Coforge appoints Akhil Gupta as chairman

Bengaluru: Coforge has appointed Akhil Gupta as a non-executive independent director and chairperson of the company’s board, effective Tuesday, for a five-year term.He succeeds O P Bhatt, who resigned following an internal audit by KPMG that flagged procedural lapses in the way the company’s board-evaluation reports were shared with directors, including the withholding of the lowest rating given to the chairman, according to sources familiar with the development.Gupta is the former vice-chairman of Bharti Enterprises and played a key role in the group’s growth since its inception. He is currently chairman of the boards of 360 ONE WAM and Bharti Life Insurance. He is also a board member of Zepto, Snapdeal, Eutelsat Communications and Lodha Developers.Vivek Sharma, non-executive director and interim chairperson, said the company conducted a “very rigorous and intense global search process” in partnership with Egon Zehnder, focused on governance experience, professional expertise and strategic perspectives.“A starting list of 60 exceptional candidates was whittled down over time and Akhil emerged as the unanimous choice of all members of the NRC and the Board,” Sharma said.He said the search process involved the board working across weekends and time zones to ensure the mandate had its “complete support and involvement”.Coforge CEO and executive director Sudhir Singh said the company was navigating an AI-led transformation and working to make “the promise of AI real for enterprises”.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.