With Intel Chief Commercial Officer Christoph Schell resigning to become the CEO of a German automation company, the head of America sales, Greg Ernst, is stepping in as the interim leader of the chipmaker’s Sales and Marketing Group, which houses its global partner organization.
Intel Chief Commercial Officer Christoph Schell (pictured) is resigning from the company after leading its Sales and Marketing Group since 2022, the chipmaker announced Wednesday.
Schell, who was hired by former Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, informed the company Monday of his decision to leave the company by the end of June to “pursue another career opportunity,” Intel said in a regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
[Related: Intel: ‘Fluid Trade Policies’ Have Increased Risk Of ‘Economic Slowdown’]
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan told employees in a Wednesday memo seen by CRN that Schell is leaving to become CEO of Kuka, a German automation company with annual sales of roughly 4 billion euros and approximately 15,000 employees. Schell has served as a member of Kuka’s supervisory board since 2023, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“Since joining Intel in 2022, Christoph has poured his heart and soul into our business and worked tirelessly in service of our customers,” Tan wrote. “He has helped to steer our Sales and Marketing Group (SMG) through a challenging period and built a strong team along the way. I am grateful for his contributions and wish him success in his next role.”
Greg Ernst, corporate vice president and general manager of Americas sales, “has agreed to step in” as interim leader of SMG—which houses Intel’s global partner organization—Tan said in the memo.
Tan called Ernst a “people-first, customer-centric executive with nearly 20 years of Intel sales experience” and said the sales leader will join the executive team and report to him as “we evaluate the best long-term succession plan.”
“He and I have been spending time together as we do deep dives on key accounts, and I look forward to working more closely with him going forward,” Tan wrote of Ernst.
An Intel spokesperson reiterated Tan’s points about Schell and confirmed that Ernst is becoming SMG’s interim leader in a statement to CRN.
“Greg’s nearly 20 years of Intel sales experience will make this a smooth transition for the team and our customers,” the Intel representative said.
Tan also said in his Wednesday memo that he has “decided to elevate” Jason Grebe, senior vice president and general manager of Intel’s Corporate Planning Group, to the executive team. Grebe previously reported to Schell under SMG.
“This reflects the importance of the group’s work to Intel’s overall execution, as well as the strength of Jason’s leadership build over his three decades of service to Intel,” Tan wrote.
The move by Tan to make Grebe’s position a direct report comes after the CEO announced earlier this month that he is creating a “flatter structure” for his executive leadership team by making more executives report directly to him.
A week after Tan restructured Intel’s executive team, he unveiled a plan last Thursday to make sweeping changes to the company by “streamlining the organization, eliminating management layers and enabling faster decision-making” in his bid to turn around the beleaguered semiconductor giant.
These changes will involve Intel cutting its operating expenses by $500 million this year and another $1 billion next year, which, in turn, will result in an undisclosed number of job cuts, Tan said in a public letter to employees last Thursday.
“I am taking swift actions to drive better execution and operational efficiency while empowering our engineers to create great products,” he said in a public statement. “We are going back to basics by listening to our customers and making the changes needed to build the new Intel.”
This is a breaking news story. It will be updated.
