HP Names Former Xerox Exec Tolga Kurtoglu As New CTO

HP Inc. on Tuesday announced several changes in its executive ranks that include the appointment of a new chief technology officer, Tolga Kurtoglu, who had most recently worked for the company’s printer industry rival Xerox.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based HP also disclosed the departure of Kim Rivera, HP’s president of strategy and business management and chief legal officer, along with the hiring of a new chief strategy and incubation officer, Sarabjit Singh Baveja. The company said that its general counsel, Harvey Anderson, has been promoted to serve as chief legal officer and corporate secretary.

[Related: HP Partners: Pandemic Would‘ve Been A ‘Terrible Time’ For Xerox Takeover]

HP disclosed a year ago that its CTO of five years, Shane Wall, had retired and was succeeded by an interim CTO.

Along with serving as the new CTO of HP, Kurtoglu will hold the position of global head of HP Labs.

Kurtoglu’s career included a decade spent in executive roles at with Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), a Xerox subsidiary. Most recently, he served as CEO of PARC from January 2017 until November 2020, according to his LinkedIn profile. Kurtoglu also held the title of senior vice president and head of global research at Xerox from January through November of 2020.

Prior to Xerox, he spent four years as a research scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center and as an engineer and product developer at Dell.

At HP, Kurtoglu will focus on driving new research and innovation efforts within HP Labs while also leading the company’s technology strategy overall, the company said in a news release.

Meanwhile, as chief strategy and incubation officer, Baveja will oversee strategic and corporate development initiatives, as well as incubation of new businesses, HP said. Baveja comes to HP from serving as a senior partner and head of new business incubation at management consulting firm Bain & Company, where he spent a total of three decades.

Baveja and Kurtoglu “each bring deep experience and expertise” to support HP’s growth strategy in the PC and print markets, and will ultimately help with the efforts to “transform our company for the future,” said HP CEO Enrique Lores in the company’s news release.

Rivera has made a “personal decision” to depart HP after serving as its president of strategy and business management and chief legal officer, the company said. Rivera has spent five years with HP, and will continue to serve as a special advisor to Lores through the end of the year, the company said.