HP Finally Names Successor To Kevin Gilroy As GM of Channels For The Americas

The move is somewhat of a surprise in that Gilroy had hinted that his successor might come from within his own organization, though he left the door open to consider other candidates as well. "I have a rock solid team," he said at the time of his promotion. "If you want to give me credit for anything, the only credit you should give me is for putting a very solid team together."

Thompson, who joined HP in the wake of the company's merger with Compaq Computer, has a 15-year tenure with the combined company. He was most recently VP and general manager of commercial solutions for HP's Personal Systems Group in the Americas Region. In that position, Thompson oversaw operations, supply chain, product marketing, life-cycle management, competitive analysis, pricing and sales development for HP business PCs, notebooks, handhelds, workstations and its Emerging Technology Global Business Unit.

Previously, Thompson has held positions in HP and Compaq's servers, storage, desktop and workstation divisions. In a letter to partners, HP said Thompson is a "tenacious advocate for the channel within HP." The letter added that "John is committed to building on the momentum we've achieved with you, our partners."

Still Thompson has many challenges, among them, Thompson is not well-known in the channel. Partners, notably those selling enterprise products have been furious with HP, most recently for problems with the company's new logistics system. Its revamped EHIP program, launched in February by which distributors now set pricing, has gotten off to a shaky start. Also, based on a flawed implementation of a new SAP supply-chain and inventory-management system, partners had trouble getting price quotes on products and fulfilling orders, a problem that weighed heavily on its fourth-quarter earnings, which led to a major shakeup in HP's management ranks. HP's channel organization has been under much flux during the past two years.

The appointment of Kevin Gilroy, who last summer was named HP's Channel Executive of the Year by VARBusiness, was greeted warmly by partners earlier this year when he was tapped as general manager of HP's Americas Partners organization. But less than 100 days into the transition, he was promoted to the position of senior vice president of worldwide SMB segment operations, replacing John Brennan, who left HP to become senior vice president of corporate development at Adobe. Though clearly a promotion for Gilroy, who will maintain close ties with the channel in his new position, it was viewed as yet the latest setback for HP's promise of providing more consistency in its channel.