Ben Grimes

Chief Technology Officer
Avocent Corporation

As the Avocent vice president of corporate strategy, Ben Grimes is responsible for helping to establish the technical direction for the company by proactively evaluating technical companies and technologies pertinent to the future of both the company and the industry.

Prior to joining Avocent, Ben Grimes had a 17-year career with IBM, most recently in the appointed position of Distinguished Engineer, an executive position he held from 2002 to 2007. In that role, he served as the lead architect for software development for IBM xSeries and blades. That position overlapped with a two year special assignment in which he worked directly with large financial institutions to develop industry-specific customizations for software products.

Grimes' earlier years with IBM included five years as the lead designer and engineer for embedded systems management for xSeries after serving as a programmer in embedded firmware. He was awarded 9 patents for his innovations in systems software.

Grimes holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University.