HP Fellows

HP Fellows and Senior Fellows

Pioneers in their fields, HP Fellows and Senior Fellows set the standards for technical excellence and drive the direction of technology in their respective disciplines. They are not only exceptional technologists, they are futurists whose contributions shape both HP and our industry as a whole.

HP Senior Fellow

HP Inc.

Chandrakant Patel

HP Senior Fellow and Chief Technologist, HP Inc.

 

Chandrakant Patel is a Senior Fellow at HP Inc. He leads HP’s global technical community and the company’s technology strategy. Chandrakant has delivered innovations in chips, systems, data centers, storage, networking, print engines, and software platforms. A pioneer in thermal and energy management, his research in chip and system cooling led to novel thermo-mechanical architectures in HP’s high-performance computers. He founded the Smart Data Center research program at HP Labs, developed solutions and services, and grew the server and data center infrastructure business. Chandrakant’s technical interests span microbusiness connectivity, AI driven IT solutions for cost and energy reduction, cyber-physical integration, sustainable cities, distributed computing, and 3D printing industrialization.

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HP Fellows

Security and Privacy - Personal Systems Group

Vali Ali

HP Fellow and Chief Technologist, Security and Privacy, Business Personal Systems

 

Vali Ali is an HP Fellow, and the Chief Technologist for Security and Privacy for Personal Systems group. He drives vision, architecture, technology, and evangelization for all security, privacy, and platform enabling hardware, software, and firmware. A keen observer of trends in security, Vali has a track record of seeding ideas and driving them to commercialization. Vali is the chief architect and visionary behind the industry leading firmware protection and recovery solution known as HP SureStart and HP Sure Click.

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HP Security Lab

Boris Balacheff

HP Fellow & Chief Technologist for Security Research and Innovation

 

Boris Balacheff is Chief Technologist for System Security Research and Innovation at HP. He is an early inventor of trusted computing standards and thought leader in endpoint security and resilience, and now leads HP’s Security Lab’s research strategy and shapes HP security technology strategy together with business unit leaders. Boris is passionate about working with customers and partners to best anticipate cyber threat trends, tech trends, and customer needs, to drive research and innovation that can help deliver a safer digital and cyber-physical future.

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HP Inc.

Paul Benning

HP Fellow and Chief Technologist, 3D Print HP Inc.

 

Paul Benning is the Chief Technologist for HP 3D Printing, the newest and fastest growing of HP’s three global business units. Paul is an HP Fellow and is recognized for his depth in MEMS, microfluidics and physical fundamentals. Previously, Paul held a series of positions in HP’s ~$20B Print business including core technology development and new business investigations with his most recent role being Chief Technologist for Print.

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PS organization

Bruce Blaho

HP Fellow & ACS Chief Technologist HP Inc.

 

Bruce Blaho is an HP Fellow and Chief Technologist for the Advanced Compute & Solutions Business Unit in HP Personal Systems, which includes the Workstation, Retail & Industry Solutions, VR, Data Science, and Edge Compute businesses. His focus is on innovation and the development of new growth opportunities. Blaho works closely with the CTO and Strategy offices, other HP business units, and industry partners to spur research, creating and harvesting new intellectual property and technologies that help define the industry’s state-of-the-art.

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Hybrid Systems

Peter Chu

HP Fellow

 

Peter Chu is an HP Fellow for Hybrid Systems. He serves in a "Player-Coach" role for a small team of Audio Technologists who originate new state-art-the-art algorithms, develop production software, and solve customer issues on the HP/Poly video-bars.

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Advanced Compute & Solutions

Perry Lea

HP Fellow, Chief Architect & VP, Personal Systems – Advanced Compute & Solutions

 

Perry Lea is an HP Fellow and Chief Architect for the Advanced Compute & Solutions Business Unit in HP Personal Systems, which includes the Workstation, Retail & Industry Solutions, VR, Data Science, and Edge Compute businesses. Perry’s focus is on high performance computing architectures ranging from machine learning acceleration to esoteric non-von-Neumann computing.  Perry works closely with the HP corporate strategy office as well as each HP business unit.  He maintains close ties with industry partners, academia, and professional societies to build next generation roadmaps and technologies.

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Hybrid Systems

Qian Lin

HP Fellow & Chief Technologist for Machine Learning and Vision Systems in HP Hybrid Systems

 

Qian Lin is the Chief Technologist for Machine Learning and Vision Systems in HP Hybrid Systems. She is also an Adjunct Full Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University. Dr. Lin leads the computer vision and machine learning research and development, with applications in video experience for hybrid work.

