N. R. Narayana Murthy (India)

Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Infosys Limited

Narayana Murthy is the Non-Executive Chairman of Infosys Limited, a global software consulting company headquartered in Bangalore, India. He founded Infosys in 1981, served as the CEO during 1981 – 2002, as the Chairman and Chief Mentor during 1981 – 2011, and as the Chairman Emeritus during August 2011 – May 2013. Under his leadership, Infosys was listed on NASDAQ in 1999.

Mr. Murthy articulated, designed, and implemented the Global Delivery Model, which has become the foundation for the huge success in IT services outsourcing from India. He has led key corporate governance initiatives in India. He is an IT advisor to several Asian countries.

He serves on the boards of Ford Foundation, Rhodes Trust, and the UN Foundation. He has served as a member of the HSBC board and the Unilever board. He has served on the boards of Cornell University, Wharton School, and the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. He has also served as the Chairman of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Mr. Murthy was ranked 13th among CNBC’s 25 global business leaders who have made a maximum impact on society during the last 25 years. He was listed among the ‘12 greatest entrepreneurs of our time’, by the Fortune magazine in 2012. The Economist ranked him among the 10 most-admired global business leaders in 2005. He has been awarded the Legion d’honneur by the Government of France, the CBE by the British government and the Padma Vibhushan by the Government of India.

He is a foreign member of the US National Academy of Engineering and a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering. He is the recipient of the 2012 Hoover Medal. The Tech Museum, San Jose, awarded him the James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award in 2012. He received the 2007 Ernst Weber Medal from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, USA (IEEE). He has received more than 25 honorary doctorates from universities in India and abroad.

He is the first Indian winner of Ernst and Young’s World Entrepreneur of the Year award. He has also received the Max Schmidheiny Liberty prize. He has appeared in the rankings of businessmen and innovators published by BusinessWeek, Time, CNN, Fortune, Forbes, Financial Times and India Today. He is the President of the Infosys Science Foundation, which governs the Infosys Prize, an annual award, to honor outstanding achievements of researchers and scientists across six categories.

Video Interviews

N. R. Narayana Murthy: What advice do you have for young people?

N. R. Narayana Murthy: What thoughts can you share with UN supporters?

N. R. Narayana Murthy: What should people know about Ted Turner’s historic gift?

N. R. Narayana Murthy: How has the UN inspired you?

N. R. Narayana Murthy: What is the value of the UN?

N. R. Narayana Murthy: What are the biggest issues facing the world today?