Jack Kuehler
Encyclopedia
Jack D. Kuehler was an American
electrical engineer who devoted the majority of his career at IBM
, where he was the firm's highest ranking technologist, serving as president and later vice chairman of the company.
Kuehler was born in Grand Island, Nebraska
in 1932. He studied mechanical engineering
at Santa Clara University
and later earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from the school.
Kuehler started at IBM in 1958 as an associate engineer working at the company's San Jose
Research Laboratory in 1958. After advancing through various technical and managerial positions, he was appointed as director of the Raleigh Communications Laboratory in Research Triangle Park
, North Carolina
in 1968, and as named as director of the San Jose and Menlo Park
development laboratories in 1970.
He was chosen to serve as senior vice president in May 1982, and was appointed as vice chairman of the board and a member of the executive committee in January 1988 with responsibility for corporate manufacturing and systems and programming staffs.
In May 1989, Kuehler became IBM President when John Fellows Akers
relinquished that title; Akers continued to serve as Chairman and CEO of IBM. Kuehler's promotion was unusual since most IBM presidents came from sales instead of engineering, and being two years older than Akers he was unlikely to succeed him as CEO, therefore the title was seen as an acknowledgement of Kuehler's long service to the company as there was no reporting changes.
Kuehler played a key role in IBM's investment in Intel, aimed at helping that company survive against Japanese competitors and then later formed a partnership with Hitachi
a company that had been one of IBM's fiercest competitors. He also played a key role in the formation of Sematech
in 1987, an industry-wide initiative sponsored by the United States government aimed at revitalizing the American semiconductor chip industry.
Shifting IBM from its longstanding reliance on the mainframe computer
, Kuehler dealt with the rise of the microprocessor
-based personal computer
, through IBM's development of the IBM Personal Computer based on an open standard that relied on Intel processors and operating system
software from Microsoft
.
He was instrumental in an investment that IBM made in the chip maker Intel when that company was struggling because of the rise of Japanese memory chip manufacturers. He led IBM into a partnership with Hitachi, once one of its most tenacious rivals. He also played a central role in the creation of Sematech, an industry-government alliance created in 1987 to help save the American semiconductor industry.
Kuehler helped create a partnership between IBM, Apple Inc. and Motorola
that became known as the AIM alliance
to challenge the dominating positions that Microsoft and Intel had in the personal computing business. Kuehler sought to expand the demand for its Reduced instruction set computer
architecture, which was designed to achieve higher performance by running a smaller set of commands. Kuehler called Michael Spindler
, president of Apple Computer, who bought into the approach for a design that could challenge the Wintel
-based PC. By combining the advantages of IBM's hardware expertise and Apple's software advances, the goal was to create a competitor for the desktop market. This partnership created the PowerPC
microprocessor that powered Apple's computers from 1994 to 2006.
Kuehler resigned as president and re-assumed the title of vice chairman in 1993 during a management shakeup that also saw Akers schedule his retirement in three months. It was widely anticipated that Kuehler would leave, after it was confirmed that Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
would replace Akers as Chairman and CEO. While Kuehler was known for his knack for innovation and
strategy, who often announced products to the IBM sales force and demonstrated his marketing savvy, there was shareholder anger at the outgoing senior management team for reacting too slow to changes in the computer industry during the 1980s. Kuehler was also said to be influential on many of the questionable decisions over the past five years, including the breakup of IBM's workstation operations into smaller divisions and placing too much emphasis on the business return of research and development, initiatives that Gertsner would reverse in the upcoming years. Kuehler was convinced to stay his departure from IBM until August 1993.
Kuehler was a trustee of Santa Clara University
and donated $1 million to the college's engineering school in 2005.
Kuehler died at age 76 on December 20, 2008 in Rancho Santa Fe, California
of complications related to Parkinson's disease
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
electrical engineer who devoted the majority of his career at IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
, where he was the firm's highest ranking technologist, serving as president and later vice chairman of the company.
Kuehler was born in Grand Island, Nebraska
Grand Island, Nebraska
Grand Island is a city in and the county seat of Hall County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 48,520 at the 2010 census.Grand Island is home to the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center which is the sole agency responsible for training law enforcement officers throughout the state,...
in 1932. He studied mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
at Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University is a private, not-for-profit, Jesuit-affiliated university located in Santa Clara, California, United States. Chartered by the state of California and accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, it operates in collaboration with the Society of Jesus , whose...
and later earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from the school.
Kuehler started at IBM in 1958 as an associate engineer working at the company's San Jose
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
Research Laboratory in 1958. After advancing through various technical and managerial positions, he was appointed as director of the Raleigh Communications Laboratory in Research Triangle Park
Research Triangle Park
The Research Triangle Park is a research park in the United States. It is located near Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill, in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
in 1968, and as named as director of the San Jose and Menlo Park
Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; Atherton, North Fair Oaks, and Redwood City...
development laboratories in 1970.
He was chosen to serve as senior vice president in May 1982, and was appointed as vice chairman of the board and a member of the executive committee in January 1988 with responsibility for corporate manufacturing and systems and programming staffs.
