Full biography
Jon Iwata leads IBM's marketing, communications and citizenship organization. This global team is responsible for the marketing of IBM’s portfolio of products and services, market development and insights, communications and corporate affairs, and stewardship of the IBM brand, recognized as one of the most valuable in the world.
Jon and his team have led the development of IBM’s “Smarter Planet” strategy, which describes the company’s view of the next era of information technology and its impact on business and society, and the marketing and communication of Watson, the experimental computer system that defeated the two best human contestants in the game of Jeopardy!
Jon reports to Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Ginni Rometty. He is chairman of the IBM Strategy Team, which focuses on the company's long-term strategic issues and opportunities, and is a member of the IBM Operating Team, responsible for day-to-day marketplace execution. Jon is vice chairman of the IBM International Foundation.
Jon joined the communications function of IBM in 1984 at the company’s Almaden Research Center in Silicon Valley. In 1989, he joined IBM corporate headquarters in Armonk, New York. He was appointed vice president of Corporate Communications in 1995 and senior vice president, Communications, in 2002. He assumed his current role on July 1, 2008.
Jon serves on the Technology Committee of the Museum of Modern Art and the Board of Directors of the Japan Society. He is chairman of the Arthur W. Page Society, a professional association dedicated to strengthening the management policy role of chief communications officers. From 2006-2007, he served as chairman of The Seminar, a professional group consisting of chief communications officers.
He holds a B.A. from the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at San Jose State University.
Jon is co-inventor of a U.S. patent for advanced semiconductor lithography technology.
May, 2013