IBM has announced the appointment of Gary D. Cohn as its new vice chairman and member of the IBM US executive leadership team.
Cohn previously served in the White House as Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council between January 2017 and April 2018.
At IBM, he will work in partnership with CEO Arvind Krishna and the Executive Leadership Team on a wide range of business initiatives and external engagement, the firm says, which include business development, client services, public advocacy and client relationship management.
"Gary is a globally respected leader with deep experience operating at the center of business and government," commented Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM. "As a senior representative of IBM, his knowledge of technology and business transformation, combined with policymaking expertise, will bring unique value to our clients and stakeholders as we accelerate our hybrid cloud and AI strategy."
Prior to serving in the White House, Cohn held the role of president and chief operating officer of The Goldman Sachs Group between 2006 and 2016, and previously held various other leadership positions during his 26 years at the company.
Elsewhere, Cohn is Chairman of Cohn Robbins Holding Corp, a special-purpose acquisition company that invests across the cybersecurity, blockchain infrastructure, regulatory technology and medical technology sectors.
The industry veteran also serves on a number of boards, including: Abryx, Gro Intelligence, Indago, Nanopay and Starling. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Pallos Advisors, as well as on advisory boards for Hoyos Integrity and Spring Labs.
"I am honored to be joining IBM, one the world's most important companies, providing technology that helps organizations be agile and resilient in unpredictable times," Cohn said. "With the company's long history of innovation and transformation for every technology era, and a focused growth strategy that will capitalise on the enormous opportunity in hybrid cloud and AI, this is an exciting time to begin working alongside Arvind, the IBM team and IBM's incredible roster of clients."
