Deepak advani leaves ibm watson

The old guard at Big Blue has been gradually retiring over the past several years, and one of the most influential leaders of IBM and one of the more intelligent, successful, and well-spoken of the company’s top brass, retired at the end of 2015.

We are talking, of course, about Steve Mills, who ran the Software Group conglomerate for the past decade and a half.

While it may not have been apparent to many of us on the outside, something was brewing during IBM’s reorganization this time last year, where a slew of new executives were given new divisions and responsibilities and where Mills was given the title of executive vice president of software and systems.

That title was significant in that Mills is the only executive vice president in IBM’s history–all of the other top leaders have been senior vice presidents or, in rare cases, the CEO-in-waiting is given the title of president and chief opera