Dr. John E. Kelly, III

The founder of IBM?s Semiconductor Research and Development Center in 1996, he was the driving force in merging IBM?s separate R&D organizations into a seamless structure, increasing innovation and bringing technology to market more quickly. His technical and business leadership skills have driven technology advancements at IBM and have impacted the global semiconductor industry, resulting in cutting-edge semiconductor research. He joined IBM in 1980 and until 1990, he held numerous management and technical positions related to the development and manufacturing of IBM's advanced semiconductor technologies. Beginning in 1990, he served as Director of IBM's Semiconductor Research and Development Center. In 1994, he served as Vice President of Business Process Reengineering for the Microelectronics Division. Since 1995, he served as Vice President of Systems, Technology and Science of IBM Research Division and was responsible for IBM's most advanced research activities. The following year, he served as Vice President of Strategy, technology and operations for the Microelectronics Division. Then in 1997, he served as Vice President of Server Development (from work stations to supercomputers). From January 1999 until August 2000, he served as General Manager of the Microelectronics Division. He served as Senior Vice President and Director of IBM Research from 2000 to September 2004, where he was responsible for developing, manufacturing and marketing IBM's microelectronics technologies, products and services. Serving as Senior Vice President of Research & Intellectual Property, his top priority is to stimulate innovation in key areas; IBM's worldwide intellectual property business as well as its open source and open standards strategies and practices. He served as Chairman of the Semiconductor Industry Association and is on the Board of Governors of The IBM Academy of Technology. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and recipient of the 2010 IEEE Frederik Philips Award, the 2014 IEEE Robert N. Noyce Medal and a member of the US National Academy of Engineering. In October 2013 he received the NAE?s Arthur M. Bueche Award. He is a member of the Union College Board of Trustees (Schenectady, NY) serving as its Vice Chairman. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Union College in 1976. He received a Master of Science degree in Physics in 1978 and his Doctorate in Materials Engineering in 1980; both from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI ). In 2004, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from The Graduate School at Union College. He has authored numerous technical publications and published the book, "Smart Machines: IBM?s Watson and the Era of Cognitive Computing" with writer Steve Hamm (Columbia University Press).