Samuel Palmisano
Samuel Palmisano is the current president, CEO and chairman of IBM, the largest I.T. company in the world in terms of revenue. He started serving as CEO in 2002 and chairman of the board in 2003. Prior to being chief executive, he was the company’s chief operating officer and president since 2000.
Born in Baltimore on July 29, 1951, Palmisano attended Calvert Hall in the same city for high school. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from no less than Johns Hopkins University.
Palmisano started his career with IBM. He then managed his way to become the vice president and senior vice president of the Personal Systems Group in 1997. By 1998, he was the senior vice president and group executive of IBM Global Services. Around this time, the company expanded it services, from providing purely technological merchandise to offering outsourcing services.
In 1999, Palmisano was named Enterprise System’s senior vice president and group executive, right when the systems group urged IBM to adopt the Linux operating system.
Another one of his achievements was being elected to the board of ExxonMobil, a multinational oil and gas company, in 2006.
With the leadership of Samuel Palmisano, IBM has become the most diverse I.T. company. Palmisano has held so many positions in the company, making him a truly remarkable leader.