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Print

Michael St. Laurent

HP Fellow and Chief Technologist, Print

 

Michael St. Laurent is an HP Fellow and Chief Architect for the Print Software Platforms and Solutions which includes the HP’s Cloud and IoT Platform, Solution offerings as well as HP’s Print apps and drivers.   Michael has focused on delivering a range of innovations and products to market at HP and in the print industry working closely with customers, partners and HP business units across consumer and business markets.

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Chandrakant
Patel

HP Senior Fellow and Chief Technologist, HP Inc.

Chandrakant Patel is a Senior Fellow at HP Inc. He leads HP’s technology strategy and the company’s global technical community. With experience in leadership and innovation, Chandrakant has driven the development of servers and data centers from concept to market. Formerly leading HP Labs, he shaped advancements in storage, networking, print engines, and software platforms. Pioneering energy-efficient data center solutions, he founded the Smart Data Center program at HP. Chandrakant’s technical interests span microbusiness connectivity, AI driven IT solutions for cost and energy reduction, cyber-physical integration, sustainable cities, distributed computing, and 3D printing industrialization.

 

Chandrakant was awarded the prestigious HP Joel Birnbaum award in 2005 for end-to-end management of energy in IT data centers. In 2014, Chandrakant was elected to the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame. In 2018, he was elected to membership in the National Academy of Engineering for contributions in thermal and energy management of information technology systems.

 

Additionally, he has been an adjunct faculty member at Chabot College, the University of California Berkeley Extension, Santa Clara University, and San Jose State University. A Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), he has been granted 167 patents and has authored more than 150 papers. He has served on the board of Mphasis Company in India, and on the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) Industrial Advisory Board at U.C. Berkeley.

Paul
Benning

HP Fellow and Chief Technologist, 3D Print HP Inc.

Paul Benning is the Chief Technologist for HP 3D Printing, the newest and fastest growing of HP’s three global business units. Paul is an HP Fellow and is recognized for his depth in MEMS, microfluidics and physical fundamentals.

 

Previously, Paul held a series of positions in HP’s ~$20B Print business including core technology development and new business investigations with his most recent role being Chief Technologist for Print. Paul works inside HP and with external partners to discover, invent and develop technologies to make life better for everyone, everywhere.

 

Paul has been with HP since 1995. He holds over 35 patents and trade secrets and has authored over 35 publications in fields ranging from microfluidics and 3D printing to Inkjet algorithms and quantum dot devices. He holds a B.S. in Physics and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science.

Boris
Balacheff

HP Fellow & Chief Technologist for Security Research and Innovation

Boris Balacheff is Chief Technologist for System Security Research and Innovation at HP. He leads HP’s Security Lab’s research strategy, from analyzing trends in the threat landscape, to designing security of future endpoint solutions from hardware and firmware, to software, AI and cloud or edge architectures. He and his team drive academic, industry and government collaborations to improve on the state of the art and progress standards, from supply chain security to migration to post-quantum cryptography. 

 

Boris shapes security technology strategy at HP together with business unit leaders. He chairs HP’s security advisory board and works closely with customers, partners, industry analysts and government experts to best anticipate trends and market needs. Boris builds on a long history of leadership in industry standards and academic collaborations. He is currently a director and officer of the Board of the Trusted Computing Group (TCG), where he co-chairs the Certification Program Committee.

 

Named on over 40 US patents, Boris is an inventor of modern approaches to co-designing hardware, firmware and software for security and resilience, and an early contributor to Trusted Computing standards and technologies. He joined HP Labs with a French Diplôme d’Ingénieur degree from ISIMA, a French engineering school in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science.

Qian
Lin

HP Fellow & Chief Technologist for Machine Learning and Vision Systems in HP Hybrid Systems

Dr. Qian Lin is the Chief Technologist for Machine Learning and Vision Systems in HP Hybrid Systems. She is also an Adjunct Full Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University. Dr. Lin leads the machine learning research and development for HP | Poly video products with DirectorAI to enable best video experiences for hybrid work.

 

Prior to joining Hybrid Systems, Dr. Lin led the research and development of HP Pixel Intelligence, an analytics engine for understanding visual information, in HP Personal Systems Software. Developed using the latest deep learning approach for training convolutional neural networks, HP Pixel Intelligence aims to solve HP customer business challenges in industry verticals. Dr. Lin collaborated broadly with technologists, marketing managers, and business leaders across HP businesses to bring the technologies to HP customers. HP’s Personal Computer customers enjoyed better video experience through HP Presence desktop software, powered by HP Pixel Intelligence. HP’s top accounts provide better print experience for their customers with the help of HP Pixel Intelligence. 

