Venkatesh Roddam, former CEO of Satyam?s BPO subsidiary Nipuna, has emerged as the front runner for the post of CEO of the scam-tainted parent company.
Names doing the rounds for the ?now not so coveted? Satyam top post have luminaries like Vivek Paul, former vice-chairman of Wipro and CEO of its global IT business, Jerry Rao, known to have managed Mphasis well, Phaneesh Murthy, who fell out with the Infosys team but still created iGate, Basab Pradhan , former head of global sales at Infosys who left the company to set up his own oufit Gridstone Research, and Hewlett-Packard?s Raman Rao.
According to insiders, Roddam has an edge as he has put in three years in the organisation and is a veteran in the banking industry.
?It is learnt that an internal consensus has already been built in the company and chances are bright for Roddam as he knows the history of the company,? a highly-placed official told FE.
Roddam has about 22 years of experience in the banking industry and is also well known for building organisations. Currently, he is on an advisory role and provides consultancy services to many organiations. ?In other words, he is the most available candidate,? said a head hunter specialising in top management placements. While there have been reports that Vivek Paul may not be interested in the post, now Phaneesh Murthy is also said to be not interested in the project.
Incidentally, minister of company affairs Prem Chand Gupta had also personally recommended that someone familiar with the affairs in Satyam be appointed to the top post rather than an outsider as it would take some time for a new CEO from outside the company to take stock of a new business and blend in the culture.
For Roddam, the Satyam culture is not new. He came on board Nipuna as the CEO in August 2005 and had focused on developing a long-term vision for the organisation, in line with the philosophy of the parent company, Satyam. With nearly two decades of experience in commercial and investment banking, Roddam has an even mix of sales and customer relationship management and operations, and technology-based roles.
He has managed large teams and has held responsibilities across products and functions, in geographies, including the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. Prior to Nipuna, Roddam was based in Frankfurt heading securities and custody operations of Deutsche Bank. He was responsible for the trusts and securities operation, covering 31 markets across continental Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific.