On Tuesday, IBM (NYSE: [[ticker:IBM]]) in Armonk, NY, said in a press statement there would be a changing of the guard at the onset of 2012. The company’s board elected Virginia Rometty to serve as CEO and president—as well as take a seat on the board—effective January 1. She succeeds Samuel J. Palmisano, who will remain IBM’s chairman. Rometty is currently senior vice president and group executive for sales, marketing, and strategy with the company. She joined IBM in 1981 as a systems engineer.
Palmisano became CEO in 2002 and was elected chairman in 2003. Under his watch, the company exited such businesses as PCs and hard disk drives. He also launched IBM’s Smarter Planet strategy, an effort to connect technology and leverage data to make industries and infrastructure more efficient.
Big Blue has acquired 19 Massachusetts software companies since 2003, on Palmisano’s watch. The most recent was Q1 Labs, announced earlier this month.
