Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) has elevated Bill Veghte to chief operating officer and named George Kadifa executive vice president of the company’s software business.
Kadifa will report directly to Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman, the Palo Alto, California-based company said today in a statement.
Veghte will work closely with Whitman on projects affecting operational success. Both appointments are effective immediately.
Whitman is cutting jobs and streamlining businesses as Hewlett-Packard grapples with slower demand for printers, services and data-center equipment. Customers want help modernizing business applications, retooling data centers for Internet-delivered cloud-computing software, and analyzing reams of data.
“Bill has done an excellent job delivering strong results in HP Software, and more recently helping us focus our efforts in the execution of our strategy,” Whitman said in the statement. Kadifa’s “ability to manage multiple business models will prove extremely valuable to HP as we extend our software offerings in cloud, information and security.”
Earlier this month the company said it would eliminate 27,000 jobs, or about 8 percent of its workforce, through firings and early retirements, a move designed to generate annual savings of as much as $3.5 billion starting in 2014.
