Paul Tsaparis’ career path isn’t typical of today’s workers: The president and CEO of Hewlett-Packard (Canada) Co. has been with the same company for the past 22 years.
Tsaparis joined the Canadian arm of HP in August, 1984 as a marketing program manager and worked his way up to CEO in 1998. Tsaparis first heard about the marketing job from a friend as he was about to graduate from York University’s MBA program. His friend’s boyfriend worked at HP and couldn’t stop raving about the company’s values. Tsaparis was intrigued.
“I wanted to make sure that those values were used as a foundation.”
And it is those same values that keep Tsaparis at HP, despite job offers from other companies.
“The organizational value of trust and respect for individuals, team work and innovation. Those kinds of fundamental organizational values resonated.”
The most challenging aspect of his career came when HP bought Compaq and the two firms had to be integrated. But both companies shared a core value – treating other people with respect – making the job easier, Tsaparis said.
Looking back, the only thing he’d do differently would be to move faster when large changes were afoot.
The channel is an integral part of HP’s overall strategy, Tsaparis said. “The channel is the competitive edge for HP here in Canada and around the globe.”
