HP Inc. has named Emma Walmsley, the former chief executive of GSK, as its next CEO, effective January 4, 2027. The company announced the unanimous board decision on November 4, ending a search that began after Enrique Lores left in February.
Who takes over and when
Walmsley succeeds Bruce Broussard, who has led HP as interim CEO since February 2026. On the same January date, Broussard becomes chair of the board, taking over from Chip Bergh, who has chaired it since 2017 and has been a director since 2015. HP described the process as a global search, and Bergh called it an intentional and rigorous one, according to the company's press release.
Walmsley led GSK from April 2017 through December 2025. She joined the drugmaker in 2010, ran its consumer healthcare business from 2015 and then became group CEO. Before GSK she spent 17 years at L'Oreal, and she has sat on Microsoft's board for seven years. HP's release credits her at GSK with sharpening the focus on specialty medicines and vaccines and strengthening the balance sheet after the consumer healthcare separation.
HP's own framing leans on her cross-industry leadership. Bergh described her as a people-first leader, and Walmsley said she wants to harness the AI era. Broussard said HP is at an important inflection point in technology.
How the leadership gap arose
HP announced on February 3 that Lores was stepping down as president, CEO and board member to pursue another professional opportunity, and that Broussard, a former Humana chief executive, would act as interim CEO. The company did not say in that announcement where Lores was going. The appointment of a permanent successor about nine months later is the point at which the interim label comes off the top job.
What the SEC filing shows about her pay
HP filed a Form 8-K that summarises Walmsley's offer letter, dated November 3, and a separate sign-on bonus agreement. Her base salary is $1.45 million a year, with an annual bonus target of 200 percent of base salary, prorated for fiscal 2027.
Her regular equity for fiscal 2027 is a time-vesting restricted stock grant valued at $6.45 million plus performance-adjusted restricted stock units with a target value of $15.05 million. HP says those awards are on the same terms as those of other senior executives and are not prorated.
The larger item is a one-time inducement award worth $30 million, split evenly between time-vesting stock units and performance units, at $15 million each. The filing says the board relied on the New York Stock Exchange exemption that lets companies grant inducement awards without a shareholder vote. The vesting terms for the performance portion are due to be approved by the board in January 2027.
She also receives a $2.5 million sign-on bonus, which she must repay in part if she leaves voluntarily or is terminated for misconduct within 12 months of starting. HP will cover up to $2.5 million of relocation costs in her first year. For two years after her start date, or until the inducement award fully vests if that is later, she is covered by the company's executive severance plan on terms no less favourable than those in force at her start.
What it means for HP customers
Nothing changes for people who buy HP laptops or printers before January. The announcement came with no new product plans, targets or financial guidance, and the coverage we reviewed does not include a market reaction we could verify. One outlet's page showed HP shares down 1.64 percent, but it did not tie the move to the news, so we do not treat it as a reaction.
Several outlets repeat HP's own language that the company wants to pursue growth in AI-enabled devices and connected computing. That is a direction set out in the announcement, not a plan with numbers behind it.
What to watch next
The first test comes when Walmsley starts on January 4 and sets out her priorities, along with the board's January decision on the performance terms of her inducement award. Investors will also look for HP's next quarterly results and any update to its outlook, which will show whether the leadership change comes with a shift in strategy.
Published 6 November 2026. Gadgets365 will update this article as more information becomes available.
