Happiest Minds names CEO in shift from flatter organization structure

Happiest Minds Technologies Ltd has appointed its software products head Joseph Anantharaju as its chief executive, marking a shift from having executive board members and presidents lead its various business units.

Anantharaju, who has been with the Bengaluru-based information technology services company since its inception in 2011, was an executive vice-chairman heading Happiest Minds’ software products and platforms division.  He has taken charge as CEO effective immediately, Happiest Minds said in a statement on Wednesday.

This organisational change comes less than five years after Happiest Minds founder Ashok Soota expressed hesitance in adopting a CEO structure. Instead, the company had an executive board comprising three heads of business, akin to having three CEOs, and a chief financial officer. 

The change in Happiest Minds’ organisational structure comes amid its ambitious march to cross $1 billion in revenue by March 2031, and is part of a larger overhaul.  

Anantharaju, who is also Happiest Minds’ co-chairman, will oversee all its business divisions—software products and platforms; infrastructure management;and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). He will also head the analytics and HR functions.

Venkatraman Narayanan continues in his role as managing director and CFO. He will also head the company’s finance, talent acquisition, internal IT, learning and development, ESG (environment, social, and governance), and CSR (corporate social responsibility) teams.

Both Narayanan and Anantharaju will jointly look after mergers and acquisitions and matters pertaining to the board. They will report to Soota, who has taken charge as the company’s chairman and chief mentor.

Happiest Minds’ CEO appointment is the third executive overhaul in India’s IT services sector in less than a fortnight. 

Four days ago, Nachiket Deshpande stepped down from his position as LTIMindtree Ltd’s COO and took over as the company’s president overseeing global AI solutions, strategic deals and partnerships. On 14 March, Wipro Ltd rejigged its business arms and announced four new business wings—technology services, business process services, consulting services, and engineering.

Happiest Minds’ revenue overhaul

Happiest Minds’ new organisation structure is in contrast to the company’s previous framework in which it had four members in its executive board—Anantharaju, Narayanan, Rajiv Shah, Ram Mohan C.

Shah was Happiest Minds’ president looking after digital transformation and acquisitions and Mohan headed the company’s software infrastructure and security business.

“Joseph has been the key driver of Happiest Minds growth and profitability since its inception. Integrated responsibility with Joseph for all current and future businesses will accelerate future growth and more streamlined working of Happiest Minds,” Soota said in the statement.

He did not reply to Mint’s email seeking clarity on his change of heart in appointing a CEO.

Happiest Minds has a long way to go to reach its $1 billion revenue target; it ended the 12 months through March 2024 with $196 million in revenue, up 10.3% from the previous year.

“Happiest Minds is currently finalizing FY26 plans and the organic growth outlook is encouraging, thanks to the transformational changes of the last 18 months,” Soota said in the statement.

Not having a CEO was not the only differentiator for the software service provider. Happiest Minds was among India’s first IT service providers to have a Gen AI business unit, earning about $2.7 million in revenue from this business unit as of December. More than three-fourths, or $151 million of the company’s yearly revenue, comes from clients using its software products and digital services.

Happiest Minds got listed on Indian stock exchanges in September 2020. Its revenue at the end of March 2021 totalled $104.6 million. In the last three years, revenue grew at a compounded annual rate of 23.3% to $196 million at the end of March 2024.

Its operating margin, however, fell 300 basis points in this time to 21.2% in rupee terms. One basis point is a hundredth of a percentage point.