• Ad Age, Tuesday, November 15, 2005 2:15 PM

After more than 12 years of managing one of the biggest and most visible brands in the world, IBM Corp.'s top marketing executive is steeping down. The company announced that Abby Kohnstamm is leaving Big Blue in early 2006 to pursue "personal and business interests." Kohnstamm, 52, will be succeeded by Bruce Herrald, senior VP-strategy, who adds marketing responsibilities to his duties. The company also said that Kohnstamm, who was persuaded to join a then-struggling IBM in 1993 by former chairman Louis Gerstner Jr., whom she had worked with at Federal Express, would continue to consult for IBM. One of her first tasks was to whittle some 80 ad agency relationships the company had down to one. She chose Ogilvy & Mather, which handles the account to this day. IBM spent $309 million on measured U.S. advertising last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

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