Wipro has appointed Thierry Delaporte as Chief Operating Officer (CEO) & Managing Director effective from July 6.
Abidali Neemuchwala will relinquish his position as CEO & MD on June 1. Rishad Premji will oversee the day to day operations of the company until July 5.
Until recently, Delaporte was the COO of Capgemini Group and a member of its Group Executive Board. During his twenty-five year career with Capgemini, he held several leadership roles including that of CEO of the Global Financial Services Strategic Business Unit, and head of all global service lines.
He also oversaw Capgemini's lndia operations and led the group's transformation agenda, conceptualizing and driving several strategic programs across various business units.
Delaporte is the first non-Indian CEO among the top four IT firms. Earlier, Teaneck-based Cognizant brought in Brian Humphries as the CEO, as the co-founder Francisi DeSouza stepped down.
Neemuchwala took over as the CEO and MD in April 2016 from his predecessor TK Kurien, who retired on January 2017. He resigned on January 30, 2020, a before he completed his five year term.
What will Delaporte bring to the table
Wipro has been lagging behind its peers in terms of growth for years. The company has not seen double digital growth in a decade and it came down to 1.6 percent for FY20. The company's had been slower under Neemuchwala, with the highest being 4.8 percent in FY17.
It was under his leadership HCL Tech over Wipro to become the third largest IT service provider in FY19 with revenue at $8.6 billion. Wipro’s revenue was $8.1 billion in the same year.
According to analysts, Delaporte will have bring in the much needed momentum the company needs right now. Pareekh Jain, founder, Pareekh Consulting, said, “Delaporte will be expected to bring in large deals momentum, which Wipro needs. He will also be expected to bring in stability.”
In addition, having headed the financial services business unit, the experience will come in handy given that banking and financial services is one of the largest portfolio accounting for about 31 percent of overall revenue.
“There will be aggressive focus on sales as that will be needed to stimulate the growth with larger deals,” he added.