In May 1989, Kuehler became IBM President when John Fellows Akers
John Fellows Akers
John Fellows Akers is a U.S. businessman. At IBM, he was president between 1983 and 1989, the CEO from 1985 until 1993; and chairman between 1986 and 1993....
relinquished that title; Akers continued to serve as Chairman and CEO of IBM. Kuehler's promotion was unusual since most IBM presidents came from sales instead of engineering, and being two years older than Akers he was unlikely to succeed him as CEO, therefore the title was seen as an acknowledgement of Kuehler's long service to the company as there was no reporting changes.
Kuehler played a key role in IBM's investment in Intel, aimed at helping that company survive against Japanese competitors and then later formed a partnership with Hitachi
Hitachi
Hitachi is a multinational corporation specializing in high-technology.Hitachi may also refer to:*Hitachi, Ibaraki, Japan*Hitachi province, former province of Japan*Prince Hitachi and Princess Hitachi, members of the Japanese imperial family...
a company that had been one of IBM's fiercest competitors. He also played a key role in the formation of Sematech
SEMATECH
- Purpose :SEMATECH , a not-for-profit consortium, performs research and development to advance chip manufacturing. SEMATECH has broad engagement with various sectors of the R&D community, including chipmakers, equipment and material suppliers, universities, research institutes, and government...
in 1987, an industry-wide initiative sponsored by the United States government aimed at revitalizing the American semiconductor chip industry.
Shifting IBM from its longstanding reliance on the mainframe computer
Mainframe computer
Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...
, Kuehler dealt with the rise of the microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
-based personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
, through IBM's development of the IBM Personal Computer based on an open standard that relied on Intel processors and operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
software from Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
.
He was instrumental in an investment that IBM made in the chip maker Intel when that company was struggling because of the rise of Japanese memory chip manufacturers. He led IBM into a partnership with Hitachi, once one of its most tenacious rivals. He also played a central role in the creation of Sematech, an industry-government alliance created in 1987 to help save the American semiconductor industry.
Kuehler helped create a partnership between IBM, Apple Inc. and Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
that became known as the AIM alliance
AIM alliance
The AIM alliance was an alliance formed on October 2, 1991, between Apple Inc. , IBM, and Motorola to create a new computing standard based on the PowerPC architecture. The stated goal of the alliance was to challenge the dominant Wintel computing platform with a new computer design and a...
to challenge the dominating positions that Microsoft and Intel had in the personal computing business. Kuehler sought to expand the demand for its Reduced instruction set computer
Reduced instruction set computer
Reduced instruction set computing, or RISC , is a CPU design strategy based on the insight that simplified instructions can provide higher performance if this simplicity enables much faster execution of each instruction. A computer based on this strategy is a reduced instruction set computer...
architecture, which was designed to achieve higher performance by running a smaller set of commands. Kuehler called Michael Spindler
Michael Spindler
Michael Spindler , nicknamed "the Diesel" for his reputed around-the-clock work habits, was president and CEO of Apple from 1993 to 1996....
, president of Apple Computer, who bought into the approach for a design that could challenge the Wintel
Wintel
Wintel is a portmanteau of Windows and Intel, referring to personal computers using Intel x86 compatible processors running Microsoft Windows...
-based PC. By combining the advantages of IBM's hardware expertise and Apple's software advances, the goal was to create a competitor for the desktop market. This partnership created the PowerPC
PowerPC
PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...
microprocessor that powered Apple's computers from 1994 to 2006.
Kuehler resigned as president and re-assumed the title of vice chairman in 1993 during a management shakeup that also saw Akers schedule his retirement in three months. It was widely anticipated that Kuehler would leave, after it was confirmed that Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr.
Louis V. Gerstner, Jr. KBE was chairman of the board and chief executive officer of IBM from April 1993 until 2002 when he retired as CEO in March and chairman in December. He is largely credited with turning around IBM's fortunes.He was formerly CEO of RJR Nabisco, and also held senior positions...
would replace Akers as Chairman and CEO. While Kuehler was known for his knack for innovation and
strategy, who often announced products to the IBM sales force and demonstrated his marketing savvy, there was shareholder anger at the outgoing senior management team for reacting too slow to changes in the computer industry during the 1980s. Kuehler was also said to be influential on many of the questionable decisions over the past five years, including the breakup of IBM's workstation operations into smaller divisions and placing too much emphasis on the business return of research and development, initiatives that Gertsner would reverse in the upcoming years. Kuehler was convinced to stay his departure from IBM until August 1993.
Kuehler was a trustee of Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University is a private, not-for-profit, Jesuit-affiliated university located in Santa Clara, California, United States. Chartered by the state of California and accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, it operates in collaboration with the Society of Jesus , whose...
and donated $1 million to the college's engineering school in 2005.
Kuehler died at age 76 on December 20, 2008 in Rancho Santa Fe, California
Rancho Santa Fe, California
Rancho Santa Fe known locally as ″The Ranch″, is one of the most exclusive and affluent communities in Southern California. It is also a census-designated place in San Diego County, California and an unincorporated bedroom community of San Diego County...
of complications related to Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
.