HP Names Former GSK Chief Emma Walmsley as CEO

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HP Inc. said on Wednesday, November 4, that its board of directors has unanimously appointed Emma Walmsley as chief executive officer, effective January 4, 2027, the company announced in a press release via Globe Newswire. Walmsley most recently served as chief executive of the drugmaker GSK and has been a member of Microsoft’s board of directors for seven years. She will succeed Bruce Broussard, who has served as interim chief executive since February 2026, and Broussard will become chair of the board on the same day, succeeding Chip Bergh. Reuters reported that HP shares were up 4.6% in early trading after the announcement.

The appointment follows a comprehensive global search for a permanent leader for the Palo Alto-based PC and printer maker. Bergh, chair since 2017 and a director since 2015, said Walmsley stood out for her leadership experience across industries, her strategic clarity and her ability to translate customer insights into growth, and he will continue as chair until Broussard assumes the role on January 4, 2027, the company said. Broussard said HP needs a leader who can capture the opportunities ahead as artificial intelligence moves to the edge.

Walmsley led GSK from April 2017 through December 2025, the company said. During her nearly nine years as chief executive, she led a significant transformation of the biopharmaceutical company, sharpening its focus on specialty medicines and vaccines, reinvigorating its research pipeline and strengthening the balance sheet following the separation of its consumer healthcare business. She joined GSK in 2010, led GSK Consumer Healthcare from 2015 before becoming group chief executive, and earlier spent 17 years at L’Oréal leading major global consumer businesses, the company said. Walmsley said she would focus on harnessing the power of the AI era to unlock new sources of growth.

She takes charge without prior technology hardware experience, Reuters reported, as HP looks to revive a sluggish PC market and capitalize on demand for AI-enabled devices. HP, like peers Dell Technologies, Apple and Lenovo, is caught in a global memory-chip squeeze as AI data center buildouts absorb much of the available capacity, and that strain showed in HP’s third-quarter results in August, when PC shipments fell 16% even as the unit’s revenue rose 18% on pricier, higher-margin products including AI PCs, Reuters reported. The company said in a September SEC filing that it is not providing a financial outlook for fiscal 2027 and assumes industry-wide PC unit volumes will decline in the mid-single digits next year, Reuters reported. The early share gain lifted HP’s market capitalization, explained in our library, and readers can follow further leadership changes on our Corporate America desk.

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