Arvind Krishna, 57, who spearheaded the Red Hat deal, is set to lead International Business Machines Corp (IBM) from April after its Chief Executive Officer Ginni Rometty decided to handover the reins of the company's cloud business, as the pioneer tech company continues its efforts to rejuvenate itself.
Krishna is currently IBM Senior Vice President. His responsibilities also include the IBM Cloud, IBM Security and Cognitive Applications business, and IBM Research. Previously, he was general manager of IBM's Systems and Technology Group's development and manufacturing organisation. Prior to that he built and led many of IBM's data-related businesses.
The company's VP has an undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK) and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the recipient of distinguished alumni awards from IITK and the University of Illinois, is the co-author of 15 patents, has been the editor of IEEE and ACM journals, and has published extensively in technical conferences and journals.
Krishna has become the third Indian to head a US-based multinational company after Microsoft corp's chief executive officer Satya Nadella and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
IBM Chief Executive Officer Ginni Rometty is likely to hand over the reins to the company to Krishna in April.
The company was a late entrant to the business of cloud services, a segment now dominated by Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp, and Rometty, a 40-year IBM veteran and one of the highest profile women in US business, bet on acquisitions to cut the lead.
During her eight years at the helm, the Big Blue completed 65 acquisitions, culminating in the $34 billion (26 billion pounds) deal for Red Hat last year — the biggest purchase in its 108-year history — while selling some of its legacy businesses.
She leaves on a recent high note, days after IBM reported its first revenue growth in six quarters, but shares have lost about a quarter in value since she took charge, and the turnaround she began remains a work in progress.
IBM will likely continue its trajectory under Krishna, but may pursue more small acquisitions in the cloud and analytics space, said Tim Hubbard, assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame and a former IBM consultant.
Shares of the company were up nearly 5% in extended trading. IBM also said Red Hat CEO James Whitehurst will become its president. Rometty, 62, will continue as executive chairman and will retire at the end of the year. "Arvind is the right CEO for the next era at IBM," Rometty said in a statement.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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