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By Carol Hymowitz

(Updates with Rometty’s background from fifth paragraph.)

Oct. 25 (Bloomberg) -- International Business Machines Corp. said Virginia “Ginni” Rometty will succeed Sam Palmisano as chief executive officer, becoming the first female CEO in the company’s 100-year history.

Rometty, IBM’s head of sales and marketing, will take the president and CEO posts effective Jan. 1, the Armonk, New York- based company said in a statement today. Palmisano, who’s been CEO since 2002, will remain chairman.

Rometty, 54, takes the reins after IBM celebrated its centennial and as steady profit growth pushed the shares this year to the highest level since the company went public in 1915. Her experience in sales, services and acquisitions fits with the strategic direction set by Palmisano, who said last year the company will add $20 billion to revenue between 2010 and 2015 by expanding in markets such as cloud computing and analytics.

“She is more than a superb operational executive,” Palmisano said in the statement. “With every leadership role, she has strengthened our ability to integrate IBM’s capabilities for our clients.”

The 30-year IBM veteran caught Palmisano’s attention in 2002 when she helped integrate the $3.9 billion acquisition of PwC Consulting, IBM’s largest deal ever at the time.

Rometty, then a general manager of the consulting unit, is credited with helping to retain PwC’s principal consultants, who didn’t always mesh with IBM’s cost-cutting culture. When Palmisano wanted to cut travel budgets, making consultants stay at Holiday Inns, she helped them fight -- and win, said Ric Andersen, a former PwC consultant who joined IBM with the acquisition.

Sales Promotion

Palmisano promoted her to senior vice president of the group in 2005, and she boosted profit at the unit 42 percent in her first two years on the job. During her three decades at IBM, she became known as a polished executive who can close a sale, expanding relationships with companies from State Farm Insurance Co. to Prudential Financial Inc.

“She’s an engaging woman -- great with customers,” said Fred Amoroso, who was her boss in the financial-services consulting division during the 1990s. “Customers just love Ginni.”

Amid the recession, Palmisano put her in charge of running the company’s almost $100 billion in sales. Last year, she added marketing and strategy to her responsibilities.