Hewlett Packard Enterprise has appointed Sheila Rohra as chief operating officer of its Hybrid Cloud business. Rohra resigned as CEO of Hitachi Vantara at the end of March. She is an HPE returnee who previously served as SVP and general manager of the Data Infrastructure Business before joining NetApp in August 2021.

The hire adds a second executive with the COO title. John F. Schultz already holds the title of EVP, chief operating and legal officer. Schultz runs operations, legal, and administrative affairs. He previously served as general counsel at HPE and at HP. Schultz is a lawyer. Rohra is a transformation specialist.

What is the strategic rationale?

Fidelma Russo, EVP and general manager of Hybrid Cloud and HPE's chief technology officer, will be Rohra's boss. Russo tied the appointment to enterprise AI demand. "AI is reshaping enterprise technology, and hybrid cloud is the essential foundation for organizations to harness their data, modernize infrastructure and scale AI securely," she said. Rohra will be responsible for accelerating execution, innovation, growth, and scale across the entire HPE hybrid cloud portfolio, including GreenLake, storage, private cloud, and virtualization.

Rohra echoed the framing without committing to specific targets. "I am excited to rejoin HPE at such an important moment for our customers and the industry," she said. She named GreenLake, storage, private cloud, virtualization, and cloud software as her focus areas.

Caveat: neither statement carries a revenue figure, a customer count, or a ship date for a named product.

Why did Rohra leave Hitachi Vantara?

Hitachi said the departure was for personal reasons. Akinobu Shimada, a Hitachi executive, took over as CEO on 1 April 2026. The resignation followed January 2026 reports that Hitachi was exploring a sale of the storage unit for up to ¥200 billion ($1.3 billion). The unit has not been sold.

The leadership change occurred in the same month Lenovo completed its acquisition of Infinidat, a competing storage array supplier. Hitachi Vantara continues to develop products and grow revenue, per public statements from the company.

What is happening to Hitachi Vantara's leadership?

At least three other senior executives have departed since the potential sale became public:

• Jason Hardy, CTO, left in February 2026 and joined Nvidia as VP of storage technology.
• Greg Knieriemen, senior director of global sales enablement, left in June 2026 and joined Quantum.
• Gary Lyng, VP of product and solutions marketing and analyst relations, left in February 2026 and joined EQIQ Partners.

The pattern of senior departures from engineering, sales enablement, and product marketing raises questions about roadmap continuity inside the unit. Hitachi has not commented on whether further executive changes are planned.

What is Rohra's track record?

Rohra's career has traced a path through Cisco, NetApp, HPE, and Hitachi Vantara. She joined NetApp as SVP of customer success in August 2021. She moved to Hitachi Vantara as chief business officer in February 2023. She became CEO five months later, in July 2023. She held the CEO role from July 2023 until stepping down at the end of March 2026. She now returns to HPE, where she previously held a general management role.

What is the competitive context?

Rohra's appointment lands as enterprise storage and hybrid cloud consolidate. Lenovo's Infinidat deal closed in April 2026. Dell, IBM, and the public cloud majors continue to compete for the same workloads. The enterprise storage market continues to consolidate around a handful of large vendors, and the timing of HPE's hire suggests the company sees an opening to gain share.

Caveat: HPE did not name a start date for Rohra or a revenue target for hybrid cloud. The Hitachi Vantara unit remains unsold with a new CEO in place, and any shift in the sale timetable would reshape the competitive picture for all three vendors in the enterprise storage market.