IBM names new Aus/NZ chief

IBM has appointed Kerry Purcell as its new managing director across the company’s A/NZ operations, transferring the New Zealander from his old role managing global business services in Japan.

Kerry Purcell

Purcell will take the reins of big blue’s local operations from Jeffrey Rhoda, who has been filling the managing director role since the resignation of Andrew Stevens in July 2014.

At the time of Stevens’ departure, IBM indicated it had already chosen a successor but held off until yesterday to reveal Purcell’s identity.

Purcell will leave IBM Japan after three years as managing partner of its global business services operation, during which time the company worked closely with the Japanese government.

He originally joined IBM from business process outsourcing firm Xchanging, where he led the Asia Pacific branch of the UK-based firm.

His CV also features senior roles at EDS, Telstra and New Zealand telco Telecom (now Spark New Zealand).

In a statement Purcell said he felt “very privileged and excited” to be selected for the top Australia/New Zealand job.

“It’s clear that both Australia and New Zealand are undergoing rapid change as the forces of cloud, mobile, social and analytics transform industries.

“Locally we are executing a strong strategy that will meet this pace of change for our clients, and deliver the higher value solutions and services they need to grow and adapt their businesses,” he said.