Jim Whitehurst, CEO of Red Hat, has stepped down from the position. His new role is president at the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM)
"After working with him closely for more than a decade, I can confidently say that Paul was the natural choice to lead Red Hat," said Whitehurst in a statement, regarding Cormier's succession. "Having been the driving force behind Red Hat's product strategy for nearly two decades, he's been intimately involved in setting the company's direction and uniquely understands how to help customers and partners make the most out of their cloud strategy. He is a proven leader and his commitment to open source principles and ways of working will enable Red Hat not only to keep pace with the demands of enterprise IT, but also lead the way as emerging technologies break into the mainstream."
As for Whitehurst, he was previously senior vice president at IBM while simultaneously CEO of Red Hat, a company he joined in 2008. Before Red Hat, he served as COO of Delta Air Lines.
The consensus appears that Whitehurst's transition from CEO of Red Hat to president of IBM has been in the making for some time, and that his journey at IBM may not end there. According to Bradley Brodkin, CEO of HighVail Systems, "I still believe he's destined to be the next IBM CEO if they are successful in this transformation." HighVail Systems is a Red Hat partner.
IBM reached many milestones under Whitehurst's leadership tenure, notably in 2012 becoming the first open source software company worth $1 billion. As of 2018, IBM had nearly $3 billion in revenue, a figure that's up a staggering $2.5 billion since Whitehurst first started.
Major software competitors of IBM, especially when it comes to cloud computing, include Amazon
- https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/06/paul-cormier-takes-over-as-red-hat-ceo-as-jim-whitehurst-moves-to-ibm/
- https://www.wraltechwire.com/2020/01/30/red-hat-ceo-to-take-over-role-of-president-at-ibm/
- https://www.crn.com/news/cloud/paul-cormier-named-new-ceo-of-red-hat-jim-whitehurst-to-become-ibm-president
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonobacon/2020/01/31/jim-whitehurst-becomes-president-of-ibm-why-he-gets-culture/#741d4ed63949
- https://www.redhat.com/en/about/press-releases/red-hat-names-paul-cormier-president-and-chief-executive-officer
