Akers became CEO in 1985. He benefitted from the support of one of his predecessors, Frank Cary. In 1989, a young Sam Palmisano was appointed as Aker's assistant; decades later Palmisano would serve as chairman and CEO. Akers was chief executive during IBM's decline in the mid-1980s and early 1990s. Apple Inc. founder Steve Jobs described Akers as "smart, eloquent, fantastic salesperson, but he didn’t know anything about product.”
