One of my more fun jobs around here – not that dealing with the IT analyst community is anything but fun, fun, fun – is presenting the HP corporate overview to IT executives visiting our Executive Briefing Center in Cupertino.  To enliven the part where I talk about the executive team that reports to CEO Mark Hurd I started referring to EVP and Chief Strategy & Technology Officer Shane Robison (bio) as a “secret weapon.” What was pleasantly surprising was how positively this was received by CIOs and other IT executives because they immediately got the implication of what this means to HP and to them as customers.

Basically, Shane wears multiple hats and therein lies an advantage. Almost every major vendor has a CSO (Chief Strategy Officer) and more yet have a CTO (Chief Technology Officer). But it is rare for a single individual to be both.  Plus, our CMO also reports to Shane. So Shane is responsible for setting HP’s strategy, managing the R&D agenda, deciding on M&A directions, focusing intellectual property policy, working on Corporate marketing execution and other tasks. As a consequence, Shane has his hands on a number of strategic levers and dials that he can adjust without having to work through huge internal political issues. For example, HP needs to enter an adjacent market so what to do? Well, Shane can pick between organic development using HP’s top flight R&D machine or pull out the checkbook and buy a company that would speed time-to-market plus give us unique intellectual capital. Or assemble a unique solution from various parts of HP’s internal and external R&D ecosystem.

Because he can’t do it all himself, Shane has put together a great team of top executives who not just report to him, but also collaborate on the tough issues that HP faces. With all these shrewd and wicked smart characters working on the opportunities HP has before it, I have no doubt that AR will have lots of fun talking to the analyst community about game changing moves HP has made.

Bottom Line: CSTO Shane Robison is a smart and determined executive who uses both organizational levers, unique resources and his team to give HP a competitive edge in the marketplace.