Thomas Watson Jr. is widely remembered as the man who led IBM into the computer age. He graduated from Brown in 1937 and immediately went to work as a salesman with his father's firm, IBM. After serving with distinction in the Air Force in World War II, Watson returned to IBM, becoming president at age thirty-eight and chairman four years later. Watson pioneered innovative, employee-centered management strategies similar to those that became the hallmark of business success decades later. An active Democrat and advocate of arms control, Watson served on a presidential disarmament committee and as U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union under President Carter. Throughout his career, Watson remained committed to Brown University, serving the Corporation as trustee 1948-1955, as vice chancellor 1979-1985, and as a fellow or Advisory Committee member in the interim years, as well as active consultant to a half-dozen university presidents. Watson founded a number of academic fellowship programs at Brown, computing and technology centers, including the CIT, and his signature program, the Watson Institute for International Studies, with nearly a dozen affiliated policy centers, interdisciplinary programs, and academic offices related to international relations and the study of foreign societies.
Thomas Watson Jr. is widely remembered as the man who led IBM into the computer age. He graduated from Brown in 1937 and immediately went to work as a salesman with his father's firm, IBM. After serving with distinction in the Air Force in World War II, Watson returned to IBM, becoming president at age thirty-eight and chairman four years later. Watson pioneered innovative, employee-centered management strategies similar to those that became the hallmark of business success decades later. An active Democrat and advocate of arms control, Watson served on a presidential disarmament committee and as U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union under President Carter. Throughout his career, Watson remained committed to Brown University, serving the Corporation as trustee 1948-1955, as vice chancellor 1979-1985, and as a fellow or Advisory Committee member in the interim years, as well as active consultant to a half-dozen university presidents. Watson founded a number of academic fellowship programs at Brown, computing and technology centers, including the CIT, and his signature program, the Watson Institute for International Studies, with nearly a dozen affiliated policy centers, interdisciplinary programs, and academic offices related to international relations and the study of foreign societies.
