Hewlett-Packard on Thursday said it has hired Stephen DeWitt, former chairman of server-appliance maker Azul Systems, to head HP's Personal Systems Group in the United States, Canada, and Latin America.

DeWitt, 42, is responsible for driving the marketing, sales, and operation strategy for the group. The PSG's portfolio includes PCs, mobile products, client virtualization and connected entertainment solutions, Internet services, and support for consumers, small to midsize businesses, and enterprise customers. DeWitt's title is senior VP, and he reports to Todd Bradley, HP's PSG executive VP.

DeWitt has more than 20 years experience as a technology executive driving product development, operations, marketing, direct and indirect sales, and customer support, Bradley said in a statement. "He has demonstrated his ability to forge high-performing teams that architect and execute aggressive strategies for profitable growth across a variety of Silicon Valley innovators, and I'm confident he'll do the same for PSG's largest region."

Before joining HP, DeWitt served as president and chief executive for Azul Systems, and most recently as chairman. Prior to Azul, DeWitt was VP and general manager of content delivery and edge computing at Sun Microsystems. DeWitt joined Sun through the acquisition of Cobalt Networks, where he was president and chief executive. DeWitt also held executive positions at Cisco Systems and Symantec.

DeWitt replaces Mike Larson, who is retiring following a dozen years as an executive for HP and Compaq, which was acquired by HP in 2002.

HP last month reported a 38% jump in profits in the first fiscal quarter, ended Jan. 31, on higher revenue across its core businesses of PCs, servers, and printers. If HP's core businesses continue to thrive, then the company is expected to funnel the money into expanding its software and services businesses.