Becky Schmitt named EVP and chief people officer of Cognizant

IT firm Cognizant has named Becky Schmitt as its new executive vice-president (EVP) and chief people officer.

Schmitt will succeed Jim Lennox, who is retiring after a 16-year stint with the company. She will join Cognizant on February 1.

She is currently the senior vice-president and chief people officer at Sam's Club, a USD 59 billion division of Walmart.

The announcement was made by Cognizant Chief Executive Officer Brian Humphries in a e-mail to employees.

"Jim Lennox, our chief people officer (CPO), EVP, and member of the executive committee, let me know four months ago that he planned to retire from Cognizant at the end of this year, capping off an extraordinary 16 years with our company," Humphries wrote.

 

He added that over the recent months, Lennox had helped lead the search for his successor.

"Jim has offered to remain in his role until she arrives and then serve as an advisor to her for a brief period to ensure a smooth transition," he said.

Humphries said Lennox had joined Cognizant in 2004 when the company had about 15,000 associates -- a number that has now soared more than 19-fold to nearly 2.9 lakh.

"As our CPO, Jim been deeply involved in leading all aspects of people management on a vast scale, whether building our recruitment engine to attract world-class, diverse talent, developing a future-ready workforce through continual reskilling and multi-skilling, or strengthening and expanding our leadership talent pool," he added.

Talking about Schmitt, Humphries said she joins the executive committee, reporting to him, and will be based in New York City.

"She brings 24 years of experience in developing talent and designing and delivering modern, market-leading HR strategies globally," he added.

This experience includes more than 20 years with Accenture, during which she held key HR roles in North America, in near-shore and offshore technology delivery centres, and in India delivery centres.

While based in Bengaluru, her work ranged from developing technology talent, globalising the SAP practice, and building out the global technology architecture capability.