An IIT-Kanpur graduate Arvind Krishna is set to replace Virginia Rometty as the Chief Executive Officer of International Business Machines Corp (IBM), the world’s oldest technology company. Arvind Krishna will take over as the company’s CEO on April 6 this year.
Arvind Krishna, 57-year, is currently the head of IBM’s cloud and cognitive software unit and was a principal architect of the company’s purchase of Red Hat, which took place last year.
Krishna will lead the IBM Cloud, IBM Security and Cognitive Applications business, and IBM Research.
Krishna joined IBM in 1990, he was general manager of IBM’s Systems and Technology Group’s development and manufacturing organization.
He has an undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“I am thrilled and humbled to be elected as the next Chief Executive Officer of IBM, and appreciate the confidence that Ginni and the Board have placed in me,” said Krishna.
Virginia Rometty, 62-year IBM veteran and one of the highest profile women in U.S. business. Under her leadership IBM acquired 65 companies, culminating in the $34 billion (26 billion pounds) deal for Red Hat last year – one of the largest technology acquisitions in history.
“Arvind is the right CEO for the next era at IBM. He is a brilliant technologist who has played a significant role in developing our key technologies such as artificial intelligence, cloud, quantum computing and blockchain,” said Rometty.
Rometty will continue as executive chairman and will retire at the end of the year.
The company also announced that James Whitehurst, IBM Senior Vice President and CEO of Red Hat, will now be IBM President, effective April 6.
Anand Mahindra Chairman of the Mahindra group, sent out a tweet calling Krishna’s accomplishment a ‘stunning endorsement of the managerial capabilities’. “This places a responsibility on Indian managers to demonstrate that they can take Indian companies to the top as well…!”
Mr Mahindra said in his next tweet that, On a lighter note, the next time the White House organises a conclave ot Tech Industry titans, they’ll have to ensure the snacks are Samosas & not Hamburgers…
