5 things to know about Salil Parekh, the new Infosys CEO

Infosys, India’s second-largest IT company by revenue, has a new man at the head – Salil S. Parekh. Salil took over as Managing Director and CEO of the IT giant yesterday (January 2), though the announcement had been made a month earlier by Infosys, on December 2.

Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the Infosys Board, said at the announcement of his appointment, “We are delighted to have Salil as the CEO and MD of Infosys. Parekh has nearly three decades of global experience in the IT services industry. The Board believes that he is the right person to lead the company at this transformative time in our industry.”

Image: Infosys

Salil takes over from interim CEO UB Pravin Rao who was appointed after the resignation of former CEO Vishal Sikka in August. Here are five things to know about the new head of Infosys:

• Salil has a BTech in Aeronautical Engineering from IIT-Bombay (1986 batch) and a Masters in Computer Science & Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University (1988 batch).
• He worked as a Partner at Ernst & Young (EY) from 1992 to 2000 with the firm’s Financial Services practice.
• He has also been associated with leading business consulting and professional services firm Capgemini since 2000 after it acquired EY’s consulting division.
• Salil occupied several positions during his tenure with Capgemini, including appointment as deputy CEO in March 2015. He is also a member of the company’s Executive Committee.
• Salil is only the second non-promoter CEO of Infosys after Vishal Sikka, who occupied the position for three years.

Salil’s expected tenure is to be five years, and he has already made his mark on the company, telling employees to reskill themselves in his introductory video, “There is a lot of technology disruption and each employee has a role to play to survive the continuous technology disruptions.” He received a rousing welcome at Infosys on his first day, with employees taking to Twitter to post selfies with their new boss and welcome him to the firm:

Infosys also welcomed him to the firm with a tweet from its official Twitter handle:

It will be interesting to see how Salil manages the various expectations of Infosys stakeholders as he takes on his fresh responsibilities in the new year. Given his nearly three decades of experience in the IT sector, one can expect him to take charge of things quickly as he attempts to make investors believe that Infosys can work without the founders butting in.