Virginia Rometty Assumes Office as IBM’s First Female CEO

Published:2011/10/26 3:38:00 Author:Amy From:SeekIC

As Sam Palmisano stepped down from the position, Virginia Rometty was named IBM Corp.’s first female CEO on Tuesday. 60- year old Palmisano has been CEO for nearly a decade and he will stay on as chairman. Rometty, 54, is in charge of IBM’s sales and marketing.

With Rometty’s appointment, Rometty will be in charge of two of the world’s largest technology companies.

Last month, Meg Whitman took the position of CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co. Whitman used to work in eBay Inc. and guided it to become an Internet auction powerhouse and later became California governor.

Rometty will inherit a finely tuned IBM of which focus on the high-margin businesses of technology services and software has helped it thrive.

Palmisano had stated in his earlier talk of his retirement that he wanted to stay on as chief, and added that Rometty has led some of IBM’s most important businesses, and was instrumental in the formation of IBM’s business services division. She oversaw IBM’s $3.5 billion purchase of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ consulting business in 2002, which is a key element of a strategy that has made IBM a heavily copied company.

It was said that IBM shares dropped $1.59, or 0.9 percent, to $178.77 in extended trading, after the change was announced.

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