Rometty to be IBM's first woman CEO

International Business Machines Corp’s (IBM) Virginia ‘Ginni’ Rometty has grown throughout her career by taking on challenges she’s never faced before. Now, she’ll tackle something no one has ever done.

Rometty will become the first female chief executive officer (CEO) in IBM’s 100-year history. The Armonk, New York-based company yesterday said she would succeed Sam Palmisano in the role effective January 1. Palmisano, the CEO since 2002, would remain the chairman.

In an interview, Rometty said she had grown the most in her career through “experiential” learning. “I learned to always take on things I’d never done before,” she said.

She takes the reins as steady profit growth pushes IBM shares this year to the highest level since the company went public in 1915. Her experience in sales, services and acquisitions fits with the strategic direction set by Palmisano, who said last year the company would add $20 billion to revenue between 2010 and 2015 by expanding in markets such as cloud computing and analytics.

Rometty made it clear she would follow the road map the company has laid out because she helped construct it.

“I’ve been head of strategy at IBM and, together with my colleagues, built our five-year plan,” she said.

BUDGET FIGHTS
The 30-year IBM veteran caught Palmisano’s attention in 2002 when she helped integrate the $3.9-billion acquisition of PwC Consulting, IBM’s largest deal ever at the time. Rometty, then a general manager of the consulting unit, said she knew from the start the acquisition would be challenging.

“It was the first and only time a professional services firm of that size has been integrated into another large company,” she said. Rometty is credited with helping retain PwC’s principal consultants, who didn’t always mesh with IBM’s cost-cutting culture. When Palmisano wanted to cut travel budgets, making consultants stay at Holiday Inns, she helped them fight, and win, said Ric Andersen, a former PwC consultant who joined IBM in the deal.