Former Cognizant CEO D’Souza, ex-president Mehta paid $20 million as transition cost

Cognizant paid its former CEO Francisco D’Souza and its former president Rajeev Mehta $20 million as part of execution transition costs.

After Brian Humphries took over as the CEO on February 1, Cognizant and D’Souza entered into an amendment to his employment contract “in light of D’Souza’s long and highly successful tenure with the company and the desire to ensure a smooth CEO transition,” the company’s 2019 proxy statement said.

In the three months ended June, Cognizant spent $49 million in realignment costs that includes $20 million to the two executives, $27 million in employee separation costs (that includes payout to other presidents, SVPs and VPs) and $2 million in third-party realignment costs. Cognizant said the employee separation will reduce its expenses