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HPE sales chief Peter Ryan abandons ship amid downsizing ploy

CSO said to have quit to spend more time with family in UK

HPE global sales chieftan Peter Ryan has quit the company after just over a year of relentless travel away from his family in the UK.

In an internal mail seen by The Reg, Antonio Neri, EVP and general manager of HPE's Enterprise Group, wrote:

It's with mixed emotions that I announce Peter Ryan is leaving HPE on September 1. Since taking the role of Chief Sales Officer, Peter has continuously been on the road meeting with customers and partners, as well as commuting from the US to the UK where his family resides. Peter has made the difficult decision to leave HPE and move back to the UK so he can see his family on a more regular basis...

Our salesforce is a critical part of our team and I need your help to close the year strong. To this end, I will act as the interim head of sales to ensure we stay on track in Q4. I expect to have a new leader for Global Sales in place before the start of the new fiscal year.

Ryan was appointed CSO in July 2016 after running HPE's EMEA operation since May 2012. Before that he was chief client officer at Logica for 10 months, and SVP then EVP in sales at Sun Microsystems between 2006 and 2010. We understand he was spending alternate two-week stints in the USA and UK, apparently not willing or able to relocate his family.

His departure comes in the midst of the "HPE Next" initiative, which started in June and involves a review of all HPE's processes and accountabilities, as well as right-sizing the end-to-end cost structures inside the business. Jon Faust – SVP of finance, worldwide FP&A and Global Functions – runs the HPE Next Leadership Management Office and the project planning phase is set to finish by November 1.

In fiscal 2009 HP revenues were $114.6bn. After splitting from PCs and printers, its fiscal 2016 revenues were $50.1bn. But since then the Enterprise Services division was spun off, and the software business is about to find a new home at Microfocus, clipping the top line further.

Big long-term bets like The Machine and composable infrastructure are yet to pay off, and the company has made recent acquisitions to fill product portfolio holes – Aruba, SimpliVity, SGI and Nimble Storage. ®

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