`Kris’ Gopalakrishnan is the new CII president

S Gopalakrishnan (Kris), co-founder and executive co-chairman, Infosys Limited, has been elected as president of the Confederation of India Industry (CII) for the year 2013-14.  He succeeds Adi Godrej who completed his one-year term in office. 

Gopalakrishnan along with NR Narayana Murthy and five others, founded Infosys in 1981. Kris served as director (technical) and his initial responsibilities included the management of design, development, implementation, and support of information systems for clients in the consumer products industry in the US, a CII release said.

Between 1987 and 1994, Kris served as the vice president for technical operations of KSA/Infosys, a joint venture between Infosys and KSA of Atlanta, US.

In 1994, he returned to India and was appointed deputy managing director of Infosys.

Before becoming the CEO and managing director in July 2007, Kris served as Infosys' chief operating officer, president and joint managing director, responsible for customer services, technology, investments, and acquisitions. He served as executive co-chairman in 2011.

Recognized as a global business and technology thought leader, Kris was recently voted top CEO (IT services category) in institutional investor's inaugural ranking of Asia's top executives and selected as one of the winners of the 2nd Asian Corporate Director Recognition Awards by Corporate Governance Asia.

He was also selected to Thinkers 50, an elite list of global business thinkers compiled by Des Dearlove and Stuart Crainer, in association with the IE Business School, Madrid and the London Business School's Management Innovation Lab.

In January 2011, the Government of India awarded Kris the Padma Bhushan, the country's third highest civilian honor.  He has also represented Infosys and the country in many international forums. Kris is also the chairman of The Business Action for Sustainable Development 2012 (BASD), a coalition of international business groups committed to sustainable development.

He is on the board of governors at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore. He is also the chairman of Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management (IIITM), Kerala and International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Bangalore.

Kris holds master's degrees in Physics and Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

Ajay S Shriram, chairman and Sr managing director of DCM Shriram Consolidated Limited (DSCL) and chairman of its subsidiary company, Shriram Bioseed Ventures Ltd, is president designate of CII for the year 2013-2014.

DSCL, which has interests in agri businesses, chloro vinyl and value added production, has a group turnover of approx Rs5,000 crores ($1 billion). 

Shriram obtained a bachelors degree in commerce from Sydenham College, Bombay. He attended various training and management development programs in India and overseas and participated in the ''Programme for Management Development'' (PMD) at the Harvard Business School, Boston, USA.

Shriram is actively involved in various industry associations and educational bodies. He is the chairman of the governing body of Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) and a trustee of SOS Children Villages of India.

Sumit Mazumder, vice chairman and managing director of TIL Ltd, has been elected as vice president of CII for the year 2013-14.

TIL manufactures the largest range of material handling equipment in technical collaborations with world leaders like Manitowoc, USA (Mobile Cranes). He is also the chairman and managing director of TIPL (Tractors India Pvt Ltd).

The company is a distributor for Caterpillar, USA, in India, Nepal and Bhutan for earthmoving, construction, mining equipment and power systems.  TIPL is a 100 per cent subsidiary of TIL Ltd (formerly Tractors India).