IBM promotes Virginia Rometty to CEO

IBM's senior vice president Virginia Rometty has been appointed chief executive and president of the company.

She will take on the role in January 2012 and will replace Sam Palmisano, who will become chairman.

Rometty, who is also currently group executive for sales, marketing and strategy, was elected by the IBM board of directors.

Palmisano has been IBM's CEO since 2002 and has overseen a transitional period for the company in which it sold off its iconic PC business while greatly expanding its enterprise software and services operations.

He said Rometty has all the qualities needed to succeed as chief executive and president of IBM.

"Ginni Rometty has successfully led several of IBM's most important businesses over the past decade – from the formation of IBM global business services to the build-out of our growth markets unit," he said.

In her previous role as senior vice president of global business services for IBM, Rometty led the largest acquisition in professional services history with the integration of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting.

Rometty was considered to be one of the front runners to replace Palmisano, having gained valuable experience in business-facing and business-focused roles, said Chris Ambrose, research vice president at analyst group Gartner, with the only other viable internal candidate being Steve Mills, who heads up IBM's software unit.

"I don't think her appointment will represent any big change for IBM, more a continuation of its current trajectory, with her main priority being to find ways to drive growth across its main three business units: software, hardware and services," added Ambrose.

Mills age may have counted against him, as like Palmisano he is 60 – often regarded as the retirement age for IBM chief executives.

Rometty, 54, joined IBM in 1981 as a systems engineer. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree with honours in computer science and electrical engineering.