Kris Gopalakrishnan

Senapathy "Kris" Gopalakrishnan
Gopalakrishnan at the World Economic Forum on India in 2012
Born	5 April 1955 Trivandrum, Kerala, India
Education	M.Sc. (Physics) M. Tech. (Computer Science)
Alma mater	IIT, Madras
Occupation	Executive Vice Chairman, Infosys
Years active	1981 – present
Net worth	US$ 1.35 billion (March 2013)[1]

Senapathy Gopalakrishnan, popularly known as Kris Gopalakrishnan, is the executive vice chairman (former co-chairman) of Infosys, a global consulting and IT services company based in India. He is also one of its seven founders.^[2] He was elected as the President of India's apex industry chamber 'Confederaton of Indian Industry (CII)' for the year 2013-14.

Early days

Kris Gopalakrishnan was born in Trivandrum on April 5, 1955. He spent his school days in Government Model Boys Higher Secondary School, Thycaud, Trivandrum.

Kris obtained an M.Sc. (Physics) in 1977 and M. Tech. (Computer Science) in 1979, both from IIT, Madras. He started his career as a software engineer with Patni Computers, Mumbai in 1979.

Career at Infosys

In 1981, Gopalakrishnan co-founded Infosys with six other entrepreneurs. His initial years at Infosys included management of design, development, implementation and support of information systems for clients in the U.S. consumer products industry. From 1987 to 1994, Gopalakrishnan headed the technical operations of KSA/Infosys (a joint venture between Infosys and KSA in Atlanta, Georgia).

In 2007, Kris took over as CEO and Managing Director of Infosys Technologies Limited from Nandan Nilekani. Kris previously served as Chief Operating Officer (since April 2002), and as the President and Joint Managing Director (since August 2006). His responsibilities included Customer Services, Technology, Investments and Acquisitions. In August 2011, he handed over the responsibility of CEO and MD to his colleague and another co-founder of Infosys, S D Shibulal. He was later appointed Executive Vice-Chairman of Infosys Board. He would serve as Non-executive Vice Chairman of Infosys Board from June 14 till October 10, 2014.^[3]

Positions

• Kris is the chairman of the International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore and vice chairman of the Board for Information Technology Education Standards (BITES) set up by the government of Karnataka.
• He was named as non-executive Chairman of Jetsynthesys, a digital company headed by Rajan Navani ^[4]
• In April 2012, Kris was appointed as a member of the reconstituted United Nations Global Compact Board for three years.
• On 5 April 2013 he was elected as the president of the industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for the year 2013-14.
• He is a Trustee of the Infosys Science Foundation.
• He is also a member of ACM, IEEE and IEEE Computer Society.
• He is the Chief Mentor of Startup Village.^[5]

Awards

Civilian awards: In 2011, Government of India awarded him with Padma Bhushan which is India's third highest civilian honor.^[6]

Philanthropy

Kris has contributed Rs. 225 Crore (40 Million USD) to the Pure Sciences to develop a Centre for Brain Research at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore. He is also one of the single-largest donor to the 105-year-old institute ever received from an individual.^[7]

References

1. "The World's Billionaires". Forbes.com. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
2. "Management Profile-Infosys". Infosys. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
3. "Vishal Sikka to be CEO and MD of Infosys, Gopalakrishnan to be Non-Executive Vice-Chairman". news.biharprabha.com. Retrieved 12 June 2014.
4. "Kris Gopalakrishnan named Non-Executive Chairman of JetSynthesys". Retrieved 2015-09-24.
5. Start-ups need to become household names: Kris Gopalakrishnan, The Economic Times, retrieved October 29, 2013
6. "Padma Awards Announced" (Press release). Ministry of Home Affairs. 25 January 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
7. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Infosys-co-founder-gives-IISc-Rs-225-crore/articleshow/29621344.cms