Former White House director Carol M Browner resigns from Infosys board

BENGALURU: Former White House director Carol M Browner has resigned from the board of India’s second largest software exporter Infosys with immediate effect, citing personal reasons, after joining the company’s board less than two years ago.

“Infosys Ltd has informed BSE that Ms. Carol M. Browner has resigned as Member of the Board and Independent Director of the Company with immediate effect, due to personal reasons,” the company said in a statement to stock exchanges on Tuesday morning. No other details were given for her departure.

Browner’s departure marks the first instance of an independent director stepping down from the board, since former SAP executive Vishal Sikka took over as CEO last August. Earlier this year, former non-executive chairman KV Kamath also resigned from the company to take up the post of president of the newly-formed BRICS Bank.

In March, ET had reported that Infosys will continue to have a lean board for the near-term with only two executive directors to ensure faster decision-making, part of a larger strategy that underpins the software maker's attempts to regain growth momentum, citing people familiar with the board's plans.

Bangalore-based Infosys did not comment immediately on whether a replacement for Browner would be appointed on the board in the near term. Browner, who was also a member of the board’s nominations committee, joined the Infosys board after the departure of another independent board member, Ann Fudge.

Prior to her stint at Infosys that began in April 2014, Browner served as director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy in US President Barack Obama’s administration from 2009 to 2011. Prior to that, she served as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in former US President Bill Clinton’s administration from 1993 to 2001.

Other members of the Infosys board include Sikka, Infosys COO Pravin Rao, chairman R Seshasayee, former Cornell University professor Jeffrey Sean Lehman, Bank of Baroda chairman Ravi Venkatesan, Biocon chairman Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Omidyar Network India head Roopa Kudva and Stanford University’s Provost John W. Etchemendy.