Indian IT to get first non-Indian CEO in Wipro’s Thierry Delaporte

Thierry Delaporte, who will take over as CEO and MD on July 6 replacing incumbent Abidali Neemuchwala, is chairman Rishad Premji’s choice to steer Wipro from a decade-long streak of below-par growth that has lagged peers. Rishad took over as Chairman of Wipro from his father Azim Premji last July.

Wipro has named former Capgemini executive Thierry Delaporte as its new Chief Executive Officer, the first non-Indian to head a homegrown IT services company.

Delaporte, who will take over as CEO and MD on July 6 replacing incumbent Abidali Neemuchwala, is chairman Rishad Premji’s choice to steer Wipro from a decade-long streak of below-par growth that has lagged peers. Rishad took over as Chairman of Wipro from his father Azim Premji last July.

Delaporte was till recently chief operating officer at Capgemini, before he lost out to Aiman Ezzat for the top job. Ezzat took over as CEO of Capgemini last week.

“Thierry has an exceptional leadership track record, strong international exposure, deep strategic expertise, a unique ability to forge long-standing client relationships, and proven experience of driving transformation and managing technological disruption,” Premji said in a statement. “We believe that Thierry is the right person to lead Wipro in its next phase of growth"

Delaporte, who is described as calm, composed and an intellectual by people who have worked with him, led the integration of iGATE, which Capgemini acquired in 2015.

“We were worried (about cultural issues) as Capgemini India was running as a cost centre, while we were operating the India services model,” says Salil Ravindran, who was deputy CFO at iGATE during the 18-month integration period.

“His cultural sympathy was high,” said Ravindran, now the chief financial officer at Technosoft Corp.

The iGATE buy, the largest in the IT services space then, helped the French technology company establish a significant offshore presence in India. Capgemini today employs 125,000 people in the country, nearly half of its global workforce.

Delaporte, who joined Capgemini in 1995, has held diverse positions in the company.

He has been an internal auditor, led finance operations across regions outside of Europe, led sales and the crucial global financial services strategic business unit before moving on to head the company’s Latin American operations. In 2018, Delaporte was elevated to Group Chief Operating Officer.

Salil Parekh, who was a contender for the COO role at Capgemini, later quit to join Infosys as CEO. Since Parekh took over, Infosys has seen growth return as it focused on large deals and started offering digital services to its clients.

“It is a high-risk move, but I think they (Wipro) had to change that model depending on an Indian CEO,” Ravindran said. “He (Delaporte) understands the India model and is definitely a great client facing guy.”

Wipro has seen four CEOs in the last 12 years, including an experiment with two joint CEOs, but has struggled to grow quickly.

Neemuchwala, who came on board from larger rival Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), has struggled to restructure the company during his four-year term. He has also spent over $1 billion in acquiring companies, with mixed results.

Delaporte could face similar challenges, considering the recessionary market conditions globally, analysts said.

“He (Delaporte) is a great leader,” said Arup Roy, vice president of research at Gartner. “But he has a daunting task ahead to drive growth for the company in a recessionary environment.”

In April, Wipro for the first time suspended its revenue guidance citing uncertainty due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Infosys and Capgemini, too, have suspended their projections as the world economy is expected to shrink due to the impact of the virus.

“Delaporte has a great track record in the BFSI segment and there is a lot more Wipro can gain from Europe and America from his contacts,” an equity analyst at a Mumbai-based brokerage said.

In Video: Wipro appoints former Capgemini executive Thierry Delaporte as CEO