Ruth Leach Amonette

Ruth Leach was born in 1916 in Oakland, California.[4] She had one sister. She attended Piedmont High School in Piedmont, California.[2] She attended the University of California, Berkeley starting in 1933.[3] [4] She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma.[2] While in school, she played tennis.

After graduating in 1937 with a degree in political science, she worked as a dental assistant. Eventually, she quit to work at the Golden Gate International Exposition.[4]

Amonette started working at IBM in February 1939 as a Systems Service Representative.[1] She worked at the Golden Gate International Exposition, presenting demos of IBM typewriters.[3][4] She trained in service system work for IBM and was sent to work at IBM's Atlanta, Georgia office. She became a teacher for IBM at the United States Department of Education in Endicott, New York, in July 1940. In October, she became the Secretary of Education for Women for IBM.[3] That position had her training women throughout IBM about selling IBM products throughout North America.[4]

Amonette became vice president of IBM on November 16, 1943. She credited Thomas J. Watson providing the "vision and foresight" to employ her in a high-level position.[4] This position made her one of the few women in corporate "power" positions in the United States and one of the youngest people in the nation to hold a high-level position.[2] In 1947, she recovered from tuberculosis, for which she had to take leave from IBM. She started work back at IBM that year. From 1947 to 1953, she was a board member for the Camp Fire Girls, the New York Public Library, the Professional Women's Club of New York, the American Association of University Women, and other organizations.[4] In 1946, she served on the New York State Women's Council. She retired in 1953.[4]

After retiring, she married Walter Bill Pollock in 1954.[2] They lived near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was a board member of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. She and Pollock adopted a daughter in 1956. They relocated to Switzerland and then to California. Pollock died in 1977. Amonette remarried in 1988 to Wilbur K. Amonette. She published an autobiography in 1999.[4] Amonette died in 1999.[2] She died in Carmel, California in 2004.[3]

• 1945 – Outstanding American Woman of the Year, Women's National Press Club[4]
• 1945 – Merit Award, Mademoiselle[4]
• 1946 – Achievement Award, Women's National Press Club[4]
• 1996 – Induction, Women in Technology International Hall of Fame, Women in Technology International[4]