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First Person with Claudia Imhoff: Janet Perna

Published: February 13, 2007

Before retiring in 2006, Janet was General Manager, Information Management Solutions, IBM Software Group. She is currently a member of the boards of directors of Cognos and Deltek and volunteers with the American Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity.

Janet Perna

Prior to her retirement from IBM in January, 2006, Janet was the General Manager, Information Management Solutions, IBM Software Group, which offers the industry’s broadest and most comprehensive portfolio for helping companies integrate, manage and gain value from their business information.

Over the ten-year period that Janet led IBM’s information management business, its flagship DB2 family of products grew into a multibillion dollar business that includes 60 million users in more than 425,000 companies worldwide. During Janet’s tenure, IBM’s information management business, headquartered in Somers, NY, delivered innovative products to help customers with real-world business problems, developing a broad portfolio of information management resources, including database management, content and records management, information integration and business intelligence capabilities.

Janet initiated IBM's 1998 investment of $1 billion to build sales and marketing capabilities in data management, and another $1 billion investment decision in 2001 to acquire the database assets of Informix. Janet has was instrumental in IBM’s subsequent decisions to expand its information management capabilities by acquiring the assets of Tarian, Green Pasture, CrossAccess, Venetica, AlphaBlox, and in 2005, the $1 billion acquisition of Ascential Software.

Janet’s business and technology leadership has earned her numerous honors and awards – including her 2001 induction into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame. She also served on IBM’s Worldwide Management Council, a 50-member advisory board to the chairman.

Following her graduation from SUNY Oneonta with a BS in Mathematics, Perna taught Mathematics in Middletown, New York. In 1974 she joined IBM in San Jose, California, where she held a number of system programming and management positions. She moved into software product development at the Santa Teresa Laboratory in 1981. When she became director of database technology at the IBM Toronto Laboratory in 1991, she began building IBM’s database business on distributed platforms, including UNIX and Windows NT. In 1996 she was promoted to General Manager, assuming worldwide responsibilities for IBM’s information management business, including strategy, product development, marketing, sales and customer support. When she retired, she was one of IBM Software Group’s highest ranking executives.

Janet is currently a member of the boards of directors of Cognos and Deltek corporations and is a volunteer with the American Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity. She lives in Stamford, Connecticut, and Incline Village, Nevada.