Less than two months after casting controversial Carly Fiorina out of the company, Hewlett-Packard (HP) this week selected NCR veteran Mark Hurd to be its next CEO. Hurd, unlike Fiorina, is a bland and traditional chief executive with a record of cost-cutting and fiscal stability. Hurd had been CEO of NCR since 2003, but he joined that company 25 years earlier.
"HP is one of the world's great companies, with a proud history of innovation, outstanding talent and enviable positions in many of its product lines and services," Hurd wrote in a statement HP issued this morning. "It's a great honor to join its leadership team and have the opportunity to build on its success."
HP's selection of Hurd as CEO likely means the company won't make any drastic changes to its sprawling business, which has been reeling since its 2002 acquisition of Compaq. Like the automaker General Motors (GM), HP lacks a consistent identity and sells many overlapping products. Managing the complexity of HP will likely be Hurd's most daunting challenge.
Hurd will start at HP on April 1 and join the company's board of directors. Technically, Hurd succeeds Robert Wayman, HP's CFO, who had also been working in the capacity of interim CEO since Fiorina was dismissed. Wayman will continue as HP CFO.
