Infosys' Kris at the Summit

One of the most recent high-profile high tech people to confirm his attendance at the Summit is Kris S. Gopalakrishnan, President, Chief Operating Officer and Joint Managing Director of Infosys Technologies Ltd. As one of the founders of the company in 1981, he has played a key role in using technology and innovation continuously to maintain its leadership of the industry. An IIT Madras graduate, he is currently the Chairman of the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management (IIITM), Kerala, and Vice Chairman of the Information Technology Education Standards Board (BITES) set up by Karnataka Government.
We met Kris in 2003, when we went to India on a fact-finding trip for the Business, Competitiveness and Development group of the World Bank Institute. Kris took time out of his busy schedule to talk to us on the Infosys campus on the outskirts of Bangalore, and our conversation with him, as well as with the many other industry and government leaders we met during our time in India, made us realize the obstacles Indian entrepreneurs have to overcome in order to get their companies off the ground, which are many times those faced by their Silicon Valley counterparts.
Kris also introduced us to his wife Sudha, who is one of the trustees of the Infosys Foundation, alongside Sudha Murty, the wife of Narayana Murty, the other co-founder of the company. We were able to learn from both personally about the important work of the Foundation, which is promoted by the company, in the areas of poverty alleviation, health and education. The Foundation received the Corporate Citizen of the Year Award in 2001.
Kris is the VIP Dinner speaker at the Summit, and will share his thoughts on the needs of countries like India, and how collaborations between Silicon Valley institutions and companies like Infosys can address some of these needs.