Anne E. Robinson
 |
Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer
Anne E. Robinson is Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at IBM, where she leads the Legal, Compliance, Privacy, Corporate Security, and Government & Regulatory Affairs organizations. A member of IBM’s senior leadership team, she ensures these functions serve as strategic partners to the business and play a central role in shaping the company’s most consequential business, technology, and risk decisions.
Prior to joining IBM, Anne was General Counsel at Vanguard and Secretary of the Vanguard funds, where she led Global Public Policy, Legal, Compliance, and Investment Stewardship. She joined Vanguard in 2016 from Citigroup, where she was Managing Director and General Counsel for the Global Cards and Consumer Services business, and previously held senior legal roles at American Express. Earlier in her career, she served as counsel at Deloitte and began in private practice at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy.
Her experience leading legal, compliance, and governance functions in highly regulated financial institutions directly informs her work at IBM, helping clients navigate complex AI, data, cybersecurity, governance, and operational risks.
At IBM, Anne has transformed the legal function into a strategic enabler of innovation. Her approach emphasizes agency and accountability—encouraging teams to make informed decisions, move with speed, and focus on outcomes. The legal function now plays a central role in major strategic initiatives—helping the business take smart risks that drive growth.
Through oversight of IBM’s Responsible Technology Board, one of the earliest AI ethics bodies in the industry, Anne helps ensure principles such as transparency, fairness, and accountability are embedded from development to deployment.
She also plays a central role in helping IBM manage cybersecurity, partnering across the company and with clients and ecosystem partners to bring together legal, security, and business leaders to manage cyber risk, navigate incidents, and ensure continuity on a global scale.
Anne champions IBM’s “client zero” approach, deploying IBM’s own AI alongside select technology partners to demonstrate how governance, productivity, and innovation can advance together.
Anne serves as an independent, non-executive director of National Grid plc and is a member of its Remuneration and Safety and Sustainability Committees.
Anne is a committed advocate for advancing diversity in the legal profession. Her support for underrepresented communities is reflected in her industry leadership and board service, including roles with MCCA, Children’s Rights, and the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership at Columbia Law School, where she helps develop the next generation of legal and business talent.
Anne earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Hampton University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.