HP’s Luciana Broggi Will Have ‘Big Shoes to Fill’ After Schell Departure

HP taps Broggi, a company veteran, to step into chief commercial officer role and lead channel program, replacing Christoph Schell, who’s leaving for Intel. ‘I’d like to see her as a permanent replacement. That would give the business continuity,’ says one partner.

HP Inc. on Friday named 30-year veteran Luciana Broggi as the acting chief commercial officer after news broke that Christoph Schell was leaving the role for a post at Intel.

Schell, a 25-year HP veteran, was the lead for the company’s huge global channel program, with HP’s channel chiefs reporting directly to him. Broggi was the company’s former global channel chief.

“We are grateful for Christoph’s many contributions to our business during his 25 years of service to HP and we wish him continued success,” HP said through a spokesperson in a statement.

Channel partners will surely keep a close eye on the developments, as the role directly impacts their business. High demand has led to record sales, but also a massive backlog because of COVID-19- related supply issues.

Bob Venero, CEO of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-headquartered solution provider Future Tech Enterprise, said Broggi has “big shoes to fill” as the acting replacement for Christoph Schell.

“Christoph was a very operationally efficient leader,” said Venero, who has partnered with HP for 25 years. “Whenever we had challenges that needed executive oversight and support we would reach out to Christoph and he would help resolve the challenge in a very timely fashion. He was a no nonsense leader who was always accessible to partners.”

The biggest challenge facing HP is the “lack of product” due to the chip shortage and the supply chain crisis, said Venero. “That is not just an HP challenge but HP right now seems to be feeling the impact of the supply chain crisis more than some of the others,” he said.

Venero said whoever is the permanent replacement for Schell needs to step up and do a better job of communicating with partners on the supply chain issues. “HP needs to over-communicate to the partner community about the challenge that it is facing with extended lead times and lack of equipment availability so that we can define what our business is with HP over the next six to nine months,” he said.

Mike Turicchi, vice president at Gainesville, Va.-based NCS Technologies, is taking a cautiously optimistic approach. He was happy to learn that Broggi was stepping in. “I’d like to see her as a permanent replacement,” he said. “That would give the business continuity.”

The supply chain issues have caused him some pain as well, but he thinks the company is on the right path: “Christoph built a great program. I wouldn’t expect to see any drastic changes.”