Question 1

True or false: Ginni Rometty was the first woman to lead IBM in its over 100-year history.

Accepted Answer

True. She became IBM's first female CEO in 2012, breaking a century-long male-dominated leadership streak.

Question 2

True or false: Rometty started her career at IBM as a systems engineer right out of college.

Accepted Answer

True. She joined IBM in 1981 as a systems engineer after graduating from Northwestern University.

Question 3

True or false: Rometty served on the board of directors for JPMorgan Chase while CEO of IBM.

Accepted Answer

True. She joined JPMorgan's board in 2010 and remained until 2020, while also leading IBM.

Question 4

True or false: Under Rometty, IBM acquired over 30 cloud and AI companies, including Red Hat.

Accepted Answer

True. She orchestrated major acquisitions like Red Hat ($34B) and others to pivot IBM toward cloud and AI.

Question 5

True or false: Rometty earned a computer science degree from MIT before joining IBM.

Accepted Answer

False. She studied computer science and electrical engineering at Northwestern University, not MIT.

Question 6

True or false: Rometty's first job was as a waitress at a diner in her hometown of Chicago.

Accepted Answer

False. Her first job was as a sales clerk at a clothing store, not a diner waitress.

Question 7

True or false: Rometty was famously fired from IBM in 1993 during a major corporate restructuring.

Accepted Answer

False. She never was fired; she rose through the ranks over decades, becoming CEO in 2012.

Question 8

True or false: Rometty stepped down as IBM CEO because the company's stock hit an all-time high.

Accepted Answer

False. She retired in 2020 after IBM's revenue declined for years; the stock was far from its high.

Ginni Rometty Trivia Questions