Intel Lures HP Veteran as its New Commercial Chief

Intel has selected Christoph Schell to succeed Michelle Johnston Holthaus as the chip maker’s new Chief Commercial Officer.

Scheell will officially take over leadership of the company’s Sales, Marketing and Communications Group (SMG) on March 14, while Johnston will take on a new role as General Manager of Intel’s Client Computing Group (CCG).

As the tech firm’s Chief Commercial Officer, Schell will report directly to CEO Pat Gelsinger and lead the company’s efforts to foster innovative sales and marketing approaches that broaden Intel’s global business opportunities and customer relationships.

He joins Intel after a 25-year career at HP, including his most recent role as its Chief Commercial Officer. Before he left the computer company, Scheell led its customer and partner success, category management, customer support, and go-to-market teams. However, his long tenure at HP was bisected by a stint at Philips, where he led its lighting business across the Asia Pacific, Japan, Africa, Russia, India, Central Asia and the Middle East.

“He brings expertise in understanding business segments, verticals and the solutions and services customers want,” Gelsinger stated in the company’s announcement. “I’m confident Christoph is the right leader to take on this critical role and guide the talented SMG organization to achieve our growing ambitions.”

Gelsinger, who took over the multinational tech behemoth in February 2021, has been busy reshaping the company. Over the past 12 months, Intel has named Christy Pambianchi as its new Chief People Officer, selected David Zinsner as its new CFO, poached Jeff Wilcox from Apple and created four new business units.

Gelsinger added, “We are harnessing our core strengths as an advantage to grow in our traditional markets and accelerate our entry into new ones.”

Intel has long been working to bring a graphic processing unit (GPU) to market, its first foray into the arena dominated by rivals AMD and Nvidia. However, the new chip, which is due to be released sometime in Q1 2022, may have been quietly pushed to later this year as the company’s landing page removed “Q1” and now states "coming 2022.”