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Venero said he has not met Apotheker one-on-one, but he believes it will be important for HP's new CEO to reach out to its top partners and be as accessible as Hurd was and Dell Chairman and CEO Michael Dell is now.
"I look to absolutely get that," he said. "One of the first things I'd be doing to get on a path to quick success is to engage immediately with channel partners. Let them know he's the new face of HP and he's there to support us and help us grow with him. That's one of the things that Mark and Michael do. They are accessible."
Several HP partners voiced confidence in HP's board and deep channel team led by Vice President Stephen DiFranco and backed up by others like Frank Rauch, vice president, Channel Sales, HP Enterprise Servers, Storage and Networking; Kevin Hooper, Vice President, Emerging Growth Accounts, Enterprise Business Sales and Meaghan Kelley, vice president of the SMB Strategy Group.
"I've got to tell you, they are still the best company to do business with," Chernick said, "I am proud to be associated with them. I work hard for them and they appreciate that."
"All the people that built the channel and are dealing with the channel are still here," said one HP insider."Why would anyone want to screw that up?"
Steven Burke, Scott Campbell, Chad Berndtson and Jack McCarthy contributed to this story.
