IBM Industries

Arvind Krishna is Chief Executive Officer of IBM. As a business leader and technologist, he has led the building and expansion of new markets for IBM in artificial intelligence, cloud, quantum computing, and blockchain. He has also played a significant role in the development of innovative IBM products and solutions based on these emerging technologies.

Over his 30-year career at IBM, Arvind led a series of bold transformations and delivered proven business results. He most recently drove the successful $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat – the largest software acquisition – that has defined the hybrid cloud market. Together, IBM and Red Hat give clients the unique ability to build mission-critical applications once and run them anywhere.

Arvind previously was Senior Vice President of Cloud and Cognitive Software, where he pioneered the company’s hybrid cloud business, transformed IBM’s entire software and services portfolio and offerings for cloud, and grew the business. He also headed IBM Research, where he drove innovation in core and emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, blockchain, cloud platform services, data-driven solutions, and nanotechnology. In 2016, Wired magazine selected Arvind as “one of 25 geniuses who are creating the future of business” for his foundational work on blockchain.

As general manager of IBM Systems and Technology Group’s development and manufacturing organization, Arvind led the strategy for data-centric systems and the widespread industry adoption of open and collaborative technology standards. He also grew the IBM Information Management business by 50 percent.

At IBM, Arvind has been an outspoken advocate for learning at every stage of one’s career. He has made scientific contributions in a number of technical fields, including wireless networking, security, systems, and databases. In addition, he founded IBM’s security software business and helped create the world’s first commercial wireless system.

Arvind has an undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK) and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the recipient of distinguished alumni awards from both institutions.

Bob Lord is one of the world’s leading authorities on emerging technologies and open platforms to transform how businesses engage with customers. 

Bob is Senior Vice President, Cognitive Applications, Blockchain, and Ecosystems at IBM, where he is responsible for infusing emerging and open technologies across the business. He oversees IBM’s market-leading blockchain business and drives the company’s key partner ecosystems across developers, global systems integrators and independent software vendors, which help clients accelerate their journey to the cloud and gain competitive advantage.

He was appointed in 2016 by IBM's ninth CEO Ginni Rometty as the company’s first Chief Digital Officer with a mission to change how IBM innovation is delivered and consumed by the world’s leading organizations.

Bob rebuilt IBM’s digital platforms on Red Hat OpenShift to make it more efficient for clients and partners to innovate and deploy solutions at scale. He focuses on breaking down silos, establishing agile practices and instilling a startup mentality throughout the 108-year-old company while transforming how IBM engages with clients. 

At the center of this work is a commitment to the developers and data scientists of the open source community. Bob oversees IBM’s leadership and participation in dozens of open source communities, contribution and donation of open source code, and overall industry advocacy.

In 2018 Bob launched Call for Code, a major initiative to give developers and data scientists access to IBM tools and technologies as a means to solve global, societal challenges. In collaboration with the United Nations Human Rights and The Linux Foundation, IBM helps the world’s 24 million developers use these technologies to address society’s most pressing concerns: the growing threat of climate change and mitigating the spread of COVID-19. Since launch, over 300,000 developers and problem solvers from over 168 nations built solutions for an immediate and lasting impact in society.

In collaboration with leading relief organizations, the winning solutions are further developed through IBM Code and Response, a four-year initiative to build, fortify, test and deploy open technology to serve communities in need of critical aid.

Prior to IBM, Bob served as President of AOL, leading the company through its evolution into a leading, global advertising platform. He also served as CEO of Razorfish, a pioneering digital transformation consultancy helping companies like Cisco, Condé Nast, Ford, Mercedes-Benz and Pfizer redefine their brands for the digital age. He captured his experiences at Razorfish in the book he co-authored, Converge: Transforming Businesses at the Intersection of Marketing and Technology.

Bob’s experience and passion made him an active member of the TED community, board member for Aqua Finance, a Blackstone Company, and former board member for Williams-Sonoma and Screen Vision Media.

He began his career as an engineer, graduating from Syracuse University with a BS in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, before graduating with an MBA from Harvard University. 

He shares his passion for discovery with his wife and three children, and competitively participates in a number of outdoor activities and sports.

Bridget van Kralingen is Senior Vice President, IBM Global Markets, responsible for IBM’s revenue, profit, business development and client satisfaction worldwide.

Global Markets combines top client accounts, strategic partnerships, and industry capabilities in a single go-to-market to provide a superior sales, service and delivery experience for our clients.

Previously, Bridget led Industry Platforms, a business unit that conceives, develops, and scales disruptive software cloud platforms for specific industries; opens new markets for the Watson artificial intelligence platform; and established IBM as the clear leader in the emerging market for blockchain.

