Sharon L. Nunes

Former IBM Executive (retired)

Dr. Sharon Nunes retired from IBM in 2012, after 28 years in several areas of IBM’s businesses: Research, Development, Office of the Chairman, Business Development and Sales. During her career, Sharon helped to launch two global businesses for IBM: Life Sciences (2001) which grew into a billion dollar business, and Big Green Innovations (2006), which became one of the cornerstones of IBM’s Smarter Planet program. Sharon merged her background in Materials Science and Engineering, with her knowledge of Information Technology to anticipate new business needs and convince her superiors to invest in new growth areas for the business. Together with clients and partners, Sharon’s mission at IBM was to demonstrate how information technology played a critical role in helping to solve the world’s problems.

Dr. Nunes held numerous executive positions at IBM, but is most proud of the recognition she received for mentoring women and early-career employees. In 2004, she was awarded IBM’s Fran Allen Mentoring Award and in 2006 was named a National Association of Female Executives (NAFE) “Women of Excellence”national award winner for her impact in mentoring technical women. In 2009, Sharon was recognized as a Women’s History Month Honoree as one of the “Women Taking the Lead to Save our Planet” and was inducted into the WITI (Women in Technology International) Hall of Fame. While at IBM, Sharon was a leader in the IBM Global Women’s Council and co-chair of the global “Women in Technology”committee at IBM.

Dr. Nunes received her Ph.D. in Materials Science in 1983 from the University of Connecticut. She has held numerous board positions over the past two decades, including the Board of Directors for the University of Connecticut Foundation for eight years, and five years on the Project Advisory Board for Idaho’s “Managing Idaho’s Landscapes for Ecosystem Services”NSF EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement award.  Dr. Nunes was a National Academy of Engineering “Frontiers of Engineering” fellow and was a member of the National Academy of Engineering “Engineer of 2020″ advisory board.  In 2006, she was inducted into the University of Connecticut Academy of Engineering for Distinguished Engineers and in 2019 was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.