Bernd Schierholz is the Vice President for IBM's Systems Hardware in DACH, helping clients from Austria, Germany and Switzerland leverage IBM's modern IT infrastructure to tap the new cloud and cognitive business opportunities. He is responsible for a portfolio of servers and mainframes, storage systems and software that provide the building blocks of a next-generation IT architecture empowering the cognitive enterprise. Bernd has extensive experience and deep industry knowledge across all parts of IBM's business. Prior to this position, he was the IBM Global Client Director for Deutsche Telekom AG, responsible for IBM's worldwide business with this key client. Since joining IBM in 1990, Bernd has held several senior leadership positions within IBM, including Director of Small Medium Business, Sales Manager Personal Computing Division, IBM EMEA and many others. Bernd holds a Master's Degree in Informatics and Computer Science from the University in Bremen. He is based in Düsseldorf.