Cognizant Snags Wipro Veteran Jatin Dalal As New CFO
Jatin Dalal moves from CFO at Wipro to CFO at rival Cognizant, where he will report to Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar who himself just this year joined the company after leaving his post as president of another rival, Infosys.
Global IT solution provider Cognizant Technology Solutions Thursday said it appointed Jatin Dalal, chief financial officer of rival Wipro, as its new CFO effective this coming December.
Dalal is taking over from Jan Siegmund who Cognizant previously said plans to retire early next year. Once Dalal takes over the CFO spot, Siegmund will remain with Cognizant as a non-executive officer and a special advisor during the transition period.
Wipro last week unveiled the appointment of Aparna Iyer as its new CFO to take over for Dalal. Dalal at the time wrote in his resignation letter, which was filed with Indian and U.S. regulatory agencies, that he was “deeply grateful to Wipro for the multitude of opportunities given to me over last two decades,” and that he was “eager to pursue my professional goals outside the organization.”
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Dalal’s last official day with Wipro was slated to be Nov. 30. He has been with Wipro for more than 21 years, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Dalal will report to Cognizant CEO Ravi Kumar, where he will oversee financial planning and analysis, accounting, taxes, audits, corporate development, investor relations, and enterprise risk management.
Dalal is not the only top-level exec to join Cognizant from a top rival in calendar 2023. Kumar, his new boss, in January left rival Infosys, where he served as president, to take over as Cognizant CEO.
Cognizant is ranked No. 6 on CRN’s 2023 Solution Provider 500. Wipro is ranked No. 15 on that list.
Cognizant did not respond to a CRN request for more information by press time.
However, Kumar in a prepared statement called Dalal a highly experienced technology services CFO with a proven track record in a complex and quickly evolving industry.
“We are pleased to welcome Jatin to Cognizant and confident he will help us achieve our goals as we continue to focus on driving revenue growth,” Kumar said.