PETALING JAYA: IBM Malaysia has appointed Ramanathan Sathiamutty as its managing director with effect from Friday, Jan 8, succeeding Ou Shian Waei who will be retiring.

Previously, Ramanathan served as IBM ASEAN communications sector general manager while Ou will be retained as adviser of global missions integration and government strategy immediately after his retirement.

Ramanathan and Ou will report to IBM Asean general manager Cordelia Chung.

Ramanathan has 24 years of experience in the local and regional ICT industry. Ou retires from IBM after almost 30 years of service where he served as MD from 1996 to 1999 and was appointed to the same role again in 2007.

“Rama is an exceptional business and sales leader with tremendous leadership skills, dedication to every client's success and a track record of success which make him the natural choice for this key leadership position," said Chung in a statement .

She said the move demonstrated IBM's commitment to leadership development and renewal.

Ramanathan joined IBM Malaysia in 1988 as an advanced account services engineer for mainframes. Since then, he has served in various leadership roles in Asean and Asia Pacific countries, and served in Japan, South Korea and India.

Ramanathan, who will be responsible for IBM Malaysia operations, said: “It's a great time to be returning to IBM Malaysia. The country is driving an accelerated growth and innovation agenda and I'm truly excited about the opportunity to collaborate with clients across industries to build smarter ways of working in this new environment."

"I look forward to leading the IBM team to increase our role in advancing our nation's progress through technology and innovation,” said Ramanathan.

As for Ou, his new role is to drive better integration and dynamic flow of global work across the regional centres based here and provide strategic advice to IBM Malaysia.

"The future of Malaysia beckoning us now is one of enormous promise. And I believe it is one that we can build if we open our minds and let ourselves think about how we prepare our people and nation for the 21st century. I am eager to continue my passion to help build a Smarter Malaysia through innovation and growth together with IBM," he said.