Gilroy Switches Jobs

Gilroy, who had been the vice president and general manager of SPO since HP combined its enterprise and commercial channels into a single organization May 1, becomes senior vice president of worldwide SMB segment operations reporting to Peter Blackmore, executive vice president of HP's Customer Solutions Group. Gilroy replaces John Brennan, who left the company to become senior vice president of corporate development at Adobe Systems.

Mike Larson, HP's senior vice president and general manager, Personal Systems Group, Americas, said that Scott Anderson, HP's vice president of partner operations, will replace Gilroy on an interim basis until a permanent replacement can be named. Anderson was unavailable for comment last week.

"I'm shocked," said Mike Cox, president and CEO of Logicalis, one of HP's largest enterprise solution providers in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. "I know Kevin Gilroy, and I had a lot of hope for the partners and for HP with him in that position. Now we'll have to wait and see what's next."

Solution providers said they were especially caught off guard by Gilroy's departure because it comes in the midst of a 12-city road tour in which Gilroy and other HP channel managers were meeting with solution providers to outline changes and enhancements to the vendor's Partner One channel program.

id
unit-1659132512259
type
Sponsored post

But Gilroy said HP's channel strategy and commitment to the channel won't waver because of his change in positions.

"This isn't about Kevin Gilroy," he said of HP's channel commitment. "There is no need for rumination by our channel partners. We have a plan of record [that has been approved by HP senior management], and we have a rock-solid [channel] team in place."

Gary Melillo, vice president of business development at Melillo Consulting, an HP solution provider in Somerset, N.J., said, "It's comforting to know HP has a solid plan in place, but I'm concerned on the execution side. Kevin is a strong channel advocate and is predictable, and anytime you lose someone like that, you wonder what the next person will be like."

HP executives agreed that Gilroy's departure from his channel post comes at an awkward time. "This is good news and bad news," acknowledged Larson. "Clearly, the timing on this is not optimal, but [Kevin] has a solid senior staff, and we will ensure that we get the right person to continue work done by Kevin and his team." Still, solution providers said that in his new SMB role, Gilroy might have the opportunity to stem HP's direct-sales efforts.

"SMB is a rogue entity calling into everyone's accounts [trying to take them direct]," said John DeRocker, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Nexus Information Systems, a solution provider in Plymouth, Minn.