Ana Paula Assis leads IBM in Europe, Middle East and Africa
IBM has announced the appointment of Ana Paula Assis as its new General Manager for Europe, Middle East & Africa. Speaking on her promotion, she said she was “delighted to lead such a multicultural region which is poised for new levels of innovation and entrepreneurship.”
Assis went on, “Embracing the next chapter of digital transformation will be key to help accelerate economic recovery in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) – and the hybrid cloud platform and AI will certainly have a substantial role to help our private and public organisations further advance and contribute to progress while focusing on environmental sustainability for our region.”
As General Manager for EMEA, Assis will be responsible for the business operations, driving revenue growth, client satisfaction, and employee engagement in a region that includes more than 100 countries. As a long-term expert with IBM, Assis will leverage her extensive international experience in strategic business development, transformation, and change management in multicultural environments to meet the demands of her new role.
Having spent more than 25 years with IBM, Assis has fulfilled several other executive roles with the firm already. These include 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 US and in China. Outside of her work, she is a member of the board of Junior Achievement Americas, one of the largest philanthropic organisations dedicated to inspiring and preparing young students to become entrepreneurs.
Rob Thomas, Senior Vice President, IBM Global Sales, remarked, “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.”
Assis steps into the shoes of Marta Martínez Alonso. She retires from IBM after 19 years of service – and was the first woman to be IBM’s EMEA General Manager when she took the role in 2020.
