Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Thursday appointed K Krithivasan as Rajesh Gopinathan’s successor. IT firm‘s veteran Gopinathan will resign as MD & CEO, effective September 15, to pursue other opportunities.
TCS has nominated Krithivasan as the CEO-designate with immediate effect from March 16, and he will be appointed as MD & CEO from September 15.
Gopinathan, who has been with the company for the past 22 years, was its MD & CEO for the last six years. In fact, he had a runway of another 4 years after he was reappointed till 2027 in March 2022.
“I have been harbouring a few ideas on what I want to do in the next phase of my life. After deep reflection and in discussion with the chairman and the board, we decided that the end of this fiscal is a good time for me to step aside and pursue those interests,” Gopinathan said.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my exciting 22-year tenure at TCS
Gopinathan will continue with the company till September 15 to provide transition and support to his successor.
“I have had the pleasure of working with Gopinathan for the past 25 years. During this period, he has always distinguished himself with exemplary performance in various roles, including his former role as the chief financial officer,” TCS chairman N Chandrasekaran said.
“Over the last six years, he has provided strong leadership as the MD & CEO and has laid the foundation for the next phase of TCS’ growth with significant investments in cloud, agile and automation to help clients accelerate their transformation. I am deeply appreciative of Rajesh’s enormous contribution to TCS. I wish him the very best for the future,” he added.
Krithivasan is currently president and global head of the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) business group. He had joined TCS in 1989, and had held various leadership roles in delivery, customer relationship management, large programme management and sales during his tenure with the IT major.
Krithivasan is also a member of the board of TCS Iberoamerica, TCS Ireland and the supervisory board of TCS Technology Solutions AG. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Madras and a Master’s Degree in Industrial and Management Engineering from IIT Kanpur. “Having worked with Krithi over the last two decades, I am confident that he is best positioned to take TCS to greater heights along with the leadership team. I will be working closely with Krithi to give him all the support that he needs,” Gopinathan added.