Nelson Fernandez

Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, Agere Systems and now IBM have employed Nelson L. Fernandez. During the 1980s and early 1990s Nelson was engaged in research in the fields of computer and network security (hacking), ECAD software and computer system administration. He worked in the Bell Labs’ UNIX Research lab with world-renowned computer scientists such as Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson. In the mid1990s Nelson focused his work on E-manufacturing and global business systems. With the 2001 “tech bust”, Nelson led a global team that within 22 months retired more than 1,400 servers globally and lowered the cost of Agere’s server services by 80%.

Upon joining IBM Nelson became a project executive (general manager), leading the outsourcing business supporting clients ICI, AkzoNobel, National Starch LLC, DuPont, Chemours and Cemex. Support includes all facets of infrastructure services including servers, storage, desktops, helpdesk, security, and network. In 2019 Nelson transferred to IBM's Managed Security Services business and is now the project executive of their largest security services account, Altria. His track record as a business leader at IBM demonstrates that a former “techie” can indeed prosper in the business world. Nelson has undergraduate and graduate degrees from Shippensburg University and Lehigh University. Nelson completed executive education at Harvard Business School.