Indians Emerging as the Cream of the Society for CIO Roles in the U.S.

In 2018 alone, the combined revenue of seven companies with CEOs of Indian origin, including Google, Microsoft, and Albertsons among others, was nearly USD 360 billion, higher than the GDP of all but 34 countries

 

FREMONT, CA: Frederick Terman, former Dean of Engineering at Engineering School, created the tradition of Stanford faculty starting their own companies, to provide more job opportunities for students. This gave birth to Silicon Valley as we know it today. In the late 1970s and 80s, a large number of Indian graduates first made their impact on American soil, taking up the mantle of power in global technology. This soon became a trend, where graduates from India’s premier institutes like the IITs would seek employment in Silicon Valley and rise to power, overcoming multiple barriers and limitations in the process. 

 

Over the last eight years, the Indian population in the U.S. has increased by nearly 50 percent, and the number of Indians holding high-level portfolios continues to increase each day. In recent years, a significant number of people of Indian origin have established themselves in the top echelons of corporate America. Majority of technology companies have tech pioneers from their respective industries of Indian origin at the top of their organization charts. C level executives, especially CIOs, have become the first choice in the corporate world. In 2018 alone, the combined revenue of seven companies with CEOs of Indian origin, including Google, Microsoft, and Albertsons among others, was nearly USD 360 billion, higher than the GDP of all but 34 countries. 

 

Over the last few months, there has been a surge in the appointment of Indians to C level executive positions. These appointments have seen Indians being entrusted with CIO positions in a wide range of companies, including corporate giants, medium-sized companies, non-profit firms, and even government organizations. Here is a list of Indians who have been appointed as CIOs of American Organizations recently. 

 

Siva Balu was appointed as the CIO of UMCA of U.S. Previously, Balu was the Executive Director and Head of Enterprise I.T. for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. As CIO, Balu will be tasked with rethinking and reorganizing the I.T. department of the YMCA-U.S. and supporting the national office and local chapters.

 

Ram Manukonda was appointed as CIO by Cornerstone Building Brands, bringing more than 20 years of global I.T. leadership experience to the company. Manukonda joins Cornerstone from Evoqua Water Technologies, where he served as Vice President and CIO. Before that, he was with CONTECH Engineered Solutions for many years, most recently as Vice President and CIO. 

 

Bayer named Bijoy Sagar as its CIO and digital transformation officer. Before this, he was the chief digital technology officer of Stryker for over five years and has over 20 years of experience in the healthcare and chemical industry. Prior to that, Sagar has held I.T. leadership positions at Merck, Takeda Oncology, and Amgen.

 

Kris Rao has been named as the CIO and digital officer for HNI Corporation. Rao will be in charge of spearheading enterprise-wide I.T. and digital strategy, and also innovating digital business models within the company. He joins the company from Ricoh, where he was Vice President of Information Technology and CIO. 

 

Tapestry promoted Ashish Parmar as its CIO from the senior vice president, global head of enterprise solutions. Parmar will be responsible for the company’s global technology. Previously, he was vice president, global supply chain solutions, software engineering, and enterprise architecture with Coach.

 

Vikram Nair has been named as Vice President and CIO by Amneal Pharmaceuticals. Previously, Nair was CIO for Viking Cruises and Vice President, global experience innovation & integration, technology strategy and planning with Carnival Corporation. He had joined Amneal Pharmaceuticals earlier this year. 

 

TOCA Football appointed Akshay Shrivastava as its CIO, who has over 20 years of I.T. leadership experience. Shrivastava will drive and oversee strategic technology investments in digital innovation, product development, business operations, internal corporate functions (marketing, finance, sales), as well as foundational I.T. and big data platforms. Previously, Shrivastava was Senior President of Payments Technology at SunTrust Bank (Truist). At SunTrust Bank, he leveraged micro-services, cloud, agile, and dev-ops best practices to modernize platforms and enable faster digital innovation. 

 

Manan Mohale was appointed as the CIO for Pendrick Capital Partners, after joining the organization from CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, where he was Senior Director, Systems Development and Architecture, Federal Programs. Mohale holds a B.S. degree from Saurashtra University, a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Bridgeport, and an MBA from The John Hopkins University-Carey Business School.

 

Former chief digital officer, as well as CTO and V.P. of I.T. engineering, architecture and applications for Kimberly Clark Corporation, Manoj Kumbhat, was promoted as the Global CIO. Kumbhat previously held I.T. leadership roles at HCL Technologies and PepsiCo. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Jodhpur, and a master’s and an MBA from West Virginia University. 

 

Discount Tire recently appointed Gary Desai as its CIO, who was SVP and CIO with Icahn Automotive Group. Desai has several years of experience with large-scale digital transformation in the manufacturing, distribution, retail and service industries. He has also served as SVP and CIO for IEH Autoplus and Pep Boys.

 

Aarti Shah, currently serving as senior vice president, CIO and chief digital officer for Eli Lilly, was appointed to the board of trustees for Northwestern Mutual. Shah has been employed at Eli Lilly since 1994 and holds her current portfolio since 2016. She completed her Bachelor and Master of Science Degrees in India and received her PhD in applied statistics from the University of California. 

 

Ally Financial named Satish Muthukrishnan as its new Chief Information, Data, and Digital Officer. Muthukrishnan will direct all I.T., data, and digital transformation for the company, focusing on advanced technical capabilities for infrastructure and cybersecurity. He previously served as Chief Digital and Information Officer for Honeywell Aerospace. Before that, he served as CIO-Enterprise Digital, Enterprise API Engineering and Big Data Labs with American Express for several years.

 

Archana Deskus was appointed as Vice President and CIO for Intel. Deskus joined the organization from Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, where she served as CIO since 2017. Under her new portfolio, Archana will lead global I.T. operations and drive organizational transformation for the company. Previously, she has held CIO roles at Baker Hughes, Ingersoll Rand, Timex, and United Technology.

 

Without a doubt, these professionals have made marvellous achievements in their areas of expertise, and their appointment to C-suite positions is a matter of pride for the Indian tech fraternity.