summary: Bridget A. van Kralingen senior Vice President, Global Markets, and Senior Executive Sponsor of the LGBT community at IBM.
content: Bridget A. van Kralingen (born 1963) is the Senior Vice President, Global Markets, and Senior Executive Sponsor of the LGBT+ community at IBM. She was born in England and raised in South Africa. Bridget started her service as a Senior Vice President of IBM Global Industry Platforms in New York City in 2016. Before joining IBM in 2004, she worked for nearly 14 years for Deloitte in several management positions. Educated in South Africa, she has been named in <emFortune</em's 50 Most Powerful Women list in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. At IBM, she is responsible for strategy, execution, business results, and client satisfaction for the full range of IBM's businesses in the United States and Canada. She is accountable for IBM's portfolios in consulting, technology services, software, hardware, and financing for clients, which together generate about $40 billion in revenue each year. Education Van Kralingen earned a bachelor's degree in commerce from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1984, followed by an honors degree in commerce from the University of Johannesburg in 1985. She received a master's degree in commerce and psychology from the University of South Africa in 1990. Career Van Kralingen began her career as a senior researcher for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa from 1986 to 1989. She then moved to Deloitte in South Africa, where she was Managing Partner for Strategy and Organization Development from 1989 to 1997. In 1997 she moved to New York City to serve as National Managing Partner for Financial Services at Deloitte Consulting, a position she held until 2004. In April 2004 van Kralingen joined IBM Global Services in New York City as a Global Managing Partner of Financial Services. In November 2006 she was promoted to General Manager of IBM Global Business Services for Northeast Europe, Middle East, and Africa. From January 2010 to January 2012, she served as General Manager for IBM North America. The retirement of Frank Kern from IBM Global Business Services paved the way for van Kralingen's promotion to Senior Vice President of IBM Global Business Services in January 2012. As Senior Vice President, van Kralingen oversees more than 100,000 consultants and service providers in over 170 countries. In 2011, she reportedly generated 18% of IBM's sales total of $107 billion. Other activities In 2011 Van Kralingen joined the board of directors of the Royal Bank of Canada. She is also an advisory board member of the nonprofit organization Partnership for New York City. Honors Van Kralingen was named in Fortune's 50 Most Powerful Women list for five consecutive years in the 2010s. She ranked 39 in 2011, 23 in 2012, 28 in 2013, 37 in 2014, and 35 in 2015. She was named one of the Top 25 Consultants in 2006 by Consulting Magazine, and one of the 100 Most Influential People in Finance in 2005 by Euromoney. Selected articles "Public-Private Partnerships Are Key to U.S. Competitiveness" The Huffington Post, December 18, 2011 "The Future of Leadership: Leading Through Systemic Change" The Huffington Post, September 19, 2011 "We Need to Redefine ROI In Our Everyday World" The Huffington Post, October 20, 2010 "IBM's Transformation – From Survival To Success" Forbes, July 7, 2010 IBM IBM also known as International Business Machines is an IT technology and consulting firm providing computer hardware, software, infrastructure, and hosting services. It has its Headquarters in New York Area, East Coast, Northeastern US IBM spent $34 billion to acquire Red Hat in a deal that closed in 2019, an attempt to position itself as a hybrid cloud vendor after failed attempts to build a public cloud business and compete with the likes of AWS, Microsoft, and Google Cloud.