Diane Brink

Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor within the Kellogg Markets & Customers Initiative at Kellogg School of Management

Biography

Kellogg School of Management

Diane Brink is currently a Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.  She also consults with startups, private and public businesses to take their companies to the next level of growth and greatness.

Ms. Brink served as IBM's Chief Marketing Officer for Global Technology Services (GTS) from September, 2008 to January, 2015. She had worldwide responsibility for the product portfolio. Her market-centric approach led to the redesign of the legacy infrastructure services business to a cloud-based, analytics driven services model, establishing market leadership in high-growth segments including cloud computing, security, resiliency, and mobility.    

Ms. Brink retired from IBM in February 2015 after a successful thirty five year career. She held a variety of senior leadership positions, including leading World Wide Integrated Marketing Communications from September, 2005 to August 2008, managing and promoting the IBM brand. Her leadership in advancing the digital transformation of IBM through digital marketing, social media and e-commerce enabled new revenue sources, new methods of client engagement, and new approaches to sales and marketing.

Ms.Brink was Vice President Marketing and Strategy, IBM Americas, Vice President Marketing, General Business, Vice President, Systems Sales Eastern Region, General Manager, US Midwest Middle Markets. She grew market share, improved client satisfaction and morale. She has strong experience developing distribution channel strategies and building businesses in emerging markets.

Known as a forward thinking C-suite executive, with cross-functional expertise in strategy, marketing, sales, business development, go-to-market, and general management.  Ms. Brink is a change agent with a collaborative style, passionate about building highly effective teams and helping individuals realize their potential.

Ms. Brink's background gives her particular insight and expertise in re-architecting traditional products and marketing for today's digital and social marketplaces, incorporating technology into a company's business strategy, aligning functions for high performance, and driving culture change and transformations in organizations.

Ms. Brink has strong board experience with nonprofit industry institutions including the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the Advanced Energy Research & Technology Center (AERTC), and the Iona Preparatory School. She currently serves on the Dean's Council for the College of Engineering & Applied Sciences at Stony Brook University.  She is a Governance Fellow with the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).

Ms. Brink was recognized as Best BtoB Top 25 Marketer 2007-2008, Who's Who in BtoB Marketing 2005-2007, and Advertising Working Mother of the Year 2008. She began her career as a programmer. She holds an MBA in Finance from Fordham University and a BS in Computer Science from Stony Brook University.

Education MBA, 1990, Finance, Fordham University

Bachelors of Science, 1980, Computer Science, Stony Brook University

Academic Positions Guest Lecturer, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2010-2013

Other Professional Experience Chief Marketing Officer, IBM Global Technology Services, 2008-2015

Vice President, Integrated Marketing Communications, 2005-2008

Vice President, General Business Marketing, 2005-2005

Vice President, IBM Americas, 2000-2004

Education Academic Positions Other Professional Experience

Courses Taught

Read about executive education

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