SPANUGO - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IBM
- Member of the Board of Directors of the New York Federal Reserve Bank
Arvind Krishna is the Chairman and 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 is a member of the Board of Directors of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, and he serves on the Board of Directors of Northrop Grumman. 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.
Job Titles:
- IBM Senior Vice President
- IBM Senior Vice President, the Weather Company and Alliances
- Senior Vice President, Worldwide Ecosystems
Bob is IBM Senior Vice President, The Weather Company and Alliances. He is responsible for driving growth within the The Weather Company, Watson Advertising, and TradeLens - a blockchain-based platform that is digitizing the global supply chain and transforming trade. In addition, Bob is responsible for driving IBM's strategic partnership transactions to enable the company's growth and focus on embedding its hybrid cloud and AI technology platform.
Job Titles:
- Chief Privacy Officer
- Vice President
- Advisory Board Member of the Future of Privacy Forum
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 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.
Christina is an Advisory Board Member of the Future of Privacy Forum, Advisory Council Member of the Center for Information Policy Leadership, and a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce AI Commission. Christina also serves on the U.S. Department of Commerce National AI Advisory Committee, which will advise the President and the National AI Initiative Office on a range of issues related to AI.
Ms. Montgomery received a B.A. from Binghamton University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Job Titles:
- Leader
- Member of the National Science Board
- Senior Vice President and Director of IBM Research
As a technology and business leader, Dr. Gil is responsible for IBM Research, one of the world's largest and most influential corporate research labs, with over 3,000 researchers. He is the 12th Director in its 76-year history. Dr. Gil leads the technology roadmap and the technical community of IBM, directing innovation strategies in areas including hybrid cloud, AI, quantum computing, and exploratory science. He is also responsible for IBM's intellectual property strategy and business.
Dr. Gil is a globally recognized leader of the quantum computing industry. 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, Dr. Gil co-chairs the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab, which advances fundamental AI research to the broad benefit of industry and society. He also co-chairs the COVID-19 High-Performance Computing Consortium, which provides access to the world's most powerful high-performance computing resources in support of COVID-19 research.
Dr. Gil is a member of the National Science Board, the governing body of the National Science Foundation (NSF), a member of the Board of Governors of the New York Academy of Sciences, and a trustee of the New York Hall of Science.
Dr. Gil received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT.
Job Titles:
- Co - Chairman
- Vice Chairman of IBM
Gary Cohn is Vice Chairman of IBM, working in partnership with IBM's Executive Leadership Team on a wide range of business initiatives and external engagement, in areas including business development, client services, public advocacy and client relationship management.
Mr. Cohn is also Co-Chairman, with Clifton S. Robbins, of Cohn Robbins Holding Corp., a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC).
Mr. Cohn served as Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council from January 2017 until April 2018. As President Donald Trump's chief economic advisor, Mr. Cohn managed the administration's economic policy agenda and led the successful effort to grow the U.S. economy, create jobs and increase wages through tax and regulatory reform.
Before serving in the White House, Mr. Cohn was President and Chief Operating Officer of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. from 2006-2016. He joined Goldman Sachs in 1990 and held a number of other leadership positions including the Global Co-Head of the Equities and Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Division. He was a member of the firm's Board of Directors and Chairman of the Firmwide Client and Business Standards Committee.
Mr. Cohn began his career at U.S. Steel before moving to New York to trade on the New York Commodities Exchange from 1982-1990.
Mr. Cohn invests across the cybersecurity, blockchain infrastructure, regulatory technology and medical technology sectors. He serves on the corporate boards of Abyrx, Gro Intelligence, Indago, Nanopay and Starling and is the Chairman of the Board of Pallas Advisors. Additionally, Mr. Cohn serves on advisory boards for Hoyos Integrity and Spring Labs. He is a member of the Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee (SRAC) of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
Mr. Cohn has long been dedicated to advancing healthcare and education. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of NYU Langone Health and serves as Chairman of the Advisory Board for the NYU Langone Orthopedic Hospital. He is also on the Board of Overseers of the NYU Tandon School of Engineering. In 2019 Mr. Cohn was a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics.
Mr. Cohn lives in New York with his wife and three daughters. He grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and received his undergraduate degree from American University in 1982
Job Titles:
- Head of IBM Cloud Platform
Howard Boville is Head of IBM Cloud Platform where he leads the global cloud business and helps develop market-leading capabilities to drive digital transformation for enterprises, especially in highly regulated industries. With almost 25 years of experience working as a business technologist across sales, marketing, product development, engineering, operations and contracts.
Howard's team is responsible for architecting and engineering IBM Cloud for Financial Services, a first-of-its-kind cloud designed for the industry to help clients modernize faster by de-risking and accelerating cloud adoption.
In 2021, Howard created the IBM Financial Services Cloud Council to help inform the laws, rules and regulations around compliance and security for cloud technology. This community of security, IT and risk leaders from global banking institutions is leading a focused effort to address and solve for risk and regulatory challenges.
Prior to joining IBM Howard 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.
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.
