Press Releases

Narayana N.R. Murthy Joins Ford Foundation Board of Trustees

Renowned international business figure to help lead global philanthropy

NEW YORK, 21 May 2008—The Ford Foundation announced today the election of Narayana N.R. Murthy to its board of trustees.

Mr. Murthy is chairman of the board and chief mentor of Infosys Technologies Limited, an international software services firm based in Bangalore, India. He will join the board at its May meeting, which begins today. Ford Foundation trustees are elected by the full board and serve six-year terms.

“Narayana N.R. Murthy is respected around the world as a pivotal leader in international business, key innovator in information technology and champion of strong corporate governance,” said Kathryn Fuller, chair of the Ford Foundation Board of Trustees. “He is deeply committed to the mission and values of the Ford Foundation and will play a critical role in advancing our efforts to improve lives and create opportunity for people throughout the world.”

Along with six other software engineers, Mr. Murthy founded Infosys in 1981. He served as the company’s CEO until 2002 and as executive chairman of the board and chief mentor from 2002 to 2006.

Mr. Murthy serves as an independent director on the boards of several global companies including Unilever, HSBC and NDTV. He is also a member of the advisory boards and councils of several educational institutions including The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, INSEAD, Stanford Graduate School of Business, University of Tokyo, Singapore Management University (SMU), Indian Institute of Information Technology-Bangalore (IIIT-B) and ESSEC Business School, Paris.

The recipient of numerous honors, Mr. Murthy was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award, by the Government of India in 2008. The Government of France conferred upon him the Officer of the Legion of Honor in 2008 and the British Government conferred upon him the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2007. In 2005, he was ranked among The Economist magazine’s list of 15 most admired global leaders.

Mr. Murthy joins a group of senior business leaders who have served as trustees of the foundation, including Henry Schacht, former CEO of Lucent Technologies, and Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata Group.

Ford Foundation trustees set policies relating to grant making, geographic focus, spending, investment, management, governance and professional standards, and they oversee internal and independent audits. Over the years, the foundation’s trustees have hailed from four continents and have extensive experience in the worlds of higher education, business, law, government and the nonprofit sector.

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The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has been a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide, guided by its goals of strengthening democratic values, reducing poverty and injustice, promoting international cooperation and advancing human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Russia.