He will directly report to CEO Brian Humphries
Chennai, NFAPost: IT services company Cognizant has announced the appointment of Anil Cheriyan as new EVP, Strategy and Technology and member of the Executive Committee (EC).
Anil will oversee Global IT led by Rakesh Bhardwaj, Global Security led by Dan Smith, and the Strategy, Alliances, and Business Development (including Accelerator) team led by Brad Berry.
Cognizant CEO Brian Humphries said, “Over the past few quarters, the EC and I have been discussing the importance of having an EC-level leader of Technology to inform our strategy, digitise our business, and strengthen our IT and Security capabilities and resilience, which is more important than ever given our recent ransomware attack.”
The CEO said he believes this is the first time Cognizant will have a technology leader reporting directly to the CEO, which is fitting as IT transitions from being a support function for clients’ business models to becoming the essence of their businesses.
Humphries said in a letter to employees, “While this is an expansive role that will be visible externally and internally, Anil’s immediate priority, once he joins on August 3, will be to take the reins of our IT and Security remediation efforts from Greg Hyttenrauch, who has led these efforts on my behalf since April. Greg can now return to focusing 100% on leading Digital Systems and Technology.”
He added that they are grateful to Greg for his leadership that helped ensure continuity of service for our clients in some of the most challenging circumstances.
Anil served most recently as the US Presidential Appointee in charge of Technology Transformation Services, with the mission to make the lives of the public better through technology. In this capacity, he drove the technology transformation strategy, roadmap, and agenda across the US federal government, oversaw a $100 billion technology budget, and worked closely with the White House, Agency leadership, and the Federal CIO.
Prior to his government role, Anil served as EVP and CIO of SunTrust Banks, where he led the bank’s digital operations, and data transformation, advancing its capabilities in cloud, AI/robotics, data and payments. As CIO, he was responsible for SunTrust’s overall IT, cybersecurity, and business enterprise operations. He reported directly to the Chairman and CEO and was instrumental in advising the Executive Committee and Board on the bank’s technology direction.
“As we prepare for the second half of 2020, we have good reason to feel confident about Cognizant’s strong position in the COVID era. Our momentum and competitiveness are growing. Our client relationships are robust. And our digital portfolio is becoming a larger portion of our revenue mix, which strengthens our ability to help clients build modern, change-ready businesses,” the CEO said.
He added, “I firmly believe we will emerge from the pandemic a much stronger company.”
Earlier, the company had said that it will bring back employees in a measured way. In a note to employees, the company said, “As we take our next steps in transitioning back to the office, based on business criticality, offices in Chennai have been identified to reopen in the coming weeks.”
