The 25 Most Influential Executives Of 2012

17. Ginni Rometty

Chairman, President and CEO


It's been a big year for Rometty. In January she became the ninth CEO in IBM's storied history, and its first female chief executive. A 30-year IBM veteran, Rometty is charged with accelerating the company's expansion in growth markets such as business intelligence, cloud computing and IBM's Smarter Planet initiatives.