HP Partners: Executive Promotions 'All Positive' For Channel

As part of launching a new organizational structure on Nov. 1, HP is promoting executives including Americas channel chief Stephanie Dismore to influential new roles within the company.

Stephanie Dismore

HP Inc.'s move to promote executives who've worked closely with the North America channel community bodes well for the company's next phase, partners told CRN.

This week, HP announced that its Americas channel chief Stephanie Dismore and its former Americas business president Christoph Schell are set to take on influential new roles at the PC and printer giant as of Nov. 1.

[Related: Incoming HP CEO And CCO On Big Moves To 'Grow Faster Through Partners']

"I think it's all positive," said Larry Fulop, vice president of Tempe, Ariz.-based MicroAge. "Any time you have somebody from the Americas that moves up, and understands the VAR community, and understands the way we go to market in the channel community—it just makes it that much more positive for everybody."

HP will roll out its new organizational structure on Nov. 1, which will be headed by Schell as the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company's first-ever chief commercial officer.

The new commercial organization will move HP from a three-region structure to a set of 10 geographic markets, which will each be led by a managing director who will report to Schell.

For the new North America segment that will include the U.S. and Canada, HP is promoting Dismore to serve as the managing director.

Dismore, currently vice president and general manager of the Americas channel at HP, has spent a total of two decades with the company and has served as an Americas channel vice president since early 2015.

The moves coincide with HP printing business president Enrique Lores taking the reins as CEO on Nov. 1, as current chief executive Dion Weisler steps down.

"Enrique gets the channel, and so does Stephanie. They're committed to our success, and they realize how important the channel is," said Juan Fernandez, vice president of managed IT services at ImageNet Consulting.

The promotion of Dismore, in particular, is a powerful statement about HP's focus on partners, he said.

"She's well respected. I'm excited to see her in that role. I think she's a great fit," Fernandez said. "I really like the way she's handled things. She's very collaborative in her approach."

MicroAge’s Fulop added that he expects Dismore will "continue to be a very partner-friendly executive" as managing director of the North America market at HP.

Significantly, this "wasn't just a single move HP made here. They made all of these moves to channel readiness," Fernandez said. "And Christoph, he's respected as well. He's a great complement to this entire solution."

Schell will be moving to the chief commercial officer position from his current role as president of 3-D printing and manufacturing at HP, which he has held for the past year.

Previously, Schell, who has been with HP for more than two decades, had served as president of the company’s Americas business since 2015.

Jim Sullivan, CEO of Waltham, Mass.-based NWN, said the promotions at HP are a vote of confidence in the executives' channel efforts up to this point.

"I think it's a great endorsement of what they've been doing with their channel," Sullivan said. "I think they're making a lot of great moves, and it's all kind of coming together now. We're really excited about the next steps."

Meanwhile, HP also announced a successor to Lores as president of the printing business. Tuan Tran, an HP veteran who is currently general manager and global head of office printing solutions, will be moving up to become HP's president of Imaging, Printing and Solutions as of Nov. 1.

Lores told CRN that the new organizational structure had been in the works for some time now and was planned regardless of the decision by Weisler, who is stepping down as CEO due to a family health matter. "We are embarking on a multiyear transformation," Lores said.

The moves send a signal that HP will continue to be channel-centric going forward, partners told CRN.

"Any time an organization reduces the amount of levels you have to deal with, or in this case the amount of international regions, that makes it easier" for partners, Fulop said. "I think it's positive for the market, and a positive for the channel and for the VAR community."