After ending months of speculation, the Bangalore-based IT giant Infosys Technologies announced on Saturday that KV Kamath will succeed N R Narayana Murthy as the new chairman of the company.
Chief mentor and chairman of Infosys N R Narayana Murthy will now take on the role of "Chairman Emeritus", the company announced in a statement.
Major management changes announced include Kris Gopalakrishnan's appointment as the executive co-chairman on the board and Chief Operating Officer S D Shibulal's elevation to Manging Director and CEO, who would take over from Gopalkrishnan. Shibulal's appointment was expected to happen.
These appointments are effective from August 21, 2011.
The outgoing chairman N. R. Narayana Murthy said, "I am thankful to the Nominations Committee for doing an admirable job of succession planning and continuing the Infosys tradition of a sound succession strategy. I am glad they have found a perfect team to strengthen customer, investor and employee connect on the one-hand, and world-class board governance on the other hand. Vaman (KV Kamath) is, in my opinion, one of the finest corporate leaders of modern India."
Kundapur Vaman Kamath has been an independent director on the board of Infosys Technologies since May 2009. This will be his second chairman position which he will occupy simultaneously, as he is also the non-executive Chairman at ICICI Bank, one of India's top private financial banking institutions.
Kamath started his career in 1971 at ICICI, and became its Managing Director and CEO in 1996. He retired from that position in April 2009 and joined Infosys' board soon after.
Kamath said, "Infosys is an innovation-led company, with a core of outstanding professionals that has always set the highest standards and has built a unique culture. I feel greatly honoured to have been asked to be the Chairman of Infosys by the Board of Directors and accept this responsibility with a deep sense of humility."
Kamath was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2008 and was also the president of industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for the year 2008-09. Kamath studied mechanical engineering and is a graduate of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.