IBM president Jim Whitehurst steps down two years after Red Hat acquisition

Former Red Hat CEO Whitehurst has been president of IBM since April last year

Jim Whitehurst has decided to step down as IBM's president in a raft of leadership changes at the company that were announced on Friday, two years after the seismic acquisition of Red Hat.

Former Red Hat CEO Whitehurst has been with the company since 2019 when IBM purchased software business Red Hat for $34bn and became IBM's president in April 2020.

Whitehurst is expected to remain as a senior advisor to CEO Arvind Krishna.

IBM shares fell as much as five per cent on Friday following the news, CNBC reported, t

"Jim Whitehurst has played a pivotal role in the IBM and Red Hat integration," Krishna said.

"In the almost three years since the acquisition was announced, Jim has been instrumental in articulating IBM's strategy, but also in ensuring that IBM and Red Hat work well together and that our technology platforms and innovations provide more value to our clients."

Among the other changes announced by IBM includes the stepping down of Bridget van Kralingen as senior vice president, global markets. She will stay on as senior vice president, special projects, for a year before she retires from IBM.

Rob Thomas will step into the role vacated by van Kralingen, while Tom Rosamilia will become senior vice president, cloud and cognitive software. Ric Lewis has been announced as the company's new senior vice president of systems and Kelly Chambliss has been promoted to senior vice president, Americas and strategic sales, Global Business Services.

"Our hybrid cloud and AI strategy is strongly resonating with clients. I believe we are at a watershed moment in our journey," Krishna added.

"As the world begins to reopen, IBM has a unique opportunity to be positioned for a new and exciting era of growth, continue to accelerate the rate and pace of execution of our strategy, and strengthen our client-centric culture and our ability to provide technical expertise."