LTIMindtree appoints Venu Lambu as CEO designate

BENGALURU: LTIMindtree has named its former president, Venugopal (Venu) Lambu, as CEO designate and director effective Friday, with a five-year tenure. Operating from London, Lambu represents a rare instance of a senior executive returning to assume the CEO position at his former company. He has joined the board of directors at LTIMindtree.
A three-decade IT veteran, Lambu was chosen over other internal candidates as part of succession planning, considering his track record of leading a sales organisation. TOI had reported on Wednesday about Lambu emerging as a frontrunner for the CEO’s role.
An alumnus of the University of Mysore, industry analysts believe Lambu is tasked with reinvigorating sales and profitability at a time when AI-driven productivity benefits are influencing deal wins. This comes at a time when incumbent vendor fatigue is showing signs of strain in long-tenure contracts.
Drawing from his extensive experience in infrastructure services, particularly during his two tenures at HCLTech where he led the infrastructure services division for Continental Europe, and his subsequent appointment as Cognizant’s global head of IT infrastructure services Europe, paved the way for his elevation as the president-global markets at LTIMindtree.
Lambu succeeds Debashis Chatterjee, who steered the company to a $4.3 billion IT enterprise, setting the stage for Lambu to accelerate its growth in key verticals like BFSI and technology, while focusing on opportunities in the emerging healthcare sector. Lambu will work closely with Chatterjee to ensure a smooth transition.
SN Subrahmanyan, chairman of LTIMindtree, said, “Venu is a bright leader who has amazing solution-providing capabilities and is a phenomenal networker. We are confident that Venu’s homecoming to L&T will take LTIMindtree into its next chapter of growth and this will further strengthen our position as a leading global IT services provider.”
Prior to this, Lambu was the CEO of HR services firm Randstad Digital, the $3 billion digital arm of Randstad. Before that, as the global head of Cognizant’s infrastructure, cloud, and technology, he was responsible for growing the business fourfold to over $2 billion in six years and managing a team of nearly 30,000 people.
Phil Fersht, CEO of US-based IT research and consulting firm HfS Research, said, “Venu developed his reputation as a dynamic sales executive during Cognizant’s high-growth years and joins the growing group of former Cognizant executives who have gone on to be appointed CEOs in other services firms. With LTIMindtree, Venu must work fast to solidify the business during a troubling period for the firm, where its business performance has struggled, and many executives have left the firm. In addition, the recent media controversy over working hours has damaged the reputation of the firm somewhere, and it needs a new face to develop a different narrative to the market on ‘why LTI.’”
Ray Wang of US-based research advisory Constellation Research said, “This is a smart choice. Understanding the changing landscape and translating that insight to action is what LTIMindtree needs as the industry prepares for an AI disruption like no other.”
Lambu has his task cut out. Industry experts believe his primary responsibility involves driving margin expansion, especially when GenAI is transforming how clients make decisions, particularly as investors remain wary about pricing deals aggressively using AI benefits.