Persistent Systems' O'Connor steps down as CEO, cites personal reasons

O'Connor worked as a senior executive at IBM's internet of things (IOT) division before joining Persistent Systems.

Christopher 'Chris' O'Connor on Monday announced his resgination as chief executive officer and executive director of Persistent Systems.

O'Connor, who joined the Pune-based firm in February last year, informed the departure was due to personal reasons and there was no material reason behind the resignation, according to Pune-based firm's exchange filing. The resignation has been accepted by the company.  

O'Connor was previously worked as a senior executive at IBM's internet of things (IOT) division before joining Persistent Systems.

Persistent Systems surprised the street with better-than-expected results in the April-June quarter on account of greater cloud migration from clients. Profit of the mid-tier IT services company stood at Rs 90 crore, up 9.1 per cent year-on-year and 7.4 per cent on a sequential basis.  The company's revenue rose 19.1 per cent to Rs 991.4 crore compared to the same period last year. It rose 7 per cent quarter-on-quarter.

"I have very much appreciated the opportunity to be part of Persistent. Over the past year and a half, we at Persistent have done significant work to strengthen our operational and offering capabilities to better serve a rapidly expanding client base," O'Connor said in a press statement. 

"We thank Chris for his contribution to Persistent over the last eighteen months. He helped in building out certain capabilities and improved positioning to tap the opportunities, which helped us achieve a good quarter under difficult circumstances," said Anand Deshpande, chairman and managing director of the company.