Bob Lord (business executive)
Robert Lord | |
|---|---|
| Born | March 12, 1961 Hackensack, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupation | Corporate executive |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Known for | Senior Vice President at IBM; former President of AOL; CEO of Razorfish |
Robert Lord (born March 12, 1961) is an American corporate leader currently serving as Senior Vice President at IBM. His responsibilities include managing The Weather Company, Alliances, Watson Advertising, and TradeLens. Previously, he held the position of Senior Vice President for IBM’s Worldwide Ecosystems division, where he played a pivotal role in integrating it into IBM’s central go-to-market approach. Lord entered IBM in 2016 as the organization’s inaugural Chief Digital Officer.
In 2015, Lord was appointed President of AOL, where he spearheaded its expansion into a global advertising platform. Prior to AOL, he was the CEO of Razorfish starting in 2010, working closely with clients such as Cisco, Condé Nast, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, and Pfizer. In 2022, CRN recognized him as one of the 50 “Most Influential” channel executives. He is also a co-author of the book Converge: Transforming Business at the Intersection of Marketing and Technology.
Early life
Lord was born in Hackensack, New Jersey to Robert A. Lord and Pauline Ann Lord and has two sisters.
Education
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering from Syracuse University, where he distinguished himself as an honors student and was a member of Sigma Chi. He received The Significant Sig Award for his outstanding alumni contributions. Lord further advanced his education by obtaining an MBA with a focus on Administration and Management from Harvard Business School.
Career
Lord’s professional journey began in 1983 at General Motors, where he worked as a shift supervisor and industrial engineer. Following this, he joined Corning Inc. as a senior industrial and marketing project engineer until 1988.
Between 1990 and 1995, he served as senior principal consultant and project manager at Symmetrix. He then took on the role of area vice president at NovaCare until 1996, followed by positions as COO and EVP at Prism Rehab Services until 1999.
In 2000, Lord held vice presidential roles at agility.com and Pretzel Logic Software before moving to Razorfish late that year as executive vice president for North America. He was promoted to COO in 2002 and guided Razorfish through its acquisition by SBI Inc., later becoming East Region president under aQuantive (AQNT) and subsequently Microsoft. By 2010, he was global CEO of Razorfish within the Publicis group and also led VivaKi Interactive in 2011.
Lord co-authored Converge, which explores how technology, media, and creativity converge to transform marketing and business strategies.
In 2013, he assumed the role of CEO at AOL Platforms and was elevated to president in 2015. During his tenure, AOL’s revenue increased from $1.5 billion to over $3 billion through both mergers & acquisitions and organic growth. He managed AOL’s $4.4 billion acquisition by Verizon in June 2015 and established AOL as a frontrunner in mobile media before transitioning to IBM.
IBM
Lord joined IBM in early 2016 as its first Chief Digital Officer, overseeing Digital Platforms, Digital Sales, Digital Marketing, Routes to Market teams, Offering groups, along with IBM’s Developer and Startup Ecosystem.
In 2019, he advanced to Senior Vice President of IBM’s Worldwide Ecosystems division and launched the Call for Code initiative.
Currently, Lord holds the position of Senior Vice President at IBM responsible for The Weather Channel and Alliances. He has led efforts within IBM Watson Advertising and The Weather Channel to tackle bias in advertising through the development of The Advertising Toolkit for AI Fairness, an open-source solution designed to help advertisers detect and mitigate bias within machine learning models. In 2022, he introduced this toolkit at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and co-hosted a discussion panel featuring actress Issa Rae focused on reducing racial bias in AI-driven advertising.
Additionally, Lord serves as Executive Sponsor for IBM’s Black Business Resource group.
Membership
Lord participates actively in the TED community and is a founding figure of the Nantucket Project. His board memberships include the Partnership for New York City, Aqua Finance, and the Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG). Previously, he held board positions at Williams-Sonoma, Inc. and Screen Vision Media.
Personal life
Lord is married to Robin Lord, and together they have three children. His hobbies include cycling, surfing, golf, and taking part in triathlon competitions.