IBM CEO Arvind Krishna Needs New Business Cards Already After Appointment As Board Chair

IBM has announced that recently appointed CEO Arvind Krishna has been elected as chairman of the company’s board.

He’ll start the extra gig on January 1st, the day after Ginni Rometty, his predecessor, retires.

Rometty, however, is not done with IBM and the company confirmed in a regulatory filing that: “She may be asked, from time to time, to provide services to the company as an independent contractor. The fee for such services would be $20,000 per day for each day she provides four or more hours of services and $10,000 per day for each day that she provides less than four hours.”

A letter from IBM to Rometty spells out that she’s not to “exceed 20% of the average level of services performed by you over the 36-month period immediately prior to your Retirement Date.” Which sounds like this is a one-day-a-week gig, an amount of work that will deliver a million-dollar annual payday.

The letter also spells out that Rometty will be provided with an office and support staff, plus “travel on Company aircraft in the course of providing the Services” if approved by Krishna.

Krishna’s appointment as chairman of the board is business as usual for IBM, as all but IBM’s first chair - George W. Fairchild – have served as CEO and chair.

The appointment cements Krishna’s role and gives him a platform from which to pursue his plan of spinning out IBM’s services business and focusing on hybrid cloud.

At the same time, IBM is clearing out thousands of workers across Europe, so the soft landing highly paid consultancy shifts for Rometty will likely not be well received by some in the rank and file. ®