For the first time ever, IBM has
appointed a female Chief Executive.
Virginia Rometty, currently a senior vice president, will
take over from the current chief executive, Sam Palmisano, in January. Mr
Palmisano, who took the top job in 2002, will step aside whilst remaining
chairman of IBM.
Commentators describe, Ms. Rometty, known to
most as “Ginni”, as the ‘logical’ choice, given her experience running the
largest portion of the business by revenue.
She joins a relatively small circle of top
female chief executives, including Pepsi's Indra Nooyi, Xerox's Ursula Burns,
Kraft Foods' Irene Rosenfeld and DuPont's Ellen Kullman. Recently, Hewlett-Packard - a longtime rival
to IBM - appointed Meg Whitman as its boss.
