Thierry Delaporte, the former Chief Operating Officer (CCOO) for the Capgemini Group, is the new CEO of Wipro - India's fourth-largest IT major.
He will take charge on July 6. Current CEO Abidali Neemuchwala will step down on June 1.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Delaporte is an economy and finance graduate from Sciences Po in Paris. He started his career as an external auditor in Arthur Andersen & Co, in Paris, France in July 1992 right after graduation.
After three years, he joined Capgemini where he spent close to 25 years.
Delaporte's journey in Capgemini
Delaporte joined Capgemini Group in 1995 as the Group Internal Auditor of its subsidiary Sogeti. Till 2010, he held the chief financial officer portfolio for various geographies such as Asia Pacific, North America and Australia-New Zealand.
He was later elevated to COO and Head of Sales Application Services for two years till December 2012, post which Delaporte became the Head of Capgemini’s Global Financial Services Strategic Business Unit.
He also oversaw Capgemini’s operations in Latin America as well from 2016. Delaporte’s elevation to Group Chief Operating Officer came in January 2018.
In his 25-year career in the company, Delaporte held a diverse portfolio across the geographies.
“Having spent most of his career with Capgemini, Thierry has driven Capgemini’s operations and strategic planning in several of its key businesses, based in various countries, and has participated in number of key transformation programs,” reads his profile in Capgemini.
Geoffrey Cronin, an executive, describes Delaporte in his Linkedin testimony as someone who balances financial discipline required to deliver the results with a balance on investing in the growth objectives.
"His style is one of open collaboration, firm accountability and transparency," the testimony adds.
Is he the right fit for Wipro?
Unlike multinationals, Indian firms are conservative, and this move to bring in a non-Indian CEO may give Wipro the momentum and stability it probably needs to bring in the growth.
He is probably the first non-Indian CEO in any of the top four IT firms in the country.
Pareekh Jain, the founder of Pareekh Consulting, said, “Delaporte will be able to bring in large deals, which Wipro needs.”
In addition, having headed the financial services business unit, the experience will come in handy given that banking and financial services happen to be one of the largest portfolios accounting for about 31 percent of the overall revenue.
“There will be aggressive focus on sales as that will be needed to stimulate the growth with larger deals,” he added.
