Noel Eldred: Confidence in a Confidant

Dave Packard recruited Noel Eldred (right, shown here in 1954) to Hewlett-Packard during the war. Noel would be Dave’s right-hand man and head of operations while Bill Hewlett served in the military, doing much to define the architecture of the young but rapidly growing company. Noel would continue to be a formative company figure for decades thereafter, becoming an executive vice president and — despite being an engineer by training — the company’s first head of marketing.