TRAILBLAZER
Ginni Rometty ' s
Journey in Cognitive Computing and Inclusion
Former IBM boss Ginni Rometty is known to be one of the pioneers in the company ' s AI business , as well as in workforce inclusion and diversity
Virginia M . Rometty , or Ginni Rometty , joined IBM in 1981 as a systems engineer after a short stint at General Motors Institute . Armed with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University , Rometty ' s earliest achievement was the successful integration of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting into the Big Blue in 2002 .
Rometty took over the Chief Executive position in 2012 to steer the company across new ventures , such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence . She was known to be one of the most prominent female business leaders in the United States – and , most notably , in the male-dominated tech industry , no less .
" For much of my career , I did not want to be recognised as a woman CEO – just a CEO . However , you cannot be what you cannot see , and eventually , I realised that I had an obligation to help and inspire others ," she said .
On top of her roles at IBM , she also serves on the Board of Directors of JPMorgan Chase , as the Vice-Chair of the Board of Trustees of Northwestern University , on the Board of Trustees of Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Centre , on the Board of Trustees of the Brookings Institute , and on the Council of Foreign Relations .
The IBM journey Rometty led IBM into multiple high-value segment investments in the IT market . These bold steps included the acquisition of Red Hat in 2019 , the largest acquisition in the company ' s history at US $ 34bn , as well as 64 other companies . The purchases drastically changed more than 50 % of the company ' s portfolio .
" Our continued strong performance in spite of a difficult global economic environment is the result of disciplined execution by more than 400,000 IBMers and continued leadership in innovation ," she said in 2012 . " We have steadily realigned our business , with two goals in mind : 1 . To lead in a new era of computing ; and , 2 . To enable our clients to benefit from the new capabilities that this era is creating ."
She then fully realised her words by building a US $ 21bn hybrid cloud business . Known as one of the leaders who popularised the term " cognitive computing ", Rometty established IBM ' s strong position in AI , quantum computing , and blockchain . Two years after its launch in 2011 , Rometty was primarily focused on Watson , aiming to commercialise the AI solution .
" Over the last 60 years , there have only been two times when technology allowed businesses to improve on an
16 May 2022