Capgemini veteran Salil S. Parekh has been elected as CEO and MD of Infosys Ltd. on Saturday, filling the vacancy created at the top following the sudden resignation of Vishal Sikka on August 18.
Mr. Parekh, who holds Master of Engineering degrees in Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University and was a member of the Group Executive Board at Capgemini, will join Infosys on January 2, 2018.
“He has nearly three decades of global experience in the IT services industry,” Infosys chairman Nandan Nilekani said in a statement. “He has a strong track record of executing business turnarounds and managing very successful acquisitions.”
Mr. Parekh will need to tap all of that experience given that he would be taking the helm in the wake of a trying period for the company that saw its co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy engage in a very public spat with Mr. Sikka and Infosys’s erstwhile board over issues of corporate governance.
Following Mr. Sikka’s abrupt departure, Infosys had restructured its board and brought back Mr. Nilekani, another co-founder and former CEO, as non-executive chairman with a mandate to help find a new executive leader and restore confidence among customers and employees.
“I am happy that Infosys has appointed Mr. Salil Parekh as the CEO,” Mr. Murthy said in an e-mailed statement, signalling the incoming leader would have his backing. “My best wishes to him.”
Making ‘the fit’
“There are multiple fits in the IT services industry,” Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst, founder and CEO of Greyhound Research, said in a telephone interview. “Salil understands the Indian perspective and more importantly, he has the blessings of Nandan Nilekani and Mr. Murthy,” he said.