BANGALORE: Francisco D'Souza, CEO at outsourcer Cognizant Technology Solutions, has been named an independent director on the board of General Electric. The 44-year-old D'Souza, the son of a career diplomat, will be the youngest director on the board of GE, a 120-year-old conglomerate whose other independent directors include Alan Lafley, former CEO of Procter & Gamble, and Rochelle B Lazarus, chairman emeritus of Ogilvy & Mather.
D'Souza joins a growing list of Indian-origin executives occupying board seats at global corporations. Ratan Tata and Infosys' NR Narayana Murthy were on the boards of Fiat and HSBC respectively, while Naina Lal Kidwai serves as a director at Nestle. "It is a matter of pride for all of us and it is well-deserved," said Som Mittal, president of IT industry grouping Nasscom. "Frank has demonstrated great skills at Cognizant. I am sure he will add a lot of value to GE." In 1994, Nairobi-born D'Souza co-founded New Jersey-based Cognizant and became its chief executive officer in 2007. Under him Cognizant became one of the fastest growing software firms, with its revenues more than trebling from $2 billion in 2007 to $7.4 billion (Rs 40,000 crore) in 2012. Two years ago it overtook Wipro by sales and is closing in on second-ranked software company Infosys. Because of his father's job, D'Souza studied in places such as Panama, Zaire, New Delhi, New York, Trinidad, Hong Kong, and Pittsburgh. After his bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of East Asia in Japan, he earned an MBA from Carnegie-Mellon University in the US, from where was recruited as a management associate by Dun & Bradstreet. In 1993, the 25-year-old was sent to India to set up D&B's IT arm, which later became Cognizant. GE, which has awarded some of the largest outsourcing contracts to Indian IT firms, does not count Cognizant as one of its vendors. "A great move. Roughly 55% of all capital invested by Fortune 500 companies is on technology, and GE has a large globalisation agenda," says Phaneesh Murthy, chief executive officer, iGate. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-company/corporate-announcement/cognizants-francisco-dsouza-becomes-youngest-ge-director/articleshow/18535872.cms ~Avelino
