BS 1982, Electrical Engineering
Karen Newman is vice president of the IBM Services Division, managing the Global Honda account. In this role, she oversees the services work IBM provides to Honda. This includes infrastructure, consulting and system maintenance agreements in Japan, US, EU, Brazil and India as well as emerging markets. She is responsible for both sales and delivery of this global portfolio.
Newman earned a bachelor of science degree in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University, graduating with high honors in 1982. Prior to joining IBM in 1997, she worked for Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in a variety of leadership roles spanning 11 years.
She has more than 25 years of experience in helping automotive customers transform and improve their businesses, developing strategies and processes for success. Her focus has primarily been in the engineering and manufacturing areas. She has a broad background in business transformation with firms such as Ford, Visteon, General Motors, Chrysler, Federal Mogul, Johnson Control and many others in the automotive industry.
Prior to her current role, she was vice president of Automotive & Aerospace Industries for IBM’s Global Business Services in the Americas. In this role, she oversaw business and technology advisory work, systems integration, application development, and application outsourcing.
Previously, she led Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) services worldwide for IBM’s Automotive Industry. During this tenure, she represented IBM on the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) Steering Committee for Collaborative Engineering & Product Development.
Earlier roles at IBM have included lead account partner for Ford/Visteon, and automotive consulting partner serving major OEMs and suppliers.
Newman has been a member of the AIAG Board of Directors since 2008, and is a member of the IBM Industry Academy for the automotive industry. She currently serves on the MSU ECE Department Advisory Board.
