IBM CFO Loughridge to Retire at Year’s End

IBM’s (IBM) chief financial officer Mark Loughridge, a 36-year company veteran and architect of the vendor’s long-term EPS road map, will retire at the end of this year, replaced by Martin Schroeter, currently IBM Global Financing general manager.

Loughridge, who has worn IBM’s CFO hat since 2004 for the longest run of any IBM CFO in the company’s 102-year history, signed on in 1977 as a development engineer, subsequently moving to management positions in finance, strategic planning and engineering. He is credited with supporting IBM’s shift to higher-value products and services, which the vendor initiated during his CFO tenure. In 2010, Loughridge took on the additional responsibilities of Integration and Enterprise Transformation senior vice president. 

Schroeter, a 21-year IBM employee, will take over the CFO reins Jan. 1, 2014. Prior to his role with IBM Global Financing, he served as IBM treasurer from 2007 to 2011.

“Martin and I have worked closely over the last 20 years, and the IBM finance organization and investors will benefit from Martin’s operational experience and financial acumen,” Loughridge said.

Schroeter will take over as CFO following the company’s sixth consecutive quarter of declining sales and seventh straight of missing Wall Street estimates, driven downward by a consistent slide in its hardware business and even a recent dip in its stalwart services franchise. In its recently concluded Q3 2013, revenue fell 4 percent year-over-year to $23.7 billion, dragged down by services sales, which slid 3 percent from last year, and hardware, which took a 17 percent tumble. Analysts expected the vendor to take in about $1 billion more than it did.

IBM Chairman, President and Chief Executive Ginni Rometty said Loughridge “helped investors understand IBM and appreciate how our continuous transformation is reflected in profit, earnings and cash performance through a range of economic conditions.” She said Schroeter “will help continue our shift into new opportunities.”

In the past six months, IBM’s stock has fallen 12.5 percent from a mid-May high of $208.65 to its current valuation at just below $183 per share.