Kris Gopalakrishnan

Senapathy "Kris" Gopalakrishnan is an Indian billionaire businessman who is recognized as a global business and technology thought leader for his role in growing the IT services industry worldwide. He co-founded Infosys, where he served as the chief executive officer and managing director from 2007 to 2011, and as vice chairman from 2011 to 2014. Following his retirement from Infosys, Kris has been very active in promoting the Indian startup ecosystem, and philanthropically supporting research on brain sciences, aging related disorders, and healthcare in India. He has also been on the board of trustees for the Infosys Science Foundation from 2009, and currently serves as the President of the Board. According to Forbes,He has an estimated net worth of US$4.60 Billion (Rs.35,000 Crores) as of December,2021 making him one of the richest people in India.

In January 2011, the Government of India awarded Kris Gopalakrishnan the Padma Bhushan, the country's third-highest civilian honour. He was voted the top CEO (IT Services category) in Institutional Investor's inaugural ranking of Asia's Top Executives and selected as one of the winners of the second Asian Corporate Director Recognition Awards by Corporate Governance Asia in 2011. He also was selected to Thinkers 50, an elite list of global business thinkers, in 2009. He is an active contributor to industry - having served as the President of India's apex industry chamber Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in 2013–14, and as one of the co-chairs of the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2014.

He actively shapes the technology and startup ecosystem through a myriad of roles. Kris is the chairman of Axilor Ventures, an early stage startup accelerator and venture fund. He is also the chairman of itihaasa Research and Digital, a not-for-profit think-tank focused on the evolution of technology domains in India. He serves on the Board of Governors of Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and is the chairman, Board of Governors of IIIT, Bangalore. He is the chairman of the Vision Group on Information Technology of Karnataka Government and the chairman of CII Centre of Excellence for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Start-ups.