According to media reports, IT major, Cognizant sees two more top-level leaders, Arun Baid and Dan Smith exit from the firm.
These are the latest exits in a series of key leaders who left the company since Cognizant CEO Brian Humphries initiated a restructuring effort in the year 2019.
Arun Baid was Senior Vice President at Cognizant where he led the Global delivery for the BFSI practice. In this role, he was at forefront of accelerating Cognizant’s Digital Transformation efforts across all its BFSI clients. He joined Cognizant in 2002 and has played a significant role in the company’s growth since then.
Dan Smith was working as Chief Security Officer, a well-rounded security technology leader with 20+ years of successful experience in sales, product development, marketing, security operations, IR and Forensics, transformation initiatives, and employee development. He joined the company in 2013 from JP Morgan Chase.
According to sources aware of the development, he announced his intention to retire recently after serving as Chief Security Officer for the past three years.
Alicia Lynch, Senior Vice President, Chief Security Officer at Cognizant who joined the firm in July, will be succeeding Smith as the Chief Security Officer and will lead the Corporate Security team.
Some other leaders who resigned since CEO Humphries took over include SVPs Jaideep Poondir, Rajesh Balaji, and Vinayambika Kidiyur, Archana Ramanakumar, and Vikash Gaur.
Former Cognizant India Chairman & Managing Director, Ramkumar Ramamoorthy and Global Delivery Head Pradeep Shilige, had left the firm last year.
Brian Humphries, Chief Executive Officer, Cognizant said, “Employee Attrition remained a cause for concern for the company, as total attrition (quarterly annualized) in Q1 stood at 21% compared to 19% in the previous quarter.
The company continues to hire across levels and roles strengthening its leadership across key businesses, he said.
During the earnings call in May, Jan Siegmund, Chief Financial Officer, Cognizant said, “Our first-quarter performance reflects solid revenue growth in our digital services and consistent execution of our strategy,” said.
“To support our commercial momentum, we are increasing our investments in recruiting and talent.” CFO added.