Thirty-year-old IBM veteran Arvind Krishna, who heads the company’s cloud business, will replace Ginny Rometty as chief executive officer, IBM announced today.
IBM says Rometty will remain with the company as chairman of the board, and that its board of directors has selected Krishna to replace Rometty starting April 6.
“Arvind is the right CEO for the next era at IBM,” said Rometty in a press release. “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. He is also a superb operational leader, able to win today while building the business of tomorrow. Arvind has grown IBM’s Cloud and Cognitive Software business and led the largest acquisition in the company’s history. Through his multiple experiences running businesses in IBM, Arvind has built an outstanding track record of bold transformations and proven business results, and is an authentic, values-driven leader. He is well-positioned to lead IBM and its clients into the cloud and cognitive era.”
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Additionally, James Whitehurst, IBM senior vice-president and CEO of Red Hat, was also elected by the board as IBM president, effective April 6.
I’ve had the opportunity to interact with IBMers across the company over the past few months, and I have been so impressed with the talented and dedicated team we have,” said Whitehurst. “When I first joined, I said that I believe we have the opportunity to be the defining technology company of the twenty-first century. After working with our clients, IBMers and Red Hatters over the past months, I am even more convinced of that opportunity today.”
IBM acquired Red Hat at the end of 2018 for $34 billion.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly described Ginni Rometty as chief information officer. IT World apologizes for the error.