MindTree ropes in Albert Hieronimus as new chairman

Bangalore-based product and engineering services firm MindTree announced the appointment of Albert Hieronimus as the new chairman and reiterated its goal of becoming a $1-billion company by 2014.

Hieronimus, who joined the board of directors with effect from today, said his immediate focus would be to take the company to the next level and prepare it for its journey in the next decade. “Developments during the last couple of months have been an irritant to our shareholders and 'MindTree minds'. I want to tell them we are back and we will be going forward to attain our goals, including making MindTree a $1-billion company,” he said

The appointment also brought cheer to shareholders. The company's stock, which plunged after Ashok Soota's resignation, touched a monthly high of Rs 424 in morning trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange and closed at Rs 404, up 2.93 per cent over the previous close.

Hieronimus's appointment follows Soota's resignation as chairman of the company which he co-founded with nine others, including Krishnakumar Natarajan, Janakiraman and Subroto Bagchi.

Hieronimus, an independent director of the company since 2006, is currently the chairman of Bosch Ltd and a member of the supervisory board of Bosch Rexroth. Apart from being an independent director of MindTree, Hieronimus is also a member of it's strategic initiatives and audit committees.

Chief executive officer and managing director Krishnakumar Natarajan said, “Our strategy is to grow to a $1-billion firm in the coming years. So, we have decided to be a specialised player rather than a broad-based company. A focussed and specialised approach will help us become one of the top five players. We have created an organisation structure that gives us greater agility, and going forward, we will only look at key areas and chosen customers.”

As reported by Business Standard earlier, the company decided to move out of the energy and utility business. In IT services, the company said it would focus on verticals like manufacturing, banking, financial services, certain sections within insurance and travel. “Our next stage is to get deeper into customer business. We are working to improve our capability and increase our non-linear revenue,” Natarajan said.

MindTree expects Hieronimus' expertise in the manufacturing and automobile segments to help the company gain leverage on these verticals. In manufacturing, the company will focus more on consumer and packaged goods, since these hold immense potential.

“Though we have carried out the rejig, we should be more disciplined in our approach, since there may be more opportunities in sectors which are not our current focus areas,” said Natarajan.

MindTree, once considered a leading IT services sector company in India, recently saw difficult times. The company’s investment in handsets and telecom infrastructure products went sour. It also lost business from Kyocera Wireless, and this is likely to hit its January-March topline. Soota's unexpected resignation also hit the firm's valuation.