Cognizant appoints Infosys veteran Ravi Kumar as CEO

The board, seemingly under pressure from investors, finally acted to replace him with former Infosys veteran Ravi Kumar. The board also elected a new chairman. Nasdaq celebrated with an 8 per cent rise in the company's share price. The stock had plummeted 24 per cent in the last one year from $88 apiece to $67 apiece during the same time. Kumar's appointment comes just four days before he was to take the helm as the president of Cognizant Americas. That would suggest that the decision to replace Humphries was sudden. Kumar was one of the two presidents at Infosys and had spent 20 years in the company when his move to Cognizant was announced in October. Kumar was poached from a direct competitor and joined Cognizant as CEO days before taking charge as president. Ravi Kumar succeeds outgoing CEO Brain Humphries, who will be departing from the company on March 15.