HPE Channel Chief George Hope Fills Executive Position Vacancy

HPE channel chief George Hope is the new top dog for partners at the technology giant, the company announced today. The search for a new worldwide head of partner sales was on when Paul Hunter moved into a new position at the company.

Hunter, a 15-year HPE veteran, was the company’s channel chief for about three years. He is now the managing director for North America. Hope’s most recent position at HPE was vice president, worldwide distribution, a job he took on in November 2017. Hope joined HPE when it acquired SimpliVity almost four years ago.

HPE’s George Hope

“I am deeply committed to HPE’s partner community — I consider them our own team members and aim to bring the same ‘partner-first’ philosophy I’ve held for the past two decades into my new position. I look forward to working with our channel to capture market trends and opportunities, and deliver better outcomes to our shared customers,” Hope wrote in a blog.

Hope will continue to lead worldwide distribution for the time being. He will “prepare the ground for a further evolution of the role of HPE distributors that will expand opportunities for all of our partners,” he said.

In fact, Hope is attending HPE’s third annual Distribution Partner Conference (virtual), where he introduced initiatives, based on partner feedback, to better enable distributors and partners monetize their as-a-service strategies.

Channel Experience

Hunter said this about his successor:

HPE’s Paul Hunter

“I have worked very closely with George Hope over the past three years. I can definitely say that our partners could not be in better hands. He is an incredibly talented leader who lives and breathes channel. He played a key role in helping HPE deepen its collaboration with partners with a One Team approach — listening to and understanding their most pressing needs and using their feedback to design initiatives and programs. Congratulations on a richly deserved appointment, George!” he wrote on LinkedIn.

Before Hope joined HPE in 2017, he was vice president, global channels at SimpliVity. He soon moved up to vice president, worldwide SMB. He held this job for six months before leading moving into his distribution role.

Prior to that, he worked at EMC for 16 years, in multiple senior channel-related roles.