IBM Promotes Di Leo, Van Kralingen as CEO Makes First Changes

International Business Machines Corp.Chief Executive Officer Virginia "Ginni" Rometty named BrunoDi Leo as sales chief and Bridget Van Kralingen as head ofconsulting, her first promotions afterwards taking over Jan. 1.

Rometty, the first woman at the helm in IBM's 100-yearhistory, is starting to form her management team afterwards takingthe reins from Sam Palmisano. By expanding in areas such asemerging markets, cloud computing and analytics, she's trying tomeet a goal of adding $20 billion in new revenue between 2010and 2015. Analysts on average estimate IBM will report $107.2billion in sales for 2011.

The management mentoring process

"They make sure that people understand all aspects of thecompany as part of the management mentoring process," Laura D. Tyson, a business professor at the University of California,Berkeley, said in a phone interview earlier the promotions wereannounced. "They develop their own talent, and my sense is thatit's done in a collegial or camaraderie fashion -- as opposed toa very competitive, intense sort -- to keep the team at the same time."

Van Kralingen, the new senior vice president of IBM GlobalBusiness Services, the company's consulting unit, is a SouthAfrican who has led turnarounds in global business services innortheast Europe, IBM said.