CEO Vishal Sikka seen leading strategy overhaul at Infosys

(Reuters) - Vishal Sikka is the first outsider to take the helm at Bangalore-based Infosys, India's second biggest IT services exporter. Here are a few facts about the 47 year old CEO-designate.

* Sikka, an American citizen, was born in Vadodara, India. His family currently lives in California.

* Sikka was the first Chief Technology Officer at German business software maker SAP AG. He was also a member of the Executive Board of SAP AG, leading all products and driving innovation globally until he left the company in May.

* He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University.

* Hasso Plattner, chairman supervisory board at SAP, told Reuters that Sikka had asked to leave the company three times, for family reasons. Plattner said he managed to convince Sikka to change his mind twice, but in May, Sikka left.

* Sikka is credited with developing HANA (High Performance Analytic Appliance), SAP's flagship in-memory database management system.

* For the top job at Infosys, Sikka was chosen over three other shortlisted candidates. The last four to be listed were interviewed in London and Mumbai, and lead independent director of Infosys KV Kamath said Sikka fit the bill of a "transitional" CEO. His current tenure is for five years.

(Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in MUMBAI and Ilona Wissenbach in GERMANY; Editing by Miral Fahmy)