Multinational IT services provider Cognizant has appointed PwC exec Jane Livesey as its new Chief Executive Officer for the Australia and New Zealand region. Hired from PowerhouseCoopers (PwC), Livesey will be replacing Mr Narayan Iyer, a Cognizant veteran who will be leaving the IT services giant after 11 years.

According to IDC, the IT services market in Australia grew to $19.5 billion in 2018 and is expected to grow to $23.4 billion by the year 2023. The research firm conducted a 5-year forecast starting from the year 2017 through 2023 and expects the market to grow at a 3.8% CAGR till 2023 [1]. 

Cognizant’s Global CEO Brian Humphries said the company is confident that Livesey’s extensive technology consulting experience, leadership qualities, client centricity and personal brand will be helpful in leveraging this opportunistic growth environment to grow the business exponentially in Australia and New Zealand.

Jane Livesey – the new Cognizant ANZ CEO

Before joining Cognizant ANZ, Livesey led its technology consulting practice as a Managing Partner at PwC, looking after more than 800 digital, technology and cyber professionals for the consulting firm. She held this role starting from 2017 for 3 years. She has also been a part of Accenture where she spent about 12 years holding senior roles.

Previously, Livesey has also been crowned with leadership positions at IBM, Siebel Systems, Southern Cross Health Society and ACT Community Care. 

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Livesey’s role at IT services provider Cognizant

Cognizant building | iTMunch

Commenting on the occasion of her appointment, Livesey said she is delighted to be a part of the IT services provider Cognizant and looks forward to enable businesses and institutions in Australia and New Zealand to keep on top of “era-defining innovations” and drive growth in the face of continuous market and technological changes.

She adds that her priority at Cognizant will be to provide ANZ governments and enterprises with high-quality market leading digital transformation capabilities that enhances people’s lives.Her another priority will also be to advocate women in STEM.

She will also be looking at how to leverage the company’s collective passion, skills and experience to support community programs as they navigate together the impacts of COVID-19. 

This move comes after a turbulent period of the IT services provider announcing 7000 redundancies globally at the end of 2019. 

Recently, Cognizant was hit by a Maze ransomware cyber attack which resulted in service disruptions for a few of its clients. The consulting giant revealed later that it is expecting to lose between US$50 million to US$70 million in the aftermath of the ransomware attack.

Source

[1] IDC (2017) “Australia IT Services Market Spending, 2017–2023 – IDC” [Online] Available from: https://www.idc.com/research/viewtoc.jsp?containerId=AP44529218 [Accessed August 2020]

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Featured Image: Cognizant

Image 1: Cognizant Technology Solutions from Flickr