26 Facts About Lou Gerstner

Lou Gerstner is largely credited with turning IBM's fortunes around.

Lou Gerstner is a graduate of Chaminade High School, Dartmouth College and holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Lou Gerstner was chairman of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and is chairman emeritus of the board of the Lou Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.

Lou Gerstner is the author of Who Says Elephants Can't Dance, about IBM's transformation; and co-author of the book Reinventing Education: Entrepreneurship in America's Public Schools.

Lou Gerstner joined American Express in 1978 and headed its Travel Related Services unit.

Lou Gerstner achieved this by finding new uses and users for the card, such as college students, physicians, and women, as well as persuading corporations to adopt the card as a more effective way of tracking business expenses.

Lou Gerstner created exclusive versions of the card for higher-end clients, such as the Gold Card and the Platinum Card.

Lou Gerstner left AmEx in 1989 to succeed Ross Johnson as chairman and chief executive officer of RJR Nabisco following its $25 billion leveraged buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

Lou Gerstner was hired as chairman and CEO of IBM in April 1993.

Lou Gerstner was the first IBM CEO who was hired from outside the company.

Many expected heads to roll, yet Lou Gerstner initially changed only the CFO, the HR chief, and three key line executives.

Lou Gerstner reversed this plan, realizing from his previous experiences at RJR and American Express that there remained a vital need for a broad-based information technology integrator.

One of the strategic visions that Lou Gerstner set for IBM in 1993 was to make e-business its heart and soul.

Lou Gerstner believed in the potential of B2B e-commerce and wanted to expand the application of the internet to more than just web-page browsing and consumer marketing.

Lou Gerstner argued that a network-centric approach would shift the workload from personal computers to larger enterprise-systems and allow the internet to be embedded into all aspects of business operations.

Under Lou Gerstner, e-business transformed IBM and within six years, they became the market leader in providing the products and services needed to transform any of their customers businesses into a network-centric e-business.

Lou Gerstner was the first highly-paid IBM CEO relative to his home-grown predecessors, earning a personal fortune of hundreds of millions in his role.

Lou Gerstner established the Lou Gerstner Family Foundation in 1989 and serves as the chairman.

In June 2023, Lou Gerstner published an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, highlighting the impact of the Foundation's Helping Hands program and its approach to preventing homelessness.

In January 2003, Lou Gerstner assumed the position of chairman of The Carlyle Group, a Washington, DC global private equity firm.

Lou Gerstner served as chairman from January 2003 until October 2008 and upon retiring from that position, he continued as a senior advisor to Carlyle through September 2016.

In 1991, Lou Gerstner received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.

Lou Gerstner was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1999 for technical leadership in enhancing the competitiveness of US industry.

In recognition of his work on behalf of public education, as well as his business accomplishments, Lou Gerstner was awarded the designation of honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in June 2001.

Lou Gerstner has received numerous awards for his work in education, among them the Cleveland E Dodge Medal for Distinguished Service to Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and the Distinguished Service to Science and Education award from the American Museum of Natural History.

In 2008, Lou Gerstner received the Legend in Leadership Award from the Yale School of Management.