IBM Falls 4% As President Decides To Leave Amid Reshuffle At Top By Investing.com

By Dhirendra Tripathi

Investing.com – IBM stock (NYSE:IBM) fell more than 4% amid top leadership changes that include President Jim Whitehurst’s decision to leave.

Whitehurst had played a pivotal role in the integration of Red Hat with the more than 90-year-old company.

He will now work as senior advisor to IBM CEO Arvind Krishna and the rest of the executive leadership team.       

Bridget van Kralingen will step down as senior vice president, global markets, a role she decided to stay in to help in transition when Krishna took over as CEO in April 2020.

She will retire from the company after a year but will remain senior vice president, special projects until then.

Kralingen had agreed to stay on when Arvind Krishna took over as CEO but has now decided to move on.

Rob Thomas will take Kralingen’s place as senior vice president, global markets. Thomas has led various parts of IBM’s business such as data and AI, hardware, services, and software. According to an IBM note, he will play a key role as the company’s “new go-to-market strategy kicks into high gear.”

Roger Premo will lead a newly constituted business development team, which integrates corporate strategy and will report to CFO Jim Kavanaugh, according to the note.

There were other senior level changes too.