Rackspace Technology has appointed Gajen Kandiah as its new Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Kandiah will lead the company’s AI-first multicloud strategy, focusing on designing, building, and operating governed multicloud operations for AI and data workloads across private, public, and sovereign clouds with hyperscalers, regional cloud partners, and the open ecosystem.
Mr. Kandiah takes over from Amar Maletira, who served as CEO since September 2022 and previously held the position of CFO. Mr. Maletira will transition to Vice Chairman of the Board while remaining a board member to assist in ensuring a smooth leadership change.
Mr. Kandiah’s experience spans services, infrastructure, software, and AI. He was previously President and Chief Operating Officer at Hitachi Digital where he integrated AI into industrial and enterprise portfolios. He also served as CEO of Hitachi Vantara leading digital infrastructure, software, and services efforts. Earlier in his career at Cognizant, he contributed to growing the business significantly during his 16-year tenure.
The company stated that under Mr. Kandiah’s leadership it will continue delivering measurable customer outcomes across all cloud environments including highly regulated sectors. His strategic focus includes accelerating innovation in cloud management and private AI products, strengthening partnerships with major cloud providers and the open ecosystem, and driving consistent execution across sales, delivery, and operations.
Jeffrey Benjamin, Chairman of the Rackspace Board said: “Gajen is a proven operator across services, infrastructure, software, and AI. His experience aligns with our strategy to deliver secure and governed multicloud solutions with stronger reliability, security, and time to value.”
Gajen Kandiah commented: “I am honored to lead Rackspace Technology and its exceptional team of Rackers. What draws me most is the Racker culture and our unwavering dedication to customer success. As industries take AI to production, they need the governed multicloud operations that our talented teams design, build, and operate across private, public, and sovereign clouds. It’s exciting to lead an organization that gives customers real choice while simplifying how workloads are managed and protected.”
Mr. Benjamin added: “On behalf of the entire Board of Directors I thank Amar for his leadership in driving Rackspace’s transformation into a customer-centric forward-leaning hybrid cloud and AI solutions company while establishing a scalable business in regulated industries.”
Rackspace Technology provides end-to-end hybrid multicloud technology services as well as AI solutions for clients across various technology platforms regardless of stack or deployment model.
