Rob Ashe
Rob Ashe
Executive Partner
General Manager of Business Analytics, IBM
Chief Executive Officer, Cognos
Lead Director: MSCI
Lead Independent Director: Shopify
Lead Director: Halogen
University of Ottawa, B.C.
Rob Ashe is an Executive Partner at Bridge Growth Partners. He is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Cognos, having joined the company in 1984. He was appointed President in 2002, and CEO in 2004, and held both roles until IBM acquired the company in 2007 for $4.9 billion. Following the acquisition, he served as General Manager of Business Analytics at IBM until 2012.
Prior to becoming President and Chief Executive Officer of Cognos, Mr. Ashe held several senior executive roles at the company, including Senior Vice President (“SVP”) of Application Development Tools, SVP of Products, SVP of Worldwide Customer Services, Chief Corporate Officer, as well as Chief Financial Officer.
Mr. Ashe is the Lead Director of MSCI, the Lead Independent Director of Shopify, and was the former Lead Director of Halogen (until its sale to Saba Software in 2017). He holds a B.C. in Accounting from the University of Ottawa, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario.