Who was the first female CEO of IBM?

Virginia “Ginni” Rometty was the first female CEO of IBM.

Rometty became IBM’s chief executive officer in 2012, after succeeding Samuel Palmisano. She had joined IBM in 1981 and spent more than three decades rising through technical, sales, and executive roles. Her long career inside the company gave her extensive knowledge of IBM’s businesses and customers before she reached its top leadership position.

As CEO, Rometty pushed IBM toward higher-value technology services, including hybrid cloud, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and quantum computing. IBM also completed 65 acquisitions during her tenure, including the 2019 purchase of Red Hat, one of the company’s largest strategic deals.

Some quizzes describe her simply as “Virginia Rometty,” while IBM commonly uses “Virginia M. (Ginni) Rometty.” She served as IBM’s CEO from 2012 through 2020 and retired from the company on December 31, 2020. She should not be confused with other prominent female technology executives such as Ursula Burns or Carly Fiorina.