Full biography
Frank Kern is IBM Senior Vice President, Global Business Services, encompassing IBM’s consulting, systems integration and applications capabilities with more than 100,000 professionals supporting clients in all major industries.
Mr. Kern was named to this position in January 2009 after leading IBM’s global sales organization, where he was responsible for revenue, profit and client satisfaction in the 170 countries in which IBM does business, and where he established the IBM Growth Markets Unit to focus investment and talent on the emerging economies of the world.
Prior to that, Mr. Kern led IBM's operations in Asia Pacific, located first in Tokyo, and then in Shanghai where he oversaw dramatic growth and an expansion of IBM’s business in markets including India, China and the ASEAN region.
Mr. Kern is a member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and participated in the China Development Forum in Beijing and APEC in Singapore, where his focus was on sustainability through the development of a Smarter Planet.
Over the course of more than 30 years with IBM, Mr. Kern has held numerous international leadership roles, including the development of IBM's services business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, headquartered in Paris. He also led IBM’s services business in Australia/New Zealand and Asia Pacific headquartered in Sydney, where he was CEO of IBM Global Services Australia Limited, a joint venture with Lend Lease and Telstra. Mr. Kern also served as vice president, Systems Solutions and Industries, in the Integrated Systems Solutions Corporation, an IBM services subsidiary and forerunner of today’s IBM Global Services, the world’s largest and most comprehensive IT services organization.
Mr. Kern holds a Bachelor of Arts from Bucknell University and a Master of Business Administration from Syracuse University. He lives with his wife Kristin and daughter Kelly in Connecticut.
March 2011