Jack Dwyer D. Kuehler

Background

Kuehler, Jack Dwyer was born on August 29, 1932 in Grand Island, New Brunswick.

Education

Bachelor of Science, Santa Clara University, 1954. Master of Science, Santa Clara University, 1974. Doctor of Science, Clarkson University, 1989.

Career

After advancing through various technical and managerial positions, he was appointed as director of the Raleigh Communications Laboratory in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina in 1968, and as named as director of the San Jose and Menlo Park development laboratories in 1970. In May 1989, Kuehler became International Business Machines Corporation President when John Fellows Akers relinquished that title. Akers continued to serve as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of International Business Machines Corporation. Kuehler"s promotion was unusual since most International Business Machines Corporation presidents came from sales instead of engineering, and being two years older than Akers he was unlikely to succeed him as Chief Executive Officer, therefore the title was seen as an acknowledgement of Kuehler"s long service to the company as there was no reporting changes.

Kuehler played a key role in International Business Machines Corporation"s investment in Intel, aimed at helping that company survive against Japanese competitors and then later formed a partnership with Hitachi a company that had been one of International Business Machines Corporation"s fiercest competitors.

He also played a key role in the formation of Sematech in 1987, an industry-wide initiative sponsored by the United States government aimed at revitalizing the American semiconductor chip industry. Shifting International Business Machines Corporation from its longstanding reliance on the mainframe computer, Kuehler dealt with the rise of the microprocessor-based personal computer, through International Business Machines Corporation"s development of the International Business Machines Corporation Personal Computer based on an open standard that relied on Intel processors and operating system software from Microsoft.

He was instrumental in an investment that International Business Machines Corporation made in the chip maker Intel when that company was struggling because of the rise of Japanese memory chip manufacturers. He led International Business Machines Corporation into a partnership with Hitachi, once one of its most tenacious rivals.

He also played a central role in the creation of Sematech, an industry-government alliance created in 1987 to help save the American semiconductor industry.

Kuehler helped create a partnership between International Business Machines Corporation, Apple Incorporated. and Motorola that became known as the American Institute of Management alliance to challenge the dominating positions that Microsoft and Intel had in the personal computing business. Kuehler called Michael Spindler, president of Apple Computer, who bought into the approach for a design that could challenge the Wintel-based Personal Computer. By combining the advantages of International Business Machines Corporation"s hardware expertise and Apple"s software advances, the goal was to create a competitor for the desktop market. This partnership created the PowerPC microprocessor that powered Apple"s computers from 1994 to 2006.

Kuehler was a trustee of Santa Clara University and donated $1 million to the college"s engineering school in 2005.

Kuehler died at age 76 on December 20, 2008 in Rancho Santa Fe, California of complications related to Parkinson"s disease.

Achievements

• Jack Dwyer Kuehler has been listed as a noteworthy engineering consultant by Marquis Who's Who.

Membership

He was chosen to serve as senior vice president in May 1982, and was appointed as vice chairman of the board and a member of the executive committee in January 1988 with responsibility for corporate manufacturing and systems and programming staffs.

Connections

Married Carmen Kuehler. Children: Cindy, Daniel, Christy, Michael, David.

Spouse:

Carmen Kuehler

child:

Michael Kuehler

child:

Christy Kuehler

child:

Cindy Kuehler

child:

David Kuehler

child:

Daniel Kuehler