Former Chief Executive Officer of Cognizant Brian Humphries was involuntarily terminated without cause, the company said as part of its stock exchange filings. It was widely speculated that Humphries had been fired after the sudden surprise appointment of Ravi Kumar S as CEO, as well as Humphries’ own post on LinkedIn that it “was announced” that he would be stepping down as CEO.
In its proxy filing, the company said that Humphries’ separation “was considered an involuntary termination without cause”. When an executive is involuntarily terminated without cause, it doesn’t have to do with any misconduct or malfeasance, and they are entitled to severance payment.In January, Ravi Kumar S, who was initially supposed to join the company as President of Cognizant Americas, was appointed as CEO, along with Stephen J Rohleder as the Chairman of the Board.