IT major Infosys on Friday said the nominations committee of the company’s Board of Directors has begun the search for a successor to Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director S D Shibulal.
Shibulal has expressed his desire to retire from the post and as a member of the Board of Directors either on the date of the last board meeting before his superannuation – January 9, 2015, or when his successor is ready to assume office, whichever is earlier, the company said in a statement.
Infosys said the nominations committee will shortlist and evaluate an internal slate of candidates with the assistance of Development Dimensions International (DDI), a company specialising in corporate executive evaluations.
The Board has also appointed Egon Zehnder, an executive search firm, to assist the Nominations Committee in identifying an external slate of candidates, it said.
The new appointee will also be tasked with turning the company around, which among other issues is facing exodus of top level officials.
Once a posterboy for the USD 108-billion Indian IT-BPO sector, Infosys has been battling top level exits, which analysts have raised concerns about.
Over the last two years, Infosys has seen nine top level exits including leaders who were tipped to be in fray for the top job.
Former company’s Americas head Ashok Vemuri quit to become CEO at iGate, while CFO V Balakrishnan joined political party AAP. Other exits include global sales head Basab Pradhan, Head of Utilities and Resources for North America Stephen Pratt, Head of BPO sales Australia Kartik Jayaraman and BPO Head Latin America Humberto Andrade.
While some attributed the exits to the return of N R Narayana Murthy at the helm of affairs last year, the company has maintained that it remains unperturbed by these exits.