Prior to this appointment, Bridget was Senior Vice President of IBM’s Global Business Services, a $17B consulting business with 150,000 professionals. She was responsible for the strategy, execution, and business results spanning consulting, systems integration, digital agency, business process outsourcing, and application management services. Previously, Bridget was General Manager, IBM North America, responsible for revenue, profit, and client satisfaction for IBM's business in the United States and Canada. Before that, she led Global Business Services in Northeast Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

Bridget brings more than 25 years of business experience to her current role. She joined IBM in April 2004 as global Managing Partner of the Financial Services Sector, following her tenure at Deloitte Consulting, where she was Managing Partner of the Financial Services Sector.

Since 2011, Bridget has been listed as one of Fortune Magazine's "50 Most Powerful Women in Business." She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Royal Bank of Canada, and a member of the Board of Trustees for the New-York Historical Society. At IBM Bridget is also senior executive sponsor of the LGBT+ community.

Bridget began her career as a researcher and trained psychologist at the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. She holds a Masters of Commerce degree from the University of South Africa and Bachelors of Commerce degree from the University of Witwatersrand.

Christina Montgomery is IBM’s Chief Privacy Officer and an IBM Vice President.  As Chief Privacy Officer, Christina oversees IBM’s privacy program, compliance and strategy on a global basis, and directs all aspects of IBM’s privacy policies.  She also chairs IBM’s AI Ethics Board, a multi-disciplinary team responsible for the governance and decision-making process for AI ethics policies and practices.

Prior to her current role, Christina spent more than 4 years as Secretary to IBM’s Board of Directors and led the legal support for many of the company’s headquarters functions.  From 2013-2018, Christina served as IBM’s Managing Attorney, overseeing the Law Department’s strategic and transformational initiatives, hiring and recruiting, professional development, budget management, and other projects on a worldwide basis. From 2013-2015, Christina provided senior support to cross-IBM teams in the cybersecurity area, including on the legislative and regulatory fronts.

Christina joined IBM in 1994 as an attorney supporting IBM Sales and served in a variety of other positions throughout the Law Department, including: IBM Systems, where she handled a wide variety of technology-related alliances, divestitures and licensing matters, supported M&A and joint ventures, and provided advice and counsel concerning open source software proposals and IP strategy; and IBM Global Technology Services, where she provided advice and counsel concerning IBM’s security services portfolio, and negotiated and supported strategic outsourcing agreements. 

Ms. Montgomery received a B.A. from Binghamton University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. 

Diane is a Senior Vice President of IBM and serves as Special Advisor to the CEO. She stepped down from the role of Chief Human Resources Officer on September 1, 2020 to transition her successor and will retire from IBM in December. As CHRO of IBM from 2013-2020, Diane was responsible for all people and culture strategy and operations across 170 countries and 350,000 employees worldwide. Named as HR Executive of the Year in 2018, she is also a Fellow and Board member of the National Academy of Human Resources. 

During her tenure as CHRO, Diane redesigned all aspects of the company’s people agenda and management systems to shape a culture of continuous learning, innovation and agility. At the same time, she digitally transformed the HR function, incorporating AI and automation and design thinking across all offerings to create consumer grade experiences for employees. 

Diane is an external advocate for social issues affecting employees, such as DACA, transgender inclusion, addressing bias and responsible use of data in AI, and ensuring data transparency in health care. Under Diane’s leadership in stewarding diversity and inclusion, IBM received the prestigious 2018 Catalyst Award for advancing women in business. 

With a U.S. patent in the field of predictive analytics, Diane is a leading voice on the topic of reinventing the profession of HR to create consumer-grade experiences for employees, predictive advice for business leaders, and improved productivity for the business. Diane’s thought leadership on the future of work has been highlighted in numerous interviews and articles, most recently, CNBC, CNN, Economist, Forbes, Fortune, MIT Sloan Management Review, and Harvard Business Review. 

Diane earned a Bachelor of Arts with honors from Trinity College, University of Toronto, and a master’s degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. She is all but dissertated in the PhD program at the Sloan School of Management.

Dr. Dario Gil is the Director of IBM Research, one of the world’s largest and most influential corporate research labs.

IBM Research is a global organization with over 3,000 researchers at 12 laboratories on six continents advancing the future of computing. Dr. Gil leads innovation efforts at IBM, directing research strategies in Quantum, AI, Hybrid Cloud, Security, Industry Solutions, and Semiconductors and Systems.

Dr. Gil is the 12th Director in its 74-year history.

Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Gil served as Chief Operating Officer of IBM Research and the Vice President of AI and Quantum Computing, areas in which he continues to have broad responsibilities across IBM. Under his leadership, IBM was the first company in the world to build programmable quantum computers and make them universally available through the cloud. An advocate of collaborative research models, he co-chairs the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, a pioneering industrial-academic laboratory with a portfolio of more than 50 projects focused on advancing fundamental AI research to the broad benefit of industry and society.

A passionate supporter of scientific discovery and education, Dr. Gil is a Trustee of the New York Hall of Science, which provides schools, families and underserved communities in the New York City area with exposure to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Dr. Gil received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.

Dr. John E. Kelly III has nearly four decades of experience innovating and leading in the Information Technology (IT) industry. During this time, he has played numerous significant technical and business roles driving IBM's leadership in technologies ranging from semiconductors to supercomputers to Artificial Intelligence (AI) cognitive systems.  As a champion of IBM's technical community, he has kept IBM as the leader in U.S. patents for the last 26 consecutive years.

In his current role as Executive Vice President, Dr. Kelly is responsible for helping to guide IBM's global technical and business success. He is focused on overseeing IBM's enterprise wide Intellectual Property, Security and Privacy, academic, industrial, and government partnerships, as well as its technical community.  He is also currently responsible for leading the company's Watson Health unit.

Previously, Dr. Kelly served as senior vice president, Cognitive Solutions and IBM Research, where he oversaw IBM's (AI) Watson platform, portfolio and investments.  Under his leadership, IBM expanded the specialization of IBM Watson into various industries and domains including health, security, analytics, Internet of Things (IOT), and financial services. He was also responsible for IBM Research and the company’s Intellectual Property.

Prior to this, beginning in July, 2007, Dr. Kelly served as senior vice president and director of IBM Research - only the tenth person to hold that position over the past seven decades. Under Dr. Kelly, IBM Research expanded its global footprint by adding four new labs (including IBM’s first in Africa, South America and Australia), creating a network of approximately 3,000 scientists and technical employees across 12 laboratories in 10 countries.  Most notably, Dr. Kelly and his team were responsible for advancing the science of AI and cognitive computing through his support for Watson, the groundbreaking system that defeated two standing Jeopardy! world champions in 2011. This demonstration awoke the world to the potential of AI.

Dr. Kelly joined IBM in 1980. Between 1980 and 2007, he held numerous management and technical positions related to the development and manufacturing of IBM’s advanced semiconductor technologies. In 1990, he was named director of IBM’s Semiconductor Research and Development Center. Between 1994 and 2000, Dr. Kelly held several VP and GM positions across IBM’s businesses.

In 2000, Dr. Kelly was named senior vice president and group executive for IBM’s Technology Group, where he was responsible for developing, manufacturing and marketing IBM’s microelectronics and storage technologies, products and services. He later assumed the position of senior vice president of Technology and Intellectual Property, responsible for IBM’s technical and innovation strategies.

Dr. Kelly received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Union College in 1976. He received a Master of Science degree in physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 1978 and his Doctorate in materials engineering from RPI in 1980. He has also received three honorary Doctoral degrees.

Dr. Kelly is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the New York Academy of Sciences, the IBM Academy of Technology, and a member of the Board and former Chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association. He also is Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Union College and a member of RPI’s Board of Trustees.

Dr. Kelly has received numerous technical and business leadership awards, including the Semiconductor Industry’s highest honor, the Robert N. Noyce Award. He has been recognized with the IEEE’s top award for R&D management, the Frederik Philips Award, as well as the IEEE’s own Robert N. Noyce Award. In October 2013, he received the National Academy of Engineering’s Arthur M. Bueche Award for his leadership in driving U.S. semiconductor technology excellence through broad government, university, and corporate collaboration.  Most recently, he received  RPI's Lifetime Achievement Award.

He has published numerous technical papers and the book Smart Machines: IBM’s Watson and the Era of Cognitive Computing.

Erich Clementi is Senior Vice President for the IBM Corporation and Chairman of IBM Europe.
 

Previously he served as Senior Vice President, IBM Global Integrated Accounts and Chairman, IBM Europe, with a focus on the revenue, profit, and client satisfaction of IBM’s largest accounts.
 

Prior to this position, he was Senior Vice President, IBM Global Markets, with responsibility for IBM’s businesses in North America and Europe. He also served as Senior Vice President for IBM Global Technology Services. In this role, Erich had worldwide responsibility for cloud computing services, IT and business process outsourcing, project-based services, technical support services and global delivery.
 

