Earl Newsome previously served as Chief Information Officer of the Americas IT organization for Linde PLC, a $28 billion global industrial gases and engineering firm formed by the merger of Linde AG and Praxair, where he served as CIO. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for First Independence Corporation and First Independence Bank, Detroit.

As CIO of Americas IT at Linde, Earl provided leadership and strategic vision for the Americas IT organization, driving key IT projects and leads cultural integration so that diverse IT teams work together effectively. Prior to joining Linde, Earl served as Corporate CIO and Vice President, Digital, at technology company TE Connectivity (NYSE:TEL), where he built a world-class IT organization that accelerated each business unit’s success with more than 350 staff, a $30 million budget and $27 million in capital. He also innovated a prototype smart cabinet that catalyzed core business growth. His efforts increased energy efficiency by 30 percent within an industrial cabinet and leveraged big data to deliver advanced analytics and recommend $10 million in churn reductions. In addition, he optimized the IT architecture, organization and sourcing strategy to enhance the company’s core competencies that lead to a more than $8 million reduction in application support costs.

Previously, as Vice President, Global IT Services at Estée Lauder (NYSE: EL), Earl transformed the Shared Services organization into a global team, prepared the enterprise for global SAP deployment and established its Global Innovation Lab. As Senior Director, Strategy and Integration and Global Operations, for Bowne & Co., he directed the M&A strategy of the digital business unit and managed global operations. As VP and CIO of Owens-Illinois, he directed IT strategy and transformed the IT organization into a center of customer service excellence.  

Earlier in his career, Earl served as Partner at Deloitte & Touche, where he led the Mid-America/Gulf Coast Integration, Development and Infrastructure, and Oracle practices, while managing the U.S. Knowledge Communities for Enterprise Application Integration and Enterprise Architecture. Prior to Deloitte, he was a partner at BDO Seidman and held management roles at Grant Thornton, Andersen Consulting and J.I. Case.

Earl served as a Captain in the U.S. Army and earned his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He is active in several business and leadership organizations, including Knowmail’s Board of Advisors, the Executive Leadership Council, the Information Technology Senior Management Forum and the Technology Committee for the West Point Association of Graduates’ Board of Directors.

Earl’s speaking credits include presentations at CIO forums, Gartner Symposium, the Harvard Business School, and for numerous webinars. He is also a regular contributor of commentary for IT and business publications. In 2019, he was the recipient of the New York CIO of the Year ORBIE Award l Super Global from the New York CIO Leadership Association. Black Enterprise and Savoy magazines have also recognized him as among the world’s most influential and transformative business leaders.