Rakesh Khanna

Rakesh Khanna (born 1962) is Syntel's interim Chief Executive Officer.
Rakesh was appointed interim CEO of Syntel on November 3, 2016 after serving as the company's Chief Operating Officer from 2012 to 2016, where he was responsible for the operation of Syntel's Business Units, Horizontal Practices, Centers of Excellence and Human Resources. He previously served as a President of Syntel's Banking and Financial Services Business Unit from 2005 until 2012. He was also part of the Syntel executive advisory team that shaped Syntel's BPO business.
Prior to Syntel, Khanna was part of the leadership team at I-flex Solutions. He has also worked with Tata Burroughs Limited where he managed projects in the US, UK, Belgium, Malaysia and India for several banks and financial groups.

Khanna was born in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, a central state of India, and grew up in suburban Mumbai. He completed his B.E. (Mechanical Engineering) degree from Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute (VJTI), Mumbai, following which he did M.B.A (Marketing) from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai. He is a member of the Academic Council and Board of Studies for IT, NMIMS, one of the top business schools in India.

Khanna has over 30 years of experience in the technology services industry and has held a variety of leadership roles in North America, Europe and Asia.

Before being appointed interim CEO in 2016, he was the COO of Syntel and has also was President of the company's Banking and Financial Services Business Unit, where he successfully led the vertical from 2005 until 2012, building the foundation for future growth by infusing business domain knowledge into IT expertise.

Prior to joining Syntel in 2005, he worked with Oracle Financial Services Software Limited (formerly I-flex Solutions Limited), where he was a member of the leadership team and spent 10 years in various roles. He was on the Supervisory Board of Login Systems SA, France, in which I-flex acquired a strategic stake in 2003. He also set up operations in Japan and Europe, leading and managing various elements of the operations in those countries. Other roles included leading sales in the Middle East and Europe, head of product marketing for its banking product, and Global Relationship Director for a roll out of their product at GE Consumer Finance in 43 countries.

Khanna worked with Citicorp CITIL managing sales and marketing of software products for 10 years. He has also worked with Tata Burroughs Limited for over a decade. He started as a mainframe programmer with the company and rose through the levels to become Group Manager. During his tenure, he managed projects for several banks and financial groups, including BACOB Savings Bank (Brussels), Nat West, Skipton, Yorkshire Building Societies (UK), GWB, and Tata Share Registry (TSRL).

His father was an Aeronautical Mechanical Engineer. As a child, Khanna represented his school in badminton and learnt to play Spanish guitar. In college, he was elected Class Representative by his colleagues.

Khanna is married to Anuradha Khanna. They have two sons, Rahul and Om.

Rakesh Khanna has been consistently rated as one of the top global COOs by ExecRank, Inc.