Hitachi Vantara has announced the appointment of Gajen Kandiah as the data firm's new chief executive officer, with the former Cognizant executive to take the charge from 13th July.
Current CEO and chairman of the board Toshiaki Tokunaga will transition responsibilities to Kandiah up until 1 October and will remain as chairman once the handover is complete, the company said.
"I am proud of the tremendous progress Hitachi Vantara has made in the past year to augment our world-class digital infrastructure business with new digital solutions and service offerings," Tokunaga commented. "Thanks to strong internal development, strategic acquisitions, and the integration with Hitachi Consulting, we have added the capabilities we need to guide our customers from what's now to what's next.
"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."
Kandiah brings a wealth of experience to the role, having spent more than twenty years building IT businesses within multinational corporations and start-ups. During his 15-year stint with at Cognizant, he played a key role in growing the business from $368 million in annual revenues to upwards of $16 billion, Hitachi said.
Most recently, Kandiah was president of Cognizant's multi-billion-dollar Digital Business and he also led a company-wide initiative to transform company capabilities and services into an integrated, industry and client-focused suite of solutions.
Prior to numerous senior leadership roles at the firm, he co-founded NerveWire, a venture capital-backed management consulting and systems integration firm, which was later bought by Wipro.
"The opportunity to lead Hitachi Vantara is a thrilling one," Kandiah commented. "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."
