International Business Machines (IBM) has named Gary Cohn, the former economic adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump and ex-Goldman Sachs Group president, as vice chairman.
IBM announced Gary Cohn will be part of IBM’s executive leadership team and will work in the areas of business development, client services, public advocacy and client relationship management.
Gary Cohn served as Trump’s top economic adviser between January 2017 and April 2018 and before that was president and chief operating officer of Goldman Sachs for a decade.
He spent 26 years with the bank and last month said he will make a charitable donation instead of giving back compensation to Goldman Sachs as penance for the Wall Street bank’s involvement in Malaysia’s 1MDB sovereign fund corruption scandal.
Gary Cohn last year raised $720 million in an initial public offering (IPO) for a blank-check acquisition company. He has made investments across the cybersecurity, blockchain infrastructure, regulatory technology and medical technology sectors.
Gary Cohn will work in partnership with IBM CEO Arvind Krishna and the IBM Executive Leadership Team on a range of business initiatives and external engagement, in areas including business development, client services, public advocacy and client relationship management.
“Gary Cohn is a globally respected leader with deep experience operating at the center of business and government,” said Arvind Krishna. “As a senior representative of IBM, his knowledge of technology and business transformation, combined with policymaking expertise, will bring unique value to our clients and stakeholders as we accelerate our hybrid cloud and AI strategy.”
