Infosys Ropes In Vishal Salvi As CISO

Infosys has hired Vishal Salvi, one of the most recognisable names in the information security world, according to two executives familiar with the development.

Salvi will be the company’s new chief information security officer (CISO), filling a position that’s been lying vacant since company veteran Prabhakar Mallya retired from Infosys in July 2014.

Salvi has worked as a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers since October 2014. Before that, he served as the CISO at HDFC Bank for almost eight years. The latest top-level hire comes as Infosys grapples with a spate of exits, including company veterans such as Manish Tandon, Samson David and Anup Uppadhayay.

Tandon, who left in July, was at least the seventh top-level departure in Infosys since Vishal Sikka took over as chief executive officer in August 2014. Others who quit included former CFO Rajiv Bansal, Sanjay Jalona and former EdgeVerve head Michael Reh.

Over recent weeks, Sikka has assigned company veteran Deepak Padaki to handle mergers and acquisitions, while former SAP executive Ritika Suri, who currently heads the $500-million Infosys Innovation Fund, has been tasked with overseeing large deals.

Padaki was previously the company’s chief risk officer and head of strategy — a post he continues to hold. A drop in growth momentum in the June quarter prompted Sikka to execute a series of swift changes in the top rungs of the company.