Samuel J. Palmisano

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Palmisano (on the left) makes an IBM announcement in 2006 in Second Life

Samuel J. Palmisano (born July 29, 1951) is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of IBM. He was elected chairman in October 2002, effective January 1, 2003, and has served as chief executive officer since March 2002. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Palmisano was president and chief operating officer since 2000.

Palmisano joined IBM in 1973. He was elected senior vice president and group executive of the Personal Systems Group in 1997, senior vice president and group executive of IBM Global Services in 1998 during the period when IBM shifted its focus from pure technology to embrace outsourcing and other services as a key part of the business model. He became senior vice president and group executive of Enterprise Systems in 1999 when the systems group drove IBMs move to adopt the Linux operating system.

Before leading IBM Global Services Palmisano led the IBM strategic outsourcing business and before that was president of an IBM subsidiary - Integrated Systems Solutions Corp. (ISSC) - which ultimately became part of IBM Global Services.

He was elected to the Board of Exxon Mobil in 2006

Palmisano attended Calvert Hall in Baltimore, Maryland for high school and while there played backup sax for the Temptations. He holds a Bachelor's degree in history from Johns Hopkins University. He is married to Gaier Palmisano (née Notman) and has four children.

[edit] Quotes About Sam Palmisano

"He has an emotional, 24-hour-a-day attachment to winning and to achieving ever-increasing levels of success." - Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? page 238