Ginni Rometty replaces Palmisano as IBM CEO

Services and strategy leader to step into hotseat on 1 January

IBM is to appoint worldwide sales and strategy leader and 30-year Big Blue veteran Ginni Rometty as its new chief executive.

From 1 January, she will replace incumbent Sam Palmisano, who will retain his role as chairman of the vendor's board. Rometty, 54, will also assume a seat at the boardroom table when she takes the CEO mantle.

The new top dog, who joined IBM as a systems engineer in 1981, currently serves as senior vice president and group executive for sales, marketing and strategy. In this post she has overall global responsibility for Big Blue's profit and loss account and its customer relationships.

Previously, she has held a number of other senior executive roles at the vendor, including leading IBM's Global Business Services division, heading up its operations across the Americas, and fronting sales in the financial services sector.

"There is no greater privilege in business than to be asked to lead IBM, especially at this moment," said Rometty (pictured, right). "Sam had the courage to transform the company based on his belief that computing technology, our industry - even world economies - would shift in historic ways. All of that has come to pass.

"Today, IBM's strategies and business model are correct. Our ability to execute and deliver consistent results for clients and shareholders is strong. This is due to Sam's leadership, his discipline, and his unshakable belief in the ability of IBM and IBMers to lead into the future. Sam taught us, above all, that we must never stop reinventing IBM."

Sixty-year-old Palmisano has been in the hotseat since 2002 and led the vendor out of the commodity hardware business, as it exited the PC, printer and hard-disk drive market. IBM claims he was also instrumental in boosting the vendor's presence in emerging markets, particularly the increasingly influential BRIC quartet of countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China.

The outgoing boss claimed he and the rest of the board all agreed that Rometty is "the ideal CEO to lead IBM into its second century".

"[Ginni Rometty] is more than a superb operational executive," explained Palmisano (pictured, left). "With every leadership role, she has strengthened our ability to integrate IBM's capabilities for our clients. She has spurred us to keep pace with the needs and aspirations of our clients by deepening our expertise and industry knowledge.

"Ginni's long-term strategic thinking and client focus are seen in our growth initiatives, from cloud computing and analytics to the commercialisation of Watson. She brings to the role of CEO a unique combination of vision, client focus, unrelenting drive, and passion for IBMers and the company's future."