IBM names its first female CEO
IBM ushered in the first female CEO in the company's 100-year history on Tuesday.
Virginia "Ginni" Rometty, a veteran at the technology giant famous for its conservative corporate culture, will take over as CEO from Sam Palmisano, IBM announced.
Palmisano has been CEO for nearly a decade and turned 60 this year. He will stay on as chairman.
Rometty, 54, takes over on 1 January 2012. She is currently in charge of sales and marketing at the company based in Armonk, New York.
After she takes over the helm at IBM, women will be in charge of two of the world's largest technology companies. Last month, Meg Whitman was named CEO of Hewlett-Packard Whitman had previously joined eBay when it was a fledgling startup during the dotcom boom and guided it to become an internet auction powerhouse. She also ran unsuccessfully for California governor last year.
While Whitman's HP is a sprawling company in disarray, Rometty will inherit a finely tuned IBM whose focus on the high-margin businesses of technology services and software has helped it thrive.
Their appointments are "setting a fabulous example" in the promotion of female executives, said Jean Bozman, an analyst with IDC who has followed both companies closely for years.
"It is a good sign," Bozman said. "It does create an environment in which more of these high-ranking women executives can see that's within reach. The more that happens, the more normal that will be. I think this might be a great sign that we've turned a corner. Certainly the Baby Boomers have wanted this for a long time."
HP, of course, had another female CEO, Carly Fiorina, but her tenure ended in acrimony when she was forced out in 2005 over disappointing financials and the fallout from her hard-fought battle to buy Compaq Computer.
IBM's move was unexpected. Palmisano had tamped down earlier talk of his retirement, insisting that he wanted to stay on as chief. In rare public comments, he said last year that he was "not going anywhere" and that there's no formal policy at IBM dictating when a CEO should retire.
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