Executive Vice President, IBM
Dr. John E. Kelly III has nearly four decades of experience innovating and leading in the Information Technology (IT) industry. During this time, he has played numerous significant technical and business roles driving IBM’s leadership in technologies ranging from semiconductors to supercomputers to Artificial Intelligence (AI) cognitive systems. As a champion of IBM’s technical community, he has kept IBM as the leader in U.S. patents for the last 26 consecutive years.
In his current role as Executive Vice President, Dr. Kelly is responsible for helping to guide IBM’s global technical and business success. He is focused on overseeing IBM’s enterprise wide Intellectual Property, Security and Privacy, academic, industrial, and government partnerships, as well as its technical community. He is also currently responsible for leading the company’s Watson Health unit.
Previously, Dr. Kelly served as senior vice president, Cognitive Solutions and IBM Research, where he oversaw IBM’s (AI) Watson platform, portfolio and investments. Under his leadership, IBM expanded the specialization of IBM Watson into various industries and domains including health, security, analytics, Internet of Things (IOT), and financial services. He was also responsible for IBM Research and the company’s Intellectual Property.
Prior to this, beginning in July, 2007, Dr. Kelly served as senior vice president and director of IBM Research – only the tenth person to hold that position over the past seven decades. Under Dr. Kelly, IBM Research expanded its global footprint by adding four new labs (including IBM’s first in Africa, South America and Australia), creating a network of approximately 3,000 scientists and technical employees across 12 laboratories in 10 countries. Most notably, Dr. Kelly and his team were responsible for advancing the science of AI and cognitive computing through his support for Watson, the groundbreaking system that defeated two standing Jeopardy! world champions in 2011. This demonstration awoke the world to the potential of AI.
Dr. Kelly joined IBM in 1980. Between 1980 and 2007, he held numerous management and technical positions related to the development and manufacturing of IBM’s advanced semiconductor technologies. In 1990, he was named director of IBM’s Semiconductor Research and Development Center. Between 1994 and 2000, Dr. Kelly held several VP and GM positions across IBM’s businesses.
In 2000, Dr. Kelly was named senior vice president and group executive for IBM’s Technology Group, where he was responsible for developing, manufacturing and marketing IBM’s microelectronics and storage technologies, products and services. He later assumed the position of senior vice president of Technology and Intellectual Property, responsible for IBM’s technical and innovation strategies.
Dr. Kelly received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Union College in 1976. He received a Master of Science degree in physics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 1978 and his Doctorate in materials engineering from RPI in 1980. He has also received three honorary Doctoral degrees.