Francisco D’Souza

Francisco D’Souza

Francisco D’Souza is the CEO of Cognizant.

Introduction: 

  • Francisco D’Souza was born in Nairobi, Kenya, Africa. on 23 August 1968.
  • His father, Placido D’Souza (born in 1933, ex-Anjuna, Goa), was a diplomat with the Indian Foreign Services.
  •  His mother was Sushila. His sisters are Jacinta, Lucia, and Maria.
  • He is the CEO of Cognizant and was part of the team that founded the NASDAQ-100 company in 1994.
  • Francisco is Cognizant’s CEO since January 2007 .
  • Francisco D’Souza is among the youngest Chief Executive Officers in the software services sector.
  • He has been noted for his quick rise to the top of his profession.

Industry Profile:

  • Francisco D’Souza has more than 20 years of experience in the information technology industry, in both operational and advisory roles.
  • From February 1995 to December 1995, D’Souza was employed as Product Manager at Pilot Software a company funded by Keyur Patel of Fuse Global.
  • At Cognizant, which he joined in its early days, D’Souza was elected Chief Operating Officer (COO) in December 2003.
  • Prior to that, from November 1999 to December 2003, he served as Senior Vice President (SVP), North American Operations and Business Development.
  • From March 1998 to November 1999, he served as Vice President (VP), North American Operations and Business Development and as Director-North American Operations and Business Development from June 1997 to March 1998.
  • From January 1996 to June 1997, D’Souza was engaged as a consultant.
  • Effective January 1, 2007, D’Souza was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of theBoard of Directors of Cognizant.
  • In February 2013, D’Souza was appointed as independent director on the board of General Electric.

Awards, Achievements &Recognition:

  • D’Souza has received the following honors:
    • 2002 – Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist[citation needed]
    • 2005 – The Economic Times Entrepreneur Award[citation needed]
    • 2009 – named among “America’s Best CEOs” by Institutional Investor magazine
    • 2013 – named among “100 CEO Leaders in STEM” by STEMconnector
    • 2013 – Recognized as the Best CEO in the Multinational Company category by Forbes India magazine as part of its             2013 Leadership Awards.

 

Dileep George

Dileep George is an AI and neuroscience researcher.

Introduction:

  • Dileep George (born August 5, 1977).
  • He is an AI and neuroscience researcher.
  • George has authored 22 patents and many peer-reviewed papers on the mathematics of brain circuits.
  •  His research has been featured in the New York Times, BusinessWeek, Scientific Computing, Wired, Wall Street Journal, and on Bloomberg Television.

Education:

  • George received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2006.

Industry Profile:

  • In 2005, George pioneered Hierarchical temporal memory and cofounded the AI research startup Numenta, Inc. with Jeff Hawkins and Donna Dubinsky.
  • In 2010, George left Numenta to join D. Scott Phoenix in founding Vicarious.com, a new AI research project funded by internet billionaires Peter Thiel and Dustin Moskovitz.

 

Vishal Sikka

Vishal Sikka is a member of the Executive Board of SAP AG and the Global Managing Board, heading all SAP products and innovation.

Introduction:

  • Vishal Sikka grew up in Vadodara (formerly Baroda), India.
  • His father an officer in the Indian Railways.
  • Vishal Sikka is a member of the Executive Board of SAP AG and the Global Managing Board, heading all SAP products and innovation.
  • Sikka has global responsibility for development and delivery of all products across SAP’s product portfolio including Applications, Analytics, Cloud, Database & Technology and Mobile.
  • Sikka is also responsible for leading the design and end-user experience for SAP, and is responsible for driving all innovation globally.

Education:

  • Vishal Sikka graduated from Rosary High School.
  • He studied computer engineering at M S University, Baroda.
  • After completing his B.S. in Computer Science at Syracuse University, Sikka was accepted for the doctoral program at Stanford University.
  • His dissertation was titled Integrating Specialized Procedures into Proof Systems and his thesis advisor was Michael Genesereth.
  • He graduated with his Ph.D. in 1996.

Industry Profile:

  • After a brief stint at Xerox’s research labs, Sikka founded iBrain which competed at the time with Business Objects.
  • iBrain was acquired by PatternRX, Inc.
  • His second startup, Bodha.com, focused on developing technology for non-invasive, service-based integration of enterprise applications and information.
  • Sikka joined Peregrine Systems as their area Vice-President for Platform Technologies, responsible for application development and integration technologies and architecture, following their acquisition of Bodha.com.
  • Sikka joined SAP in 2002 to head up the advanced technology group responsible for strategic innovative projects.
  • Later he was promoted to Senior Vice President of Architecture and Chief Software Architect, responsible for the road map and the direction for the architecture of SAP’s products and infrastructure.
  • In April 2007, Sikka was named SAP’s first-ever CTO reporting to then CEO Henning Kagermann.

LinkedIn Profile :

  • http://www.linkedin.com/pub/vishal-sikka/2/a6b/869

Twitter Profile :

  • https://twitter.com/vsikka

 

 

Ajaypal Singh Banga

Ajaypal Singh Banga

Ajaypal Singh Banga is the current president and chief executive officer of MasterCard.

