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Hewlett Packard Enterprise CTO and COO to leave company

Meanwhile Informatica appoints new CIO, who will report to the CFO - an arrangement some technology leaders find untenable

Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has announced that CTO Martin Fink and COO John Hinshaw are both to leave the organisation.

HP Labs head Fink, a 30-year veteran of the firm, will continue until his retirement at the end of 2016.

"Martin has had a remarkable career, driving some of our most important initiatives, including our cloud, open source and Linux strategies and leading the Business Critical Systems division," wrote HPE CEO Meg Whitman on a corporate blog.

HPE Labs will now move into the firm's Enterprise Group under executive vice president Antonio Neri.

Whitman also announced the departure of Hinshaw, who previously ran technology and operations at the firm, but more recently took the title chief customer officer.

Attempting a positive spin on the news, Whitman added that these changes will help research and development work on The Machine, HPE's idea to reinvent computer architecture based on the concept of memory-driven computing.

"This move will also help align our R&D work on The Machine with the business, particularly how we integrate key components like photonics and memristors into existing product lines, by bringing together our innovation roadmap with our business roadmap," she said.

"Our plans to preview The Machine prototype by the end of this year remain on track. The Machine has been a passion of Martin's for nearly 10 years. The prototype will bring The Machine to life and serve as the capstone of Martin's leadership."

Meanwhile, data management provider Informatica has appointed former BAE Systems CIO Graeme Thompson as CIO, reporting to Doug Barnett, executive vice president and chief financial officer.

However, some CIOs feel that the role should report directly in to the CEO, rather than the CFO. Mark Ridley, until recently the CIO of online recruitment firm reed.co.uk, explained that the importance of digital transformation creates a need for technology leaders to have a direct route to the CEO.

"The CFO role, despite its position at the heart of the executive board, is not best placed to lead any technology function in a modern business," he argued.

"In part, this is due to the focus and scope required by all of the CFO responsibilities. But in a greater sense, technology is now the empowering thread that runs throughout a company. Every executive role, from sales, to marketing and operations is dependent on technology to provide strategic differentiation. With disruption and innovation high on corporate agendas, and the challenge of digital transformation for traditional businesses, it's critical that the CIO, CTO or CDO reports directly to the strong, visionary leadership of the CEO.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise CTO and COO to leave company

Meanwhile Informatica appoints new CIO, who will report to the CFO - an arrangement some technology leaders find untenable

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