HP Checks Its Heir Supply

Now that Mark Hurd has resigned as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, to whom will the company look to replace him? If HP’s directors are smart, they’ll give Apple’s (AAPL) Tim Cook a call, but realistically who are they likely to consider? Three names spring immediately to mind:

• Ann Livermore, vice president of HP’s (HPQ) $54 billion Enterprise Business, who has been twice passed over for the CEO spot.
• Todd Bradley, executive VP of HP’s Personal Systems Group, a $42 billion business.
• Kevin Johnson, who before becoming CEO of Juniper Network (JNPR) headed up Microsoft’s (MSFT) Platforms & Services Division.

Of course at this point there are a lot of names starting to be tossed around, some greater longshots than others. Among them: Vyomesh Joshi, who runs HP’s printing business; HP board member Marc Andreessen, who is on the CEO search committee; perhaps one of the IBM execs now angling to eventually replace CEO Sam Palmisano; maybe an exec from Cisco or Microsoft; or maybe even someone from outside of tech, like Ford CEO Alan Mulally. In any case, it’s game on for one of Silicon Valley’s favorite speculative pastimes.