Company · Technology · Software · founded 1911
IBM
Technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, operating in about 175 countries.
Of the 10 people here linked to IBM, 0 are founders and 0 are still there. 2 of them also appear at Airbnb. These are people who succeeded, not the odds of succeeding.
Description and founding year: en.wikipedia.org. Each person's role links to its own source on their profile.
10 people at IBM
Executive Past
Role
Systems engineer rising to president and CEO (from January 2012) and chairman (from October 2012); executive chairman until retiring, 1981–2020
Source
· high confidence. Stepped down as CEO April 1, 2020 and retired December 31, 2020 per the body of the Wikipedia article; the lead gives a different retirement date.
Technology · Business Services 6 / 5
Ginni Rometty
Former Chairman, President and CEO of IBM
middle class, then hardship · some · college degree
Board Past
Finance 2 / 8
Kenneth Chenault
Former Chairman and CEO, American Express; Chairman and Managing Director, General Catalyst
professional-class · some · graduate degree
Employee Past
Technology · Software · Finance 2 / 0
Brian Armstrong
Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of Coinbase
comfortable · some · graduate degree
Employee Past
Role
Engineering, sales, marketing and management roles
Source
· medium confidence. Wikipedia gives no titles or years; the page lists IBM, Unisys and NCR together.
Cybersecurity · Software 8 / 4
Jay Chaudhry
Founder, chairman and CEO of Zscaler; serial cybersecurity entrepreneur
subsistence-farming poor · outsider · graduate degree
Employee Past
Role
Research staff member, then VP of the semiconductor R&D center, 1995–2007
Source
· high confidence
Semiconductors 2 / 4
Lisa Su
Chair and CEO, AMD (Advanced Micro Devices)
professional two-income immigrant family · some · graduate degree
Employee Past
Role
Engineer; chief engineer of the original PC design (1982); IBM Fellow (1995); CTO, IBM Middle East and Africa
Source
· high confidence. Wikipedia says he joined soon after his 1979 degree without giving a year, and retired in 2013.
Technology 4 / 8
Mark Dean
Chief engineer, original IBM PC; co-inventor, ISA bus; first Black IBM Fellow
working-class · some · graduate degree
Employee Past
Business Services · Technology 3 / 0
Ross Perot
Founder of Electronic Data Systems (EDS)
middle-class · some · college degree
Employee Past
Technology 5 / 3
Tim Cook
Chief Executive Officer, Apple (2011–2026)
working-class · some · graduate degree
Connected companies
Other companies that share profiled people with IBM.
Airbnb
2 shared: Kenneth Chenault, Brian Armstrong
Advanced Micro Devices
1 shared: Lisa Su
Apple
1 shared: Tim Cook
Berkshire Hathaway
1 shared: Kenneth Chenault
CipherTrust
1 shared: Jay Chaudhry
Coinbase
1 shared: Brian Armstrong
Meta Platforms
1 shared: Kenneth Chenault
Microsoft
1 shared: John W. Thompson
NeXT
1 shared: Ross Perot
Procter & Gamble
1 shared: Kenneth Chenault
Texas Instruments
1 shared: Lisa Su