HP Names Microsoft Exec Robert Youngjohns to Run Autonomy

The search is over. Hewlett-Packard just announced that it has named Microsoft’s North American President Robert Youngjohns to run its Autonomy software division.

The hiring caps a search that began in earnest in June, following the May 23 departure by that unit’s former CEO Mike Lynch.

Before Microsoft, Youngjohns worked at Callidus Software, Sun Microsystems and IBM.

He’s English, which is good since Autonomy is, too. He’s an Oxford University grad with a PhD Masters Degree in Physics. According to a profile for the executive search firm Sterling-Hoffman, straight out of school he went to work for the U.K.’s Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ. This is the British equivalent of the National Security Agency, though he doesn’t talk much about what he did there.

Youngjohns will have his work cut out for him. Since HP closed on its acquisition of Autonomy 11 months ago, the unit hasn’t met expectations, and CEO Meg Whitman has made no secret about being unhappy about it. During two earnings conference calls with analysts and in a June interview with AllThingsD, Whitman faulted Autonomy’s team for its difficulty in closing deals teed up by HP’s sales team.

Autonomy’s integration into HP is the last bit of messy business left over from the memorable day last August, when then-CEO Léo Apotheker announced plans to spin off the PC business, acquire Autonomy for an eye-popping $10.7 billion plus the assumption of debt, and then wrapped it all up with a nasty earnings miss. By September, Apotheker was out of a job, and Whitman was his replacement.

Here’s a video of Youngjohns from 2010 talking about Microsoft Office.

Robert Youngjohns Video from Advaiya Videos on Vimeo.

HP’s announcement is below.