 

During her 27+ years at HP, Dr. Lin contributed to a number of key technologies in HP products, as well as mentored and developed engineers and students in imaging and computer vision in HP and partner research organizations. Her first research project at HP was the development of halftoning technologies for HP printers. She invented the adaptive halftoning technology, which produced output with high image quality for HP’s Enterprise and Professional LaserJet and Multifunction Printers. She also worked on digital camera imaging pipeline and co-invented new capture capabilities with panorama stitching and automatic redeye correction. HP’s digital cameras were the first in industry with embedded computation to support these capabilities. Later, she contributed to the image analysis and composition for HP’s Digital Publishing Solutions, as well as image and video analytics for HP’s Enterprise Software. 

 

Dr. Lin joined the Hewlett-Packard Company in 1992. She received her BS from Xi’an Jiaotong University in China, her MSEE from Purdue University, and her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. Dr. Lin is an inventor with 56 issued patents, and has authored 96 research papers. She was awarded Fellowship by the Society of Imaging Science and Technology (IS&T) in 2012, and Outstanding Electrical Engineer by the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Purdue University in 2013. Dr. Lin is the Recipient of The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Achievement Award in 2021. SWE Achievement Award is the organization's highest honor, given annually to a woman engineer who has made outstanding contributions over a significant period of time in any field of engineering. 

Bruce
Blaho

HP Fellow & ACS Chief Technologist HP Inc.

Bruce Blaho is an HP Fellow & ACS Chief Technologist at HP Inc. In this role, Bruce is focused on new  growth, innovation, and technical partnerships. He has driven the "Future of Computing" for leading edge technical professionals for over 38 years.  Bruce joined HP in 1985 to work on the then-emerging field of 3D graphics acceleration. Most of his career has been in the Workstation business, from the early RISC-based days to current PC-based approach which he helped pioneer. During his time in 3D graphics, he architected and wrote the driver for the world’s first 3D GPU accelerator system capable of running in a window system (over a year ahead of perceived industry leader Silicon Graphics). He created and led the HP DreamColor display  program, working closely with DreamWorks Animation and other Hollywood studios, partnering with HP’s Display Business Unit to create a professional monitor which received HP’s first Technical Academy Award in 2015.

 

Another key area of innovation for Bruce has been remote computing. He collaborated with HP Labs and others to lead the development of HP Remote Graphics Software (RGS) which enabled high performance remote computing solutions for professionals. HP remote computing solutions based on RGS “saved Hollywood” during the COVID pandemic by allowing studios to produce content from home while their computers were back in the office, and as a result in 2020 earned HP Inc. its first ever Engineering Emmy award.

 

Most recently Bruce has been working in Data Science and Edge Computing. HP partnered with NVIDIA to bring Data Science Workstations to the market with dramatically better price/performance than cloud or server-based solutions, giving customers new alternatives. He is currently working on the next major disruption in professional personal computing, tapping into "hybrid computing" across local, edge, and cloud resources to provide dramatic improvements in end user productivity and IT resource utilization.

 

Bruce is a graduate of The Ohio State University, where he earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, graduating Summa Cum Laude, and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering, doing his thesis research in robotics. He currently resides in Colorado with his wife, three grown children, and one grandson.

Vali
Ali

HP Fellow and Chief Technologist, Security and Privacy, Business Personal Systems

Vali Ali is an HP Fellow, and the Chief Technologist for Security and Privacy for Personal Systems group in HP; where he is responsible for vision, architecture, and technology development for security and PC platform enabling software and firmware.  His current areas of responsibility span platform Security, Privacy, BIOS Architecture, and Enterprise Manageability for device security features.  Vali is the visionary behind the industry leading platform firmware protection and recovery solutions known as HP SureStart, HP Sure Recover, HP Sure Admin, etc.  In his previous role, Vali was the chief architect of HP ProtectTools® suite of security offerings for business client platforms (including notebooks, desktops, and workstations).

 

As the Chief Technologist for Security, Privacy, and Software technologies for the business group, Vali works closely with a vast array of leading industry partners, HP’s strategic business partners, and suppliers for creating new business opportunities.

 

Vali holds 109 worldwide granted patents with 55 pending in the pipeline.

