2009’s most talked about IT resignations

[bholus10]

The year-end is the time when we take stock of the gains and losses of the year. If 2009 was a tumultuous year for the IT industry because of the recession, layoffs, client losses and Satyam imbroglio, it was also marked by a number of high-profile resignations that impacted the IT Inc.

While some left in pursuit of greener pastures, others felt the jolt of the slowdown. Satyam, once India's fourth largest IT services provider, also saw many big ticket execs calling it quits after founder Ramalinga Raju committed to India's biggest corporate fraud. Some also resigned following the company's failure to meet revenue targets.

We decided to take stock of some of the IT industry’s most high-profile exits of 2009.

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[bholus10]

On June 25, Nandan Nilekani stepped down as co-chairman and member of the board at Infosys Technologies to head the government’s Unique Identity (UID) project.

Nilekani took charge as the chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in the rank of a Cabinet Minister after being invited by the prime minister Manmohan Singh. The project will enable the UIDAI to verify identity of a citizen online.

Nilekani served as chief executive of the company from 2002-2007. He stepped down and became a co-chairman in 2007, and was not involved in active management since then. Nilekani, along with NR Narayan Murthy and six others started Infosys in 1981 and was a member of the board since then.

[bholus10]

The chief executive of India's Infosys Technologies' business process outsourcing arm, which employs about 16,000 staff, quit this year to head HDFC Standard Life Insurance in India as CEO.

Amitabh Chaudhry took over as the chief executive of Infosys BPO in March 2006. Chaudhry is credited for several strategic initiatives including the recent $38 million acquisition of McCamish Systems. During his tenure, Infosys’ BPO revenues grew at around 72%. The unit's revenue grew 26% to $316 million in the fiscal year to March 2009.

Prior to joining Infosys in 2003, Chaudhry worked with Credit Lyonnais Securities in Singapore as head of its investment banking franchise for South East Asia. He has also worked with Bank of America as head of technology investment banking for Asia.

[bholus10]

Infosys lost another key executive in the BPO arm just 2 days after the division's chief executive quit. Joydeep Mukherjee was heading the knowledge process outsourcing services at Infosys BPO.

[bholus10]

Scam-ridden Satyam lost many key executives this year after Chairman Ramalinga Raju in January committed to India's biggest corporate fraud.

Among the key players, senior vice presidents Virender Aggarwal and Gary Teelucksingh put in their papers. Aggarwal was the regional business unit head for Asia Pacific and Middle East and Teelucksingh was the senior vice president for Satyam Americas that includes Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean region.

Other key execs, Krish Kumaraswamy, SAP Technology Practice head and Ramesh Babu, the second in command for the SAP business unit also quit.

Of the four, Virender Aggarwal was believed to be the biggest wicket, who not only spent 10 years in Satyam (he joined the company in 1999, leaving NIIT where he held the position of vice president) but played a key role in Satyam's expansion in other regions, particularly Singapore, where he was taking up Satyam's expansion plans since the year 2000.