IBM Names Virginia Rometty First Female CEO

IBM has named 30-year company veteran Virginia Rometty as its first female CEO.

MCTS Certification, MCITP Certification

Best IBM Certification Training and IBM Exams Training  and more Cisco exams log in to examkingdom.com

Rometty will succeed the outgoing Samuel Palmisano (both pictured) in the post on Jan. 1, 2012. Palmisano will remain chairman of IBM’s board. Rometty, who joined IBM in 1981 as a systems engineer, currently serves as svp and group executive for sales, marketing and strategy for the company.

SEE ALSO: Why Women Make Excellent Entrepreneurs in the Digital Age

Palmisano has been CEO of the company since 2002. Under his watch, IBM exited some commoditized businesses like PCs, printers and hard drives and has overseen expansion into China, Brazil, India and Russia, among other emerging markets.

Though there was a time when women CEOs at tech companies was unheard of, in the last 20 years there have been several, including Carly Fiorina of Hewlett-Packard and Meg Whitman of eBay.