In recent years, Erich was IBM Vice President, Strategy and General Manager, Enterprise Initiatives. He ran IBM’s strategy function responsible for identifying major growth opportunities for the company and driving integration across IBM’s businesses. As part of this, Erich oversaw IBM’s cloud computing strategy including global sales, business development and go-to-market solutions for enterprise clients.
 

He was also General Manager of Business Systems Division in IBM’s Systems and Technology Group as well as the General Manager of IBM’s Managed Business Process Services division, which became one of IBM’s fastest growing businesses. Between 2003 through the end of 2005, Erich was General Manager of IBM’s System z division. From 1999 through 2003, Erich held several leadership roles in corporate strategy, marketing and sales. He also ran enterprise system sales across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Additionally, he oversaw the marketing and sales of IBM’s entire hardware line, including IBM’s server computers as well as printers, storage devices, networking components and microelectronic products.
 

Throughout the 1990s, Erich directed IBM sales and marketing operations for banking and financial accounts throughout Europe. He was director, Finance Sector, for IBM Europe’s Central region, headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany after previously heading sales and marketing for IBM’s key banking operations in Central Europe and Russia, as well as in Milan, Italy.
 

After joining IBM in Milan in 1984, Erich held a variety of technical and sales-professional positions in Italy and the South Tyrol region. 
 

He is a member of IBM’s Performance Team and Growth & Transformation Team. Erich holds a degree in business administration from the Leopold-Franzens University, Innsbruck, Austria

As IBM’s Chief Information Officer, Fletcher Previn leads a global team of over 12,000 employees whose mission is to prioritize user experience and provide secure, global IT, at scale for ~350,000 IBM employees worldwide. The CIO organization operates in a highly centralized shared services model as IBM’s single IT department, enabling IBM's transformation to an AI and cloud platform company – a cognitive enterprise.

Under his leadership, IBM pioneered new ways of delivering IT across the world’s largest network, established an agile culture of breaking down big problems into small ones, and embedded design into operations (DesOps).

Fletcher was the first to identify opportunities that enabled IBM to offer a device choice program at the enterprise level, leading to consistently reduced IT support requests and record high customer satisfaction. This allows for new and creative ways to deliver support, including a number of Think Desks where IBMers can get personal service from experts. In October 2019, he announced IBM's plan to open source the "choice program" code to help others transform how they enable IT for employees. His team also established a program to allow employees to purchase their workstation after a four-year period which resulted in a substantial reduction of tickets for damaged machines. And, with Watson AI technology, Fletcher’s team is reducing the IT burden of managing its network of complex systems and over a half million devices.

Fletcher joined IBM in 2006 and has held several key roles in sales and technology. His extensive experience spans reinventing desktop computing environments (Windows, Mac, Linux), industry leading solutions for sellers and mobility programs, transforming IT infrastructure, delivering productivity tools and Agile transformation.

Prior to joining IBM, he managed the Enterprise Systems Group at Walmart.com.

Fletcher holds Microsoft and Cisco certifications and is a graduate of Connecticut College with a degree in Political Science.

Joining IBM on May 1, 2020, Howard Boville is Senior Vice President of IBM Cloud. He directs IBM’s global network of more than 60 cloud data centers across 19 countries and 18 availability zones across six regions.

Howard has 25 years of experience working as a business technologist across sales, marketing, product development, engineering, operations and contracts.

Most recently he was Chief Technology Officer for Bank of America, responsible for the company’s infrastructure strategy across its eight lines of business.

During his eight years at the bank he led the transformation of its infrastructure, delivering one of the largest internal private clouds, which underpinned Bank of America's digital transformation and growth strategy.

Under Howard's leadership the bank's cloud strategy entered a new phase whereby Bank of America made the joint announcement of the world’s first financial services-ready public cloud with IBM in November 2019. The idea was to create an industry platform that financial services and SaaS providers alike could operate in that meets the high standards and controls necessary for this market.

While at the bank, Howard also led its strategy for “Work Place of the Future” covering the bank’s 90,000-person technology and operations workforce.

Howard joined Bank of America in August 2012 from British Telecom, where he served in its Global Services Division. During his time there he led global sales, marketing and product development teams across multiple market verticals.

Howard earned a Bachelor of Arts in business from Teesside University in Middlesbrough, U.K., and a Diploma of Business Studies from Leeds University, Leeds, U.K. He is married with three children and lives in New York City.

James J. Kavanaugh is responsible for leading IBM’s worldwide financial operations. As CFO, he oversees accounting and controllership, financial planning and analysis, tax, internal audit, investor relations, corporate development and treasury. He also oversees the IBM Global Financing business. Mr. Kavanaugh was appointed to this position in January 2018. He reports directly to IBM's Chief Executive Officer, Arvind Krishna.

