William R. LaFontaine

Dr. LaFontaine Vice President, Technical Strategy & Worldwide Operations, Research, responsible for setting the direction of IBM’s overall Research Strategy across eleven worldwide labs and leading the global operations and information systems teams. Dr. LaFontaine celebrated his 21st year with IBM on July 23.

Dr. LaFontaine previously held the position of General Manager, Global Technology Services, Middle East and Africa. In this role, Dr. LaFontaine had the mandate to drive hyper growth for IBM services business in this emerging market including opening new countries in Africa for IBM. Prior to this role, Dr. LaFontaine was Vice President, Licensing and Business Development, for IBM’s Intellectual Property Business. In this capacity, Dr. LaFontaine had the worldwide responsibility for licensing IBM’s patent, trademark and domain name portfolio. In addition, Dr. LaFontaine’s team played a critical role in the creation of technology based strategic alliances with partners around the world. In previous positions at IBM, Dr. LaFontaine was Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Vice President, Worldwide Sales and Service for IBM Technology Group. During Dr. LaFontaine's 20 year career at IBM he led product and process development teams as well as sales, marketing, and operations organizations in Japan, Singapore and North America. Dr. LaFontaine’s International experience includes assignments in Japan, Singapore and South Africa. Dr. LaFontaine is the recipient of several US and native patents.

Dr. LaFontaine currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Cornell University. Dr. LaFontaine holds a Bachelor's degree in Metallurgical Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Materials Science and Engineering from Cornell University.