Three key executives left IBM in December

Dive Brief:

IBM lost three high-ranking executives in December.
The departures generated some curiosity about what is happening at the company.
Some have speculated the three may be starting a new venture together.

Dive Insight:

The departing executives include executive vice president of IBM Software and Systems Steve Mills, a 43-year company veteran, Danny Sabbah, IBM’s chief technology officer for cloud, and Brendan Hannigan, general manager of IBM Security.

"IBM is losing valuable, experienced executives with the departure of Mills and Sabbah," said Charles King, principal analyst with Pund-IT. "Mills and Sabbah played instrumental roles in the massive reorg that IBM instituted late in 2014.”

Hannigan’s departure, meanwhile, may simply be part of IBM’s corporate strategy, said King. His replacement, Marc van Zadelhoff, has long been positioned for bigger and better things in the company.

"His move into the GM chair means that IBM now has a leader who intimately understands both the company and the complex security industry,” said King.