AgenciesPune: Chris O’Connor has resigned as CEO of mid-size IT firm Persistent Systems, citing personal reasons.
In a letter to the board of the Pune-based firm, O’Connor said there was no material reason for his resignation, effective immediately.
His tenure also marked the exit of top talent, including technology services president Sudhir Kulkarni and chief product officer Nira Rajagopalan, among others.
O’Connor brought in Sandeep Kalra as president of technology services from audio systems maker Harman, and Keith Landis -- who was earlier with Conduent and IBM -- as chief marketing officer, a few months after taking charge.
Joining as CEO-designate in February 2019 from IBM where he led its Internet of Things unit, O’Connor formally took charge as CEO from founder and managing director Anand Deshpande in April of that year.
"Over the past year and a half, we have done significant work to strengthen our operational and offering capabilities to better serve a rapidly expanding client base. At a personal level, I’ve held multiple interests beyond technology, and the Pandemic, with its constraints on travel contributing to improved personal health have given me ample time to appreciate those life’s blessings. It’s with excitement that I look forward to those endeavours on the back of Persistent’s best quarter ever,” O’Connor said in a statement.
Last year, O’Connor implemented a solutions-led approach aimed at increasing deal sizes and mining top accounts.
The company started mapping a client’s overall IT spends against its own portfolio to determine other areas it could tap into, and reorganised how the verticals and service lines were structured.
At the start of the current fiscal year, it moved to a new structure, under which its Accelerite products business was merged with the Technology Services Unit, responsible for about 78% of total revenue. This segment grew 17% year-on-year, primarily owing to new deal wins during the quarter.
Persistent reported a 9.5% increase in revenue to $131 million, up 3.1% sequentially, in the first quarter. In rupee terms, revenue increased 19.1% to Rs 991.3 crore, while profit went up 9.1% to Rs 90 crore.
“We thank Chris for his contribution to Persistent... He helped in building out certain capabilities and improved positioning to tap the opportunities, which helped us achieve a good quarter under difficult circumstances,” said Anand Deshpande, chairman and managing director.
In a letter to the board of the Pune-based firm, O’Connor said there was no material reason for his resignation, effective immediately.
His departure comes 18 months into his tenure, during which time he revamped its strategy and hired new people in leadership roles.
His tenure also marked the exit of top talent, including technology services president Sudhir Kulkarni and chief product officer Nira Rajagopalan, among others.
O’Connor brought in Sandeep Kalra as president of technology services from audio systems maker Harman, and Keith Landis -- who was earlier with Conduent and IBM -- as chief marketing officer, a few months after taking charge.
Joining as CEO-designate in February 2019 from IBM where he led its Internet of Things unit, O’Connor formally took charge as CEO from founder and managing director Anand Deshpande in April of that year.
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"Over the past year and a half, we have done significant work to strengthen our operational and offering capabilities to better serve a rapidly expanding client base. At a personal level, I’ve held multiple interests beyond technology, and the Pandemic, with its constraints on travel contributing to improved personal health have given me ample time to appreciate those life’s blessings. It’s with excitement that I look forward to those endeavours on the back of Persistent’s best quarter ever,” O’Connor said in a statement.
Last year, O’Connor implemented a solutions-led approach aimed at increasing deal sizes and mining top accounts.
The company started mapping a client’s overall IT spends against its own portfolio to determine other areas it could tap into, and reorganised how the verticals and service lines were structured.
At the start of the current fiscal year, it moved to a new structure, under which its Accelerite products business was merged with the Technology Services Unit, responsible for about 78% of total revenue. This segment grew 17% year-on-year, primarily owing to new deal wins during the quarter.
Persistent reported a 9.5% increase in revenue to $131 million, up 3.1% sequentially, in the first quarter. In rupee terms, revenue increased 19.1% to Rs 991.3 crore, while profit went up 9.1% to Rs 90 crore.
“We thank Chris for his contribution to Persistent... He helped in building out certain capabilities and improved positioning to tap the opportunities, which helped us achieve a good quarter under difficult circumstances,” said Anand Deshpande, chairman and managing director.
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