He currently serves on the board of Entrust, a global leader in trusted identities, payments and data protection. He also serves on the board of Jobs for the Future (JFF), a non-profit focused on driving transformation of the American workforce and education systems to achieve equitable economic advancement for all.
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Senior Vice President
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 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.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Transformation and Operations
Joanne is focused on transforming IBM's business operations, in part by infusing capabilities such as automation and intelligent workflows across the company to help boost productivity and ensure IBM better serves its clients and partners. She leads the company's operations, procurement, Chief Information Office, and Chief Data Office organizations.
In her almost 25-year career at IBM, Joanne has held key leadership roles across procurement, manufacturing, supply chain, real estate, client support, and operations. She has also led the transformation of the company's quote-to-cash process and helped make IBM client zero for its automation and advanced analytics technology.
She received the Female Executive of the Year, Stevie Award in 2022 and 2019, and is a two-time recipient of the Fortune Most Powerful Women Next-Gen Award. Joanne serves as an ambassador of IBM's culture and DEI initiatives, and advocates for empowering women leaders and expanding allyship. She serves on the board of the United Way of Putnam & Westchester in New York.
Joanne holds a bachelor's degree from Glasgow Caledonian University.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, IBM Consulting
Job Titles:
- Chief Communications Officer
- Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications
Job Titles:
- Chief Information Officer, IBM Corporation
- IBM 's Chief Information Officer ( CIO )
- Member of the IBM Acceleration Team
Kathryn Guarini is IBM's Chief Information Officer (CIO). She leads a global team of nearly 12,000 employees whose mission is to deliver the future of IT to propel IBM's success and growth. The CIO organization operates as a centralized shared service, enabling IBM's transformation to a hybrid cloud and enterprise AI company.
Prior to being named IBM CIO, Kathryn was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of IBM Research and Vice President for Impact Science. As COO, she led the IBM Research transformation to increase impact, extend technical eminence, and improve the operational efficiency of the division. This included responsibility for IBM's annual Global Technology Outlook. In Impact Science, her team applied deep technical expertise to the most pressing global challenges facing society while advancing the underlying science. Specifically, Kathryn drove the global Research agenda around the Future of Climate, Health, and Work; Tech for Racial and Social Justice; and the Governance of Science and Technology.
Kathryn is passionate about leading teams, driving innovation, and delivering high-value solutions that meet the ever-changing needs of IT customers. Kathryn has held various leadership positions in research, development, and business. She began her career as a technical contributor at IBM Research, incubating cutting-edge science and technology innovations. She went on to lead global teams driving semiconductor, microprocessor, and systems development. Kathryn then took on product management responsibility for IBM Z and LinuxONE, including strategy, delivery, and go-to-market for platform growth initiatives.
Kathryn is a member of the IBM Acceleration Team, IBM Technology Team, IBM Cybersecurity Advisory Committee, IBM Privacy Advisory Committee, Brookhaven National Laboratory's Inclusion and Diversity External Advisory Board, and the National Council for Expanding American Innovation (NCEAI).
Kathryn's innovative technical research has been recognized with various industry awards. She holds more than 65 U.S. patents, and she is a prolific writer with over 60 technical publications. She is the author of the mother-of-invention.net blog about leadership, science, and innovation. Kathryn earned a Ph.D. from Stanford University and a B.S. degree from Yale University, both in applied physics. She is active in mentoring, inspiring, and recruiting scientists and engineers of all ages and advocating for greater diversity in the industry.
Job Titles:
- Chief Operating Officer
- Senior Vice President
- Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, IBM Consulting
Kelly Chambliss is Senior Vice President (SVP) and Chief Operating Officer for IBM Consulting. In this role, she is responsible for the global operational performance of IBM Consulting, including business transformation services, hybrid cloud services, mergers and acquisitions, delivery centers, quality, and consulting solutions and capabilities.
Previously, Kelly was SVP of IBM Consulting Americas and Strategic Sales, where she led and grew one of the largest professional services organizations in the world, helping enterprise clients across all industries transform their businesses through consulting services, spanning strategy, technology, and operations. She also led the IBM Consulting Strategic Sales operation globally that develops innovative client strategies and solutions, with a focus on harnessing the power of open hybrid cloud and AI.
Kelly also previously served as the Managing Partner of IBM Consulting North America and the Chief Technology Officer for IBM Consulting.
Kelly joined IBM through the acquisition of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Consulting, where she was a Partner. Her experience at PwC included leading technology-enabled programs across Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America.
Kelly's leadership has been recognized by Business Insider, Fortune, and Consulting Magazine. She is the executive sponsor for the Women at IBM Community, where she is an advocate for engaging and empowering women leaders and expanding allyship.
In 2022, Kelly was elected to the Board of Directors of American Tower Corporation (NYSE: AMT), one of the largest global real estate investment trusts (REITs) as a provider of wireless communications infrastructure. Previously, she served as an Independent Director on the CoreSite Realty Corporation (NYSE: COR) Board of Directors from 2016 to 2021, leading the Governance Committee and serving as a member of the Compensation Committee.
Kelly graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in Management Science and a specialization in Decision Support Systems. She attended Virginia Tech on a full athletic scholarship and was co-captain of the NCAA Division I volleyball team.
