Francisco DSouza was born on 23 August 1968 is the CEO of Cognizant and was part of the team that founded the NASDAQ-100 company in 1994. In 2007, at the age of 38, he took over from Lakshmi Narayanan, who was promoted to Vice Chairman. Francisco is Cognizant’s CEO since January 2007. Francisco D’Souza is among the youngest Chief Executive Officers in the software services sector.
D’Souza, is a person of Goan origin (PIO), from a Konkani-speaking family, was born in Nairobi, Kenya, Africa. D’Souza holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of East Asia, Macau, as well as a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh.
Mr. D’Souza is Cognizant’s CEO and a member of the Company’s Board of Directors. As CEO, he is responsible for managing Cognizant’s growth as a leading provider of global consulting, information technology and outsourcing services. During his tenure as CEO, Cognizant’s employee base has grown from 55,000 to over 230,000. As a result of its strong growth, Cognizant has been named a member of the S&P 500, the Fortune 500, the Forbes Global 2000 and one of Forbes’ Fastest Growing Tech Companies.
Mr. D’Souza joined Cognizant as a co-founder in 1994, the year it was started as a division of The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation. He has served on the Board of Directors of General Electric Company since 2013, where he is a member of the Audit Committee and the Science and Technology Committee. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Mellon University, as Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of The New York Hall of Science and on the Board of Directors of the U.S.-India Business Council. He is a member of the World Economic Forum and the Science Visiting Council for the acclaimed PBS science program, NOVA.
D’Souza has felicitated with the following honors:
2002 – Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist
2005 – The Economic Times Entrepreneur Award
2009 – named among “America’s Best CEOs” by Institutional Investor magazine
2013 – named among “100 CEO Leaders in STEM” by STEMconnector
2013 – Recognized as the Best CEO in the Multinational Company category by Forbes India magazine as part of its 2013 Leadership Awards.
2014 – “Newsmaker of the Year” by The Financial Express