HP Names Outsider To Head Americas PC Business

Stephen DeWitt will take over immediately as senior vice president of HP's Americas Personal Systems Group, replacing Mike Larson, who previously announced his retirement after 12 years at Compaq and HP. DeWitt will report to Todd Bradley, HP's PSG executive vice president.

DeWitt comes from Azul Systems, a Mountain View, Calif. network attached processing vendor, where he was chairman. According the Azul's Website, the vendor is an IBM Advanced Business Partner and has a strategic partnership with Dell.

DeWitt was not immediately available for comment.

When Larson announced his retirement late last year, HP president and CEO hinted in an analyst meeting last December that HP would first look inside the company to replace departing executives. "The facts say internal promotion is the most successful way to build a company," he said. "We're very focused on accountability, measurement and where it makes sense, internal promotion."

DeWitt takes over as head of PSG's largest region but one whose growth is being outstripped by those in overseas markets. For HP's fiscal 2007 ended Oct. 31, global PSG revenue totaled $36.4 billion for the year, up from $21.2 billion for fiscal 2006. But the company noted that for its fiscal fourth quarter, revenue growth in emerging markets was exceptional with growth in China, its third largest market, up more than 100 percent.