John Akers, chief executive officer at International Business Machines for eight years during the company's struggles to adapt its dominance in mainframes to the personal-computer era, has died. He was 79.

A former US navy pilot, Akers joined IBM in 1960 and stayed there for 33 years, until being ousted as chief executive in favour of RJR Nabisco Holdings Corp chief Louis Gerstner – IBM's first top executive from outside the company – as financial losses mounted and the stock price fell.

Early in his IBM career, Akers was an executive assistant to Frank Cary, who himself became a chief executive at the company. Akers also served as president of the data-processing division and president before becoming chief executive in 1985.

One of his executive assistants was Samuel Palmisano, who also later became chief executive. He described Akers in IBM’s statement as the ultimate company man and “so committed to the institution and its culture”.

– (Bloomberg)