Upset with CEO Ashok Vemuri, iGate top executive Sean Narayanan quits

BANGALORE: Ashok Vemuri looks to be shaking things up at iGate. Sean Narayanan, the chief delivery officer of iGate, submitted his resignation letter to the company on Monday, seemingly upset with the newly appointed CEO's style of functioning.

Sources privy to the development said Narayanan had also submitted a note to iGate promoters Sunil Wadhwani and Ashok Trivedi providing details about the friction between him and Vemuri. Vemuri joined iGate from Infosys in September.

An email sent to iGate on Narayanan's resignation letter remained unanswered.

Narayanan joined iGate in 2006 and helped create an integrated delivery organization that today employs 28,000 people delivering IT solutions to over 300 clients.

Ironically, Narayanan's resignation comes within months of his receiving fresh stock awards and retention sops from the Nasdaq-listed, $1-billion IT services firm. In July, iGate approved retention bonuses for five top executives, including Narayanan, under which each would get $1,50,000 on June 30, 2014, and $1,00,000 on December 31, 2014, provided they were still employed in the company on the applicable payment date.

All five were also granted 40,000 restricted stock awards (RSA) that would vest over four years, with 25% of the awards vesting at the end of each year from the date granted, provided the executive was still an employee then.

The company said the bonuses and RSAs were given "in order to ensure that the key members of the company's management team remain with the company and stay focused on growing the company's business."

They were clearly designed to reassure executives who might have been worried about their fate under a new chief executive. The CEO vacancy arose in May when Phaneesh Murthy was fired from that position for not reporting a relationship with a subordinate.

Prior to joining iGate, Narayanan was VP and global practice head of IT infrastructure services at Cognizant. He has also worked with international management consulting firm Booz-Allen-Hamilton in the US. He has over 18 years of experience in management consulting and IT.