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| Virginia M. Rometty, 54, will succeed Samuel J. Palmisano as the next chief executive of I.B.M. at the start of next year. |
Virginia M.
Rometty, a senior vice president at I.B.M., will be the company’s next chief
executive, the directors announced on Tuesday. She will succeed Samuel J.
Palmisano, who will remain as chairman, at the start of next year.
Ms.
Rometty, 54, is well known within the technology industry, but not widely
beyond. She has led strategically important sectors of the company as it has
shifted to services and analytic software.
The board
choice of Ms. Rometty, who managed an important merger as well as sales in
important new markets, ends a competition that has been under way for years.
The leading candidates were always from within the company’s executive ranks.
A leading
rival to succeed Mr. Palmisano, analysts say, was Steven A. Mills, the senior
vice president who led I.B.M.’s highly profitable and growing software
division. But Mr. Mills’ age, analysts say, was likely an obstacle. Mr. Mills
has just turned 60, the traditional retirement age for I.B.M. chief executives.
Mr. Palmisano, in an interview Tuesday,
singled out Mr. Mills for praise, saying “he’s done a phenomenal job.”
The
selection of Ms. Rometty for the top job at I.B.M. will make her one of the
highest-profile women executives in corporate America, joining a small group of
women chief executives that includes Ursula Burns of Xerox, Indra Nooyi of
PepsiCo, Ellen J. Kullman of DuPont and Meg Whitman of Hewlett-Packard.
Gender,
according to Mr. Palmisano, did not figure into Ms. Rometty’s selection. “Ginni
got it because she deserved it,” Mr. Palmisano said in an interview, using the
informal first name by which she is known to friends and colleagues.
“It’s got
zero to do with progressive social policies,” Mr. Palmisano added.
Ms.
Rometty, who graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in computer
science, joined I.B.M. in 1981 as a systems engineer. She quickly moved up to a
series of management jobs, working with clients in industries including
banking, insurance, telecommunications, manufacturing and health care.
For much of
the last decade, Ms. Rometty has led the growth and development of I.B.M.’s
huge services business. She championed the purchase of the big business
consulting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, for $3.5 billion in 2002.
Ms. Rometty was then put in charge of coordinating the work of the acquired
firm’s consultants with I.B.M.’s technologists, to tailor services and software
offering for specific industries. “She did the deal, and she made it work,” Mr.
Palmisano said.
In 2009,
Ms. Rometty became senior vice president and group executive for sales,
marketing and strategy. Part of the job is leading the I.B.M. drive to sharply
increase its business in overseas growth markets, like China, India, Brazil and
dozens of emerging markets, including several African nations. Such markets now
account for 23 percent of I.B.M.’s revenue, and should reach 30 percent by
2015, the company projects.
Mr.
Rometty’s top marketing job includes spotting opportunities to use the science
coming out of I.B.M.’s labs in new products and services. For example, Ms.
Rometty has pushed to expand the company’s fast-growing analytics unit, which
uses clever software to sift through the vast amounts of data inside companies,
on the Web and social networks, to help clients look for sales and cost-saving
opportunities.
“It’s not
about capturing markets, it’s about making new markets,” Ms. Rometty said in a
brief interview.
Mr.
Palmisano turned 60 in July.
Under Mr.
Palmisano, who became chief executive in 2002, I.B.M. sold its personal
computer and some other hardware lines, and focused increasingly on services
and software. I.B.M. sells mainly to business and governments, leaving consumer
technology to others.
The formula
has proved successful. The company’s profits have increased sharply since Mr.
Palmisano took over, and its stock price climbed steadily. Earlier this year,
I.B.M. passed Microsoft to become the second most valuable technology company,
measured by market capitalization, trailing only Apple, the consumer technology
powerhouse.
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