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Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., was named chairman and chief executive officer of IBM on
April 1, 1993.
Prior to joining IBM, Mr. Gerstner served for four years as chairman and chief
executive officer of RJR Nabisco, Inc. This was preceded by an 11-year career at
American Express Company, where he was president of the parent company and chairman and
CEO of its largest subsidiary, American Express Travel Related Services Company. Prior
to that, Mr. Gerstner was a director of the management consulting firm of
McKinsey & Co., Inc., which he joined in 1965.
A native of Mineola, New York, Mr. Gerstner received a bachelor's degree in
engineering from Dartmouth College in 1963 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in
1965. In 1994 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of business administration from
Boston College, and in 1997 honorary doctorate of laws from both Wake Forest University
and Brown University.
A lifetime advocate of the importance of quality education, Mr. Gerstner is
co-author of Reinventing Education: Entrepreneurship in America's Public Schools
(Dutton 1994). He is vice chairman of the New American Schools Development Corporation
and co-chairs Achieve, an organization created by U.S. Governors and business leaders
to drive high academic standards for public schools in the United States. At IBM he has
established Reinventing Education as the company's program in support of systemic school
reform. Through Reinventing Education, IBM has initiated strategic partnerships with 22
states and school districts, which are utilizing IBM technology and technical assistance
to eliminate key barriers to school reform and improve student performance. Mr.
Gerstner is a member of the Board of Overseers of the Annenberg Institute for School
Reform at Brown University.
He has received numerous awards for his work in education, among them the Cleveland
E. Dodge Medal for Distinguished Service to Education - Teachers College, Columbia
University, and the Distinguished Service to Science and Education award from the
American Museum of Natural History.
Mr. Gerstner will be succeeded as chief executive officer by Samuel J. Palmisano on
March 1, 2002, and will serve as chairman of IBM through the end of 2002.
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