HP CEO Meg Whitman
Two days after Hewlett-Packard said its chairman had resigned due to ill health, the company has named a replacement: President and CEO Meg Whitman.
Whitman is now chairman of HP's board in addition to her other roles. It's a sign of HP's confidence in Whitman as she continues a multiyear effort to get the lumbering Silicon Valley giant back on track.
Whitman replaces Ralph Whitworth, an activist investor who was made interim chairman of HP last year but resigned Tuesday, reportedly suffering from cancer.
HP also said Pat Russo, a former CEO of Alcatel-Lucent and an HP board member since 2011, has become HP's lead independent director. And HP named a new board member, Klaus Kleinfeld, the CEO of metals giant Alcoa,
Whitman joined HP's board in early 2011 and was made president and CEO later that year. She was tasked with getting the company back on track after a difficult year under Leo Apotheker, who came in to replace Mark Hurd.
Whitman was formerly president and CEO of eBay from 1998 to 2008, a job she left for an unsuccessful bid to become governor of California.
James Niccolai covers data centers and general technology news for IDG News Service. Follow James on Twitter at @jniccolai. James's e-mail address is james_niccolai@idg.com
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