IBM's Chief Digital Officer Bob Lord Says The Company is Changing Its 'Mindset' So It Can Appeal to Startups and Developers
This article was authored by Laura O'Reilly and was published on Business Insider on September 16, 2016.
IBM's Chief Digital Officer Bob Lord Says The Company is Changing Its 'Mindset' So It Can Appeal to Startups and Developers
When Bob Lord announced he was leaving AOL in November last year, most people knew he was going to end up landing a big new role — not least because he told The Wall Street Journal he wanted to run a public company or a company about to IPO.
Lord spent more than a decade at ad agencies, ending up as global CEO at Publicis Groupe's digital technology division, presiding over almost 8,000 employees and $1.8 billion in revenue.
In 2013, he left agency land to join AOL as its president, helping to grow revenue from $1.5 billion to more than $3 billion. Verizon, one of AOL's large clients, became so impressed with its programmatic advertising offering that it ended up acquiring the company for $4.4 billion in June last year.