THE AUTHOR
Sandeep Kishore
Executive Partner, Siris Capital Group
Board Director, Advisor, Mentor, Investor
Former CEO and Managing Director, Zensar Technologies
Former Group Management Board, RPG Enterprises
Sandeep is a key strategist, proven CEO, trusted board director, highly effective coach and mentor, bold thinker and innovator, awesome team builder and a high performance global tech business leader.
Sandeep is an Executive Partner at Siris Capital Group. He works closely with the investment professionals, other Executive Partners and Advisors to help identify and validate potential investment opportunities for Siris primarily in Technology Enabled Services as well as assist in the oversight and operations of Siris’ portfolio companies
Sandeep was the CEO and Managing Director of Zensar Technologies and the Group Management Board at RPG Enterprises from 2016 to 2021. A progressive industry leader, Sandeep drives growth, strategy, AI initiatives, and all things digital. Sandeep strongly believes that digital tech is the force inspiring the present and future of enterprises — how we live, work, and interact with social and commercial ecosystems around the globe. Throughout his three decades of leadership in business and technology, Sandeep has created disruptive and high-impact transformation programs with great success, delivering significant stakeholder returns.
Key Transformation & Major Milestones
Sandeep shaped the massive turnaround of Zensar from a legacy IT company to a relevant, state-of-the-art digital company. He joined Zensar as CEO and MD in 2016, guiding its large-scale transformation to a 100% living digital enterprise. Knowing that an organization must always have a sense of purpose and continually invest in smart ideas to stay relevant to its stakeholders — its people, clients, partners, community, and shareholders — Sandeep leads with vision, passion, and principle.
Under Sandeep’s leadership, Zensar reached many significant milestones and achievements. Zensar’s digital transformation has the distinct, dual honor of being featured as a case study by both Harvard Business School (2018) and London Business School (2020). Sandeep created research and innovation lab at Zensar that led to the filing of 130+ patents over five years. Sandeep has personally been granted two US patents, with twelve more patents filed. Over twenty-five industry analysts published reports that positioned Zensar as a digital age disruptor, innovator, and challenger during Sandeep’s tenure. Over fifteen financial analysts tracked Zensar as a publicly listed company. Sandeep’s bold, decisive, and inclusive leadership in response to changing industry needs created more positive impact for Zensar in five years than in the previous five decades.
With Sandeep at the helm, Zensar grew to be an approximately $600 million revenue company with global talent at over 10,000 people. Digital business increased to 60+% of Zensar’s total business, up from under 10%, during these five years. The non-core business was reduced to nil from 13% during the same time period. Under Sandeep’s leadership, new age Digital and Cloud business grew at 55% and Core IT business grew at 15% CAGR, respectively. Zensar is now positioned as a modern, next gen digital and cloud services company, a significant change from the erstwhile legacy IT company. Higher value services have led to a higher operating margin, 18+%, the highest in a decade. Zensar became a debt-free company under Sandeep’s leadership, with exceptional working capital and cashflow management and net cash grew 8 times — marking a significant shift during the five-year period. This compelling turnaround of Zensar helped increase Zensar’s market cap by 70%
Building Market Share and Inspiring People
Sandeep built an exceptional leadership and management team, completed four strategic acquisitions, and significantly improved market share among Zensar’s global clients. As part of Sandeep’s commitment to a sharp business focus, Zensar divested two non-core businesses, allowing for investment in strategic growth markets and geographies.
An exceptional communicator, deeply involved people person, and an inclusive leader, Sandeep empowered a globally diversified workforce, ensuring that people be proficient with new skills and prepared for disruptive and changing market opportunities. Zensar’s industry-leading and award-winning digital competencies created highly-enthused associates who significantly improved client value creation in their digital, AI, cloud, and IT initiatives.
Sandeep’s ideas, thinking, perspectives, and articles are frequently featured in leading publications in India, the US, and the UK. He has been featured in The Economic Times, Fortune India, CNBC TV18, The New York Times, and more. He is a member of, and contributor to, the Forbes Technology Council. Sandeep has been a guest speaker at Wharton, Harvard, and London Business Schools.
For the Group Management Board at RPG Enterprises (one of India’s top ten diversified conglomerates with approximately $4 billion in revenue and 30+ thousand people), Sandeep was part of the overall strategic and decision-making leadership team at the Group Board level. With all RPG Enterprises companies becoming digital, cloud and software-led, the core infrastructure and consumer industries rapidly evolved to be technology companies in their respective businesses. Sandeep’s technology experience and forward-thinking leadership were an integral part of RPG Enterprises’ digital, IoT, AI, and cyber security programs.
Significant Global Scale ExperienceBefore joining Zensar in 2016, Sandeep was with HCL Technologies for over twenty-five years, where he built multiple billion-dollar businesses. Sandeep was a Corporate Officer at HCL Technologies and Global Head of Life Sciences, Healthcare and Public Services. He was chartered with leading next generation growth for these businesses, and focused on creating market momentum through innovative solutions and global market development. His transformational and result-oriented leadership consistently grew the business by 20% year-over-year with some of the largest wins with Global 500 clients. He grew the business from $800 million to $1.1 billion in less than two years.
Under Sandeep’s leadership as Corporate Vice President and Global Head of Sales & Practice for Engineering and R&D Services, he built the business to over $1.2 billion during a five-year term from $400 million through massive growth of 25% CAGR. He created new business models and led organic growth from new services, new market, and new geo expansion, and delivered impressive market share gains consistently every year. Sandeep’s high-energy focus on building a great world-class team, delivering performance improvements, and driving business outcomes catapulted HCL Technologies to become the number one engineering services company in India and among the top 3 globally.
Sandeep also served as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Manufacturing at HCL Technologies, leading the business to dominate with the highest market share in that sector. His leadership contributed significantly to business growth through multiple innovative, transformational, and strategic partnerships with several Fortune/Global 1000 companies. Sandeep was also on the Personal Systems Division senior management team at HCL India, and on the Product Management team of HP products in the HCL–HP Joint Venture during the early nineties.
Sandeep is an alumnus of globally-renowned IIT Bombay. In addition to his business management and technology leadership career, Sandeep is a prolific poet. He has authored and published two bilingual books of Hindi-English poems, Your Shadow Wants to Walk Alone and Old Seeds of a New Tree. The Economic Times called Sandeep, “The CEO Poet.” He is also the co-founder of Har Asha Foundation, a non-profit organization. An avid dog lover, Sandeep lives with his family in Silicon Valley, California.
For more information on Sandeep, please visit sandeepkishore.com.