Introduction:

  • Banga was born into a Sikh family in Khadki outside Pune, Maharashtra in India.
  • His father was an army officer, retired lieutenant-general Harbhajan Singh Banga who is a decorated army general of Indian Army.
  • The family’s origin is from Jalandhar in Punjab.
  • He is also the younger brother of another well known CEO M S Banga.
  • MasterCard announced on April 12, 2010 that Ajay Banga, previously MasterCard’s president and chief operating officer, had been named by the Board of Directors to serve as the company’s president and chief executive officer, effective July 1, 2010.
  • The company also announced that Banga would become a member of MasterCard’s Board of Directors, effective immediately.
  • Ajay Banga, 50, succeeded Robert W. Selander, who had been MasterCard’s chief executive officer since March 1997

Education:

  • Banga grew up and schooled across India, successively in Secunderabad, Jalandhar, Delhi, Hyderabad and in Shimla, where he finished his schooling.
  • Banga went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University
  • An MBA degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Industry Profile:

  • He began his business career with Nestlé in 1981.
  • He later joined PepsiCo and was involved in the launch of its international fast food franchises in India as the economy liberalized.
  • Prior to joining MasterCard, Banga spent 13 years at Citigroup from 1996 as part of the bank’s senior management in the United States and Europe, Middle East, Africa regions before becoming chairman and chief executive officer of Citi’s international global consumer group in 2005.
  • He was chief executive officer of Citi Asia Pacific, responsible for all of the company’s business lines in the region, including institutional banking, alternative investments, wealth management, consumer banking and credit cards.
  • He was also a member of Citi’s senior leadership and executive committees.
  • Chairman of the US-India Business Council, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, The Financial Services Roundtable and The Economic Club of New York, and is a fellow of the Foreign Policy Association.
  • Banga was vice chairman of the board of trustees of the New York Hall of Science and a board member of the National Urban League.
  • He was formerly a business sponsor of Citi’s African heritage network – NYC.

Raghuram Rajan

Raghuram Govinda Rajan

Raghuram Rajan is the current and the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.

Introduction:

  • Raghuram Rajan is born on 3rd february, 1963 in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India.
  • He is a Tamil Brahmin & his father was a Senior Bureaucrat in Indian Government.
  • He is the current and the 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, having taken charge of India’s central banking institution on 4 September 2013.
  • Rajan was chief economic adviser to India’s Ministry of Finance during the previous year and chief economist at the International Monetary Fund from 2003 to 2007.
  • He is on leave of absence as a professor of finance at the graduate business school at the University of Chicago.

Education:

  • He did his schooling from 7 grade to 12 grade in Delhi Public School, RK Puram.
  • He graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1985.
  • He acquired a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad in 1987.
  • He received a PhD in Management from the MIT in 1991 for his thesis titled “Essays on Banking”.

Industry Profile:

  • After graduation, He joined the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago as the Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from October 2003 to December 2006.
  • In November 2008, Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh appointed Rajan as an honorary economic adviser.
  • Replacing Kaushik Basu, Rajan was appointed as Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India on 10 August 2012.
  • In 2008, a high-level committee on financial reforms, headed by Rajan, submitted its final report to the Planning Commission.
  • He also prepared the Economic Survey for India for the year 2012-13, on 27 February.
  • On August 6, 2013 it was announced that Rajan would take over as the next RBI Governor.
  • He was appointed RBI Governor for a term of 3 years succeeding D Subbarao whose term ended on 4 September 2013.

Awards, Achievements & Recognitions:

  • In 2003, he won the Fischer Black Prize awarded by the American Finance Association for contributions to the theory and practice of finance by an economist under age 40.
  • He was awarded the fifth Deutsche Bank Prize for Financial Economics 2013 on 26 September 2013 for his “ground-breaking research work which influenced financial and macro-economic policies around the world”.
  • Few awards received by him in his illustrious career as an academician and a researcher in financial economics are as follows –
    1. Center for Financial Studies Deutsche Bank Prize for Financial Economics, 2013
    2. Infosys Prize for the Economic Sciences, 2012
    3. Global Indian of the Year Award, NASSCOM, 2011
    4. Bernhard Harms Prize awarded by the Kiel Institute for International Economics 2010
    5. Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Best Business Book of the Year Award, 2010
    6. Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 2009.
    7. Jensen prize (runner-up) for paper in Journal of Financial Economics, 2006
    8. Fama/DFA prize for best paper in the Journal of Financial Economics, 2003
    9. Inaugural Fisher Black Prize awarded by the American Finance Association in January 2003
    10. Brattle Prize for distinguished paper in the Journal of Finance, 2002
    11. Brattle Prize for distinguished paper in the Journal of Finance, 2001
    12. Brattle Prize for distinguished paper in the Journal of Finance, 2000.
    13. Michael Brennan Award for the Best Paper published in the Review of Financial Studies,1997.
    14. Smith Breeden Prize awarded for best paper published in the Journal of Finance, 1994.
    15. Best Paper Award, Fifth Annual Small Firm Research Symposium, 1993.
    16. Smith Breeden Prize awarded for distinguished paper published in the Journal of Finance, 1992.
    17. Treffstz Prize for outstanding academic achievement, Western Finance Association, 1991.
    18. Gold Medal for academic performance, I.I.M (Ahmedabad), India, 1987.
    19. Director’s Gold Medal for all round performance in the class of 1985, I.I.T. (Delhi), 1985.

