Nasscom chairman Jerry Rao wins E&Y award

MphasiS chairman and chief executive officer Jerry Rao and Jeroen Tas, the company's vice president have been named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2004, in the information technology category for the New York region.

Rao, who had earlier headed Citibank's Global Technology Development Division and their Global Electronic Cards Division, is also the chairman of National Association of Software and Service Companies.

"Winning this award is a great honour," said Rao, who in 2002 had won the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year award. "This second award is a confirmation of Ernst and Young's understanding of the truly global nature of business today."

MphasiS, a global IT and business process outsourcing service provider is focused on financial services, logistics and technology verticals. MphasiS, which currently employs over 7,000 employees spread across 18 offices and nine development centres worldwide, covers the entire spectrum from IT architecture to application development and integration, maintenance, enhancement, testing and transformation of legacy systems and BPO services.

Tas is responsible for MphasiS' IT and BPO operations and solutions business. Before starting MphasiS he was with Citibank, heading Transaction Technology Inc, the subsidiary responsible for the design and development of the bank's distribution systems, such as ATMs, Internet and contact centres.

Tas said, "We thank the judges and Ernst and Young for this great honour. Jerry and I founded the company in 1998 to assist financial services institutions in improving their business process through technology. Today, our company is growing at over 35 per cent annually." 

The New York award winners are now eligible for consideration for Ernst and Young's Entrepreneur of the Year 2004 national programme. Winners in several national categories, as well as the overall national Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs, California, in November 2004.

The overall national Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award winner is then considered for the world event to be held in Monte Carlo.