HP’s channel chief Stephen DiFranco has been appointed to
senior vice president and general manager for the Americas region of HP’s
Personal Systems Group (PSG). DiFranco
will continue to lead the solution provider program until a replacement is
named, HP said. HP has commenced a search for a new channel chief.
DiFranco’s move to PSG comes just over a year after he
joined HP from Lenovo where he served as vice president of consumer and commercial
channels. He replaced Adrian Jones, who has since joined Oracle.
As channel chief DiFranco focused on making it easier for
partners to do business with HP.
In his new role, DiFranco will report directly to Todd
Bradley, executive vice president of PSG.
DiFranco is replacing Stephen DeWitt who has been named
senior vice president and general manager of the WebOS global business unit.
“Stephen DiFranco has
shown the leadership and operational discipline that exemplifies our executive
bench,” said Todd Bradley, in a prepared statement. “His experience driving
profitable growth with our channel partners will be essential to leading PSG’s
business across the Americas region.”
In his new role,
DiFranco will be responsible for driving the marketing, sales and operations
strategy for the continued growth of PSG in the United States, Canada and Latin
America. DiFranco will be responsible for the financial performance of both the
commercial and consumer business.
DiFranco’s move comes
amid a series of changes in management at HP, following the appointment of new
CEO Leo Apotheker in November 2010 and the ouster of his predecessor Mark Hurd.
Hewlett-Packard 
