TCS boss N Chandrasekaran is new Tata Sons Chairman; read his complete profile

Los Angeles : Finally in a move to ditch Cyrus Mistry, Tata Consultancy Services on Thursday named CEO Nataraja Chandrasekaran as the new Chairman of Tata Sons.

Chandrasekaran will now be the head of the holding company of the $103 billion Tata Group. His appointment comes less than three months after Cyrus Mistry was removed as chairman on October 24. 

For the past three months, the company was handling a bitter spat between Mistry and group patriarch Ratan Tata.

Interestingly, Ratan Tata was serving as interim Chairman since Mistry’s departure from the company.

The announcement came ahead of the February 24 deadline for choosing the new Chairman after an unscheduled board meeting called at 4 PM today.

The Board of Tata Sons said in a press statement: "Mr. Chandrasekaran has demonstrated exemplary leadership as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services. We believe he will now inspire the entire Tata group to realise its potential acting as leaders in their respective businesses, always in keeping with our value system and ethics and adhering with the practices of the Tata group which have stood it in good stead."  

In October, a five-member panel, including Ratan Tata and three other Tata Sons board members, was constituted to shortlist candidates for the position.

Who is N Chandrasekaran?

• Born in June 1963, Mohanur, his education includes a degree from Coimbatore Institute of Technology, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli
• Chandrasekaran joined the group in 1987, and rose through the ranks to become an important member of the company.
• He has been the CEO and Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services since 2009. 
• Since October 2016, he has also served on the board of Tata Sons.
• India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India appointed him as director on its board in 2016.
• He has served as the Chairperson of the IT Industry Governors’ at the WEF, Davos in 2015-16. 
• He was a member of Indo–US CEO Forum, and is also part of India’s business taskforces for Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan and Malaysia. 
• He served as the chairman of NASSCOM, the apex trade body for IT services firms in India in 2012-13 and continues to be a member of its governing Executive Council.
• Chandra was conferred honorary degrees by many Indian Universities. He has received various awards like CNN-IBN Indian of the Year in Business.
• He currently resides in Mumbai, with his wife Lalitha and their son, Pranav. 
• Chandra is an avid photographer, music aficionado and a passionate long-distance runner who has completed marathons in Amsterdam, Boston, Chicago, Berlin, Mumbai, New York and Tokyo.

Watch his old interview here for his ideas on technology and innovations: