For a while now, the business world has been buzzing with rumours that the coveted position of CEO at Cognizant will go to an insider. This has been Cognizant’s practise in terms of promoting high-level resources, however, for the first time, the company has gone for an outside hire to lead them. The CEO of Vodafone Business, Brian Humphries, has been promoted to the position of CEO at Cognizant. His appointment is said to start by 1 April of this year. Meanwhile, Cognizant President, Rajeev Mehta, who was the speculated shoe-in for the position, will be stepping down from the firm, effective 1st April. Needless to say, Francisco D Souza, who has been heading Cognizant since 2007, will not be the CEO any longer – he is now going to be the Executive Vice Chairman.
Source – Financial Times
What were Brian Humphries’ accomplishments at Vodafone?
Brain Humphries was primarily responsible for the global enterprise of Vodafone. This included the business to business fixed and customers of its mobile network. It also included a variety of Vodafone’s verticals like Vodafone’s Internet of Things (IoT), Security solutions, Carrier services, and Cloud hosting services. Vodafone Business has proven to be a crucial facet of Vodafone. This is because under Brian Humphries, this division had generated almost a third of the service revenue seen by Vodafone, with the number standing at an impression 12 Billion USD in sales every year.
Regarding this promotion, Cognizant’s Chairman of Board, Michael Patsalos-Fox said, “With a strong track record of success across different companies, cultures and roles, Brian is the right executive to lead Cognizant and build on its 25 years of growth, success and innovation.”
Brian Humphries is known for being a highly consumer-centric and goal oriented executive, who has gained from his diverse leadership experience with huge companies like Dell and H.P prior to joining Vodafone. With Dell, one of his notable positions include being the President of Dell’s Global Enterprise Solutions. This division generated a revenue of 15 Billion USD, which was a huge feather in Humphries’ cap. He has also held other notable positions such as a CFO of HP, Senior VP of Emerging Markets, President and COO of Dell’s Infrastructure Solutions Group, among many others. So, it is easy to see why Cognizant broke the norm of hiring from within its organization, and went with an outside hire for a position as vital as CEO.
What were Francisco D Souza’s Accomplishments at Cognizant?
Fracisico D Souza held the position of CEO at Cognizant since 2007 and has made huge strides for the company since then. A major one was the fact that he helped increase Cognizant’s revenue by 10x times the amount it was when he joined – this means that the revenue had increased from 1.42 Billion USD to 16.1 Billion USD. Furthermore, Cognizant was named Fortunes Most Admired Company for 11 years in a row under this leadership. Since its IPO valuation that occurred in 1998, Cognizant’s market value has increased by 400 times! Brian Humphries may have some huge shoes to fill, but one does not doubt his abilities to step up to the mantle.
