Meet Kyndryl’s New Board of Directors

Kyndryl CEO Martin Schroeter will chair the board, according to a statement Tuesday. Former RSA Insurance Group and Royal Bank of Scotland CEO Stephen Hester will serve as lead independent director.

Kyndryl, the upcoming public spin-off of IBM’s managed infrastructure services business, has named its board of directors, two of whom are on the boards of Cisco and Juniper Networks and one of whom is a National Medal of Science recipient.

IBM’s board of directors have approved the Kyndryl board appointments, according to a company statement Tuesday. Kyndryl is still expected to separate from IBM by the end of the year.

A regulatory filing this week shows that the IBM business now known as Kyndryl generated $19.35 billion in pro forma revenue in 2020. That was down from $20.28 billion in revenue for 2019, and from $21.8 billion in 2018.

The business’ pro forma $2.01 billion net loss in 2020 represented an increase from 2019, when the reported net loss was $943 million, according to the Kyndryl filing.

Kyndryl CEO Martin Schroeter, who will chair the board, wrote in a letter to future Kyndryl stockholders that being an independent company will make Kyndryl “flatter, faster, more focused and organized around high-priority customer needs and opportunities.”

“We are starting ‘life’ as a clear leader in our business, with a world-class board of directors, an experienced management team, a strong balance sheet, a revenue base of $19 billion and a commitment to achieving sustainable margins, consistent cash flows and meaningful returns for stockholders,” he said in the letter. “Importantly, we are committed to deploying our capital in a disciplined way to create sustainable long-term value.”

The spin-off of IBM’s $19 billion managed infrastructure services business will have six global managed services practices. The practices are cloud; digital workplace; security and resiliency; network and edge; core enterprise and zCloud; and applications, data and AI. Kyndryl will also offer an advisory and implementation services practice to advise customers on digital environments and advanced technology adoption and integration.

Here’s what you need to know.

Martin Schroeter

Kyndryl CEO Martin Schroeter, 57, will chair the company’s board, according to Kyndryl.

In a letter to future Kyndryl shareholders, he said that being an independent company will allow Kyndryl “more freedom to invest in and build on our capabilities to serve an addressable market that we expect to expand to over $500 billion by 2024, which is being driven by an explosion in data, migration to the cloud to manage all the data and analytics, and an urgent and obvious need to make information and technology systems more secure.”

Schroeter was most recently IBM’s senior vice president, global markets—a job he held starting in December 2017. There, his responsibilities included IBM’s global sales, client relationships and worldwide geographic operations. He was also responsible for IBM marketing and communications functions and building the company’s global brand and reputation.

Schroeter held a number of executive positions at IBM prior to the global markets role, including serving as IBM’s CFO between 2014 and 2017 and earlier as general manager of global financing where he managed an asset base of more than $37 billion.

He joined IBM in 1992 and held a number of positions in the U.S., Japan and Australia.

Stephen Hester

Former RSA Insurance Group and Royal Bank of Scotland CEO Stephen A.M. Hester, 60, will serve as lead independent director, according to Kyndryl.

Hester joined RSA in 2014 and retired as CEO in June. He served as CEO of Royal Bank of Scotland from 2008 to 2013. He is also currently a non-executive director of Swiss low-cost airline easyJet and director of British energy company Centrica.

He got his start in 1982 at Credit Suisse First Boston, eventually becoming chief financial officer and head of support division from 1996 to 2000 and then serving as global head of the fixed income division until 2001. His resume includes a stint as CEO of property investor and developer British Land from 2004 to 2008 and COO and CFO of mortgage provider Abbey National from 2002 to 2004.

John Harris

The board includes John D. Harris II, 60, who retired as CEO of Raytheon International -- the international business of the defense contractor giant -- last year. In January, Cisco Systems announced Harris’ appointment to its own board. He is also on the board of Singaporean electronics manufacturer Flex.

He had served in the CEO role since 2013 and brings “global business experience and technology, digital and cybersecurity expertise” to the Kyndryl board, according to the company.

Harris joined Raytheon in 1983 and held various leadership roles, including vice president of operations and contracts for Raytheon’s former electronic systems business, vice president of contracts for the company’s government and defense businesses until 2003 and vice president of contracts and supply chain for Raytheon Co. until 2010.

After the Raytheon Co. vice president role, he served as president of the Raytheon Technical Services Co. until 2013.

Rahul Merchant

Also on the board is Rahul N. Merchant, 65, senior vice president of client service and technology for Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA), according to Kyndryl.

Merchant is on the boards of directors for Juniper Networks, Convergint Technologies and Global Cloud Exchange.

He joined TIAA in 2015. Before that, he served as citywide chief information and innovation officer for New York from 2012 to 2014.

From 2009 to 2012, he was a partner at private equity firm Exigen Capital, which invests in financial services, insurance, media, health care, communications and other industries.

