Hewlett-Packard's CEO and president is now also the vendor's chairman of the board.
Meg Whitman was appointed to lead the 12-member body given Ralph Whitworth's stepping down due to health issues.
Other new appointments include Pat Russo named as lead independent director and Alcoa CEO Klaus Kleinfeld as a new board member.
Whitman joined the board in January 2011 and was named CEO in September 2011. Russo has been a director at the company since 2011 as well.
Whitworth, the departing interim chairman, said he was happy to see Whitman take his place as chairman.
"I'm extremely pleased that the board has elected Meg its chairman and Pat lead independent director," Whitworth said. "HP is in great hands."
The 56-year-old Alcoa CEO, Kleinfeld, also serves as its chairman. Before his reign at Alcoa, Kleinfeld worked at Siemens for 20 years. He became its CEO and propelled the company to success by refocusing its core strategies as well.
Whitman got her notoriety from being CEO at eBay. She took over for Leo Apotheker after his run of poor results and other problems at HP. According to one report, HP is gaining some momentum again during the turnaround period that began a couple years ago. However, that momentum hasn't yielded the results many hoped for.
HP's biggest competitor is IBM. IBM has the upper hand in markets right now, particularly for small and midsize businesses (SMBs) that are looking for turnkey cloud and mobile business solutions. HP is certainly improving its game plan and trying to expand its offerings, but it may take a little longer than anticipated.
One of HP's channel providers in Canada reportedly praised Whitman for what she has done to turn around the company. It could be a clear indication that Whitman's consolidated power has to do with that success. Holding three top positions at a worldwide technology firm's board of directors surely isn't easy to accomplish.
Yesterday, the company reportedly showed a stock decline at -1.12 and closed at $34.43. Profits aren't improving very quickly at the company.
