IBM has announced two important announcements. First, the company is delighted to announce that Joanne Wright will become the new SVP of transformation and operations.
Second, Obed Louissaint, SVP of transformation and culture, will step down from his role at IBM on December 31 to become the Chief Human Resources Officer of Aptiv.
Obed as a seasoned HR leader has led the creation of new approaches to develop and attract talent. For the past 21 years, Obed has held a series of roles at IBM including launching the culture and people processes for the Watson business.
Additionally, he led the building out of Consulting Delivery Centers and partnered with senior leadership to deliver an enterprise skills management model for IBM, including AI Academy and Cloud Academy.
In her new role, Joanne will continue to work to transform business operations. One of her key focus areas will be to simplify the way the company runs by infusing capabilities such as automation and intelligent workflows across the organization.
This will help boost productivity, which is essential to accelerate the execution of the strategy and continuously find ways to better serve the company’s clients and partners. Her leadership responsibilities will span across operations, procurement, the Chief Information Office, and the Chief Data Office.
Joanne is a leader with a deep understanding of the business, as well as the needs of IBMers, clients, and partners. In her almost 25-year career at IBM, Joanne has held key leadership roles across procurement, manufacturing, supply chain, and operations.
She has also led the transformation of the quote-to-cash process and helped make IBM client zero for our automation and advanced analytics technology. In this new role, Joanne will report to Jim Kavanaugh and become a member of IBM’s Executive Leadership Team.
With these changes, Obed will transition his responsibilities during December. All efforts and activities related to global learning, diversity & inclusion, and talent acquisition will remain in Nickle LaMoreaux’s organization. She will be sharing further information on that in the future.