Gina Wong (Kyndryl)
Gina Wong, who until this month had been IBM’s Asia Pacific head of technology consulting and implementation services, has been named as the Singapore managing director for Big Blue’s managed services spin-off Kyndryl.
The spin-off and the resulting executive reshuffle have been a long time coming. IBM announced the proposed spin-off of its US$19 billion Managed Infrastructure Services business in October last year. By April this year, it had revealed the name of the business to be Kyndryl – a portmanteau of ‘kin’ in kinship and ‘dril’ from tendril.
In July this year, IBM revealed the broader structural plans for Kyndryl, including its leadership appointments in various regions around the world. The list of regions covered did not, at the time, include any Asian markets apart from India and Japan.
At the time, it was suggested that Rick Ruiz, who had been named general manager of the Kyndryl transition in October last year, would become Kyndryl's strategic markets president and, as such, would lead the company's activities in all other countries.
However, at the beginning of this month Ruiz took to LinkedIn to share the details of the appointed managing directors for the company in key strategic markets around the world, including Singapore, where Wong was named as lead.
Also included in Ruiz’s roundup was Susan Follis, who was named managing director in ASEAN and go-to-market growth unit executive for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa countries; IBM Korea general manager Jungwook Jang, as managing director for Korea; and James (Jun) Zheng, named managing director for Greater China.
“Today, we become Kyndryl!” Wong said in a LinkedIn post on 1 September. “As IBM prepares to spin off Kyndryl, we have an important milestone happening today, including the announcement of my new role and the opening of our buzzy city office in Cecil Street.
“I am thrilled for the opportunity to lead Kyndryl in Singapore as managing director. As a born and bred Singaporean ‘raised’ in several global tech firms including AWS [Amazon Web Services], and IBM…this appointment feels like ‘coming home’.
“I look forward to serving alongside our iconic local customers, partners and a dynamic tech forward government to build local talent. My plan is to have Kyndryl at the heart of Singapore's tech industry!
“I am excited to collaborate with a broad ecosystem of partners who are long time industry partners and friends. With great talent, client and partners, we will prosper!” she added.
