Change of Guard: KV Kamath is New Infosys Chairman
Bangalore, Apr 30 (IANS): Infosys Technologies Ltd. Saturday appointed K.V. Kamath its new chairman, succeeding N.R. Narayana Murthy. Kamath will take over as the head of the IT bellwether Aug 21 when incumbent founder chairman Murthy will retire on reaching the age of 65.
The company's board appointed Murthy as the company's chairman emeritus. The current chief executive, S. Gopalakrishan will be the co-chairman of the company, and current chief operating officer S.D. Shibulal will be the chief executive and managing director, Murthy told reporters here.
Nominations committee chairman Jeffrey S. Lehman said: "This is a great moment for Infosys, these three leaders meld an extraordinary range of talents and experiences with a united commitment to drive the company to unprecedented level of the accomplishment while remaining true to its historic values. "We could not be in better hands," he added.
Kamath is the non-executive chairman of the board of directors of ICICI Bank, India's second largest bank.
According to the ICICI website, Kamath has a degree in mechanical engineering and did his MBA at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad. Born Dec 2, 1947, he started his career in 1971 at ICICI. In 1988, he moved to the Asian Development Bank. In 1996, Kamath returned to ICICI as its managing director and CEO.
Infosys would also be appointing three new directors before the annual general meeting in June.
The major board recast comes at a time when Infosys is facing stiff competitive environment and tough business conditions. The names of Kamath, Gopalakrishnan and Shibulal were recommended by the three-member Nominations Committee, chaired by Jeffrey S Lehman.
"These three leaders meld an extraordinary range of talents and experiences with a united commitment to drive the company... We could not be in better hands," Lehman said. A well-known personality in the corporate circles, Kamath was the key driving force in the success of ICICI Bank. "I feel greatly honoured to have been asked to be the Chairman of Infosys by the board of directors and accept this responsibility with a deep sense of humility," Kamath said.
One of the co-founders, Kris Gopalakrishnan has been Infosys CEO since June 2007. Shibulal, another co-founder, is currently the Chief Operating Officer (COO). "We will ensure that this leadership transition is smooth... We are also making other organisational changes to strengthen our market position and ability to serve our clients better," Shibulal said.
Headquartered in Bangalore, Infosys has 64 offices and 63 development centres across the US, the UK, China, Australia and Japan, among other countries. The company and its subsidiaries had a workforce of 1,30,820 employees as of March 31, 2011.
Kamath, the force behind ICICI's rise
Bangalore, Apr 30 (IANS): K.V. Kamath, the new chairman of India's second largest IT company Infosys, is a mechanical engineer-turned banker who is best known for turning ICICI into India's largest private bank.
Kamath was born Dec 2, 1947, in Mangalore, about 350 km from Bangalore on the west coast, a land of bankers from where Canara Bank, Syndicate Bank, Corporation Bank and Karnataka Bank started decades ago.
He spent early years in Mangalore, completing schooling and pre-college studies from St. Aloysius School.
Kamath acquired a degree in mechanical engineering from the Karnataka Regional Educational College, Surathkal.
After graduating in 1969, he joined the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) to do an MBA.
Armed with the two degrees, Kamath began his working career with ICICI (Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India) in 1971.
Kamath had break in service with the ICICI Group when he went to Asian Development Bank in 1988. He returned to ICICI eight years later as its managing director and CEO.
In ICICI, Kamath is remembered for setting up branches, ATMs, selling various kinds of loan products aggressively.
He retired in April 2009 and became its non-executive chairman. Soon he was also taken on the board of Infosys by the outgoing chairman and founder N.R. Narayan Murthy.
Kamath has won many awards, including India's third highest civilian honour Padma Bhushan.
He has been named "Businessman of the Year" by Forbes Asia and "Business Leader of the Year" by the Economic Times and CNBC's "Asian Business Leader of the Year" in 2001.
He was also the president of the Confederation of Indian Industry in 2008-09. He is also on the board of directors of several companies such Lupin Limited, the Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited and Schlumberger Limited.
Kamath is married and has a son and a daughter.
Earlier Report on Daijiworld: