IBM has today announced the appointment of Kerry Purcell as managing director of IBM Australia and New Zealand.

Purcell was previously the managing partner of IBM Global Business Services in Japan, where he was responsible for leading and significantly growing IBM's consulting, systems integration and applications business for more than three years.

During this time, Kerry drove the transformation of many Japanese businesses and government clients through the accelerated adoption of cloud, analytics and mobile technologies.

One of the most notable projects includes working with several cities, government and environmental agencies to help with the reconstruction of the Tohoku Region post the 2011 Tsunami.

“I feel very privileged and excited to be appointed the IBM lead for Australia and New Zealand,” says Purcell. “It's clear that both Australia and New Zealand are undergoing rapid change as the forces of cloud, mobile, social and analytics transform industries.

“Locally we are executing a strong strategy that will meet this pace of change for our clients, and deliver the higher value solutions and services they need to grow and adapt their businesses.

“IBM continues to make significant investments locally that better enable our clients to take advantage of these market shifts.

Purcell replaces Jeffrey Rhoda as managing director. Rhoda, with over thirty-five years senior leadership experience with IBM, was appointed acting general manager following the retirement of Andrew Stevens in August 2014.

Prior to joining IBM, Purcell held a number of leadership positions in Australia and Asia Pacific. These include head of Asia Pacific for Xchanging; corporate vice president and managing director of Asia and Japan for Electronic Data Systems (which was later renamed HP Enterprise Services); and general manager Banking - Finance, Telstra.