Ibm founder

Name: Shanker Annaswamy
Profile: Managing Director, IBM India
Age: 56
Why He Won For transforming IBM’s India business and making it the nerve centre in servicing 174 local markets through its global delivery network.

The telecom service model it pioneered for Bharti has become the de facto industry standard worldwide.

Barely two months after I joined, in July 2004, the first non-IBMer and non-IT person to lead IBM India, I had my first interaction with the chairman [Sam Palmisano].

He said he didn’t like what he saw in the systems and technology business with respect to market leadership position. He wanted us to get our due. Later that year, IBM made the announcement that it was selling its PC business to Lenovo.

Ibm headquarters

What happened then? A substantial portion of my business was gone. In that environment, the real challenge was to work on the mandate of market leadership. I think