She resides in Chicago, Illinois with her husband and two children. She is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago and the Economic Club of Chicago and is a marathon runner.
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. In 2022, he was appointed chair of Chichester Festival Theatre. Mark founded and has led a community-based school in Surrey, England, for over 25 years.
Job Titles:
- Board Member of the Pro Bono Partnership
- IBM 's Senior Vice President, Legal and Regulatory Affairs, and General Counsel
- Senior Vice President, Legal and Regulatory Affairs, and General Counsel
Michelle Browdy is IBM's Senior Vice President, Legal and Regulatory Affairs, and General Counsel. She is responsible for IBM's global legal, security, corporate governance and compliance activities and policies, as well as IBM's environmental and government and regulatory affairs functions.
Previously, Michelle 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. Before joining IBM, Michelle was a partner with the law firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP, trying a variety of complex cases across the United States.
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, and previously has 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.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, IBM
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President, Transformation and Culture, IBM
In this role, Obed focuses on creating a growth & inclusive culture and enabling +250,000 IBMers to be the catalyst that makes the world work better. Obed leads the areas of Leadership, Learning, Diversity & Inclusion, Talent Acquisition, Talent Management, Employee Experience and Transformation for IBM.
In his previous roles Obed led talent for IBM and led HR for several growth businesses. He has over 20 years of experience at IBM across multiple geographies and business units in the areas of workforce management, diversity, talent management and delivery.
Obed holds a bachelor's degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. He serves as Chair of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME). Obed also serves on the U.S. Department of Labor Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship, is a member of The Executive Leadership Council (ELC) and works closely with numerous public and private organizations to expand pathways for underserved constituencies into family sustaining careers.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President of IBM Systems
Ric Lewis is Senior Vice President of IBM Systems and has global responsibility for the company's servers, storage, associated software, and infrastructure support and services. He also leads the IBM-wide mission for IBM Supply Chain.
Prior to joining IBM, Ric worked for 32 years at Hewlett Packard and Hewlett Packard Enterprise where he held numerous leadership roles focused on business and product innovation. Most recently, Ric was the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Software Defined and Cloud Group, where his team incubated the software technology and strategy to enable as-a-service delivery of HPE's entire portfolio.
Ric's groups created the industry-wide composable infrastructure product category and led it with an entirely new HW/SW design known as HPE Synergy that became the fastest new product/business in HP/HPE's history to reach a billion dollars of revenue.
Ric led businesses and R&D organizations delivering many innovative, successful products and upgrades for HP/HPE including HPE Simplivity hyperconverged systems, HP Converged Systems, HP Bladesystem, HP OneView, Superdome 2, Superdome X, NonStop systems, Integrity servers, and the HP-UX and OpenVMS operating environments.
He spent his earlier years there leading design teams in computer system, CPU and chipset VLSI, and firmware development for a broad range of products spanning from workstations to high-end servers.
Ric holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Utah State University, a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University, and a master's degree in business administration from Santa Clara University.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President of Global Markets
- Senior Vice President, IBM Global Markets
Rob Thomas is Senior Vice President of Global Markets. He leads IBM's worldwide sales, strategic partnerships and ecosystem, driving client adoption of hybrid cloud and AI for the enterprise. He is responsible for IBM's revenue, profit, business development and client success worldwide.
In his prior role, Rob served as Senior Vice President of IBM Cloud and Data Platform where he directed IBM's software product design and investment strategy, expert labs, product development, and field operations across the company's vast software portfolio. Major product brands under Rob's leadership included Watson, Cloud Paks, Db2, Cognos, and QRadar. Since joining IBM's software unit, Rob has held roles of increasing responsibility and overseen numerous acquisitions by the firm, representing approximately $4 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 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.
Job Titles:
- General Manager, Strategy and Corporate Development
- IBM 's General Manager, Strategy and Corporate Development
Roger's team is responsible for shaping the overall IBM strategy, including the company's focus on Hybrid Cloud and Artificial Intelligence, across all of IBM's business units. The team also leads corporate development, including portfolio management and investment activities.
Roger joined IBM in May 2020 from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he was a Managing Director and Partner in the Boston office. At BCG he was the global sector leader for Software and SaaS, serving a range of clients from startups to established software leaders. At BCG, Roger was also a leader in Gamma, BCG's Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Analytics team. Prior to BCG he held a number of leadership and technical roles in B2B software startups.
Roger earned his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and serves on the board of the Majira Project, an organization enabling growth for small businesses led by founders of color.
Job Titles:
- Senior Vice President of IBM Software
Tom Rosamilia is senior vice president of IBM Software. Tom 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 Tom's leadership include Watson, Db2, Cognos, QRadar, and Cloud Paks. Tom is also responsible for the IBM-wide missions for cybersecurity and for corporate environmental affairs.
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; Vice President of Corporate Strategy; and, most recently, Senior Vice President of IBM Systems, where he had global responsibility for IBM server and storage systems and software as well as the company's missions for IBM Supply Chain and IBM Enterprise and Technology Security.
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 previously served as the senior executive sponsor for the IBM Hispanic Community for more than eight years.
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.