Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, Former Chairman and MD of Cognizant (India), to join Krea University as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Professional Learning

Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, Former Chairman and MD of Cognizant (India), to join Krea University as Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Professional Learning

Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, former Chairman and Managing Director of Cognizant (India), will join the leadership team of Krea University in January 2021 as its first Pro Vice-Chancellor, responsible for Professional Learning.

As part of its 2025 vision, the University has created a blueprint to take its interwoven learning experience to the industry and larger society to address the agile and continuous learning needs of professionals. In this role as Pro Vice-Chancellor of Professional Learning, Ramkumar will help drive the mission and long-term strategy of all professional programs—spanning Masters in Business Administration, executive education, as well as modularized and laddered advanced programs and micro-credentials that will add significant value to individuals, businesses, nations and society.

In addition to this role, as a part of the core leadership team, Ramkumar will help strengthen Krea’s vision to be a teaching and research university that defines global benchmarks through interwoven-ness and experiential learning, while staying true to its core values of excellence, ethics, inclusivity and accountability.

“Ramkumar brings to Krea a rare combination of three decades of industry, professional and academic experience,” said Dr Sunder Ramaswamy, Vice Chancellor of Krea University. “His deep appreciation of structural shifts across industries and newer models of learning and skilling will be a great asset to Krea and particularly to the Graduate School of Business, in our journey to enable high potential individuals to learn and create a positive, catalytic impact, ethically.”

“I am truly excited to be part of the Krea team that strongly believes in the larger purpose of helping humanity prepare for an unpredictable world,” said Ramkumar. “In a fast-paced world that is increasingly shaped by the interplay of humans, machines and the environment, learning throughout one’s professional or entrepreneurial career is key to staying relevant while driving excellence and innovation. I am confident that the rich heritage of the Graduate School of Business, Krea’s pioneering interwoven learning model and strong legacy of core values will enable the alumni of the university to confidently embrace the future.”

Profile of Ramkumar Ramamoorthy

Ramkumar has about 30 years of experience in the information technology industry as well as academia. He was most recently the Chairman and Managing Director of Cognizant in India—a Fortune 200 company—and was responsible for the company’s India operations with over 200,000 employees.

During his 22 years with Cognizant, he nurtured and grew more than half a dozen portfolios and held various leadership positions including Executive Director, India and Chief Knowledge Officer. Prior to Cognizant, Ramkumar was with Tata Consultancy Services.

Ramkumar spent the first five years of his professional career as an academician and continued to stay in touch with academia throughout his long career in the industry. In the past three decades, he has been on the Academic Council and/or Senate of liberal arts, engineering, management and medical universities in India. He is currently on the Governing Council of the IT/BPM Skill Sector Council of National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) and the Board for undergraduate studies in engineering and technology at All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). He is also associated with the Chennai Mathematical Institute, one of the premier institutions of excellence for teaching and research in math, computer science and data science.

Ramkumar has played leadership roles in several professional and trade bodies in India. Notably, he is the immediate Past President of the 185-year-old Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) and a past Vice Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) in India.

Leading global academics participate in IFMR GSB Research Symposium 2020

Leading global academics participate in IFMR GSB Research Symposium 2020

IFMR Graduate School of Business (GSB) hosted the one-day Annual Research Symposium (virtual), focusing on ‘Inclusion’ and ‘Sustainability’. The symposium touched upon a wide range of topical issues and themes such as Financial Inclusion, Sustainable Finance, FinTech, and Digital Inclusion. Students, faculty, researchers and several attendees witnessed presentations and evidence-based research that answered burning questions on inclusion and sustainable development in our societies. Speakers from the United States of America, Singapore, London, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Switzerland and other parts of the world brought multiple perspectives to the discussion, exchanging ideas and sharing their point of view and ways to move forward. Senior practitioners from the Indian industry and academics from reputed Indian institutions like Azim Premji University and Indian School of Business also contributed to this thought leadership.

Vice-Chancellor of Krea University, Dr Sunder Ramaswamy, in his opening message, spoke about the relevance of hosting symposiums in today’s world and how it helps take the discussion forward. “The mission of Krea is to prepare humanity for an unpredictable world. When we designed it, we had no idea that 2020 would really test that mission statement. We’re in the midst of three crises – a health crisis, an economic crisis, and a social justice crisis. I think all of us are just waiting for 2020 to get behind us so that we can start the new year on a different note. Conferences and symposiums like this are critical in terms of finding solutions to the various facets of exclusion and the impact these facets have on sustainability,” he shared.

In addition to discussing policies and reforms in the country, the symposium also put the spotlight on various Indian government initiatives. Rama Devi Lanka – Director, Emerging Technologies, Officer on Special Duty, ITE&C Dept, Government of Telangana – shared her insights on the government’s contribution to inclusion in technology. In her session, she shared her experience of developing a strategy, toolkit and procurement guidelines to enable cloud adoption by various state and central government departments. With respect to Fintech in agriculture, in her session, Suniti Nanda – Fintech Officer, Government of Maharashtra – shed light on how multiple Fintech companies are gearing up to build businesses to support agriculture. Watch the recordings of the sessions here.

Catalyst AIC successfully e-launched; now accepting applications for programme

Catalyst AIC successfully e-launched; now accepting applications for programme

Catalyst Atal Incubation Centre, an incubation and innovation centre set up by IFMR Society under NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission, was successfully launched virtually recently. The launch was graced by Mr Ramanan Ramanathan, Mission Director for Atal Innovation Mission (NITI Aayog), Dr Sunder Ramaswamy, Vice-Chancellor at Krea University and Ms Sharon Buteau, Executive Director, LEAD at Krea University. Other dignitaries at the e-launch were Mr Mahavir Pratap Sharma (Global Chairman, TiE) and Mr Ramesh Mangleswaran (India Director, McKinsey). The centre supports and helps scale innovative startups in the inclusive tech domain, which build products focused around unserved and underserved communities in India’s last mile. Along with the launch, Catalyst AIC also announced that the ‘Call for Applications’ for the programme is now open. Entrepreneurs interested in creating valuable business opportunities for themselves and the artisan community can apply to the program by heading to the Catalyst AIC Website, here.

Deadline for applications is 05 December 2020.