Cognizant, a Teaneck-based technology company, announced new leadership Jan. 12, including a new chief executive officer and chair of the board.
Ravi Kumar S was named CEO and a member of the board, effective immediately. Kumar succeeds Brian Humphries, who will remain with the company as a special advisor until March 15. Humphries had led the company since April 2019, calling the role “an honor.”
In October 2022, the firm announced that Kumar would join as president, Cognizant Americas. With the latest announcement, Surya Gummadi, a 24-year veteran of Cognizant who has been serving in the interim position, will now take on that role.
Kumar
Kumar joins Cognizant after 20 years with Infosys, where he most recently served as president and was responsible for driving digital transformation services, consulting services, technology services, engineering services, data and analytics, cloud and infrastructure, and enterprise package applications service lines.
In addition to his many responsibilities while at his former company, Kumar also oversaw Infosys business operations in India, Latin America, Japan and China, as well as the Infosys Public Services and Infosys Consulting Services Subsidiaries.
He serves on the boards of directors of TransUnion, Digimarc Corp. and U.S. Chamber of Commerce and on the board of governors of the New York Academy of Sciences.
Kumar earned his bachelor’s degree in engineering from Shivaji University and his MBA from Xavier Institute of Management, India.
From the new board chair
The company also announced that Stephen Rohleder, a board member since March 2022, has been elected chair of the board of directors. Former Chair Michael Patsalos-Fox will remain on the board as an independent director.
In a statement, Rohleder addressed the CEO transition.
“The Board is focused on positioning Cognizant to reaccelerate growth and drive shareholder value,” Rohleder said. “As a proven leader with deep experience developing global talent and building a culture of success, we believe Ravi is the right person to take Cognizant into its next phase of growth.”
Rohleder thanked outgoing CEO Humphries for his contributions to the company, including “providing a steady hand as he steered the company through various challenges, including a global pandemic.”
He also commended Patsalos-Fox for his dedication to the company.
2022 guidance
In the announcement, Cognizant also said it expects fourth quarter and full-year revenue of approximately $4.8 billion and $19.4 billion, respectively, compared with previous expectations of $4.72 billion to $4.77 billion for the fourth quarter and $19.3 billion for the full year. This reflects a year-over- year increase of approximately 1.3% for the fourth quarter and growth of approximately 5% for the full year.
The company also now expects full-year 2022 adjusted operating margin of approximately 15.3%, compared with prior guidance of 15.6%, and full-year 2022 adjusted diluted EPS of approximately $4.38 to $4.40, compared with the previous guidance of $4.43 to $4.46. The change is principally driven by the company’s expectation of lower volumes.
