Irene Hernandez Roberts was honored with the Women of Color Technologist of the Year award in 2008 and recognized in 2009 with the HENAAC Luminary award for her work as a role model in the Hispanic community.

During her career, she earned more than fifty IBM software patents, before retiring an IBM program director in the Software Group for Independent Software Vendors and Developer Relations.

Hernandez Roberts is a member of the advisory committee for Latinas in Computing and also a lifetime member of the Society of Professional Hispanic Engineers (SHPE).

She received her bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin in 1981.

At IBM, she led a global team of more than 150 information technology (IT) architects and specialists with a budget of more than $15 million working across forty IBM Innovation Centers. Hernandez Roberts traveled to key locations such as Turkey, India, China, Ireland, Spain, Brazil, and Mexico, to influence the local community on innovative market planning, programs, processes, and tooling. The technology architects and specialists worked closely with vendors to help them integrate IBM products and technologies into their business solutions.

She was also responsible for IBM’s Virtual Innovation Center —the entry point for technical resources that help partners develop and enable apps.

She provided mentoring within IBM and mentored high school students through IBM’s Cascade Mentoring program. She was also active in integrating the IBM Academic Initiative program across the Hispanic Community through the Computing Alliance for Hispanic Serving Institutions and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU).

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