HIMSS announced that IBM CEO Ginni Romety will deliver the Monday morning keynote address at HIMSS17.

Rometty, a 35-year IBM veteran with a computer science and engineering degree from Northwestern University, has been serving as Big Blue’s first woman CEO since January of 2012.

Rometty is no stranger to health IT, having worked with Apple CEO Tim Cook to forge the companies’ joint Mobile First initiative to create platforms and apps for vertical industries, healthcare among those.

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A big part of Rometty’s tenure so far at IBM has been the company’s focus on developing Watson and cognitive computing with a particular emphasis on healthcare. The IBM Watson unit, in fact, has made several acquisitions of late, including scooping up both Phytel and Explorys and announcing those moves at HIMSS15.  

Rometty has also made public proclamations that cognitive computing will transform knowledge within five years, the technology will essentially reinvent what we today think of as wellness and, broadly speaking, the future of healthcare depends on it.

Prior to taking over as chief executive officer, Rometty ran IBM’s massive and lucrative Global Business Services unit, including leading the integration of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting and has served in leadership roles for sales, marketing and strategy.

Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell appeared in the opening keynote/fireside chat at HIMSS16 and Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning wrapped things up in the closing keynote. 

Rometty is slated to speak at 8:30 a.m. on February 20, 2017. HIMSS17 runs from Feb. 19-23, 2017 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.  

This article is part of our ongoing coverage of HIMSS17. Visit Destination HIMSS17 for previews, reporting live from the show floor and after the conference.