HP Identifies Managers For Post-Merger Executive Team

However, HP,which is awaiting the official tally of last month's shareholder vote on the merger deal,still hasn't disclosed who will run the combined channel organization.

Key appointments included Jim Milton, senior vice president and general manager of North America at Compaq, who was named general manager of the Americas for HP's Enterprise Systems Group. Milton will report to Peter Blackmore, who was tapped as executive vice president of the HP Enterprise Systems Group. Also, Jim McDonnell, currently vice president of marketing for HP's business customer and commercial channel units, will head marketing in the new HP Personal Systems Group and will report to Duane Zitzner, group executive vice president.

HP remains undecided about who will head the channel organizations for its volume products (PCs and imaging) and value business (enterprise systems and storage), said sources familiar with the integration effort. Current channel chiefs Dan Vertrees, vice president of North America partner sales and marketing at Compaq, and Kevin Gilroy, vice president and general manager of North America commercial channels at HP, stand as the leading candidates for the new channel posts.

"I'm encouraged that [HP is starting to come out with management appointments," said Don McDowell, vice president of server solutions at Forsythe Solutions, a Skokie, Ill.-based solution provider. "That means they will be prepared to hit the ground running."

John Sheaffer, president and CEO of Sysix Technologies, a Westmont, Ill.-based HP solution provider, said he didn't recognize the enterprise management appointees. "I'm concerned that there's not more HP content on that side," he said. "It seems like there's more HP management on the PC side and more Compaq management on the high-end side."

One solution provider, who requested anonymity, said he was surprised by the appointment of Adrian Koch, who will supervise the Asia-Pacific and Japan regions within HP's Personal Systems Group. "Adrian had appeared to be a little higher up in the organization," the solution provider said. "He engineered and controlled much of the four customer-facing organizations at HP."