Hitachi Vantara’s board of directors has appointed Gajen Kandiah as chief executive officer, effective July 13, 2020. Toshiaki Tokunaga, currently CEO and chairman of the Board of Hitachi Vantara, will transition responsibilities to Kandiah through Oct. 1, 2020, after which Tokunaga will remain as chairman.
Gajen Kandiah has built winning IT businesses within multinational corporations and startups for more than two decades. During 15 years with Cognizant, he helped grow the company from $368 million in annual revenues to more than $16 billion.
He was most recently president of Cognizant’s multi-billion-dollar Digital Business, a role in which he led the acquisitions of software engineering company Softvision, marketing solutions provider Netcentric, and Idea Couture, a digital innovation and technology services company. He also led a Cognizant-wide initiative to transform company capabilities and services into an integrated, industry- and client-focused suite of offerings and solutions.
Kandiah previously served as senior vice president and general manager of Cognizant’s Information, Media and Entertainment; Manufacturing Logistics; Consumer Goods; and Communications industry practices. Before joining Cognizant, he co-founded NerveWire, Inc., a venture capital-backed management consulting and systems integration firm, which was later acquired by Wipro.
“Gajen Kandiah has an impressive track record in rapidly scaling digital businesses. He is the perfect CEO to help Hitachi Vantara, its partner ecosystem and our customers further accelerate their success,” said CEO and Chairman Toshiaki Tokunaga, Hitachi Vantara.
“The opportunity to lead Hitachi Vantara is a thrilling one. I am confident that if we align our broad portfolio of data storage, analytics, industry-specific solutions and IT services behind a singular vision to delight our clients, we will become a true digital leader,” said Gajen Kandiah.