# Arvind Krishna

CEO and Chairman, IBM. TIME100 AI 2026, Leaders. IBM's CEO began his career at its research lab in 1990 and spent 18 years there before climbing to the top job. ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvind_Krishna))

- Born: 1962-11-23, West Godavari, Andhra Pradesh, India ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvind_Krishna))
- Education: PhD, Electrical engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 1991; BTech, Electrical engineering, IIT Kanpur, 1985 ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvind_Krishna))
- Career: IBM (Chairman and CEO, 1990 to now) ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvind_Krishna), [newsroom.ibm.com](https://newsroom.ibm.com/Arvind-Krishna), [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/arvindkrishna))
- TIME profile: https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/arvind-krishna/
- Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/most-influential-people-in-ai/arvind-krishna

- Has spent his entire career at IBM, starting in 1990 as a researcher at its Watson lab and staying in research for 18 years. ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvind_Krishna))
- Helped create the world's first commercial wireless system and founded IBM's security software business. ([newsroom.ibm.com](https://newsroom.ibm.com/Arvind-Krishna))
- Wired named him one of 25 geniuses creating the future of business in 2016, for his early work on blockchain. ([newsroom.ibm.com](https://newsroom.ibm.com/Arvind-Krishna))
- Was the main architect of IBM's $34 billion purchase of Red Hat in 2019, the largest acquisition in the company's history. ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvind_Krishna))
- After IBM shares fell 25% in one day in July 2026, he told investors: "We did not adapt and move quickly enough." ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/arvind-krishna/))
- Bets that AI models will become interchangeable and that 90% of the value will go to companies building applications on top of them. ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/arvind-krishna/))