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Nick Donofrio is a champion for innovation across IBM and its global ecosystem and is the leader of IBM's global technology strategy. He also is vice chairman of the IBM International Foundation. Mr. Donofrio's responsibilities include IBM Research, Governmental Programs, Quality, Corporate Community Relations, as well as Environmental Health and Product Safety. Also reporting to Mr. Donofrio are the senior executives responsible for IBM's enterprise on demand transformation, as well as IBM's initiatives for open industry standards and intellectual property. In addition to his strategic business mission, Mr. Donofrio leads the development and retention of IBM's technical population and strives to enrich that community with a diversity of culture and thought.
Mr. Donofrio joined IBM in 1967 and spent the early part of his career in integrated circuit and chip development as a designer of logic and memory chips. He held numerous technical management positions and, later, executive positions in several of IBM's product divisions. He has led many of IBM's major development and manufacturing teams -- from semiconductor and storage technologies, to microprocessors and personal computers, to IBM's entire family of servers.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1967 and a Master of Science in the same discipline from Syracuse University in 1971. In 1999 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in Engineering from Polytechnic University, in 2002 he received an honorary doctorate in Sciences from the University of Warwick in England, in 2005 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in Technology from Marist College and in 2006 he received an honorary doctorate in Sciences from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Mr. Donofrio is focused sharply on advancing education, employment and career opportunities for underrepresented minorities and women. He served for many years on the Board of Directors for the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) and was NACME's Board chair from 1997 through 2002. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for INROADS, a non-profit organization focused on the training and development of talented minority youth for professional careers in business and industry, and he is co-chair of the New York Hall of Science. In 2005, Mr. Donofrio was appointed by the U.S. Department of Education to serve on the Commission on the Future of Higher Education, a 20-member delegation of business and university leaders charged with developing a new national strategy for post-secondary education that will meet the needs of Americas diverse population and also address the economic and workforce needs of the country's future. In 2006, he was named IBM’s delegate to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, a coalition of 190 companies united by a shared commitment to economic growth, ecological balance and social progress. Also in 2006, Mr. Donofrio was elected co-chair of the Board of Trustees of the New York Hall of Science.
He is the holder of seven technology patents and is a member of numerous technical and science honor societies. He is a Fellow of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, a Fellow of the U.K-based Royal Academy of Engineering, a member of the US-based National Academy of Engineering, a member of the Board of Directors for the Bank of New York, a member of the Board of Trustees at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a member of the Board of Directors for The Council for the United States and Italy, and a member of the advisory board for the Genographic Project a five year research partnership between the National Geographic Society and IBM to map how humankind populated the earth.
In 2002, Mr. Donofrio was recognized by Europe's Institution of Electrical Engineers with the Mensforth International Gold Medal for outstanding contributions to the advancement of manufacturing engineering. In 2003, he was named Industry Week magazine's Technology Leader of the Year, the University of Arizona's Technical Executive of the Year, and was presented with the Rodney D. Chipp Memorial Award by the Society of Women Engineers for his outstanding contributions to the advancement of women in the engineering field. In 2005, Mr. Donofrio was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, he was presented with Syracuse University's highest alumni honor -- the George Arents Pioneer Medal, and he was honored by CNBC with its Overall Technology Leadership Award. In 2006, he was honored by The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art with the Urban Visionaries Award for Engineering; was named one of Business Week magazine’s 25 Top Innovation Champions, and received the Robert Fletcher Award from Dartmouth College’s Thayer School of Engineering for distinguished achievement and service. In 2007, he received the National Education and Leadership Award from the Sons of Italy Foundation. | 