IBM President Jim Whitehurst to Step Down

IBM President Jim Whitehurst will step down from his position. Whitehurst played a major role in Big Blue's $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat two years ago.

The company did not specify when Whitehurst, who was named President in January 2020, would leave IBM or who would replace him. He will, however, continue to work as senior adviser to CEO Arvind Krishna and the rest of the executive leadership team, IBM said.

The company has been restructuring since Krishna took the reins a year ago to focus on cloud computing and AI. Whitehurst, who was the former CEO of Red Hat, was supposed to lead IBM's hybrid cloud strategy.

Bridget van Kralingen will step down from her current role as Senior Vice President of Global Markets and will be replaced by Rob Thomas. Tom Rosamilia will become Senior Vice President of Cloud and Cognitive Software, while Ric Lewis will take the position of Senior Vice President of Systems.

Kelly Chambliss has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Americas and Strategic Sales, Global Business Services. Roger Premo will lead a newly constituted business development team, which integrates corporate strategy.