Assis succeeds Marta Martínez Alonso, who is retiring from IBM after 19 years of service and will be responsible for the business operations across the EMEA region, driving revenue growth, client satisfaction, and employee engagement.
“Ana Paula is a remarkable leader who combines outstanding business eminence and IT industry depth with a relentless focus on talent and diversity development, which has earned her several recognitions," said Rob Thomas, senior vice president of IBM Global Sales.
"Her deep technical expertise in areas like data, automation, security, and hybrid cloud has been critical to her success in driving IBM’s growth strategy. Most recently, she had a pivotal role in securing a flawless experience for our clients during the IBM/ Kyndryl spin-off.”
Described as an eminent business leader Assis has extensive international experience in strategic business development, transformation, and change management in multicultural environments.
Having worked for IBM for 25 years with, Assis has held several other executive roles, including general manager for the Latin American region, during which she drove sustained growth, and increased market share. She also held multiple strategic business positions in the US and in China.
“I am delighted to lead such a multicultural region which is poised for new levels of innovation and entrepreneurship," said Assis.
"Embracing the next chapter of digital transformation will be key to help accelerate economic recovery in Europe, Middle East and Africa – and the hybrid cloud platform and AI will certainly have a substantial role to help our private and public organizations further advance and contribute to progress while focusing on environmental sustainability for our region.“
In addition, Assis is a member of the board of Junior Achievement Americas, and has been recognised as “Personality of the Year – Digital Transformation” by the Institute of Learning & Performance in 2018; named as one of Brazil’s most powerful women and Best Brazilian CEOs by Forbes in 2019; and was named one of 100 executives with best reputation in Brazil according to MERCO In 2021.
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