Vishal Sikka (born 1 June 1967) is an Indian-American technology executive and computer scientist. He was chief technology officer of the German software company SAP, where he led the creation of the HANA database, and from 2014 to 2017 chief executive of Infosys, the first person from outside its founding group to hold the job. He resigned after a public dispute with the founders and started the artificial-intelligence company Vianai Systems.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Vishal Sikka |
| Born | 1 June 1967, Shajapur, Madhya Pradesh, India |
| Age | 59 |
| Occupation | Technology executive, computer scientist |
| Posts | CEO, Infosys (2014–2017); founder and CEO, Vianai Systems |
| Education | Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda; Syracuse University (B.S.); Stanford University (Ph.D. Computer Science) |
| Spouse | Vandana Sikka |
| Children | 2 sons |
Early Life
Sikka was born into a Punjabi family; his father was an officer in the Indian Railways and his mother a teacher. He grew up in Vadodara, began an engineering degree there and transferred to Syracuse University in the United States. At Stanford he wrote his doctoral thesis on artificial intelligence, studying under pioneers of the field.
Career
He worked at Xerox’s research labs and founded two small companies, iBrain and Bodha. He joined SAP in 2002 and in 2007 became its first chief technology officer, later joining the executive board. He worked closely with the co-founder Hasso Plattner on HANA, a database that keeps data in memory for much faster analysis and became the base of SAP’s products. He left in May 2014.
Infosys had fallen behind its rivals when he took over on 1 August 2014. He pushed automation and artificial intelligence, design thinking and new software platforms, and set a target of 20 billion dollars in revenue by 2020. Growth and morale improved at first. But the founders, led by N. R. Narayana Murthy, publicly questioned the board over executive pay, severance payments and the purchase of the Israeli firm Panaya. Sikka, who ran the company largely from California, resigned on 18 August 2017, citing a “continuous drumbeat of distractions”. Nandan Nilekani returned as chairman.
In 2019 he founded Vianai Systems in Palo Alto to build AI tools that businesses can trust and understand. He joined the board of Oracle that year and has also served on the supervisory board of BMW.
Personal Life
He is married to Vandana Sikka, who headed the Infosys Foundation in the United States, and they have two sons.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was Vishal Sikka born?
Vishal Sikka was born on 1 June 1967 in Shajapur, Madhya Pradesh, India and is 59 years old.
What is Vishal Sikka’s occupation?
Occupation: Technology executive, computer scientist.
Featured image: Vishal Sikka, then chief technology officer of SAP, gives a keynote at the SAPPHIRE conference, Orlando, May 2010. Photo by Gregor Wolf, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
