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Today, IBM announced the creation of a new distinction from its Industry Academy to recognize experts who have demonstrated outstanding industry expertise: the Distinguished Industry Leader. Distinguished Industry Leaders set themselves apart from their peers through transformational industry-driven business impact, sustained industry innovation, external and internal eminence, and industry community leadership. They personify the differentiated value that IBM delivers to our clients worldwide.

"Global acknowledgment of these experts—and illuminating a pathway for those earlier in their careers to follow—recognizes the value our clients place on deep industry expertise and underscores IBM’s continuing and unmatched commitment to delighting all clients in every industry," said Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president, IBM Global Markets and executive sponsor of IBM's Industry Academy.

Six individuals have been selected for the inaugural group of Distinguished Industry Leaders. Their sector expertise ranges from disciplines as far afield as healthcare, petroleum and industrial products and financial services. They are:

Jayant Kalagnanam, Ph.D., Director (AI Applications), T.J. Watson Research Center, and Chief Scientist for Chemicals, Petroleum and Industrial Products Industries. Jayant’s deep industry expertise and operations knowledge span asset management, production optimization and supply chain management – the core components of Industry 4.0.

Greg Land, Global Industry Leader, Aviation, Hospitality & Travel-Related Services. With a background in computer science and finance – and more than 20 years’ experience on the client side before joining IBM – Greg plays a critical role in helping IBM’s clients affect digital transformation to AI, blockchain and hybrid cloud for back-end operations, customer engagement, and post-pandemic health and safety protocols.

Naoko Nariishi, Partner, Telecom, Media & Entertainment Industry, Communications Sector. Nariishi-san helps clients use IBM hybrid cloud to create platforms for their new business ecosystems, and has led the return to growth for IBM Global Business Telecom Services in Japan.

Judith Pinto, Managing Director, Promontory Financial Group, IBM Global Business Services. Judith helps heavily regulated financial services clients stay compliant and resilient, while ensuring data security and information privacy. Her current work includes leading the design, development and oversight of the Policy Framework for IBM Cloud for Financial Services – the first public cloud of its kind in the industry.

Greg Porpora, IBM Global Business Services Worldwide Public Sector Distinguished Engineer for Cyber Security and AI. Working with the US Department of Defense and government agencies in many countries during the race to develop COVID-19 vaccines, Greg is helping to prevent vaccine supplies from being intercepted, compromised or counterfeited, as well as using Quantum computing to advance cybersecurity.

Constantin von Altrock, Director, Safer Payments and IBM Industry Academy member. As the Covid-19 pandemic accelerates the shift to a digital economy, the need for payment fraud prevention and payment security has never been greater. Constantin has designed fraud prevention systems protecting some 618 million customer accounts worldwide for name brand clients such as UniCredit, FIS, Fiserv, Bank of Montreal and CIBC.

With members hailing from dozens of countries and myriad industries, the IBM Industry Academy is a community of preeminent industry leaders. These IBM professionals are chosen through a rigorous selection process that takes into account technical and industry-domain expertise. Members of the academy work within and across industry with the end goal of shaping and creating cutting-edge work that enables IBM clients to thrive.