He was previously senior vice president, Transformation & Operations, a position he held since January 2015 where he was responsible for enabling IBM’s transformation to a data driven cognitive enterprise. In this capacity, Mr. Kavanaugh was responsible for redesigning IBM’s operating model to align with fundamental market shifts, and driving new ways of working while incorporating speed and agility through the enterprise. Mr. Kavanaugh, as CFO, continues to oversee Transformation & Operations for IBM. This includes the Chief Information Office, the Global Chief Data Office, Enterprise Operations & Services and Real Estate Operations.

Prior to this role, Mr. Kavanaugh was IBM's Controller from May 2008 until January 2015. Before that, he held various finance leadership positions, responsible for covering all strategic and operational financial management, which included the vice president of finance for: IBM's Sales and Distribution worldwide, IBM's Americas Group covering the United States, Canada and Latin America and IBM EMEA, located in Paris, France overseeing 124 countries.

Mr. Kavanaugh joined IBM in 1996 from AT&T Corporation, where he was the chief financial officer, Americas Global Services. He earned his Master of Business Administration from The Ohio State University.

Jim Whitehurst is the President of IBM. He is responsible for the IBM Cloud and Cognitive Software organization, and Corporate Strategy. Whitehurst is an advocate for open principles as a catalyst for business innovation. With a background in business development, finance and global operations, he has proven expertise helping companies flourish—even in the most challenging environments.

Prior to IBM, Whitehurst served as the President and CEO of Red Hat, the world’s leading provider of open source enterprise software solutions.

At Red Hat, Whitehurst grew its influence with key milestones—including becoming the first $1 billion revenue open source software company in 2012 and, most notably, the landmark acquisition of Red Hat by IBM for $34 billion in 2019. He has grown revenue from more than $500 million for its 2008 fiscal year to $3.4 billion for its 2019 fiscal year. Under his leadership, Red Hat was named to Forbes’ World’s Most Innovative Companies list, Fortune’s Most Admired Companies list and Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For list. He was also named to Barron’s list of the World’s Best CEOs in 2018.

In 2015, Whitehurst published a book with Harvard Business Review Press entitled "The Open Organization: Igniting Passion and Performance," showing how open principles of management can help organizations navigate and succeed in a fast-paced, connected era.

At Delta Air Lines, Whitehurst drove significant global expansion and, as chief operating officer, oversaw all aspects of airline operations, from sales to strategy. He began his career at The Boston Consulting Group in 1989, where he held several corporate development leadership roles.

John Granger is Senior Vice President, Cloud Application Innovation and Chief Operating Officer, IBM Global Business Services.

In this role, John is responsible for operational discipline and profit performance across GBS, the consulting and professional services unit of IBM.

He also leads the Cloud Application Innovation team, helping clients transform their businesses at scale with quality, speed and consistency across end-to-end enterprise application implementations, cloud application migration and modernization, and application maintenance. He leads the GBS network of global delivery centers and has championed delivery transformation through automation, agile and DevOps methodologies.

Previously, John was General Manager, GBS Europe, responsible for the strategy, execution and business results of the business consulting, systems integration and application management services business across Europe. Prior to that, he held various leadership positions in GBS Europe. He joined IBM in 2002 as part of IBM’s acquisition of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting.

John holds a Master of Arts degree in modern history from Lincoln College, Oxford.

Juan Antonio Zufiria is Senior Vice President of IBM Global Technology Services. In this role, he has worldwide responsibility for Infrastructure Services, which includes Mobility, Resiliency, Systems and Networking service lines, and Technology Support Services. Before his latest appointment in January 2019, Mr. Zufiria was General Manager of IBM Europe where he successfully led the business to achieve new revenue growth, profit margin expansion, and significant new signings with clients across a spectrum of industries.

From January 2013 to October 2016, he was General Manager of Global Technology Services for IBM Europe. Previously, he was General Manager of IBM Spain, Portugal, Greece and Israel.

Mr. Zufiria joined IBM in 1987 as a researcher in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the company’s Thomas Watson Research Center in New York. Since then, he has held several local and international responsibilities, including Manager of AIX Products in Spain, Executive Assistant to the President of IBM EMEA, and Vice President of Business Processes, Technology and Controls at IBM Global Services Europe, Middle East and Africa. From 2000 to 2006, Mr. Zufiria led IBM’s Services business in Spain and Portugal, a position that was expanded to include Greece, Turkey and Israel in 2005. During 2014 and 2015, he served in the IBM Strategy Team. Since 2013, he has been a member of the IBM Performance Team.

