Former IBM CEO John Akers dies
He oversaw the company at a challenging time, as the rise of the PC and corporate bureaucracy led to financial difficulties
Washington: John Akers, chief executive officer (CEO) at International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) for eight years during the company’s struggle to shift to the personal computer era from the mainframe, has died. He was 79.
Akers died on 22 August in Boston, IBM said on Saturday in a statement on its website. The cause was a stroke, company spokesman Ed Barbini wrote in an e-mail.
A former US Navy pilot, Akers joined IBM in 1960 as a sales trainee and in his 33-year career held jobs including executive assistant to Frank Cary, who would become CEO; president of the data-processing division; and president of the company before becoming CEO in 1985.
One of his executive assistants was Samuel Palmisano, who also later became CEO. He described Akers in IBM’s statement as the ultimate company man and so committed to the institution and its culture.
In sales and executive roles, Akers is credited with helping elevate and sustain IBM’s dominance of the mainframe computer business, through pushing the adoption of the System/360 and successor machines. As CEO, he oversaw the company at a challenging time, as the rise of the personal computer and corporate bureaucracy led to financial difficulties at the Armonk, New York-based company.
IBM had lost $7.83 billion in two years when the company’s board convinced Louis Gerstner, who was chairman of RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp., to succeed Akers. Gerstner, who was IBM’s first CEO appointed from outside the company, slashed thousands of jobs and cut $7 billion in costs.
Loyalty praised
IBM’s shares, which had lost half their value in the two years before Gerstner arrived, rose ninefold from when he took over as CEO through the announcement in 2002 that Palmisano would be the new chief executive.
Palmisano said in the IBM statement said Akers was loyal to the company.
“People liked John Akers, because they knew he cared about them—as employees, as people, and as IBMers,” Palmisano said, according to the statement.
In 2011, Akers said he was satisfied with what he accomplished.
“Many things have changed over the years but the values of IBM then and the values of IBM today are what we have built on successfully all of these years,” he said, according to IBM’s statement. “It continues to result in the best value and solution for the customer.” Bloomberg
Sylvia Wier contributed to this story.
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First Published:24 Aug 2014, 01:42 PM IST
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