IBM Power Engineering Leadership
The named engineers and executives currently steering Power and IBM i -- and why leadership continuity, not just silicon, is part of reading IBM's roadmap.
Roadmap signals do not come from press releases alone -- they come from named engineers who talk to trade press, present at conferences, and, in aggregate, tell you where a platform is headed years before a product announcement. Here is who currently holds the key Power and IBM i engineering roles, based on public reporting.
Bill Starke -- Power Processor Chief Architect
Based in Round Rock, Texas, Starke is the most consistent public voice on Power's silicon direction -- the source for the chiplet hub-and-spoke rationale, the 5nm-versus-7nm process decision, and the Spyre "beyond Power11" statement referenced throughout this site.
Kris Whitney -- IBM i Chief Architect
Whitney succeeded Steve Will as IBM i Chief Architect in 2026, after Will's retirement following a 41-year IBM career. Whitney previously served as the IBM i platform's chief engineer, giving direct continuity into the new role.
Jeff Scheel -- Linux for Power Chief Architect
Scheel leads IBM's Linux-on-Power architecture, the layer that determines how open-source and Linux-native workloads run on Power hardware -- relevant to any future chiplet or I/O architecture change.
Yan Zhuo -- IBM i Product Management Lead
Based in Chicago, Zhuo has led IBM i product management since early 2025, translating platform engineering into the commercial roadmap IBM i customers actually see.
Why the Whitney transition is itself a signal worth watching
A chief architect transition after a 41-year predecessor is a meaningful institutional event, not just a personnel note -- new technical leadership at this level typically coincides with, or precedes, meaningful platform direction-setting. It does not by itself confirm anything about Power12's architecture or timing, but it is a reasonable reason to watch Whitney's public statements closely over the next several years.
Roles and reporting lines shift; this page reflects public reporting as of August 2026 and will be updated if IBM announces organizational changes.