He holds different responsibilities in a number of business associations, foundations and institutions. Among them, he is Honorary President of Club Excelencia en Gestión, one the main Spanish associations focused on the promotion of competitiveness and excellence in business management where he served as Executive President between 2010 and 2016. He is former President of the Asociación para el Desarrollo de la Ingeniería del Conocimiento (Association for the Development of Knowledge Engineering); member of the Professional Council of ESADE Business School; member of the Business Leadership Forum of Instituto de Empresa Business School; and member of the High Consultative Council of the Instituto de la Ingeniería de España (Engineering Institute of Spain).

In 2011, he was appointed Numerary Member of the Royal Academy of Engineering of Spain.

Mr. Zufiria is married and has two children. He earned a Ph.D. in Aeronautical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the California Institute of Technology, where he also served as faculty. In addition, he holds an MBA from the London School of Economics.

Mark Foster is Senior Vice President, IBM Services. Mark leads IBM’s professional services business, which spans Global Business Services and Global Technology Services – a combined $48 billion business and nearly 240,000 person workforce.

For GBS, Mark leads strategy, client value and business performance for IBM’s consulting, systems integration, digital agency, business process outsourcing and application management services businesses across all industries. Mark also leads GTS, IBM’s infrastructure services business, which includes mobility, resiliency, systems and networking and technology support services. Together, IBM Services professionals partner with leading clients around the world to set enterprise strategy, reinvent business processes with AI, modernize core applications and systems on the cloud and build, run and maintain IT environments.

Prior to joining IBM in 2016, Mark built a distinctive record of achievement as a global business leader, a consultant to businesses and governments around the world, and a creative thinker of broad knowledge and wide interests.
During his 27 years at Accenture, Mark handled a variety of leadership assignments of increasing responsibility. Prior to his retirement from the firm in 2011, Mark served as Group Chief Executive, Global Markets and Management Consulting, leading a team of 15,000 consultants. Previously, Mark led Accenture’s industry teams in retail, consumer, health, transport and industrial sectors.

While at Accenture, Mark chaired the World Economic Forum Global Health Initiative Against AIDS, TB and Malaria and was Vice Chair of the Mayor of Seoul's International Business Advisory Council. From 2011 through 2015, Mark served the UK government as founding Commissioner for the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, which oversaw the UK’s foreign aid spending around the world.

Mark has served on multiple business Boards including Heidrick and Struggles, Fidessa, Computer Sciences Corporation, Alexander Mann Solutions and Atento. In the not-for-profit sector, Mark chaired the International Business Leaders Forum and has been a Board member of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has a passion for early-years education and over 25 years has founded, operated and led a community-based school in Surrey, England.

Mark graduated with a masters of art in classics from University College Oxford.

Martin Jetter is Senior Vice President and Chairman for IBM Europe. In this role, he has responsibility for strategy, execution, business results and client satisfaction for IBM's business across Europe as well as the relationship to the European Union.

Previously he held the position of Senior Vice President for Global Technology Services, with worldwide responsibility for Infrastructure Services, which includes Mobility, Resiliency, Systems and Networking service lines, and Technology Support Services.

Martin’s prior roles include General Manager of IBM Japan. In this position, he was responsible for all aspects of IBM's business in the region. He also joined the Board of Directors of IBM Japan in April 2012 and continues to serve as Chairman.

In 2011, Martin was appointed Vice President of Strategy and General Manager of Enterprise Initiatives for IBM Corporation. He was responsible for IBM Corporate Strategies and the creation and execution of enterprise wide business initiatives.

Previously, Martin served in various additional leadership roles, including General Manager of Product Lifecycle Management, General Manager and Managing Director of IBM’s worldwide business with Siemens, General Manager of IBM Business Consulting Services in Central and Eastern Europe, General Manager of Global Business Services in Northeast Europe, and General Manager for IBM Germany. Martin also joined the Board of Directors of IBM Germany and IBM Austria and continues to serve as Chairman of the Board.

Martin joined IBM in 1986 as application engineer in an Industrial Branch office in Germany. He holds a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Stuttgart.

Martin is a member of the Supervisory Board at Deutsche Börse Group, which operates the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Martin and his wife Veronika reside in Madrid, Spain.

As Senior Vice President of Digital Sales and Chief Marketing Officer, Michelle oversees all global marketing and brand initiatives, strategy, response lead management, customer relationship management and execution for the IBM company. Her team includes thousands of marketing professionals and digital sellers located in 100+ countries worldwide. Michelle brings to IBM deep, customer-centric marketing, sales and leadership experience, as IBM accelerates its transformation to an AI & Cloud platform company.

