Consumer Marketer Is Named to Take Over PC Operations at IBM
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IBM Chairman Louis Gerstner Jr. named a longtime associate this week to lead the company’s personal computer operations, which have become more important but also face difficult challenges.
As Gerstner did in April, G. Richard Thoman will arrive at International Business Machines Corp. with little direct experience in computers.
But he brings with him a background of consumer marketing that will be necessary to the future of the company’s PC business and will also help balance the engineering skills of other executives at IBM.
Thoman, 49, will become an IBM senior vice president next month, overseeing IBM’s personal computer and printer subsidiaries.
His career has closely followed Gerstner’s through the consulting firm McKinsey and Co. and top executive positions at American Express and RJR Nabisco Inc.
He graduated from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University with a doctorate in international economics and master’s degrees in international economics and international studies.
