Education
Virginia Rometty holds a bachelor degree in computer science and electrical engineering from the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Northwestern University.
Career
After graduating from the university in 1979, Virginia Rometty began her career at the General Motors Institute. Two years later, she joined IBM as a system engineer. In the following years, she occupied different positions in sales and marketing. In 1991, “Ginni” Rometty moved on to IBM Consulting Group, where she took over the Groups operations in the Great Lakes region. After a while, she was appointed as a General Director Americas, responsible for the Global Business Services, and also for Global Strategy and Marketing. In 2002, she championed the purchase of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, for $3.5 billion. The integration of the newly acquired company was a very challenging process, due to the significant differences in business culture and hierarchy of both companies; however, Virginia Rometty successfully accomplished the mission. In 2005 she was promoted to the position of a senior vice-president of the Group.
Between 2006 and 2009, Virginia Rometty also served on the Board of Directors of the insurance corporation AIG and Northwestern University. In 2009, She was appointed as a group executive of Global Sales, marketing and Strategy. On the 1st of January 2012, “Ginni” Rometty was elected as a Chief Executive Officer of the IBM Group.
Anecdotes
Virginia Rometty became a first female CEO in the whole IBM’s history. In 2012, Fortune magazine has ranked her the first in the “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” list.
