Infosys Appoints D Sundaram As Its Lead Independent Director After Kiran Mazumdar Retires

In an exchange filing, Infosys declared the retirement of Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw as an Independent Director of the board and the appointment of D Sundaram as the Lead Independent Director. While Shaw resigned at the end of her term on 22 March, Sundaram took over on 23 March 2023. The new appointment was made based on the Nomination and Remuneration Committee's proposal.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the founder and Chairperson of Biocon, is one of India's wealthiest self-made women executives. She joined the Infosys Board in 2014 as an Independent Director and was promoted to Lead Independent Director in 2018. She was also the Chairperson of the Nomination & Remuneration Committee and the CSR Committee, as well as a member of the Board's Risk Management and ESG Committees, according to Infosys.

“I am personally grateful to her because she has been a tremendous ally and amazing colleague on the Board since I returned to Infosys in August 2017. We also congratulate Sundaram on his appointment as Lead Independent Director, and we look forward to his continued insight and unwavering support as Infosys continues its growth and transformation journey,” said Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of Infosys.

D Sundaram has been a member of the Infosys Board of Directors since 2017. He is a member of the Audit Committee, the Risk Management Committee, the Stakeholders Relationship Committee, the Nomination and Remuneration Committee and the Cybersecurity Risk Sub-Committee.

Sundaram began his career with the Unilever Group in India as a management trainee in 1975 and has since been promoted to top positions in the Group's Accounting, Commercial, and Treasury functions. He was the Finance Director and Board Member of Brooke Bond Lipton India (in Bengaluru) and Senior Vice-President (Finance), of the South Asia and Middle East Group at Unilever (in London). He was named finance director and board member of HUL before being promoted to vice-chairman and CFO. He worked for Unilever in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka before departing HUL in July 2009.

He subsequently became the MD and Vice Chairman of TVS Capital Funds. Sundaram served as an independent director on the boards of GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals, TVS Electronics, SBI General Insurance and Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals, as well as a member of the Institute of Financial Management and Research's Board of Governors. He has also spent two terms as an independent director of the State Bank of India.

The new Infosys senior independent director is a Commerce Graduate with a Post Graduate Diploma in Management Studies from Chennai. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Cost Accountants and has finished Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Programme.