Jon Iwata is Executive in Residence at the Yale School of Management. His appointment followed his retirement from IBM in 2018.
During his 34-year career with IBM, Jon held a variety of senior management roles. He was most recently IBM Senior Vice President and Chief Brand Officer. IBM’s brand is one of the most valuable in the world, a status enhanced by strategic brand platforms that express the company’s strategy, purpose and values. Jon is the architect of several of these platforms, including e-business, Smarter Planet and Watson.
Prior to his role as Chief Brand Officer, Jon led IBM’s global marketing, communications and corporate citizenship organization for nearly a decade. He was chairman of the IBM Values and Policy Advisory Board and chaired IBM’s corporate strategy committee for three years.
Jon has reported to three IBM CEOs during two decades of significant transformation of the information technology industry, globalization and geopolitical issues. He continues to be an advisor to Ginni Rometty, IBM’s current Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.
In addition to his role at Yale University, Jon is a trustee of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and a director of the Ladies Professional Golf Association.
Jon is recognized as a leader in both the marketing and corporate communications professions. He is an inductee of the Marketing Hall of Fame, the CMO Club Hall of Fame and the Page Society Hall of Fame, which honors lifetime achievement in business communications. He was named a Brand Genius by AdWeek in 2017 and is a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from The Seminar, an organization of Chief Communications Officers.
He holds a B.A. from the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at San Jose State University.
Jon is co-inventor of a U.S. patent for advanced semiconductor lithography technology.