Cognizant has emerged as the new CEO factory as several senior executives have left the company to find top roles in smaller companies, looking to scale up operations.
In July, three former officials of Cognizant were appointed CEOs of large global companies, formerly heading multi-billion-dollar verticals at Cognizant.
Nirav Patel, former Senior Vice President (SVP) at Cognizant’s Communications, Media, and Telecommunications, is now the President and CEO at Bristlecone, Mahindra Group company. Gajeh Kandiah, who was leading Cognizant’s digital business is appointed by Hitachi Vantara as the CEO.
Also, Karthik Krishnamurthy, the former SVP and Global Market Leader at Cognizant is named the CEO of a global technology talent solutions provider.
Why Cognizant became the new “CEO manufacturing facility”?
- Restructuring efforts as Brian Humphries becomes new CEO: In April 2019, Brian Humphries joined Cognizant Technology Solutions as Chief Executive Officer, replacing Francisco D’Souza. As he took over the role, he conducted restructuring initiative, with emphasis on finding more senior leaders from cutting edge technologies and digital transformation areas, failing to find them within the existing company leadership.
- Voluntary exit by senior leaders: CEO Brian Humphries is a 45 years-old youngest boss of a multinational IT firm. As per a TOI report, he felt that there were too many people on top, with 400 people being asked to leave the firm in a staggered manner. Hence, these senior leaders may either have been asked to leave the firm or have voluntarily taken the decision thinking they would be next.
- Excellent succession plan at Cognizant: A spokesperson from a top recruitment firm stated that Cognizant has a very good succession plan that helps its employees to scale up, although it is unprecedented that the market could have identified so many CEOs from just one company.
- Scaling of operations by mid-sized enterprises: Most of the companies who have hired these senior leaders are mid-sized assets and are looking to scale their operations. These senior leaders have deep domain knowledge and have experience in scaling up, having spent many years in Cognizant as it outgrew is peers.
- Strong seasoned leadership: As per Kamal Karanth, co-founder of Xpheno, a specialist staffing firm said that these top executives are strong seasoned leaders, some of who have spent 18-20 years in Cognizant. The scale handled by these leaders is the best in the industry, with most serving customers at the global level. A strong vertical orientation with deep domain knowledge and experience makes them the most favorable choices for the appointment as CEOs.
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Meanwhile, three more Cognizant officials, Pradeep Shilige, Head of Global Delivery, Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, CMD, Cognizant India, and Karen Mcloughlin, CFO have left the company in July, this year, with the market excited to know where they will be headed next.