By Robert Schoenberger
Publication Date: 2025-12-29 12:00:00
Lou Gerstner, IBM’s chairman and CEO from 1993 to 2002, died Saturday. He was 83. An influential leader who kept IBM together as one company when outside investors pushed for spin-offs and breakups, he was also IndustryWeek’s 1999 Technology Leader of the Year.
In a letter to employees on Sunday, IBM Chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna credited Gerstner for reinventing the company during his tenure.
“Lou arrived at IBM at a moment when the company’s future was genuinely uncertain. The industry was changing rapidly, our business was under pressure, and there was serious debate about whether IBM should even remain whole,” Krishna wrote. “His leadership during that period reshaped the company. Not by looking backward, but by focusing relentlessly on what our clients would need next.”
The 1999 IndustryWeek profile of Gerstner focused on his capitalization of IBM’s internal technology leadership to support the then-new concept of e-business. Written by the late IndustryWeek…
