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Since joining IBM in 2017, Ryan Skoraczewski has played a pivotal role in major acquisitions and now heads the company’s global M&A antitrust strategy, overseeing compliance for all deal activity worldwide. His group of seven attorneys has led efficiency improvements in the M&A practice, particularly notable after the $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat, an open-source company known for its Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system among other products.
Skoraczewski has wide experience across a variety of industries including healthcare, biosciences, pharmaceuticals, and, most recently, tech. The attorney’s previous employers include GE Healthcare, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, and Abraxis BioScience, among others. Had it not been for a mentor early in his career, Skoraczewski might never have earned his law degree in the first place.
The senior counsel worked nearly seven years in the medical technology sector after college, but was encouraged to go to law school by a mentor who was also a practicing lawyer. Skoraczewski attended Marquette University in the evenings while continuing to work full-time to support his family.
The attorney places a high premium on being a strong corporate generalist and believes that adaptability, trust-building, and the ability to create opportunities amid complexity are signs of a substantial in-house contributor. Skoraczewski is also a strong proponent of mentorship, having benefitted from it greatly in his own career. He’s now focused on providing that mentorship for others.
In coming to IBM, Skoraczewski spent early years supporting early-stage AI before being brought into the company’s acquisition group. But in many ways, Skoraczewski is still supporting that AI mission, just in a different capacity.
Deals Skoraczewski has undoubtedly had a hand in include the 2025 acquisition of AI companies DataStax and Seek AI.
The acquisitions are part of IBM’s desire to bring AI to the masses. The company believes the future of business is a hybrid approach that combines personal computing, the cloud, and AI, working collaboratively.
IBM’s tools like Watsonx Orchestrate help businesses utilize software to automate tasks, not just chatbots, but rather, tools that can actually do the work. Watsonx Orchestrate works as a digital assistant for teams, allowing them to build, deploy, and manage AI-powered agents that can handle jobs like sending emails, creating reports, and data entry.
By focusing on building smaller, specialized language models, not just massive ones, IBM is helping companies use their own data and knowledge in new ways.
That more specialized approach is a move away from the one-size-fits-all tools and focuses on more flexible, mix-and-match solutions where different programs easily connect and work together. These building blocks make it simpler and faster for companies to set up and grow their own ATI systems, with less outside help required.
Mainframes (think those massive walls of computers of old) are also evolving. IBM is upgrading these massive supercomputers to better handle AI and modern business needs.
IBM’s latest acquisition, Seek AI, will have its natural language platform integration into IBM’s AI development ecosystem, enabling startups and partners to build applications with conversational data capabilities.
The company’s newly launched Watsonx AI Labs, located in Manhattan’s Flatiron District, is now playing host to the building and testing of next-generation AI systems. The lab will co-create enterprise-ready AI applications for customer service, cybersecurity, and open-source frameworks. The company has also committed to prioritizing responsible governance.
Other recent acquisitions include HashiCorp, a leader in infrastructure automation and security for hybrid cloud and AI Applications, which strengthens IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and enhances its automation capabilities, and Hakkoda Inc., a global data and AI consultancy aimed at expanding IBM’s consulting business.
