Top Cognizant Exec Stepping Down: ‘Excited For The Next Chapter’

‘I have loved this company and its amazing people. Together, over the past 16 years, we have grown the firm 20-fold to a $17BB+ run rate and approximately 300,000 associates. It was the ride of a lifetime and I feel so honored to have been a part of it,’ writes Malcolm Frank, who is retiring as president of digital business and technology at Cognizant.

Malcolm Frank, president of digital business and technology practice at global solution provider Cognizant, is planning to retire on Sept. 1, he said in a LinkedIn post.

Frank, a 16-plus-year veteran of the Teaneck, N.J.-based solution provider, discussed his planned retirement after 16 years of what he termed “the ride of a lifetime.”

“I have loved this company and its amazing people. Together, over the past 16 years, we have grown the firm 20-fold to a $17BB+ run rate and approximately 300,000 associates. It was the ride of a lifetime and I feel so honored to have been a part of it. Cognizant always passed the Monday morning test for me...as I simply couldn’t wait to get to work, to get at it with a great team that always put the client first. Excited for the next chapter,” he wrote.

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Cognizant had previously said that Rajesh Nambiar, who joined Cognizant in November 2020 as the company’s chairman of Cognizant India, would be taking the role of president of Cognizant’s digital business and technology while keeping his current role as well.

Malcolm Frank held his role for only a half-year starting in January, when his role was expanded from president of digital business to president of digital business and technology. He had been responsible for Cognizant’ full technology services portfolio worldwide, including consulting, cloud, digital experience, digital engineering, application modernization, enterprise applications, artificial intelligence, data modernization, IoT, and infrastructure services, as well as related strategic alliances, according to his LinkedIn portfolio.

Cognizant in 2020 reorganized its services and solutions into three practice areas it called digital business, digital systems, and technology and digital business operations. The company in January combined the digital business practice with the digital systems and technology practice to create the new digital business & technology practice as a way to simplify its model and align it with the current state of technology, a company spokesperson told CRN.

According to a recent Cognizant regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, its digital business and technology practice helps clients build modern enterprises with exceptional customer experiences created at the intersection of cloud and digital.

The practice’s areas of focus include interactive, which leverages a global network of studios that help clients craft new experiences; application modernization, which updates legacy applications using agile methodologies and cloud; AI and analytics, which drive business growth and efficiencies by understanding customers and operations; IoT; digital advisory to help provide enterprise transformation expertise; software engineering; application services; quality engineering and assurance; and cloud, infrastructure and security.

Cognizant does not break out specific revenue for its digital business and technology practice.

During the first fiscal quarter of 2021, which ended March 31, Cognizant’s digital revenue was about 44 percent of the company’s overall revenue of $4.4 billion, up from 39 percent of total revenue in the first fiscal quarter of 2020. Revenue for the digital business rose 15 percent over last year, the company said.

Cognizant first disclosed the leadership changes in its digital business and technology business in two June 4 internal letters from Cognizant CEO Brian Humphries and Nambiar, copies of which were read by CRN.

Humphries, in disclosing the change in leadership, wrote, “Malcolm has built a reputation inside and outside Cognizant as an influential futurist and evangelist, and his foresight about the increasingly central role digital plays in creating value helped Cognizant become one of the world’s leading technology services companies. I appreciate Malcolm’s leadership of our Digital business. It’s been a privilege working with him over the past two years.”

Humphries also praised Nambiar, writing, “Rajesh brings deep knowledge of applications, data, AI, analytics, infrastructure, cloud, and consulting to his new role.”

Nambiar, in his letter, wrote that he plans to work with Frank as he transitions to the new role.

“I’m passionate about innovation and the power of advanced technologies to help clients reimagine their processes, build more compelling experiences, and stay relevant to the people they serve. And I take our company’s purpose to heart. Engineering modern businesses to improve everyday life is a meaningful and noble pursuit, and one that DB&T is perfectly suited to fulfill,” he wrote.