Who is Arvind Krishna? Biography, Net Worth, Career & News

Written By Alex Cherry

Arvind Krishna is a corporate executive of Indian and American descent. Arvind currently holds the positions of Chairman and CEO at IBM since April 2020. He received this promotion last January 2021.

Arvind started working for IBM in 1990 at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center. He was given the title of Senior Vice President in 2015. Arvind is currently in charge of the IBM Cloud & Cognitive Software division and IBM Research. He was the primary architect of the company’s most significant and extensive acquisition. An essential point in its history was the purchase of Red Hat.

Photo Credits: Acceleration Economy

Arvind Krishna Background

Arvind Krishna was born in India on May 21, 1962, making him age 60 at this time. He grew up in a Telugu household in West Godavari, located in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Both of his parents served in the military. His father, General Vinod Krishna, is an officer in the Indian Army. At the same time, his mother, Aarathi Krishna, worked for Army widows’ welfare.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna married Anupama and became a family man. He is devoted to his family and maintains a home in the United States with them. He is also a citizen of the United States of America.

Arvind is a brilliant man. His areas of expertise include cloud computing, enterprise architecture, and enterprise software.

Arvind’s height is about 170 centimeters or 5 feet and 6 inches. He weighs about 75 kilograms or 165 lbs. His eyes are a dark brown color, and his hair is a grayish-white color with a beard.

Arvind Krishna Family

Arvind is a devoted family man who spends quality time with his wife and children. However, this is the only available public information regarding Arvind’s family. He is good at keeping his family life and background away from the eyes of the public.

Arvind Krishna Wife

A source from IBM said that Arvind Krishna is married with two children and reside in India. We do not know any more details about them. Arvind’s official Twitter account confirms his family life. There are also reports sharing the news that he is a happy father and a husband.

Arvind Krishna Education 

Before enrolling at St. Joseph’s Academy in Dehradun, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna received his secondary education at Coonoor, Tamil Nadu’s Stanes Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School. He attended the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur for his undergraduate education. Arvind then received a Bachelor of Technology degree in Electrical Engineering in 1985.

After that, Arvind went to the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in 1985. He stayed there until 1991 to earn his doctoral degree. Both educational institutes of higher learning have honored him with prestigious alum awards.

Photo Credits: The Wall Street Journal

IBM Arvind Krishna Career 

Arvind Krishna started his professional life in 1990 with IBM, namely at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center. And he remained there for the next 18 years, up until 2009. After that, he worked for IBM as a General Manager in the Information management software, systems, and technology group.

In 2015, he was given the position of senior vice president of IBM Research after receiving a promotion. After some time, he rose through the ranks at IBM. He becomes senior vice president of the company’s cloud and cognitive software group.

Additionally, Arvind was in charge of constructing and expanding new markets for IBM in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, quantum computing, and blockchain technology. The $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat by IBM, finalized in July 2019, was primarily due to his efforts.

Arvind succeeded Ginni Rometty as CEO of IBM on April 6, 2020. After being nominated CEO of IBM in January. Ginni Rometty has held the position of CEO since 2012. As the fourth Indian-American CEO of a major technology company in the United States, Arvind follows in the footsteps of Shantanu Narayen, Satya Nadella, and Sundar Pichai.

Moreover, in 2021, CRN recognized him as the “Most Influential Executive” of that year.

 Arvind Krishna as A Technologist

Since joining the American information technology giant IBM in 1990, Arvind has experienced quite a lot. IBM Arvind Krishna has worked in various roles, including executive, product management, and technical research. Before the board of directors at IMB chose Krishna as the company’s CEO, Krishna served as the highest-level Cloud and Cognitive Software Vice President.

As part of his responsibilities, he established the platform’s technological strategy. He built connections across the industry and identified essential growth possibilities for IBM software.

Arvind began working at IBM’s T. J. Watson Research Center in December 1990. He remained there until 2009 when he retired as the research director for Internet infrastructure and computing utilities. 

In addition, Arvind also held the position of vice president of provisioning and security development for Tivoli Software. It is part of IBM’s Software Group. In this role, he established the technical strategy for IBM’s security/identity middleware, provisioning, and orchestration middleware. They are also responsible for delivering products that support the plan.

Arvind Krishna Salary

Arvind Krishna IBM has a net worth of approximately $50 million. His profession as a Business Executive accounts for the majority of his income. It provides him with a salary of roughly $20 million. The accomplishments of Arvind Krishna’s professional life have enabled him. To enjoy a high-class lifestyle and acquire several expensive automobiles. He is considered one of the wealthiest CEOs in the United States and was born in India.

