New Delhi: Succumbing to pressure from co-founders and a clutch of investors, Infosys on Thursday named former CEO and Aadhaar-architect Nandan Nilekani as its new chairman, replacing R Seshasayee.
Here's a look at Nandan Nilekani's profile
- Nilekani started his career at Patni Computer Systems in Mumbai in 1978.
- Nilekani was one of the seven engineers who founded Infosys in 1981.
- He was Infosys CEO from 2002 to 2007.
- Nilekani has held various posts in Infosys including those of Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, President, and Chief Operating Officer.
- He left Infosys in July 2009 to serve as the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
- Nilekani resigned from this post in March 2014 to contest the 16th Lok Sabha election from the South Bangalore constituency.
- Nilekani co-founded India's National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) as well as the Bengaluru chapter of The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE).
- He is the president of the governing body of the National Council of Applied Economic Research, India’s oldest and largest premier, independent economic research institute.
- He is a member of the board of governors of the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER).
- Nilekani is also on the board of the Indian Institute of Human Settlements (IIHS).
- The Fortune Magazine conferred on him the ’Asia’s Businessman of the Year’ honour in 2003.
- He was named ‘Corporate Citizen of the Year’ at the Asia Business Leaders Award, 2004.
- In 2005, he received the prestigious Joseph Schumpeter prize for innovative services in economy, economic sciences, and politics.
- In 2006, he was awarded one of India's highest civilian honours, the Padma Bhushan.
- In the same year, Nilekani was named ‘Businessman of the Year’ by Forbes Asia.
- The Time magazine listed him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2006 and 2009.
- He is the author of 'Imagining India' that discusses his ideas for India’s future.
- The book was one of the finalists in the FT-Goldman Sachs Book Award for 2009.
- The Foreign Policy magazine listed him as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers in 2010.
- He also won The Economist Social & Economic Innovation Award in 2014 for leading UIDAI (Aadhaar).
- A prolific investor, Nilekani has invested in over a dozen startup ventures like Sedemac Mechatronics, publishing start-up Juggernaut, media venture The Print and e-commerce start-up 10i Commerce Services.
- Most recently, he launched a USD 100 million start-up fund in partnership with venture capitalist Sanjeev Aggarwal.
- Nilekani received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from IIT Bombay (now Mumbai).
