Consumer Marketer to Take Over PC Operations at IBM

IBM Chairman Louis Gerstner Jr. named a longtime associate Tuesday to lead the company’s personal computer operations, which have become more important but also face difficult challenges.

As Gerstner did in April, G. Richard Thoman will arrive at International Business Machines Corp. with little direct experience in computers.

But he brings a background of consumer marketing that will be necessary to the future of the company’s PC business and will balance the engineering skills of other IBM executives.

Thoman, 49, will become an IBM senior vice president next month, overseeing IBM’s personal computer and printer subsidiaries.

His career has closely followed Gerstner’s through the consulting firm McKinsey and Co. and top executive positions at American Express and RJR Nabisco Inc.

He graduated Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University with a doctorate in international economics and master’s degrees in international economics and international studies.