At the start of the year, Bill Wohl, former VP of PR at software firm SAP, joined Hewlett-Packard to assume the newly created role of chief communications officer, taking a seat at the C-suite table and reporting directly to CEO Léo Apotheker - a first for the IT giant.

"You can't be a true counselor to the business if you don't have the seat at the table and aren't directly counseling the top executives," says Wohl.

In 2010, ...