Hewelett-Packard on Tuesday promoted John Schultz to the role of executive vice president and general counsel, a move that fits with CEO Meg Whitman's plan to start promoting more leadership from within the company.
Schultz, who joined HP in 2008 and was previously HP's vice president and deputy general counsel in charge of litigation, takes over for David Healy, who had held the role on an interim basis since the departure of Michael J. Holston in December.
As general counsel, Schultz will oversee HP's legal and compliance functions worldwide. He will report to CEO Meg Whitman and will also have a seat on HP's executive council.
"I’m confident that as general counsel, John will only continue to elevate HP’s standards of excellence and integrity and the performance of an already outstanding legal team," Whitman said in a statement.
Prior to joining HP, Schultz was a partner at Philadelphia-based law firm Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, and he has worked previously at the law firms of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP and Latham & Watkins.
Healy, partner and co-chair of the Mergers & Acquisition Group at Fenwick & West LLP, represented HP in its acquisition of business analytics startup Vertica, which closed last March, and on HP's $89 million sale of its video and telepresence products to Polycom, which closed last June.
Holston last month was appointed chief ethics and compliance officer at pharmaceutical giant Merck, effective June 25.
