chairmanship title. Instead, a maniacal and often petty pursuit of boardroom leaks mired Hurd and HP in a messy corporate scandal, and his ascension to chairman came only after the scandal forced the resignation of then-HP Chairman Patricia Dunn.

Hurd, who went to Baylor University on a tennis scholarship and is still an intensely competitive player, thus became chairman on what amounts to his opponent double faulting on match point. But most solution providers hope the furor will soon pass and won't diminish what they see as a bold new direction for HP under Hurd.

"I don't think it will have any impact," says Tim Joyce, CEO of Roundstone Systems, an HP-only solution provider in Alameda, Calif. "The guy is aces. He's terrific. He's brought the company back to a leading position."

Another partner who was part of a small group that met privately with Hurd in June describes him as a down-to-earth guy who's getting the job done and is willing to listen. "He said, in essence, 'I'm here to fix what's broken. Tell me what's broken, and I'm taking notes,' " says Rick Chernick, CEO of Camera Corner Connecting Point, Green Bay, Wis. "He wants to know what's not right out in the field so he can address it with his people. I felt important and proud and that they are listening. My God, this is the top person in a $90 billion company and he's listening to me."

Still, the scandal and the extent of Hurd's involvement left some solution providers bewildered, and privately some worried Hurd would not escape unscathed. "This is akin to identity theft," says one HP solution provider, who requested anonymity. "Did anybody's ID get stolen? No. Did anybody lose any money? No. But there is probably more to this than HP lets on."

The numbers Hurd managed to put on the board could go a long way toward helping investors and solution providers forget the scandal. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based company was on track to exceed $91 billion in sales for fiscal 2006 ended Oct. 31, easily beating the less-than-$90 billion analysts expect IBM to report. More importantly, operating profits have been marching in lockstep with revenue growth.

Solution providers that took to heart Hurd's promise to "double down" on partners most loyal to HP agree the scandal is little more than a distracting sideshow. "It looks like HP and Hurd are going to get through this thing," says Larry Holzenthaler, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Total Tec Systems, an HP-only enterprise solution provider in Edison, N.J. "This hasn't impacted products or earnings."

Holzenthaler says Hurd re-energized HP employees through his no-nonsense, get-it-done-now approach. That's created a buzz around the company that resonates with customers. And new programs that reward partners for focusing exclusively on HP resonate with solution providers. HP's PartnerOne program and account registration plan, which gives larger discounts to solution providers that register deals, add to a robust selling environment.

"This has to be the best selling environment I've been in in the past 20 years," Holzenthaler says. "You call people on the phone and say you want to talk about HP blades, for example, and they call you back and say, 'Come on in, I want to hear about it.' "

Hurd, for his part, has made clear the value of partners to HP. "We need you. We can't get to every buying point. And even when we get to every buying point, we can't bring every solution," he told CRN earlier this year. "We look at the channel as a strategic advantage and not a strategic problem."

Hurd's early statements about partner loyalty caused a stir among some partners who worried he was going to try and force them to abandon multivendor relationships. But Hurd later tempered that posture, saying: "We think it's easier if you're 100 percent dedicated to HP, but the world isn't 100 percent HP."

Partners have decided, and many choose to cast their lot with Hurd. "He's very serious about hearing from us," says Chernick. "He's very open and candid and wants us to be the same."

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