Merchant previously worked at the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) as executive vice president, chief information and operations officer and at Merrill Lynch as chief information and chief technology officer, according to the statement. He left Fannie Mae in 2009 and Merrill Lynch in 2006.

Dominic J. Caruso

Other board members include Dominic J. Caruso, 64, former Johnson & Johnson executive vice president and chief financial officer. He is a director of McKesson Corp. and previously co-chaired the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Global Initiative on Health and the Economy. According to Kyndryl, his “global business experience and financial expertise will make him a well-qualified addition to our Board.”

Caruso retired from Johnson & Johnson in 2018. According to his LinkedIn, he was the longest serving CFO in Johnson & Johnson’s 130-plus-year history. He joined Johnson & Johnson through the acquisition of Centocor in 1999. He served in leadership roles at Centocor, including CFO, from 1994 until the acquisition.

The former CFO “played a pivotal role in propelling Johnson & Johnson’s growth,” according to his LinkedIn, which resulted in “its stock price appreciating over 90 percent during the course of my CFO tenure.”

Shirley Ann Jackson

Board member Shirley Ann Jackson, 75, has been the president of private research university Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) since 1999. RPI is located in Troy, N.Y., and is among the oldest technological research universities in the U.S.

Before joining RPI, Jackson was chairwoman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. From 1991 to 1995, she was a consultant to the former AT&T Bell Laboratories and was also a professor of theoretical physics at Rutgers University. She also worked as a theoretical physicist at the former AT&T Bell Laboratories from 1976 to 1991.

Jackson, who has a PhD in theoretical elementary particle physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was an appointee of former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, according to RPI. She was co-chair of the president’s Intelligence Advisory Board and served on the president’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology under Obama. She served as chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission under Clinton.

In 2016, Jackson received the National Medal of Science, the “nation’s highest honor for contributions in science and engineering,” according to RPI.

Janina Kugel

Janina Kugel, 51, is a former chief human resources officer of Siemens AG. She retired in 2020 and joined Siemens in 2001 as vice president of communications group strategy.

Her other titles with Siemens include director of global commercial excellence, according to Kyndryl.

Kugel serves on the board of Finish crane manufacturer Konecranes and German tourism company TUI, according to Kyndryl. She is a member of the advisory council of the German Pension Benefit Guaranty Association and the supervisory board of the Confederation of German Employers’ Associations, which represents interest groups in banking, commerce, trade and other industries.

According to her LinkedIn, Kugel worked at Accenture for about three years, leaving in 2000. Her responsibilities included leading implementation projects with a focus on process re-engineering, leading restructuring and reorganization projects and developing change management and communication concepts.

Denis Machuel

Denis Machuel, 57, has served as CEO of French food services and facilities management company Sodexo since 2018.

He previously held the titles of managing director of benefits and rewards services for Central and Eastern Europe and group chief digital officer at Sodexo, according to Kyndryl. Machuel is a member of the G7 Business for Inclusive Growth Coalition and the Consumer Goods Forum.

Before joining Sodexo in 2007, he spent about 16 years with Altran, leaving with the title of corporate director, offshore strategy and operations for Altran Technologies France, according to his LinkedIn. Capgemini announced its $4.1 billion acquisition of Altran in 2019.

Machuel’s career started with French energy and digital solutions company Schneider Electric in 1989, according to his LinkedIn.

Jana Schreuder

Jana Schreuder, 63, joins the Kyndryl board after retiring from Northern Trust Corp. in 2018. Her “technology, digital and cybersecurity expertise will make her a well-qualified addition to our Board,” according to Kyndryl.

She had served as the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the bank since 2014, according to Kyndryl. She joined Northern Trust in 1980, holding multiple leadership roles including chief risk officer from 2005 to 2006, president of operations and technology from 2006 to 2011, and president of wealth management from 2011 to 2014.

As COO of Northern Trust, she led the bank’s “business enablement activities for the global enterprise which includes: Business model and data architecture; Change management resourcing and governance; Client and partner experience research; Operations; Product development and Technology,” according to her LinkedIn.

Schreuder currently sits on the board of Blucora, the parent company of the Avantax financial planning service, and Bermuda-based offshore bank and trust Butterfield.

Howard Ungerleider

Howard I. Ungerleider, 53, has been president and CFO of global materials science company Dow since 2019. His “global business and leadership experience and financial expertise will make him a well-qualified member of our Board,” according to Kyndryl.

He’s held various leadership positions at Dow since 1990, including CFO from 2014 to 2015, according to Kyndryl. In 2016, after The Dow Chemical Co. and E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. merged, Ungerleider became CFO of DowDuPont. In 2019, Dow separated from the merged company.

Ungerleider is also a member of the Business Leaders for Michigan business roundtable and the Michigan Climate Executive Advisory Group. During the past five years, he has served as a director of Michigan-based Wolverine Bancorp.