Infosys' new leadership takes charge today

K V Kamath, 64, is going to make history tomorrow, by taking charge as the first non-founder chairman of Infosys in its three-decade history. Also, the non-executive chairman of ICICI Bank, he has been a board member of Infosys since 2007, as an independent director.

Besides, from today, S (‘Kris’) Gopalakrishnan becomes executive co-chairman of Infosys, making way for another co-founder, S D Shibulal, as managing director and CEO. This is the first major change of guard at India’s second largest information technology services company, in the wake of the retirement of co-founder and chairman, N R Narayana Murthy, last week.

For Gopalakrishnan and Shibulal, the last two of seven original co-founders left with the company, the new roles would require independent decision making in the absence of Murthy. It would be the first time that Kamath, an established name in the banking world, would chair the board of a technology company. He is also expected to mentor the next generation of leaders.

“My role has been defined to look after corporate governance and make sure there is proper planning to find the right people in the organisation for giving responsibilities with the growth of the company,” Kamath had told Business Standard in a recent interview.

In his new role, he would be provided with an office at Building-1 of Infosys’ headquarters in the Electronic City campus here. He has another office in the city provided by ICICI Bank. Building-1 is the administrative headquarters’ block of Infosys. Despite the change in their profiles, Gopalakrishnan and Shibulal would continue to occupy the chambers provided to them in their earlier roles. They share a common conference hall, with a door of their respective chambers connected to it.

Gopalakrishnan, who will be responsible for managing large clients, is expected to travel extensively in the new role. He would start with a trip to Europe for a week, said highly placed sources.