The big Infosys CEO hunt: Who is in the race?

Nandan Nilekani took over as the Chairman of Infosys last week

The hunt for Infosys' next CEO is underway and the new board led by Nandan Nilekani is open to all possibilities. A host of names including prominent former executives who were once considered for the top post is doing the rounds. While the company has said that it was open to considering insiders, outsiders and alumni, here is a list of names doing the rounds.

The race for CEO

Nandan Nilekani's job is cut out as the Chairman and independent board member. He will ensure that it is business as usual at the firm and look out for a CEO. U B Pravin Rao has been placed as the interim CEO of the company. Among the names doing the rounds are Sandeep Dadlani, B G Srinivas, Mohan Das Pai and Ashok Vemuri.

B G Srinivas

An Infosys Alumni who held the President's post. When he quit the company in 2014, it came as a jolt since he was seen as a strong potential CEO candidate. He quit one day after Infosys declared that it was evaluating its next CEO search by interviewing eight internal candidates including Srinivas. Srinivas with Infosys since 1999, leading its Europe business, the manufacturing and engineering units, and later the financial services and insurance business and was recently elevated to the president's post, along with U B Pravin Rao.

Ashok Vemuri

Currently the CEO of Conduent, Ashok Vemuri was a board member heading the American operations for the Infosys earlier. He began work with Infosys in 1999 and was personally mentored by Narayana Murthy. In 2003, Vemuri was serving as vice president and regional manager of sales for Canada and the northeast region of the United States. He went on to become a member of the company's executive council. HE also served as chairman of the company in China. Vemuri was appointed to the board of Infosys in June 2011, while retaining his roles as senior vice president and chief of the banking division. Infosys appointed Vemuri the global head of its Manufacturing and Engineering Services division in April 2012. Despite speculation in the press that Infosys was considering Vemuri as a choice for CEO, he quit the company in 2013.

T V Mohandas Pai

The Chairman of Manipal Global Education is a former top executive with Infosys. Pai was CFO, Director of HR and a board member in Infosys. He headed the firm's Administration, Education and Research, Financial, Human Resources, and Infosys Leadership Institute. He was one of the front-runners for the CEO's post. Mohandas Pai joined Infosys in 1994 and became a board member in 2000, a position he held till 2011.

His work as CFO gained him Best CFO in India' award from Finance Asia. He formulated the country's first publicly articulated financial policy for the company. Mohandas was an integral part of the Infosys team that enabled the first listing of an India-registered company on NASDAQ and the first sponsored secondary offering of American Depositary Shares by an Indian company. He is once again being considered for the top post.

Sandeep Dadlani

The current Chief Digital Officer at Mars Inc, Sandeep Dadlani quit as Infosys President and head of Americas as recently as 2017. His resignation was also sudden and was attributed to growing pressures on the company's top executives to deliver, following a series of unimpressive quarterly performances. Dadlani joined Infosys in 2001. He was the global head of its manufacturing, retail, CPG (consumer & packaged goods) and logistics vertical. He has handled the Americas, where 60 per cent of Infosys's business lies.

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