Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) today said it promoted Antonio Neri to president. It’s a newly created position that comes as HPE attempts to transform itself into a smaller, more profitable company.
Neri previously served as executive VP and GM, enterprise group, at HPE.
In his new role, Neri will oversee the company’s efforts to streamline and boost profits following the completion of its spin-offs of its software and enterprise services businesses. These efforts, which the company calls HPE Next, are a big part of its plan to drive growth and sales.
HPE had a disappointing second quarter, in large part due to declining server revenue, which dropped 14 percent year over year.
On the May 31 earnings call, HPE CFO Tim Stonesifer said the company would shift its focus from servers to “more profitable areas.” He also said the company would cut costs by between $200 million to $300 million in this second half of this year.
Neri spent the last 22 years at HP and HPE, which formed when CEO Meg Whitman split HP into two companies: HP Inc. and HPE.
In a statement, Whitman said Neri has “led some of the most important businesses and initiatives at HP” during his tenure. She cited the acquisitions of Aruba, SGI, SimpliVity, and Nimble Storage. “Antonio has been invaluable to me as we have worked to establish the new Hewlett Packard Enterprise,” Whitman said. “His promotion reflects the importance of his contributions to the company as leader of the enterprise group, which represents more than 80 percent of the go-forward company’s revenue.”
The move positions Neri to become HPE’s next CEO, CRN reports.
“This clearly lines up Neri to be the next in line to take the reins of HPE, there is no question about it,” Bob Venero, CEO Future Tech told CRN. “This looks like it is Whitman staying true to her statement that the next CEO of HPE would be born and bred in the HPE family.”
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