‘I am not surprised that Elliott would do this,’ says Advizex CEO C.R. Howdyshell. ‘However they could be underestimating the impact of removing Antonio. He has had a big positive effect on HPE internally and on customers and the channel.’

Activist investor Elliott Investment Management is pushing the Hewlett Packard Enterprise board of directors to replace CEO Antonio Neri, according to a report from Semafor.

In addition, Semafor is reporting that the HPE board is expected to meet in the coming days to respond to the Elliott Investment Management proposal to remove Neri, citing people close to the company.

“I am not surprised that Elliott would do this,” said C.R. Howdyshell, CEO of Advizex, a Fulcrum IT Partners company, No. 115 on the 2024 CRN Solution Provider 500. “However, they could be underestimating the impact of removing Antonio. He has had a big positive effect on HPE internally and on customers and the channel. Antonio’s go-to-market has always been focused on the channel. What’s more, he is a technology visionary. Look at the big gains HPE has made in the cloud with HPE GreenLake, Aruba, AI and the potential Juniper acquisition, which effectively transforms HPE into an AI cloud networking company.”

The Semafor report comes after Bloomberg reported earlier this week that Elliott Investment Management has built up a more than $1.5 billion stake in HPE.

Semafor reported that Elliott sent a letter to the HPE board requesting discussions and said it wanted to keep those talks private particularly regarding a potential CEO change.

In a statement provided to CRN, HPE said that it “maintains an ongoing dialogue with our shareholders on a range of issues and values their constructive input. The Board and management regularly assess the strategic direction of the Company with a focus on driving long-term shareholder value. HPE has a proven execution track record and continues to create efficiencies across our operations. We are confident in our strategy of aligning our product portfolio to market inflection points and customer needs and our ability to drive long-term value and success.”

Elliott Investment Management declined to comment.

However, a source close to the matter, confirmed that Elliott is pushing for Neri’s removal.

HPE partners, for their part, say Elliott Investment Management should take into account the technology vision, transformation and channel commitment that has taken place under Neri’s leadership.

“I hope they don’t rush to make any decisions,” said Dan Molina, co-president and chief technology officer of Nth Generation, San Diego, No. 298 on the CRN SP500, regarding the Elliott investment. “HPE has a highly talented leadership team led by Antonio with a vision for the future. Please understand very carefully where the vision is headed and the progress that has been made before making any significant recommendations.”

Since becoming CEO seven years ago, Neri has transformed the one-time piecemeal hardware infrastructure company with storage, networking and compute into an edge-to-cloud services provider with the HPE GreenLake hybrid cloud services platform providing annualized recurring revenue with a higher margin software and services quotient.

Neri sometimes does not get the full credit he deserves as a technology visionary who predicted the market shift to hybrid cloud with HPE GreenLake, the edge computing revolution with the acquisition of Aruba and the power-high performance computing for AI with the acquisition of Cray and Silicon Graphics, said Molina. “It has been amazing to see Antonio lay out his vision and then see HPE execute on that vision,” said Molina.

Molina pointed out that Neri called out that hybrid cloud would be the predominant model even as others were predicting the demise of on-premise compute. What’s more, Neri predicted the edge computing boom when he became CEO, long before the AI explosion made that a foregone conclusion.

“HPE has come out with excellent solutions for connectivity and security with a zero-trust architecture at the edge with Aruba,” Molina said. “That does not take into account the (potential) Juniper Networks acquisition. HPE is providing connectivity for a hybrid workforce in a secure fashion that is needed more than ever before with the current threat security landscape.”

As for the big high-performance compute investments made by Neri, Molina said: “Antonio’s vision around high-performance computing was brilliant. Now HPE is in a great position to deliver compute power for AI workloads, which obviously is here to stay. HPE’s AI strategy is a reflection of a full vision with a turnkey HPE Private Cloud AI solution for our clients, who need help to develop their AI models, use cases and applications in a secure manner. With HPE Private Cloud AI that is exactly what we can deliver.”

Under Neri’s leadership, Nth Generation’s solution sales powered by HPE have increased year after year, said Molina. “I give Antonio a lot of credit for that because of his support for the channel,” he said. “Antonio’s support for the channel has been second to none. Year after year, we continue to see his continued commitment to the channel through training, enablement, marketing development funds, centers of excellence and channel programs.”

