Stephen M. Ward Jr.

Biography

Mr. Ward is the retired President and Chief Executive Officer of Lenovo Corporation, the international PC company formed by the acquisition of IBM’s PC business by Lenovo of China. Prior to joining Lenovo, he was senior vice president and general manager of IBM’s Personal Systems Group, responsible for the Personal Computing Division, the Retail Store Solutions Division, and the Printing Systems Division. In his 26-year career with IBM, Mr. Ward also served as IBM’s Chief Information Officer and Vice President, Business Transformation, directing business process and information technology investments. Mr. Ward was also General Manager of IBM’s Global Industrial Sector, responsible for the marketing, sales, and service of IBM e-business solutions. In the mid-1990’s, he served as Vice President, Information Technology and was later named General Manager, IBM ThinkPad, in the IBM Personal Computer Company. He first joined IBM in Tucson, Arizona as an engineer in the Storage Products Division. He held various management positions in manufacturing, production control and project development for disk drive, tape and optical storage projects and software development, and was also an assistant to the IBM chairman at company headquarters in Armonk, New York. Mr. Ward holds a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. Mr. Ward is also a co-founder and member of the Board of Directors of E2open, a maker of enterprise software which is a public company listed on the NASDAQ, where he serves as Chair of the HR/Compensation Committee, and is a member of the Executive, Governance and Audit Committees. He is also co-founder, board member, Chair of the Compensation Committee and member of the Executive Committee of C3, a company that develops and sells software to manage energy and monitor, mitigate and monetize carbon dioxide and greenhouse gasses. He also serves as a Director of QD Vision, a nanomaterials product company delivering advanced display and lighting solutions. In addition, until its sale in 2009, Mr. Ward was an investor and Board member of E-Ink Corporation, a maker of electronic paper displays. Mr. Ward’s qualifications include his broad executive experience and focus on innovation which enable him to share with the Board valuable perspectives on a variety of issues relating to management, strategic planning, tactical capital investments, and international growth.  

Research Interest

Areas of expertise: Chief Executive Officer, Information Technology, Innovation, International Markets Experience