J. Bruce Harreld

Bruce Harreld retired from IBM in 2008 and joined Harvard Business School's faculty in early 2009. He is a frequent speaker and writer on implementing strategy, corporate transformation, and building new businesses in established organizations. He currently teaches two quite popular second year MBA courses focused on turnarounds and executing strategy. He teaches in numerous executive programs and is the faculty chair of "Building New Businesses within Established Organizations".

Joining IBM in October 1995, he worked to chart IBM’s transformation and to ensure that IBM’s early-90s "near-death experience" will never happen again. From 1995 to his retirement in 2008 Mr. Harreld led IBM’s Strategy unit, which was responsible for the formulation and execution of the company’s overall strategy. As part of this responsibility, Mr. Harreld directed IBM’s Emerging Business Opportunities (EBO) program, a unique management system producing more than 20 new businesses for IBM – including multi-billion-dollar businesses in Life Sciences, Linux, Pervasive Computing, and Digital Media. The EBO program has become a model for growth inside IBM, and has attracted attention from leading academic institutions as well as companies seeking to build new businesses. From 2006 to 2008, Mr. Harreld also served as senior vice president for IBM Marketing. In that capacity, he led IBM's marketing efforts which encompassed a wide range of growth activities designed to identify market opportunities, develop and communicate IBM’s value proposition, coordinate go-to-market activities, as well as protect and strengthen the IBM brand, which is one of the most valued brands in the world.

Prior to joining IBM, Mr. Harreld was president of Boston Chicken, Inc., and served on the faculty of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. He also held CIO and several line management positions at Kraft General Foods, Inc., and began his career at The Boston Consulting Group where he served as an officer and director. Mr. Harreld holds an MBA degree from Harvard University and a BS in industrial engineering and operations research from Purdue University.