Photo Credits: Barron’s

Arvind Krishna Net Worth

According to the current market conversion rate, one United States Dollar is equivalent to 73.81 Indian Rupees. Arvind Krishna’s net worth must be at least 1,099,779,430.00 Indian Rupees. He owns more than 15,025 International Business Machines stock shares at more than $14,898,425.

According to the 2021 Notice of Annual Meeting and Proxy Statement, Arvind Krishna made a significant amount in his career. His total annual compensation is $17.009 million or 1,296,424,641.00 rupees. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna complete compensation package consisted of the following components. A basic salary of $1.353 million and $13.159 million in stock awards. $2.181 million in a non-equity incentive plan, $42,806 in pension. And $ miscellaneous remuneration totaling $274,146. 

Arvind Krishna is one of the few South Indians holding the CEO position of a major technology company. He is a magnificent figure. Arvind Krishna exerted significant effort throughout his career and steadily climbed the ladder to reach this position. We hope that he is successful in all of his endeavors.

The Major Accomplishments of Arvind Krishna IBM

Rometty stated that Arvind Krishna is a brilliant technologist. The latter played a significant role in developing the key technologies of today. This includes artificial intelligence, cloud computing, quantum computing, and blockchain. 

Upon his success and announcement as CEO of IBM in January 2020, Arvind was happy. His success has inspired many, and Arvind is now focusing on laying the groundwork for future commercial success.

Arvind is also credited for leading IBM through the most significant acquisition in its history, Red Hat. A leading provider of open-source software solutions, for approximately $34 billion. This acquisition was one of the largest in the history of the technology industry.

IBM’s acquisition of Red Hat was driven by a number of strategic factors. First, it allowed IBM to expand its presence in the rapidly growing cloud computing market. Red Hat was a leader in providing open-source solutions for building, deploying, and managing cloud-based applications, which complemented IBM’s existing portfolio of cloud-based services.

Second, the acquisition gave IBM access to Red Hat’s large customer base, which included many of the world’s largest companies in a wide range of industries. This allowed IBM to offer a broader set of solutions and services to these customers, helping to drive growth and revenue.

Third, the acquisition was seen as a way for IBM to better compete with other major cloud providers, such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. By combining IBM’s existing strengths with Red Hat’s expertise in open-source software, IBM was able to offer a more comprehensive and differentiated set of solutions to customers.

Overall, the acquisition of Red Hat represented a significant strategic shift for IBM, as it sought to position itself as a leader in the rapidly evolving cloud computing market.

Moreover, Arvind has a history of bringing about courageous changes and achieving demonstrable business success. His coworkers at IBM view him as a genuine and values-oriented leader.

IBM CEO Arvind Krishna is a co-author of 15 patents. He served as the editor of journals for both the IEEE and the ACM. He has an extensive publication history in various technical journals and conferences at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Kanpur and the University of Illinois. All schools have honored him with their Distinguished Alumni Awards.

Photo Credits: Forbes

Arvind Krishna IBM CEO FAQs

What is the IBM CEO’s salary?

Mr. Krishna, the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of International Business Machines receive a total remuneration package from the company equal to $3,807,758.

Is Arvind Krishna a citizen of the United States?

Arvind Krishna is a corporate executive of Indian and American descent. He currently holds the positions of Chairman and CEO at IBM.

What contributions has Arvind Krishna made to IBM throughout the years?

As a commercial executive and a technologist, he has led IBM’s efforts to establish and expand new markets in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, quantum computing, and blockchain technology. In addition, he has been a substantial contributor to developing novel IBM products and solutions from various developing technologies.

Who currently holds the ownership of IBM?

IBM’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer are Arvind Krishna. IBM is a technology company. As a commercial executive and a technologist, he has led IBM’s efforts to establish and expand new markets. 

What does the future hold for IBM?

According to analysts, IBM’s growth is expected to reach 6% this year, higher than 4% in 2018.

How old is Arvind Krishna currently?

Arvind Krishna, the CEO of IBM, turned 60 this year.

What exactly is it that Arvind Krishna does?

Arvind started his career at IBM in 1990 as a researcher and has since risen to become the company’s CEO and Chairman of today.

What is IBM’s primary offering?

In addition to providing consulting services and selling software, IBM also provides solutions for hybrid cloud infrastructure.