Virginia "Ginni" M. Rometty (born 1958) is an American business executive. She has been appointed CEO

Chief executive officer

A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

 of IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

 effective January 1, 2012 and will be the first woman to head IBM. Prior to being named CEO she held the position of Senior Vice President and Group Executive for Sales, Marketing, and Strategy at IBM. She has been named to Fortune

Fortune (magazine)

Fortune is a global business magazine published by Time Inc. Founded by Henry Luce in 1930, the publishing business, consisting of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, grew to become Time Warner. In turn, AOL grew as it acquired Time Warner in 2000 when Time Warner was the world's largest...

magazine's "50 Most Powerful Women in Business" for seven consecutive years, ranking #7 for 2011.

Biography

Rometty graduated from the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

Established in 1909, the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science is one of eleven schools at Northwestern University. Most engineering classes are held in the Technological Institute, which students often refer to as "Tech." In October 2005, another building called the Ford...

 at Northwestern University

Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....

 in 1979 with high honors, receiving a bachelor's degree in computer science and electrical engineering.

After graduation in 1979, Rometty went to work for General Motors Institute; in 1981, she joined IBM as a systems engineer in its Detroit office. She joined IBM's Consulting Group in 1991. In 2002, she "championed the purchase of the big business consulting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, for $3.5 billion." Rometty became senior vice president and group executive for sales, marketing and strategy in 2009. Rometty is "credited with spearheading IBM's growth strategy by getting the company into the cloud computing

Cloud computing

Cloud computing is the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility over a network ....

 and analytics businesses. She has also been at the helm of readying Watson, the Jeopardy!

Jeopardy!

Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...

playing computer, for commercial use." On October 25, 2011, IBM announced that she will be the company's next president and CEO, with Sam Palmisano stepping down but retaining his position as chairman. Rometty's appointment will mark the first time a woman has been CEO of IBM. Regarding her promotion, Palmisano stated, "Ginni got it because she deserved it... It’s got zero to do with progressive social policies."

Rometty is on the Board of Trustees of her alma mater

Alma mater

Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...

 Northwestern University, as well as on the Board of Overseers of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center is a cancer treatment and research institution founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital...

. and on The Deming Cup

The Deming Cup

The Deming Cup is an annual prize presented by The W. Edwards Deming Center for Quality, Productivity, and Competitiveness at Columbia Business School....

's committee at Columbia Business School

Columbia Business School

Columbia Business School is the business school of Columbia University in Manhattan, New York City. It was established in 1916 to provide business training and professional preparation for undergraduate and graduate Columbia University students...

, which recognizes individuals for operational excellence . She also served on the Board of Directors of AIG

American International Group

American International Group, Inc. or AIG is an American multinational insurance corporation. Its corporate headquarters is located in the American International Building in New York City. The British headquarters office is on Fenchurch Street in London, continental Europe operations are based in...

from 2006 until 2009.