IBM shook up its executive suite naming current SVP for cloud and cognitive software Arvind Krishna to replace long-tenured President and CEO Ginni Rometty effective April 6. Additionally, Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst will take on the role of IBM president, effective the same day as Krishna’s rise. The moves take IBM’s Red Hat integration up a notch as the computing giant elevates key players in that deal to leadership positions.

Krishna, who will also become a member of IBM’s board, was a principal architect of IBM’s $34 billion Red Hat acquisition that closed last summer. That deal was the biggest in IBM’s storied history and set it firmly on course to focus its efforts on cloud and virtualization.

Prior to his turn as head of IBM’s cloud business, Krishna served as GM of IBM’s Systems and Technology Group’s development and manufacturing organization. He has been at IBM for 30 years.

"IBM bet the farm on cloud with the $34 billion Red Hat acquisition. It was only a matter of time for the succession," wrote Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, in an email note. "Now the two top dogs running IBM are cloud purists. The old IBM died a while ago and they had to change."

Rometty’s exit plan will see her stay on as CEO until April 6, remain executive chairman of IBM’s board until the end of the year, and then retire after nearly 40 years at the company. She had been IBM’s CEO since 2012, and during her tenure oversaw 65 acquisitions and reoriented Big Blue toward a more cloud-centric future. This included the Red Hat acquisition.

“This is the moment we reset the cloud landscape, and it’s all about being the No. 1 hybrid cloud provider in the world right now,” Rometty said during an interview with CNN following the close of the Red Hat deal. “It is what clients need right now, and 80% of their workloads still need to move to the cloud.”

IBM noted in a statement that its board ran a “world-class succession process” in tapping Arvind to replace Rometty.

"Arvind thinks and executes squarely at the intersection of business and technology," said Alex Gorsky, chairman of the board's executive compensation and management resources committee. "He is an ideal leader to succeed Ginni and take IBM and its clients into the next chapter of the cloud and cognitive era.

In announcing the Red Hat-fueled executive shuffle, Krishna, Rometty, and Gorski also praised Whitehurst for maintaining that business unit’s culture within IBM. And at least one financial analyst thought Whitehurst's ascension should have been higher.

"While no individual is singularly responsible for the stock performance of a large organization, we nevertheless think a change can help in terms of leadership at the top," noted BMO Capital Markets' Keith Bachman in a research note. "In particular, we are very encouraged that Jim Whitehurst will be staying on at IBM as president, although we would have liked for Jim to get the top job."

The Red Hat deal has become an instrumental prop for IBM, which, outside of its new asset, has languished financially. Since the deal closed, IBM has promised investors that its new toy will lead to a stronger operational future for the company.

IBM CFO Jim Kavanaugh repeatedly noted during the company’s most recent investor call that Red Hat was core and key to its Q4 and full-year success. That tone was similar to what IBM set during its Q3 earnings call, which was its first that included Red Hat.

IBM's stock, which had been relatively flat over the past year despite an upswing in the broader market, surged nearly 5% in after-hours trading following release of the succession plan.