Narayana Murthy (1946 - ) declined lucrative job offers after completing his master degree at IIT Kanpur to join IIMA as chief systems programmer in the computer centre in 1969. He worked at IIMA until 1971. After leaving IIMA, he experimented with different isms and different jobs before founding Infosys in 1981. Infosys grew to be an iconic firm of India and a symbol of India’s IT revolution. He later joined the IIMA Board in 2000 and became the chairperson of the IIMA board of governors from 2002 to 2007. He serves as a trustee on the board of the Ford Foundation. He received Padma Vibhushan in 2008. He has also received CBE from the British government and Légion d’Honneur from the French government. He has been voted among the top 12 entrepreneurs of our era by the Fortune magazine. He is a fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering. He is a foreign member of the US National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In his interview, he recounted his upbringing, his motivation to join IIMA, various experiences at the IIMA computer centre, and key decisions taken as the chairperson of the board of IIMA such as defending IIMA’s autonomy from government interference, designing a five-year financial planning model for the first time at IIMA, appointing alumni on IIMA board, and starting the practice of inviting alumni to deliver the IIMA convocation address.

Interview recorded on 30th May, 2019.