Cognizant strengthens Leadership Team to boost growth
IT major, Cognizant Technology Solutions is strengthening its leadership team with a mix of internal promotions and external hires in Germany, the Nordics, Australia, and Asia-Pacific & Japan.
“We are focused on returning Cognizant to IT services industry bellwether status. To achieve this, we need a combination of long-time Cognizant veterans along with newcomers who bring fresh perspectives to our business,” Brian Humphries, CEO, Cognizant said, in an interview with Mint.
Most recently, Dec. 14, 2020 – Cognizant has announced the appointment of Ursula Morgenstern has joined the company as its president of Global Growth Markets (GGM) and a member of Cognizant’s Executive Committee effective December 14, 2020. She is based in London. She stepped into the role this week.
Ursula’s role will be central to getting Cognizant back on an accelerated growth trajectory. One of Cognizant’s four strategic priorities is to expand its revenue base outside of the US & UK, which between them account for 83% of total sales.
Ursula’s appointment is the latest and highest-profile move in a wider leadership refresh that Cognizant CEO, Brian Humphries, started last Feb/March. This has already seen new heads of both Germany & The Nordics being hired, as well as the exit of Vivek Daga, the long-standing Head of UK. He has been replaced temporarily by Sanjiv Gossain.
Last month, the company has appointed Rajesh Nambiar as chairman and managing director (CMD) for India and a member of the executive committee effective 9 November 2020. His predecessor Ramkumar Ramamoorthy who left the company in July was not part of the committee but reported to it.
Cognizant has appointed Adrian Jones as Senior Vice President and Managing Director for Asia Pacific and Japan, effective November 2. Based in Singapore, he will be responsible for helping to advance the company’s Asia-Pacific growth strategy.
Jones brings more than 30 years of experience to his new role, Jones brings more than 30 years of experience to his new role, most recently, prior to Cognizant, he was serving as Executive Vice President for Asia Pacific and Japan at Automation Anywhere, a global leader in Intelligent Automation.
The company has also recently appointed Anil Cheriyan as EVP, Strategy and Technology, and Andy Stafford as the head of global delivery.
Cognizant has started this year’s campus hiring in October and nearly doubled its entry-level salary for engineers graduating in June 2021 with premium technology skills.
The Company reported flat annual growth in revenues at $4.2 billion for the Q3 ending on September 30. However, the company’s digital revenue grew 13% y-o-y and contributed 42% to the total revenues for the September quarter as digital bookings continued to show momentum. “We are well on our way in the journey towards 50% digital revenues,” Humphries said.
