One of the most successful businesswomen of the USA ever: Who is Ginni Rometty?

Today, we hear more and more the names of women who play a leading role in the world of science and informatics. In fact, women's participation in the world of science with their inventions is not unique to our day. Women have made numerous contributions to the world of science and technology with their inventions that have shaped history in previous centuries. For example, we owe the invention of the dishwasher, which is indispensable in our homes today, to the American woman Josephine Cochrane.

On the other hand, Ada Lovelace, who is considered to be the first computer programmer, is among the scientists who made important contributions to world history. Here, besides the women who shape history, there are many women who play a leading role in the business world.

Ginni has a career of nearly 40 years at IBM. She retired from IBM on December 31, 2020. Ginni Rometty started her career at IBM as a systems engineer in 1981. She subsequently held positions in the company's global sales, marketing and strategy. She eventually became president and then CEO of IBM in 2012.

After becoming CEO, she shifted IBM's direction to analytics, cloud computing, and cognitive computing systems.

Ginni Rometty's Childhood Years

The story of Ginni Rometty is actually the kind that will inspire many women on the professional career ladder. Ginni, whose full name is Virginia Marie Rometty Nicosla, was born in 1957 in Chicago, Illinois. She is the eldest of four children in an Italian-American family.

When Ginni was only fifteen years old, her father left the family. The family is shaken by this event. Ginni's mother and father decide to divorce. The mother, who is left alone with four children, starts working in various jobs. Perhaps an important role model for Ginni to become a leader is her mother.

Rometty gets its fair share of this situation. Being the eldest of four siblings puts responsibilities on her shoulders at a younger age. She takes care of the housework to help her mother. She also works various jobs to contribute to the household budget.

Rometty and Education

When Ginni turns 18, she wins a scholarship from General Motors. She goes to Northwestern University thanks to her scholarship. In 1979, Ginni is graduating from the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She is also completing her undergraduate degree in computer science and electrical engineering with honors.

Ginni and the IBM Adventure

Ginni Rometty transferred to the General Motors Institute of Technology as soon as she received her diploma in 1979. She is here she is taking on tasks for the development of applications and systems she. After 2 years she joins IBM in 1981 as a systems analyst and systems engineer.

In her early years, Ginni worked with clients in insurance, banking, telecommunications, manufacturing, and healthcare. Shortly after, she takes on technical positions. She works in the sales department since 1990. In 1991, Rometty becomes a member of IBM's Consulting Group. In the late 90s, she worked in the support unit for IBM customers regarding internet features.

IBM Management Unit

Between 2000 and 2011, she served as the general manager of IBM's global services department. In this process, she made an effort to get the consulting arm of Pricewaterhouse Coopers, one of the professional services firms, to be acquired by IBM. As a result of Ginni's contributions at the bargaining stage, IBM closed the transaction with $3.5 billion.

This went on record as the largest acquisition in IBM's professional services history. Due to these achievements, she was included in the Global Business Influential list by Time in 2002.

Beginning in 2005, Ginni assumed the position of senior vice president of IBM's global business services division. She held this position until 2009. Then she was promoted to group manager responsible for sales, marketing and strategy. During this tenure, she directed her attention to IBM's rapidly growing analytics unit.

CEO Period

On October 25, 2011, IBM made a statement: It was announced that the next president and 9th CEO of the company will be Ginni. In 2012, IBM began to be managed by a woman for the first time in history. This woman was Ginni Rometty, who had successfully completed every single step of her career journey.

Ginni took great strides as soon as she took over as CEO. Among these steps are IBM's partnership with Apple to design applications for its corporate customers, and its partnership with SAP on cloud computing, and Twitter and Box on data analytics.

Another of these steps was in May 2017, when IBM moved from shrinking businesses such as computers and operating system software to higher growth areas such as artificial intelligence. In 2018, about half of IBM's 9,043 patents 2017 were now shifted to artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity, blockchain, and quantum computing.

Following these successful moves, Ginni received the KPMG Inspire Greatness Award on June 28, 2017. On January 30, 2020, it was announced that Rometty would step down as CEO of IBM. It is stated that the name to replace her is Arvind Krishna. Ginni remained at IBM as a chief executive officer until December 31, 2020.