IBM (NYSE) announced today that Ana Paula Assis has been appointed General Manager for IBM Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). She succeeds Marta Martínez Alonso, who is retiring from IBM after 19 years of service.

Ms. Assis, an eminent business leader with extensive international experience in strategic business development, transformation, and change management in multicultural environments, will be responsible for the business operations, driving revenue growth, client satisfaction, and employee engagement in a region that includes more than 100 countries.

“Ana Paula is a remarkable leader who combines outstanding business eminence and IT industry depth with a relentless focus on talent and diversity development, which has earned her several recognitions. Her deep technical expertise in areas like data, automation, security and Hybrid Cloud has been critical to her success in driving IBM’s growth strategy. Most recently, she had a pivotal role in securing a flawless experience for our clients during the IBM/ Kyndryl spin-off” said Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President, IBM Global Sales.

In her 25 years with IBM, Ms. Assis has fulfilled several other executive roles, including General Manager for the Latin American region, during which she drove sustained growth, and increased market share.  She also held multiple strategic business positions in the United States and in China.

“I am delighted to lead such a multicultural region which is poised for new levels of innovation and entrepreneurship. Embracing the next chapter of digital transformation will be key to help accelerate economic recovery in Europe, Middle East and Africa – and the hybrid cloud platform and AI will certainly have a substantial role to help our private and public organizations further advance and contribute to progress while focusing on environmental sustainability for our region, “said Ana Paula Assis.

Ms. Assis is a member of the board of Junior Achievement Americas, one of the largest philanthropic organizations dedicated to inspiring and preparing young students to become entrepreneurs.  In recent years she has been recognized as “Personality of the Year – Digital Transformation” by the Institute of Learning & Performance (2018); amongst Brazil’s most powerful women and Best Brazilian CEOs by Forbes (2019); and amongst the top 100 executives with best reputation in Brazil according to MERCO (2021).

Ms. Assis is graduated in Computer Science with a post degree in business management by Fundação Getulio Vargas and holds an MBA at Fundação Dom Cabral in Brazil.