Hewlett-Packard (HP) has taken on board a second former Palm executive to handle its personal systems group. Satjiv Chahil has joined HP as senior vice president of marketing for the PC division, the company announced.
In June, HP split its recently merged printer and personal computer groups back into two separate divisions. At the same time, the company put Todd Bradley, former Palm chief executive officer, in charge of the personal systems group as its executive vice president. The division produces handheld, notebook and desktop PCs and has had its share of financial struggles. However, when HP announced its most recent financial results for its third fiscal quarter, the PC unit performed well, improving its revenue by 8 percent year over year and growing unit shipments by 14 percent.
The previous lead HP executive in charge of marketing for the company's personal systems group, Deb Nelson, has already moved over to an equivalent role at the firm's technology solutions group, according to an HP company spokesperson.
Chahil has had a 30-year career with technology companies including stints at both Sony and Apple Computer. He was most recently advisor to the chairman of Palm, a board member of PalmSource and chairman of Palm spin-off Mobile Digital Media.
Palm makes personal digital assistants, smart phones and accessories for those devices, while its PalmSource spin-off focuses on marketing the Palm operating system. In his five years at Palm, Chahil also held the positions of chief marketing officer and interim chief operating officer when he focused on establishing Palm's worldwide brand and defining the mobile computing market segment.
One of Chahil's top priorities in his new role at HP will be to focus on expanding the company's presence among small to midsize businesses, according to a statement from Bradley quoted in the release.