Samuel J. Palmisano

From January 2003 through December 2011, Sam Palmisano was chairman, president and chief executive officer of IBM. Under his leadership, IBM achieved record financial performance, transformed itself into a globally integrated enterprise and introduced its Smarter Planet agenda. Sam began his career with IBM in 1973 in Baltimore, Maryland. In a 39-year career with IBM, he held leadership positions that included senior vice president and group executive of the Personal Systems Group, senior vice president and group executive of IBM Global Services, senior vice president and group executive of Enterprise Systems and president and chief operating officer. Sam is a graduate of The Johns Hopkins University and currently serves as senior advisor to IBM, as well as, Chairman of The Center for Global Enterprise.