Meyer has been president of Alcatel-Lucent since 2003. Prior to that he spent almost 20 years in a number of high-profile positions at global IT company EDS, including chairman of the Europe, Middle East and Africa operating team, president of diversified financial services and credit services divisions, and chief information officer for the company's GMAC business.
During his time at EDS, revenue in EMEA doubled from $3.6bn (£1.8bn) to $7.2bn in four years.
Michael Durham, Acxiom’s non-executive chairman, said the board unanimously selected Meyer because of his demonstrated strong leadership skills, his broad experience in the information technology industry and his history of success in building shareholder value.
Before entering the business world, Meyer served as a flight commander and was selected as a captain in the U.S. Air Force.
Meyer will join Acxiom on February 4 and succeeds Charles Morgan, who has been chairman and chief executive officer since 1975. Morgan, who announced his retirement in October, will remain a consultant to the company until the end of 2010.
Durham said: "John commanded our attention because of his strong execution skills, his ability to lead high-performing teams and his track record in driving shareholder value.
"He has demonstrated these skills at both Alcatel-Lucent and EDS as he ran businesses that are substantially larger and more complex than Acxiom."