Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

HP has named former eBay CEO and 2010 Republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman as president and CEO effective immediately, the company announced today.

Whitman, an Atherton resident, replaces Leo Apotheker, who departs after less than a year on the job.

In a statement, the HP board said Whitman, who herself joined the HP board eight months ago, possesses “additional attributes” to help the company execute its strategy.

“We are at a critical moment and we need renewed leadership to successfully implement our strategy and take advantage of the market opportunities ahead,” said Ray Lane, executive chairman of the board.

“Meg is a technology visionary with a proven track record of execution. She is a strong communicator who is customer focused with deep leadership capabilities.”

Lane said board members “very much appreciate” Apotheker’s efforts since he joined the company last year.

“I am honored and excited to lead HP,” Whitman said. “I believe HP matters — it matters to Silicon Valley, California, the country and the world.”

The company’s board met Wednesday and today to consider replacing Apotheker, whose 11-month tenure has seen a more than 40 percent drop in the company’s share price.

Investor confidence further weakened last month when the company announced a major strategy shift, saying it would spin off its personal computer business, discontinue its new tablet products and acquire the British software company Autonomy Corp.

Six of the company’s 14 board members are new to the board this year.

Apotheker was appointed to head HP last Sept. 30, replacing Mark Hurd. Hurd resigned in August 2010 after the company said it found discrepancies in his expense reporting and investigated sexual harassment allegations against him.

By Chris Kenrick

By Chris Kenrick

By Chris Kenrick

  • 7219_full-1
    Meg Whitman speaks at the Tech Museum in San Jose, on Feb. 17, 2009. Photo by Max Morse.
  • 7220_full-1
    HP CEO Leo Apotheker.

Most Popular

Menlo-Atherton students suspected of bringing gun to school, police sayMenlo-Atherton students suspected of bringing gun to school, police sayMarch 12, 2026 4:02 pm
‘She’s a legend’: A longtime Woodside bartender and community figure is now serving espressos from her own coffee trailer‘She’s a legend’: A longtime Woodside bartender and community figure is now serving espressos from her own coffee trailerMarch 11, 2026 5:10 pm
Group aims to recall Sequoia Union board over high school's closureGroup aims to recall Sequoia Union board over high school's closureMarch 11, 2026 5:23 pm

Join the Conversation

11 Comments

  1. Whitman? Oy vey!

    Misters Hewlett and Packard must be spinning in their graves faster than an HP Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) Enterprise Hard Drive at 10k-RPM.

  3. Ms. Whitman is a stunning leader, and reat for HP. will be g

    A friend of mine posted something today on facebook that I thought was interesting:

    Silicon Valley fails on CEO optimization algorithms this past year. Carol Bartz should have gone to HP and Meg Whitman should have gone to Yahoo

    This is an interesting take: Ms. Bartz has a great deal of Hardware and Systems experience (DEC, Sun, AutoDesk) and clearly Ms. Whitman has the Internet expertise from eBay.

    Silicon Valley is not always perfect.

    Roy Thiele-Sardina

  4. If Meg does make a success, this area is famous for being friends of the successful on the right. An idea is to invest heavily in companies which deal in products for chapped lips and wholesale tuna for all those elegant parties you will be welcoming her back with.

    verification code IS correct.

  6. I HAVE MISSED THE MOST HONEST PERSON. THANK YOU R.GORDON.

    SOME PEOPLE CANNOT BEAR TO BE WITHOUT YOU. LIKE ME AND THE MENLO VOT
    ERS.
    YES, HE HAS BEEN MISSED.

  7. I WILL MOST DEFINITELY BE LOOKING FOR SOME HUGE CHANGES I HAVE HEARD THAT MEG HAS PLANNED AND IT IS GOING TO TROUBLE A LOT OF PEOPLE WHEN SHE UNVEILS HER NEW ALLIES…………AND THEY WILL NOT BE LOCALS.

  8. Chandu said “this area is famous for being friends of the successful on the right.”

    You think that’s limited to the Bay Area? Have you ever been to New York, LA, Washington, Chicago, Sacramento…

  10. I do believe that POGO did NOT get the point. Those OTHER areas are NOT in this richest COUNTY in the COUNTRY.
    WAKE UP and stop defending the indefensible who are still being investigated, while fellow Republican IS doing the giving of millions for learning institutions, which is not the case of most of her detractors or,most of you.
    The loss of Perry to Cain should be a much bigger problem to your way of focussing on Meg. That is why she is commendable.She does good while she ignores most unworthy criticism.

Leave a comment