SANTA CLARA, CA — Former HP comms head Karen Kahn is joining Intel as chief communications officer, capping a career break that started in 2022.

“I could not be more thrilled to join the talented Intel team. It's an iconic brand with a generational opportunity to use its strength and innovation to truly change the world,” Kahn said. “I'm honored and privileged to be its next CCO!" 

Kahn will officially assume the corporate VP role on Dec. 6 after she wraps up teaching at USC, which she has done since making the “bittersweet decision” to leave HP in April 2022.  She will report to chief business officer Christoph Schell.

Kahn succeeds Tara Smith, who left Intel in October to join Voxus PR as a managing partner.

Kahn had been HP’s CCO for more than six years, during which she had been a champion of promoting DEI. An HP mandate that its marketing agencies take concrete steps to increase the number of women and people of color in key creative and strategy roles continued under her leadership, with renewed urgency in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.

Stella Low has overseen HP communications since Kahn’s exit. Low joined the tech giant most recently from Apple, where she spent eight months as head of global communications before departing in January 2022.  Low joined Apple from Cisco, where she spent two years as chief communications officer, prior to which she held senior communications roles at Dell, EMC and Unisys.