Prior to IBM, Michelle was CEO of Gilt from 2013 until the sale of Gilt to Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in February of 2016, and a Board of Directors member since 2009. While at Gilt, she oversaw the expansion of the business and the drive to profitability. Michelle was the Global Consumer Chief Marketing and Internet Officer of Citigroup from 2009 until 2013. In that role she was responsible for the digital experience for Citi’s 100 million consumers globally as well as for Citi’s global consumer marketing strategy and execution. She also led Citi’s effort to bring CitiBike to New York City.

From 2002 to 2009, Michelle was the CEO of Travelocity. She joined Travelocity following the company’s acquisition of Site59, a travel site she created and launched in 1999 as CEO.

Michelle was a White House Fellow and Senior Advisor to Labor Secretary Alexis Herman and worked as a case leader for The Boston Consulting Group in New York and London. She serves on the Board of Directors for NIKE, Inc., nonprofit TechnoServe, and Tech: NYC. She also serves as a Strategic Advisor at Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV), a Palo-Alto based venture capital firm that has backed companies like Facebook, Spotify, Netflix, and Zillow. 

Michelle received an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Pembroke College at Oxford University, where she was a Thoroun Scholar, and her BA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

Nickle leads IBM’s people strategy, skills, employee experience and services, and global HR team supporting more than 350,000 IBMers across 170 countries.

In her 20 years at IBM, Nickle has led HR across organizations ranging from services to software to emerging markets – supporting the company’s business growth through leadership development, talent acquisition, performance management, and skill building.

As VP of Compensation and Benefits, she led the design and deployment of all compensation and benefits programs globally. She was also responsible for the HR activities associated with mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, and drove the people side of the Red Hat acquisition.

Nickle holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University, and a Masters of Business Administration from Duke University.

Obed Louissaint is Senior Vice President, Transformation and Culture.

In this role, Obed leads the areas of Leadership, Learning, Diversity & Inclusion and Transformation for IBM.  He is responsible for reinventing people systems and culture to enable innovations to the marketplace quickly, ensure IBM clients succeed, and identify new areas for growth. 

Obed has experience in multiple HR and operational specialties and business units, as well as geographies from developed to emerging markets.  He has held positions in the areas of leadership development and competency models, global site selection, HR generalist, and talent management and delivery.

Obed holds a bachelor's degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.

Robert D. Thomas is Senior Vice President of IBM Cloud and Data Platform. He directs IBM’s product design and investment strategy, expert labs, global software product development, marketing and field operations across the company’s vast software portfolio. Major product brands under Rob’s leadership include Watson, Db2, Cognos, QRadar, and Cloud Paks.

Rob was previously the General Manager of IBM Data and Watson AI. Under his leadership, IBM has emerged as a leader in data and AI, spanning databases, data integration and governance, business intelligence, financial planning, data science and AI tools, and AI applications. Since joining IBM’s software unit, Rob has held roles of increasing responsibility and overseen 4 acquisitions by the firm, representing over $2.5 billion in transaction value.

In 1999, he joined IBM in technology and strategy consulting, first in Atlanta and then in New York. In 2004, Rob joined IBM’s high technology business, to build an engineering services organization focused on semiconductor design and software/systems development. At one point, he led the business and manufacturing in Asia Pacific, living in Tokyo, Japan.

In 2007, Rob joined IBM’s software business, focused on data and analytics. He held a variety of roles, leading IBM’s transition from core databases to delivering broader analytical capabilities, investing in open source, and eventually artificial intelligence.

In 2015, John Wiley & Sons published Rob’s first book, titled “Big Data Revolution: What farmers, doctors, and insurance agents can teach us about patterns in big data”. The Financial Times called the book, “interesting as a case study of the philosophical assumptions that underpin the growing obsession with data.”  In December 2016, Rob published his second book, “The End of Tech Companies”, educating business leaders on how to navigate digital disruption in every industry. In April 2020, O’Reilly published Rob’s latest book, “The AI Ladder: Accelerate Your Journey to AI.” The book serves as a practical guide for business leaders to discover where they are in their AI journey and learn the steps necessary to successfully scale AI throughout their organization. Today, he writes extensively on his blog robdthomas.com.

Born in Florida, Rob studied economics at Vanderbilt University, earning his BA in Economics. During his MBA from the University of Florida, Rob worked in equity research, learning applied economics, finance, and financial analysis. Rob serves on the board of Domus (Stamford, CT), which assists underprivileged children in Fairfield county. He is an active volunteer at Filling in the Blanks, an organization focused on fighting childhood hunger in local communities. He lives in New Canaan, CT with his wife and three children.

