Louis Vincent Gerstner Jr. (March 1, 1942 – December 27, 2025) was an American businessman, best known for his tenure as chairman and chief executive officer of IBM from April 1993 until 2002, when he retired as CEO in March and chairman in December. He is largely credited with turning IBM's fortunes around. Lou Gerstner was the chairman of Gerstner Philanthropies. Gerstner was also CEO of RJR Nabisco, and held senior positions at American Express and McKinsey & Company. He was a graduate of Chaminade High School (1959), Dartmouth College (1963), and held an MBA from the Harvard Business School (1965). He was chairman of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and was chairman emeritus of the board of the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. Gerstner was the author of Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?, about IBM's transformation; and co-author of the book Reinventing Education: Entrepreneurship in America's Public Schools.
Early years Gerstner was born in Mineola, New York, on March 1, 1942. He wrote in Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? that his parents had remortgaged their house every four years to pay for schooling. He went to Chaminade High School, a Catholic school, and then to Dartmouth College for an undergraduate degree in engineering science. He received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Fresh out of Harvard, he joined McKinsey & Company at the age of 23, became a partner at 28 and a senior partner at 31.
American Express Gerstner joined American Express in 1978 and headed its Travel Related Services unit. Under his leadership, the company's market share increased significantly by 1985. He achieved this by finding new uses and users for the famed American Express Card, such as college students, physicians, and women, as well as persuading corporations to adopt the card as a more effective way of tracking business expenses. He also created exclusive versions of the card for higher-end clients, such as the Gold Card and the Platinum Card. As sales and profits rebounded, Gerstner was promoted to chairman and chief executive officer of AmEx's Travel Related Services in 1982, and president of the parent company in 1985. Although he claimed the position at the age of 43, Gerstner dismissed the speculation that his success was the product of being a workaholic. Gerstner told Leslie Wayne, "I hear that and I can't accept that. A workaholic can't take vacations and I take four weeks a year." As chairman and chief executive officer of the Travel Related Services division, Gerstner spearheaded its successful "membership has its privileges" promotion. Not only was the division continually the most profitable in the company, but it also led the entire financial services industry. Despite these successes, Gerstner hit a ceiling at American Express, as chief executive James D. Robinson III was not expected to retire for another 12 years. During Gerstner's 11-year tenure at American Express, membership had increased from 8.6 million to 30.7 million. He left AmEx in 1989 to succeed Ross Johnson as chairman and chief executive officer of RJR Nabisco following its $25 billion leveraged buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.
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