IBM’s Kate Woolley

Kate Woolley
General Manager, IBM Ecosystem
IBM

Kate Woolley is the general manager of IBM’s partner ecosystem, a role she took over last year after serving as chairman and CEO Arvind Krishna’s chief of staff for two years. In her first year leading IBM’s entire ecosystem, she implemented some major changes culminating with replacing the decades-old PartnerWorld program with the new IBM Partner Plus.

“I’m really honored to be one of the influencers,” Woolley told Channel Futures. “One of the reasons I’m excited to be on this list is we still need to do more about diversity in leadership. I have a very strong passion around gender diversity, and I’m proud to be on this list as a female. “As a leader in the channel, we must continue to grow and nurture our diverse talent. It’s all about having a positive impact on people, and people in the channel wanting to be a part of what IBM is doing.

“When I came into this role, I wanted to listen to what our partners were feeling and experiencing. I also wanted to listen to IBMers because many of the answers can often come from the teams and working with the partners. I enable my team by getting any roadblocks out of the way to support them, prioritize what they’re doing, and connect the dots. I feel as though we’re only just getting started. Before stepping into this, I didn’t realize just how much potential there was in terms of how much more we could do with our partners. And so, I am pleasantly surprised in that way.”