Salil Parekh ‘Holistically’ A Good Candidate For Infosys CEO: Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
Salil Parekh was best available candidate for Infosys CEO role, says Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
Salil Parekh had the most holistic set of attributes among candidates considered for the post of chief executive officer (CEO) of Infosys, said independent board member Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.
In an interview with BloombergQuint, Shaw, who is part of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee (NRC), said Parekh’s understanding of the business and his experience with a sizeable multinational company made him the best available candidate.
Parekh will be taking over as the MD & CEO of Infosys for a period of five years, starting January 2, 2018, Infosys said in a statement on Saturday. UB Pravin Rao, who had been appointed as interim CEO, will be the company’s chief operating officer and whole time director, the statement added.
He (Parekh) has grown new businesses very well in Capgemini. He understands the digital space very well. He is considered to be a very good people’s person. He is very soft spoken, but at the very same time he is a very determined person...He wants to take Infosys to the next level and I think we should let him get on with it.Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Independent Director, Infosys
The NRC along with executive search firm Egon Zehnder had conducted a global search for a new CEO at Infosys after Vishal Sikka, the former MD & CEO quit in August. The NRC finally conducted interviews with shortlisted candidates and chose Parekh for the role.
Parekh was previously with Capgemini and was a member of the group executive board. He joined Capgemini in 2000 following the acquisition of the consulting division of Ernst and Young.
Talking about hiring another CEO from outside the country, Shaw said that since Parekh will be based in Bangalore in his role at Infosys, it should work in his favour. Sikka had made Palo Alto, California, his base of operations.
Going forward, Shaw said that the company should focus on growth and new businesses and that Parekh is fully geared for that.