Hewlett Packard Enterprise Loses CIO As It Charts New Course

Hewlett Packard Enterprise, born from the split of Hewlett-Packard into two companies, started its first week of business missing one top executive.

Ralph Loura, who had served as chief information officer of the enterprise business of HP for the past 15 months, has left the company.

A Hewlett Packard Enterprise spokesperson confirmed the departure of Loura, but was unable to provide additional information.

[Related: HP Goes To Clorox For New Enterprise Group CIO]

Loura told CRN via email that he has left HPE, but did not say what his plans are. He said that a lot has changed since he joined HP in July 2014, but that he loves the company's people, products and culture.

"I had an impact while there [and] I helped design the new op model for IT, and designed myself out of it because it was what the new company needed (move from a federated model with group CIOs, to a unified/centralized model with a single CIO)," he wrote to CRN.

Loura's departure was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

In July of last year, Loura joined what was then Hewlett-Packard after spending four years as CIO at consumer products company Clorox.

His departure Monday comes one day after HP split into two companies. HP's legacy enterprise business is now known as Hewlett Packard Enterprise, or HPE, while its legacy PC and printer business is now known as HP Inc.

If Loura wanted to leave Hewlett Packard Enterprise, he picked the right time, said Chris Case, president of Sequel Data Systems, an Austin, Texas-based solution provider and longtime HP partner.

"HP splitting in two makes this a good time for him to make a move, especially with HP starting its fiscal new year," Case told CRN. "I'm not surprised to see changes at the beginning of a new fiscal year. It's the best time for these changes."

PUBLISHED NOV. 3, 2015