Kumar Mahadeva, chairman and CEO

Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Kumar has lived and worked in Europe, Asia, and the US. Before establishing Cognizant, Kumar was chairman of Dun & Bradstreet India and China. He also served as director of strategy and corporate development at AT&T. Kumar started his career in research and development at the British Broadcasting Corporation in London. He holds a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from Cambridge University, England and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Chandra Sekaran, senior vice-president

Chandra has more than 16 years of experience working with leading Indian software companies—in both the operational and business development functions. Chandra is actively involved in key alliances, capacity growth, process initiatives, business development and delivery. He is a mechanical engineer from REC, Trichy and an MBA from IIM, Bangalore

N Lakshmi Narayanan, president and COO

Lakshmi has more than 20 years’ experience in the IT industry, including ten years managing divisions and business units in Europe, India and the United States. He has spent the last six years with Cognizant, building and managing the organization’s development centers in India. Before Cognizant, he was the regional head of Tata Consultancy Services. He has Bachelors and Masters degrees in Science and Electronics and an advanced management qualification from the Indian Institute of Science

Francisco D’ Souza, senior vice-president

Francisco D’Souza has over a decade’s experience in the IT industry, in both operational and advisory roles. Francisco oversees the company’s marketing and business development in North America and Europe. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree from the University of East Asia and later received an MBA from Carnegie-Mellon University

Gordon Coburn, senior vice-president and CFO

Gordon has over a decade of financial management experience in the IT industry. He joined Cognizant Technology Solutions in 1996 as the company began shifting its focus toward external sales. At Cognizant, Gordon oversees the company’s worldwide financial planning and analysis, accounting, treasury and tax functions. Gordon has a Bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University and an MBA from The Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College