Participantes

Samuel J. Palmisano

Chairman, President and CEO

Sam Palmisano has been Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of IBM Corporation since the 1st of January 2003. He began his career in IBM in 1973. He had various executive positions, from Senior Vice President for the areas of Enterprise Systems and Personal Systems, to Senior Vice President of the Company. Sam Palmisano played a very important role in the creation and management of IBM’s Global Services area, creating the largest and most diversified organisation of IT services in the industry. In recognition of his leading role as co-Chair of the Council of Competitiveness' National Innovation Initiative, as well as his vast portfolio of business achievements, Sam Palmisano was awarded the honorary title of Doctor of Humane Letters of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in September 2005 and, in July 2006 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the London Business School.

Founded in 1914, IBM has operated in the area of information technology since this industry was created. It divides its activities over the areas of hardware, software, services, R&D and technology. It employs 329 thousand employees throughout the world, is present in 75 countries and has clients in 174 locations. World leader in the Information Technology sector, its turnover was 91.1 thousand million dollars in 2005 and has 100,000 Business Partners world-wide. Annually it invests 5,000 million dollars in Research and Development. In 2005 it allocated 148.5 million dollars to NGOs and educational institutions throughout the world.