A New Chairman of the Board and Three New Directors appointed
HCL Infosystems, India’s Premier Distribution, IT Services and Solutions Company, today announced the appointment of Dr. Nikhil Sinha as the Non-Executive Chairman of its Board. Three Non-Executive Directors, Mr. S Premkumar, Mr. D.K. Srivastava and Mr. Pawan Kumar Danwar also joined the Board of HCL Infosystems Ltd. Three existing Directors – Mr. J V Ramamurthy, Mr. D.S. Puri and Mr. E A Kshirsagar has stepped down from the Board. Both Mr. D. S. Puri and Mr. E A Kshirsagar joined the HCLI Board in 1998. Mr. J V Ramamurthy continues to be associated with the Company as a Director on the board of HCL Infotech Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of HCL Infosystems Ltd.
Earlier in February 2014, the Company had announced the appointment of two new Independent Non-Executive Directors, Mrs. Sangeeta Talwar and Mr. Kaushik Dutta on its Board. The new appointments on the HCL Infosystems Board have been effected to fulfill the upcoming requirements of the new Companies’ Act, as well as to get the board augmented with capabilities as relevant for the future growth direction of the Company.
Dr. Nikhil Sinha who has been a Non-Executive Director on the HCL Infosystems Board since July 2009 has been appointed as the Non Executive Chairman of the Board. Dr. Sinha is the founding Vice-Chancellor of the Shiv Nadar University and a Senior Advisor to the Shiv Nadar Foundation and HCL Corporation. Dr. Sinha is a leading international expert on information and communication technology industries and has extensive experience as an academician, corporate executive and consultant. In his academic career, Dr. Sinha has served as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Texas from 2002 to 2005 and a faculty member at the same University from 1991 to 1999.
Dr. Sinha’s professional career has spanned nearly 30 years during which he has held senior positions in several corporate organizations, including President & CEO of iDLX Technology Partners, President & Co-CEO of EMR Technology Ventures, Executive Vice President of eFunds Corporation and Venture Partner, Adams Capital Management. He was a founder partner of Sinha & Lariviere, an international strategic advisory firm and is currently a Director of Silverskills Pvt. Ltd. Dr. Sinha began his professional career in the Government of India’s Ministry of Information & Broadcasting in 1983. Dr. Sinha has an M.A. and Ph.D. in Communication from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. (Hons.) in English Literature from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. He has published numerous articles and papers in scholarly journals and conferences and has been awarded a number of research, publishing and academic grants and awards.
Mr. S Premkumar is presently the Group CEO of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd., where he works closely with the Board and is actively involved with the transformation agenda across Strategic Go- to-Market initiatives, Customer Experience, Strategic Partnerships and Globalization. His remarkable career spans over 30 years and prior to Apollo Hospitals he had also held important leadership positions at HCL. At HCL, he was one of the key business leaders for the Group and in his association of over 25 years he held leadership positions in HCL Limited, HCL Frontline and HCL Technologies. As the Senior Corporate Officer and President for HCL Technologies, he was leading Financial Services and Healthcare verticals along with strategic leadership of customer proposition innovation, alliances and partnerships as well as global expansion. Mr. Premkumar is a Master in Psychology. A people person to the core, his doctoral research has been on talent development. It is this passion that got him actively involved with the World Economic Forum, where he was part of the Global Council on Talent Mobility and Diversity. He is a much sought after speaker in Industry circles and is on the Consultant panel of some global leaders.
Mr. D.K. Srivastava is responsible for the Human Resources function of HCL Corporation & Shiv Nadar Foundation and is driving strategies around talent, culture and organizational effectiveness. He has been associated with HCL for 18 years out of a career spanning over 32 years. Nestle, Tata and L&T are some of the other major organizations that he has worked with. At HCL, he has been one of the key drivers of its transformation journey, and is passionate about empowering every HCL employee to optimize his or her capabilities and performance, and build a dynamic, future-ready organization. He is the architect of several unique and innovative HR practices and is the driving force behind several groundbreaking people practices in the area of coaching, training and skill development.
Mr. Pawan K. Danwar is the Executive Vice-President & CFO of HCL Corporation and Shiv Nadar Foundation. He brings over 24 years of vast experience to HCL. His association with the HCL Group spans over 18 years and he has served in different operational and strategic finance profiles within HCL; such as Business Finance, Corporate Restructuring, Acquisition & Business Integration, Treasury , Planning & Strategy, Commercial, Business Development, Secretarial, Legal & Corporate Compliance and Investor Relationship. He has not only been instrumental in shaping different financial strategies for HCL but he has also been associated with various new business initiatives. Mr. Danwar is a qualified Chartered Accountant & Company Secretary.
In the past few months, HCL Corporation has increased its shareholding in HCL Infosystems from 42.85% to 49.97%.
Commenting on the appointments, Mr. Harsh Chitale, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, HCL Infosystems Ltd. said, “We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Mr. D. S. Puri and Mr. Kshirsagar for providing their invaluable guidance to the company for many years, thereby contributing to its growth journey through different economic environments. Their contribution can be gauged from the fact that when they joined the Board in 1998, revenue of the Company stood at Rs. 700 crores and today we have a revenue in excess of Rs. 8400 crores.”
“We are very excited to have Dr. Nikhil Sinha as our new Chairman of the Board and also have three exceptional leaders, Mr. S Premkumar, Mr. D.K. Srivastava and Mr. Pawan Kumar Danwar join the HCL Infosystems’ board. They bring with them tremendous industry experience and we look forward to their valuable perspectives from which the company will gain and benefit from.” Mr. Chitale added.
About HCL Infosystems
HCL Infosystems Ltd. with revenue (LTM) of Rs. 8416 crores is India’s Premier Distribution and IT Services and Solutions Company. HCL Infosystems’ has one of the largest sales & distribution network in the country and provides value added distribution for partners including last mile connect and support in marketing and promotions for Telecom, IT , Office Automation and Consumer Electronics products covering more than 15000 towns across 664 districts in India. Our distribution business has an unparallel network that reaches more than 100,000 retail outlets, over 800 Direct and Micro Distributors and over 12400 Channel Partners across India. In the services space the Company has robust services offerings such as a comprehensive portfolio of Infrastructure Managed Services, Enterprise Application Services, System Integration Services, Office Automation Services, Managed Print Services, Life Cycle Services and After-Sales Support Services. HCL Learning, the Company’s learning solutions business, serves the entire spectrum of education and training requirements across schools colleges, individuals and enterprises and offers Digital Content & Learning Solutions.
For more information please visit us at www.hclinfosystems.com
