HP Inc. has announced the appointment of Ernest Nicolas as chief supply chain officer.

Nicolas will lead HP's worldwide supply chain organization. The company's supply chain delivers more than 100 million products to customers each year through a sophisticated network of ODM factories, manufacturing partners, commodity suppliers, logistics providers and a wide variety of other partners. He will also oversee social and environmental sustainability efforts tied directly to HP's global reputation and business growth.

Nicolas succeeds Antoine Simonnet, who has made the decision to retire after a nearly 40-year career in the IT industry.

"Ernest is a seasoned executive whose deep understanding of supply chain dynamics and resilience has enabled him to build high-performance teams and deliver exceptional business results throughout his career," said Enrique Lores, president and CEO, HP Inc. "Ernest's expertise in manufacturing and supply chain agility will be an outstanding addition to HP as we drive long-term sustainable growth for the company. I look forward to welcoming him to my direct staff."

Nicolas joins HP from Rockwell Automation, where he served as chief supply chain officer. In this global leadership role, he had overall responsibility of the end-to-end supply chain including supply chain planning, strategy and transformation, strategic sourcing, manufacturing operations, logistics and customer care, as well as enterprise quality teams.

Before his role as chief supply chain officer, Nicolas was senior vice president of operations and engineering services. Prior to that, he served as vice president of global supply chain. Before joining Rockwell Automation as a Lean Six Sigma project manager, Nicolas held supply chain, manufacturing engineering and manufacturing operations positions with General Motors Corp.

Nicolas holds a bachelor's degree in manufacturing systems engineering from Kettering University in Flint, Michigan, an MBA in operations management and a master's degree in manufacturing systems engineering, both from the University of Wisconsin — Madison.

He will join HP on June 13 and be based in Houston, Texas.