News-Letter

On Jan. 30, Johns Hopkins alumni Sam Palmisano, Class of '73, was appointed as chief executive officer (CEO) of IBM Corporation. Palmisano, 50, will retain his present title of President of the computer equipment and software maker while replacing former CEO Louis Gerstner, who retired from the company after nine years as CEO.

Palmisano is a 29-year veteran of IBM and most recently built IBM's Global Services Group, which accounts for 41 percent of IBM's revenue, according to USA Today. In addition, Palmisano spearheaded the selling of personal computers over the internet and was an early proponent of Linux, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

IBM, which began over a century ago as a manufacturer of punchcard machines, was ranked No. 8 in last year's Fortune 500, directly behind Enron.

Palmisano, a Baltimore native, was co-captain of the Hopkins football team and was nicknamed Baloo, after the bear of the same name in The Jungle Book. He was also a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Palmisano is married and has four children.

According to industry analysts, Palmisano has large shoes to fill at "Big Blue" in replacing Gerstner, who many credit for the 800 percent rise in the company's stock since he took office. Gerstner led IBM from its historical focus as a manufacturer of computer hardware to a more service-oriented firm.

"He'll be more outgoing with employees and with the outside -You'll see a kinder, gentler I.B.M." said Bob Djurdjevic, president of Annex Research in Phoenix, according to the New York Times.