57-year-old Arvind Krishna, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur(IIT), with a doctorate in electrical from the University of Illinois-at Urbana-Champaign, is all set to take over as the CEO of the American tech giant, International Business Machines on April 6.
Krishna has worked at the IBM for nearly three decades, in various capacities, notably as Senior Vice President at IBM Research, Cloud and cognitive software. He will replace Ginni Rometty, the only female CEO at IBM.
In what seems to be the tech firm’s push to scale up its cloud businesses as it saw its stocks fell by over 26 per cent under Rometty’s tenure.
Rometty who will continue to be the IBM’s Executive Chairperson described Krishna 'as the right CEO for the next era at IBM' who brings with himself technological and operational expertise.
'Through his multiple experiences running businesses in IBM, Arvind has built an outstanding track record of bold transformations and proven business results, and is an authentic, values-driven leader,' she said in a statement.
Krishna has also focussed on introducing advanced technology platforms such as Artificial Intelligence, cloud computing, blockchain at IBM apart from overseeing the functioning of 12 labs at IBM spanning various countries. He has also been instrumental in helping IBM make its biggest purchase in its 100-year-old history - a $36 billion acquisition of open-source software firm, Red Hat.
On his Linkedin profile, Krishna said that he has led the cloud computing business at IBM helping the clients leverage advanced technology. Also leading a number of forward-looking technologies encompassing quantum computing, AI, Blockchain, nanotechnology, processors and data.
Led the growth of the Information Management business by 50 per cent. Extensive experience across software products, leading technology business, and technology innovation, Krishna’s Linkedin profile stated.
He will join also the illustrious list of Indian origin CEOs heading leading US tech firms CEOs including Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Google’s Sundar Pichai.