Peter
Chu

HP Fellow

Peter Chu has worked on audio technology for videoconferencing systems since 1989 at PictureTel. PictureTel became Polycom, then Plantronics, then Poly, and finally HP, Inc. He has developed technology for microphone arrays, echo cancellation, sound source localization, stereo audio, and speech compression. Most recently, he has worked with his team to productize novel audio A.I. technology to eliminate noise, reverberance, and echo - achieving high quality results not possible with classical digital signal processing. He is the inventor or co-inventor on 122 patents. He has his PhD (1981) in Electrical Engineering from University of California, Berkeley, Masters (1976) in Electrical Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and B.S. (1975) in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Perry
Lea

HP Fellow, Chief Architect & VP, Personal Systems – Advanced Compute & Solutions

Perry is an HP Fellow and Chief Architect for the Advanced Compute & Solutions Business Unit in HP Personal Systems, which includes the Workstation, Retail & Industry Solutions, VR, Data Science, and Edge Compute businesses. Perry’s focus is on high performance computing architectures ranging from machine learning acceleration to esoteric non-von-Neumann computing.  Perry works closely with the HP corporate strategy office as well as each HP business unit.  He maintains close ties with industry partners, academia, and professional societies to build next generation roadmaps and technologies.

 

Perry started his career at HP in the 1990’s in the HP LaserJet business in Boise, Idaho. During that time, he worked on all things from digital imaging to computer architecture to embedded systems.  His work and contributions spanned the entire stack of technologies: device software, multi-million line firmware code bases, hardware design, and silicon architecture.  Notable inventions he built and championed include technologies to optimize cache organization for 30% speed improvement, development of an early implementation of a self-training system used for real-time optical systems, and optoelectronic based super-resolution.

 

He was a frequent collaborator with HP Labs in areas of image compression, security systems, and eventually memristor technologies.  His work also spanned academia with technology transfers with EPFL in Switzerland, Purdue University, and Rochester Institute of Technology with specific contributions to digital signal processing, image detection and segmentation, and power management.  

 

Afterwards, he worked at Micron Technologies pioneering non-von-Neumann computing architecture with one of the first true processors in memory based on DRAM fabrication processes.  There he championed various studies and designs in massively parallel with applications to security, image processing, and adaption for early machine learning with partnerships ranging from government to supercomputing.  After departing Micron, Perry led the IOT strategy for Cradlepoint (now Ericsson) in the areas of 5G and cellular based communications. He then founded two startups dedicated to edge computing systems. 

 

Perry led the Microsoft Xbox Architecture team spanning a multi-discipline team of hardware, silicon, software, and radio technologists.  His worked involved various technologies ranging from next generation Xbox console design, silicon and data flow engineering, and advances in WiFi and Bluetooth communication for low latency.  He also designed the first hyperscale cloud game streaming system deployed today and serving millions of users worldwide with extremely low latency game play.  

 

Perry is a graduate of the University Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Walden University and Columbia University where he received a B.S. Computer Science, a M.S. Computer Engineering, and a D.Eng Electrical Engineering, respectively.  His dissertation work was on heterogenous computing architecture and the effects on Amdahl’s Law.  Perry has been granted over 100 patents with more pending worldwide.  He is also author to four technical books on IOT system and edge computing.  Perry is a senior member of the IEEE and Association of Computing Machinery, and a distinguished member of the IEEE Computer Society. Finally, Perry also serves as a board member for the Women Innovators organization to help promote STEM education and careers for young women and girls from Jr. High School to College. 

Michael
St. Laurent

HP Fellow and Chief Technologist, Print

Michael St. Laurent is an HP Fellow, and the Chief Architect for the Print Software, Platforms and Solutions. His focus is on the development innovation and products across the software organization in Print, from HP Cloud platform, desktop and mobile applications, print drivers and the integration of software, forward and solutions across the HP software and hardware ecosystem.  Michael works closely with teams across all HP organizations including Print, Personal Systems, and more to create a uniform and cohesive experience for HP customers.  

 

Michael joined HP in 2018 and has worked in the Print industry for over two decades having been involved in the industry’s early efforts to bring internet and Cloud connected solutions and printers to market. He has worked with a wide range of Printer companies and Print software providers as well as being part of industry standards bodies.  During this time Michael delivered to market a range of products including the first email and internet connected print solutions, worked on the first embedded Cloud printers, developed the largest public print ecosystem as well as developing some of the first mobile apps for printers.

 

Named on over more than two dozen patents, Michael is highly focused bridging modern software technologies and approaches from various disciplines to create new and innovated solutions in the print industry leveraging the unique opportunity to bring a fully integrated hardware, firmware, and software solutions to customers with a high degree of focus on exceptional experiences, security and privacy with the goal of advancing the print industry as a whole.
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