Cognizant’s D’Souza signs off, Bali to join as independent director

After spending nearly two and a half decades in the company he had co-founded with two others, Francisco D’Souza, currently the vice-chairman at Cognizant, has decided to sign off. The Nasdaq-listed firm on Thursday announced his departure from the board effective from March 31.

D’Souza was the last of the three Indian and Indian origin co-founders of Cognizant, which initially started as a captive unit of Dun & Bradstreet-back in 1994 through a joint venture with Satyam Computers. It became an independent company after being spun off from the parent two years later. The other founder, Kumar Mahadeva, who served as the CEO for the first five years, retired from the board in 2003.