Virtusa appoints Santosh Thomas as CEO as founder Kris Canekeratne steps away

Chennai: Virtusa Corp., an American IT services firm, has appointed Santosh Thomas as its new chief executive officer (CEO), replacing founder Kris Canekeratne who is stepping away from day-to-day operations of the company.

Santosh joins Virtusa from Nasdaq-listed Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. where, as president of global growth markets, he managed a business with revenue of more than $4 billion. As Virtusa CEO, he’ll help the Southborough, Massachusetts-based company drive growth in key markets and continue to be recognised as employer of choice.

“I am deeply honoured to join Virtusa at this exciting time for our employees, clients and partners,” Santosh said. “I have admired Kris and Virtusa for fostering a culture of innovation and distinguishing itself as a global leader in helping customers tackle their unique digital transformation challenges,” he said. “Virtusa has a great brand reputation, an impressive roster of strategic partners, and is well positioned for sustained growth.”


His appointment follows that of Sander van‘t Noordende as chairman of the company.

On Thursday, Virtusa also announced that Denise Warren has joined the board of directors and has been named chairperson of its audit committee. Warren recently retired as chief operating officer of WakeMed Health & Hospitals, and serves on the boards of Brookdale Senior Living, Computer Programs & Systems Inc., and Rockroom Insurance Group.

Virtusa is a global provider of digital strategy, digital engineering and IT services and solutions that help clients change and disrupt markets through innovation engineering.