Tom Rosamilia is Senior Vice President of IBM Systems and has global responsibility for IBM servers, storage and software. He also leads the IBM-wide missions for IBM Supply Chain, IBM Enterprise and Technology Security, and the IBM Partner Ecosystem.

In addition, Tom is Chairman for IBM North America and is responsible for ensuring operational synergies across the breadth of IBM to drive value and growth in the North America market.

During his 30-plus years with IBM, Tom has held several leadership roles, including General Manager of IBM WebSphere; General Manager of System z and Power Systems; and Vice President of Corporate Strategy and General Manager of Enterprise Initiatives. 

He has also held an appointment as the Economic Advisor to the Governor of Guangdong Province of the People's Republic of China in 2015 and 2017, and completed a year-long assignment in Beijing, China in 2018, where he continued to lead the global IBM Systems business.

In April 2016, Tom was elected to the board of directors of Rockwell Automation, the world’s largest company dedicated to industrial automation and information. He has also served on several not-for-profit boards. At IBM, Tom serves as the senior executive sponsor for the IBM Hispanic community.

Tom received his bachelor's degree from Cornell University, with majors in computer science and economics. In 2004, he completed the Strategic Leadership Forum at Harvard Business School.

Virginia M. (Ginni) Rometty is chairman, president and chief executive officer of IBM.

Since becoming CEO in January 2012, Ginni has led IBM through the most significant transformation in its history, reinventing the company to lead in the new era of AI, blockchain, cybersecurity and quantum technologies, all delivered on IBM’s enterprise-strength cloud platform.  Today, IBM is the world leader in AI and cloud computing for business, underpinned with trust and security.

Throughout IBM’s reinvention, Ginni has worked to ensure that new technologies are developed and deployed in a way that is ethical and enduring.  IBM was the first, for example, to publish long-held principles of trust for AI, data responsibility and data transparency.

IBM’s commitment to diversity and inclusion also has advanced under Ginni’s leadership.  This includes extending parental leave and making it easier for women to return to the workforce through a “returnships” program with hands-on work experience in emerging technologies.  This pioneering work was recognized in 2018 by the prestigious Catalyst Award for advancing diversity and women’s initiatives. IBM is the only tech company to have earned this recognition in the last 20 years and the only company ever to be honored four times.

IBM under Ginni’s leadership also has led the way on ensuring society is prepared for this new era of data.  This includes equipping workers for “new collar” job roles in emerging technology fields that do not always require a bachelor’s degree.  The IBM-created Pathways in Technology (P-TECH) education model is a six-year program that prepares students for career success by combining high-school with a community college degree, mentoring and internships – all within existing local education budgets.  Today, there are more than 120 schools worldwide, bringing technology employment opportunities to more than 100,000 students.

Beginning her career with IBM in 1981, Ginni held a series of leadership positions across the company and led the successful integration of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, creating a global team of more than 100,000 business consultants and services experts.

Ginni has a Bachelor of Science degree with high honors in computer science and electrical engineering from Northwestern University, where she later was awarded an honorary degree. She also has an honorary degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

She serves on the Council on Foreign Relations, the board of trustees of Northwestern University and the boards of overseers and managers of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.  She is co-chair of the Aspen Institute’s Cyber Group and is a member of the advisory board of Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management

Michelle Browdy became IBM’s Senior Vice President, Legal and Regulatory Affairs, and General Counsel on January 1, 2015.  She reports to IBM’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ginni Rometty.  Michelle is responsible for IBM’s global legal, security, privacy and compliance activities and policies, as well as IBM’s environmental and government and regulatory affairs functions.

Michelle most recently served as Secretary to IBM’s Board of Directors from 2012-2014.  Prior to that position, she served for five years as IBM’s worldwide head of litigation, overseeing IBM’s intellectual property, antitrust/competition, employment, class action, securities and commercial litigation globally.

Since coming to IBM, Michelle has served as a Board member of the Pro Bono Partnership, Vice President of the Executive Committee of the Yale Law School Association, and was appointed by the Chief Judge of New York State to the Commercial Division Advisory Council in 2013.  She is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Before joining IBM, Michelle was a partner with the law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP, trying a variety of complex cases across the United States.  She has also acted as a Special Assistant Attorney General for the State of Illinois and taught Trial Advocacy as an Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University School of Law. 

Michelle received a B.S.E., summa cum laude, from Princeton University; an S.M. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University; a J.D. from The Yale Law School, where she served as Managing Editor of The Yale Law Journal; and clerked for the Chief Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court.  She is admitted to the bar in Illinois and New York State, and is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office