Speakers Bios & Abstracts

Platzhalter Speakers
Natarajan Chandrasekaran
IN

CEO and Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services

Biography

Natarajan Chandrasekaran (“Chandra”) is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services, a leading global IT solutions and consulting firm with consolidated revenues of US $11.6 billion for year ended March 31, 2013. During his tenure as the chief executive since October 2009, the company has grown at a compounded annual rate of 21 per cent.

Responsible for formulating the company’s global strategy across its footprint of 44 countries, Chandra has led TCS to great success with the market capitalization of the company touching USD 50 billion during 2012. TCS was consistently ranked throughout 2012 as the most valuable company in India. With over 276,000 consultants, TCS has become the largest private sector employers in India with the highest retention rate in a globally competitive industry.

Chandra personifies TCS’ commitment to customer satisfaction and high quality. Through his experience in a variety of operating roles, he has built a reputation in the IT industry for his exceptional ability to build and grow new business offerings and nurture long-term relationships. He has also been at the helm of several key strategic transitions at TCS including architecting, as Chief Operating Officer, the new organization structure unveiled in 2008, which created multiple agile business units within TCS that were focused on industries and markets.

He has been behind several strategic new business initiatives at TCS and displayed the ability to mature new ideas. The company has added new business lines and entered new industry verticals like Media & Information Services, Mobile & Digital services, and High Tech under his watch. All of these have since matured into sizeable businesses since then.

Under his guidance and mentorship, the company has refined its corporate sustainability program to focus on education, environment and wellness. The firm has created healthcare solutions for charitable hospitals to help them improve the level of patient-care more effectively and use their resources to treat more patients who cannot afford healthcare. Through his active support of major marathons in New York, Amsterdam, Chicago, Boston and Mumbai, he has spread a message of health awareness across employees globally as well as in the communities the firm operates in.

Chandra represents TCS on several global and local forums. He is the chairman of the National Association of Software & Service Companies (NASSCOM) for 2012-2013.  He joined TCS in 1987 after completing his Masters in Computer Applications from Regional Engineering College, Trichy, Tamil Nadu in 1986 and a Bachelor of Science in Applied Science from the Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu.  The SRM University has conferred the Degree of Doctor of Literature (2010) on Chandra for his pioneering and outstanding contributions to the industry.

Chandra has received several awards and recognition in the business community in 2012. He was judged as the “Business Leader of the Year” by NDTV.  He won the “Best CEO of the Year” award at the Forbes India Leadership Awards 2012 and was awarded the Outstanding Business leader of the year at the CNBC’s India Business Leadership Awards. He was also awarded “Asia Business Leader Award of the year” by CNBC Asia Business Leaders Awards 2012. Chandra was also named the “Pathfinder CEO” of 2012 by National HRD Network (NHRDN)

He was also awarded the Medal of the City of Amsterdam - Frans Banninck Coqc medal in recognition of his endeavor to promote trade and economic relations between Amsterdam and India.

Beyond the office, Chandra is an avid photographer and a passionate long-distance runner and has completed marathons in Mumbai, New York, Prague, Stockholm, Vienna, Chicago and Berlin.

Born in 1963, Chandra lives in Mumbai, with his wife Lalitha and son Pranav.