Steve Tepedino, president and CEO of IT Partners, Tempe, Arizona, a top HPE enterprise partner, said Neri — who started his career in an HP call center 30 years ago — has always been a big supporter of the channel.

“I’ve known Antonio for many years since he was in the services business at HP and he always has had the mind and heart of the channel in his mind and heart,” said Tepedino. “I have always felt like with Antonio we have a leader that understands what it’s like to be a channel partner and how HPE needs to be a better partner to the channel.”

Tepedino praised Neri’s bold acquisition of Juniper Networks. “The Juniper acquisition was brilliant because not only does it have AI with Mist which is cool,” he said. “But it also gives HPE diversity in its strength as an on-prem IT provider.”

Tepedino said Neri has also shown great vision with his acquisitions of Cray and Silicon Graphic building HPE’s position in high-performance compute. “HPE builds the single biggest and fastest supercomputers on the planet,” he said. “That’s no joke. For those that want to run AI workloads on-prem the DL380 is a beast of an AI server. The density in that system between CPUs and GPUs is so high and it is still air-cooled.”

Sarah Miles, founder and CEO of Milestone Tech, Castle Rock, Colorado, said HPE’s channel commitment under Neri has been unwavering. “HPE absolutely understands the power of the channel and has made the investments in programs and channel reps,” she said.

What’s more, Miles said she has “confidence” in the HPE hybrid cloud product and services portfolio with the investments in AI and the vision for the future.

“I absolutely think hybrid cloud was the right strategy,” she said. “I think in the next five years we are going to see more and more customers who rushed to the cloud come back into a hybrid landscape,” she said.

Matt Zafirovski, CEO of Buffalo Grove, Ill.-based ACP CreativIT, No. 120 on CRN’s Solution Provider 500, said Neri has shown his channel mettle time and time again personally getting involved to help partners win deals. “Antonio flew across the country to meet with the CIO of one of our most important clients,” he said. “That was a big deal for us and a pretty powerful show of just how channel-friendly HPE is. If there are any big issues there is a comfort level in reaching out to Antonio and he is responsive.”

What’s more, the HPE product portfolio is as strong as it has ever been, said Zafirovski. “HPE has a great story to tell with Gen12 servers, high-performance compute, the storage story has sharpened and is far more focused and concise,” he said. That’s a credit to (HPE Hybrid Cloud Executive Vice President and CTO) Fidelma (Russo). Aruba is just an awesome product. The core infrastructure portfolio is terrific. The HPE Private Cloud AI solution is really cool.”

Bob Panos, vice president of sales and services at American Digital, Schaumburg, Ill., praised Neri for bringing game-changing innovation to HPE.

“Antonio has done a great job leading HPE into the future,” he said. “I get that the stock price is depressed and it’s a good buying opportunity, but from a partner and customer perspective the HPE strategy has been super positive.”

Panos said he is particularly excited about HPE’s bold $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks. “That sets up HPE to continue to be a big player with AI,” he said. “The prospects of the HPE-Juniper combination are very exciting for us. HPE has a really good case. We look forward to the deal being completed.”

Panos said his HPE business was up 20 percent in 2024 and continues to be “strong” this year.

The CEO for another top HPE enterprise partner, who did not want to be identified, said Neri’s technology vision put HPE into the lead in the hybrid computing cloud consumption market with HPE GreenLake and led to huge growth at the edge with the HPE Aruba portfolio.

“Antonio has brought HPE tremendous technology vision and has made the full HPE portfolio stronger with HPE GreenLake, HPE Private Cloud AI, storage, compute, Aruba, and even the Juniper Networks acquisition,” said the CEO. “No one has a better portfolio of products in my view than HPE.”

The CEO said Neri’s channel commitment is unmatched by competitors. “Antonio is partner-centric,” said the CEO. “He listens to partners and takes action. He answers the bell. He gets personally involved. He has acted on client challenges multiple times for us.”

Beyond the channel commitment, Neri has powered a cultural transformation at HPE, driving up big gains in HPE employee surveys. “You can see the positive impact that Antonio has made at HPE,” said Molina. “He has brought a culture of care, which has significantly increased under his leadership. Antonio has proven to be a leader who truly cares about people including HPE employees, partners and of course the end user clients.”