FRANCAIS

ABOUT THE
INTERNET SOCIETY
ISOC Mission Statement
Membership

Khalil Barsoum - General Manager, IBM EMEA Industries

Khalil Barsoum was appointed General Manager EMEA Industries, IBM in January 1998 responsible for all eleven of IBM's Global Industries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Khalil now heads a dynamic group of people working together to provide technological solutions for various industry sectors such as banking, insurance, government and healthcare.

Khalil has strong views about the future of computing.  Speaking late last year, he said:  "Because of the continuous development of computer technology, married with the explosion in telecommunications capabilities, the revolution will continue to make things happen that we haven't dreamed of - things that will be very positive for society."  Khalil cites tele-commuting, tele-medicine and tele-education as three notable social advances through new technology.

Before taking up his new position, Khalil was Chairman and Chief Executive of IBM, in the United Kingdom.  He led the UK business for one year and under his guidance, the UK customer satisfaction and employee morale improved significantly.

His time in the UK was preceded by two years as President and Chief Executive of IBM Canada.  Here he built a reputation as a leader in driving effective management and leadership development programs.

In the two years the 52 year old was in charge in Canada, the company prospered.   IBM was, and still is, the leading IT exported in Canada, the the leading supplier of PC's with its Personal Services Division shipping record volumes in 1996.  All of IBM Canada's figures for 1996 were, in Khalil's words, "very satisfactory", with excellent results in all the key areas of hardware, software and services.

In his career with IBM, Khalil has held a string of management and senior executive position in Canada and the United States.  He led his team in strong growth and market share gain in 1995 and 1996 and , for the past two years, IBM Canada has enjoyed the highest customer satisfaction rating the the IT industry in Canada.  The foundation he laid in the UK in 1997 leaves the team in a strong position to repeat his Canadian record in the UK in 1998.

Born in Cairo, Khalil grew up with the computer industry.  His father, as head of an IT installation, was an IBM customer.  Khalil his his homework on the back of continuous printouts and got to the IBM general manager and the IBM ways.

After completing three years engineering in Cairo, Khalil emigrated to Montreal in 1964.  In 1966, he graduated with a degree in electrical engineering from Ecole Polytechnique ... and almost immediately joined IBM as a systems engineer.

In his spare time, Khalil is an amateur pilot.  Bitten by the 'flying bug' five years ago, Khalil took up flying lessons with his then teenage daughter --and today he considers himself a 'weekend, good weather' flyer.