MacDonald, a 15-year veteran of HP, will succeed Lannum as head of North America commercial channel, the company disclosed.
HP Inc. has promoted longtime executive Neil MacDonald to become its new North America commercial channel chief, the company disclosed.
MacDonald (pictured), a 15-year HP veteran, succeeds Scott Lannum, who is retiring after an 18-year career at the PC and printer giant, according to HP. Lannum had served as HP’s North America channel chief since late 2019.
The departure of Lannum is certainly a “loss for HP,” though it’s encouraging to see that HP has appointed another internal executive with a lengthy tenure at the company to head its North America channel, said Harry Zarek, president and CEO of Richmond Hill, Ontario-based Compugen, No. 68 on CRN’s Solution Provider 500 for 2026.
Lannum was a “very personable” collaborator with the channel for many years through a period of massive change, Zarek said. In a LinkedIn post, Lannum wrote that he will retire effective July 15, and that he will be taking the time to “explore what’s next.”
CRN has reached out to HP to confirm the planned transition date.
MacDonald’s title is vice president and general manager of the North America commercial channel at HP, the company said.
Most recently, MacDonald has been serving as senior channel director for the U.K. and Ireland. He had been promoted numerous times after initially joining HP in 2011.
MacDonald brings “a strong track record” of enabling growth and “building high-impact partner relationships” across HP’s print, personal systems and services divisions, HP said in a news release.
In terms of top priorities for MacDonald as the new North America channel chief, Compugen’s Zarek said they should include continuing to work closely with partners around the global memory crunch that is impacting PC pricing and availability.
“I would say there are no burning issues other than the supply chain-related issue, which has become a big focus for many of us,” he said.
All in all at HP, “they’re doing well. They’ve got a good portfolio,” Zarek said.
HP also disclosed that Marla Denning has been promoted to serve as vice president and general manager of the North America consumer channel at the company, succeeding Tami Beach.
Prices for memory chips are expected to continue to rise in coming quarters, as expected, HP executives said in late May.
During a call with analysts for HP Inc.’s fiscal second quarter of 2026, ended April 30, executives shared updates on AI PC traction, the memory costs outlook and the search for a permanent CEO. HP surpassed Wall Street expectations for both revenue and earnings during the quarter.
In terms of components pricing, “as anticipated, memory and storage costs increased sequentially” during HP’s fiscal Q2, interim CEO Bruce Broussard said.
In early February, HP disclosed that CEO Enrique Lores had stepped down to become the CEO of PayPal, following a 36-year career with HP. The search continues for a permanent replacement, Broussard said during the call in late May.
