EGOM Participants: Jeff Boniello, IBM

In his 24-year career with IBM, Clarkson Engineering and Global Operations Management (EGOM) program participant Jeff Boniello has admittedly taken the road less travelled. “I have found the best career experiences, and often the best life experiences, occur once you leave your comfort zone,” he notes of the fact he has taken on new positions across the IBM corporate structure as a result of some unique opportunities.

Boniello first joined IBM while pursuing his undergraduate degree at Syracuse University, spending three summers with the company as part of their pre-professional hire program. When he completed his degree in computer engineering in 1984, Boniello joined the company in a full-time capacity as a process engineer in Poughkeepsie. He became a first line manager in IBM’s manufacturing engineering division in 1991 and took on the role of quality engineer. “I learned a great deal about the entire manufacturing process, and helped define standards and implement Total Quality Management strategies and production controls including Six Sigma methodology,” he says.

Jeff Bonicello of IBM: '09 EGOM Participa

Boniello then made a move to the company’s Large Systems Project Office where he was responsible for Customer Critical Situation Management; working with customer-feedback to drive corrective actions. This was his first experience working in an external focus capacity, something he enjoyed immensely.  He became more involved strategically with Fortune 500 customers through IBM’s Customer Relations Management Partnership Executive Program to drive innovation and manufacturing development.
In the late 1990s, Boniello spent three years working in IBM’s global services as a certified Project Manager in software development, a period in time when the web was exploding. “I had an opportunity to glimpse how the internet was impacting the global commercial landscape,” he notes of the experience, which, coincidently, relied heavily on his degree focus for the first time. By 2001, he was back to the manufacturing side of the business, assuming a position as supervisor of IBM line managers; a position he says has proven to be very rewarding.

After joining IBM’s Integrated Operations Team in 2003, Boniello realized he could benefit from formal training in the growing discipline of GSCM. He looked to his wife’s alma mater, Clarkson University, for program offerings. “I was so impressed with Clarkson’s Engineering & Global Operations Management (EGOM) curriculum. I had no problem finding a full load of courses that I would be excited to take,” he says. 

He saw an immediate return on the investment. “I applied what we learned in Engineering Economics and created an analysis model to determine make-buy sourcing for our Printed Circuit Boards, and it became an integral tool our Operations Team could use,” he reports.

“If I fast-forward my career, I hope to take what I have done and what I have learned and speak with others in this and like industries. Supply Chain Management will be an integral tool to pass on.”

Boniello says the mobility IBM provided him over the years and the experiences that come with that mobility, including his graduate pursuit, has empowered him to create a very rewarding career. He will complete his M.S. degree in spring 2009.