Social Life:

  • Raghuram is married to Radhika Puri, a classmate from IIM Ahmedabad. They have a son and a daughter.

LinkedIn Profile :

  • http://in.linkedin.com/pub/raghuram-rajan/46/366/846

Rakesh Kapoor

Rakesh Kapoor

Rakesh Kapoor is an Indian businessman, Chief Executive officer of Reckitt Benckiser plc, a UK FTSE-listed multinational consumer goods company, a major producer of health, hygiene and home products.

Introduction:

  • Rakesh Kapoor is an Indian businessman, Chief Executive officer of Reckitt Benckiser plc, a UK FTSE-listed multinational consumer goods company, a major producer of health, hygiene and home products.
  • Born on 4 August 1958.
  • He is an accomplished bridge player and a keen football and cricket fan.
  • Kapoor joined RB when it was known, pre-merger with Benckiser, as Reckitt & Colman in 1987.
  • Kapoor took over as CEO on 1 September 2011 from Bart Becht.

Education:

  • He completed his schooling from Modern School, New Delhi, India.
  • He has a BE (Hons) in Chemical Engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani
  • He also has an MBA from XLRI- Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur, India.

Industry Profile:

  • Kapoor joined RB when it was known, pre-merger with Benckiser, as Reckitt & Colman in 1987.
  • He served various roles including: Regional Sales Manager, North India; General Manager, Indian Southern Region; and Regional Marketing Director, South Asia.
  • In 1999, he was appointed Global Category Director, Pest Control.
  • Following the merger, he assumed the role of, Senior Vice President, Home Care.
  • He was appointed SVP, Regional Director, Northern Europe in 2001 and in July 2006, he was promoted to EVP, Category Development, with responsibility for global category management, research and development, media, market research and strategic alliances.
  • Kapoor took over as CEO on 1 September 2011 from Bart Becht, who had been in post since the company was created in 1999 through the merger of Benckiser with Reckitt & Colman.

Social Life:

  • Kapoor lives in London, England with his wife and two children.

 

Vikram Pandit

Vikram Pandit

Vikram Pandit is an Indian-born American banker.

Introduction:

  • Vikram Pandit was born in Dhantoli locality of Nagpur, Maharashtra, India to an affluent Brahmin marathi family.
  • His father, Shankar B. Pandit, was an executive director at Sarabhai Chemicals in Baroda.
  • Vikram Pandit is an Indian-born American banker.
  • He is the former chief executive of Citigroup
  • He  held this position from December 2007.
  • He resigned from this position 16th October, 2012.

Education:

  • Vikram Pandit completed his schooling at the Dadar Parsee Youths Assembly High School in Dadar, Mumbai.
  • When he was 16 years old, moved to the United States to attend Columbia University.
  • He holds a B.S. degree in 1976 and M.S. degree in 1980 in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University.
  • He also holds a MBA and a Ph.D in 1986 in Finance from Columbia Business School.

Industry Profile:

  • During his early professional years, he taught economics at Columbia.
  • Then as a professor at Brock University in St. Catharines, Canada.
  • He joined Morgan Stanley as an associate in 1983, one of the first Indians to join the company.
  • In 1990, Vikram Pandit was chosen as the managing director and head of the US Equity Syndicate unit of Morgan Stanley and by 1994, he had risen to become managing director (MD) and head of its worldwide Institutional securities division.
  • In 2000, he ultimately rose to the post of president and chief operating officer (COO) of its worldwide operations of the Institutional securities and Investment banking businesses.
  • In March 2006, Pandit and John Havens, along with Guru Ramakrishnan started the hedge fund Old Lane LLC.
  • Citi bought the company in 2007 for $800 million bringing both Pandit and Havens into Citi leadership.
  • Citi named Pandit chairman and CEO of Citi Alternative Investments (CAI) unit and he later led Citi’s Institutional Clients Group.
  • On 11 December 2007, Pandit was named the new CEO of Citigroup, replacing interim-CEO Sir Winfried Bischoff.
  • He resigned from this position 16th October, 2012.

Awards, Achievements & Recognition:

  • Pandit is a part of the board of Columbia University, Columbia Business School, the Indian School of Business, and Trinity School.
  • He also serves as director of the Institute of International Finance.
  • He was on the board of NASDAQ OMX, the New York City Investment Fund, from 2000 to 2003.
  • In 2008, Pandit was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India.

Social Life:

  • Vikram Pandit, a naturalized citizen of the United States, lives in New York City.
  • He live with his wife and two children.