Bengaluru: The Board of Directors of Infosys on Saturday announced the appointment of Salil S Parekh as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, effective from January 2 next year. Parekh was a member of the Group Executive Board at Capgemini. His exit from the IT consultancy firm was announced earlier in the day.
Parekh’s appointment ends Infosys’s more than three-month hunt for a new CEO after Vishal Sikka resigned from the post after a prolonged public battle with the company’s founders. The tech giant , which had roped in executive search firm Egon Zehnder to assist in search for the replacement, had set itself a target of March 2018 to fill the top vacancy.
Commenting on the appointment of Parekh, Nandan Nilekani, chairman of the Infosys board, said he is delighted to have Salil join as the CEO and MD of Infosys. “He has nearly three decades of global experience in the IT services industry. He has a strong track record of executing business turnarounds and managing very successful acquisitions. The Board believes that he is the right person to lead Infosys at this transformative time in our industry. The Board is also grateful to Pravin for his leadership during this period of transition,” Nilekani said.
U B Pravin Rao will step down as interim CEO and Managing Director effective January 2, 2018 and will continue as Chief Operating Officer and a whole-time Director of the Company. "The Board is grateful to Pravin for his leadership during this period of transition," Nilekani said in a company statement.
Parekh has Master of Engineering degrees in Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Technology degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
Chairperson of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said that with his strong track record and extensive experience, the company believes it has the right person to lead.
"After a comprehensive global search effort, we are pleased to appoint Salil as the CEO & MD.He was the top choice from a pool of highly qualified candidates. With his strong track record and extensive experience, we believe we have the right person to lead Infosys," she said.
He joins during one of the most turbulent patches ever for the $150 billion Indian IT services sector. The industry is facing squeezed margins, Brexit question marks over European businesses, and uncertainty in the United States, thanks to visa policy changes.
Infosys' hunt for a new CEO had been on since co-founder Nandan Nilekani returned in August at the helm of the company after former chief Vishal Sikka quit, making investors' confidence dwindle.
Earlier, some names, including that of former Infosys executive Ashok Vemuri, cropped up in the media, but he reportedly expressed his unwillingness to accept the job. Vemuri had quit Infosys in 2014 after Vishal Sikka was brought in as the company's CEO and managing director.
Sikka had cited continuing distractions over founder Narayana Murthy's allegations of corporate governance failures which led to a public spat between the Infosys board led by R Seshasayee and the founders following which Seshasayee and two independent directors also quit.
At the centre of the controversy was the $200-million acquisition of Israeli technology firm Panaya and the subsequent severance pay to former chief financial officer Rajiv Bansal. An independent probe had cleared both Sikka and the Infosys board of any wrongdoing.
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