Stephen (Steve) J. Rohleder

Chair of Cognizant’s Board of Directors; Former Group Chief Executive, North America and COO of Accenture

Stephen (Steve) J. Rohleder brings decades of experience overseeing operations, developing strategy, counseling clients and developing teams in the technology space to Cognizant’s Board of Directors, gained from his 35-year tenure in senior roles with Accenture and his roles as a board member and later CEO of GTY Technology Holdings.

Key skills and qualifications:

International business development
Operations management
Public company governance
Public company leadership
Regulated industries
Talent management
Technology and consulting services

Relevant experience:

Steve joined Cognizant’s Board in March 2022 and was elected Chair of the Board in January 2023. He previously served as Group Chief Executive, North America of Accenture plc from 2014 until his retirement in 2015. This position capped a 35-year career with Accenture, during which Steve held several other executive leadership roles, including Group Chief Executive, Health & Public Service from 2009 until 2014, and COO from 2004 until 2009.

Following his retirement from Accenture, Steve served on the board of GTY Technology Holdings Inc., a software as a service company that offers a cloud-based suite of solutions for the public sector in North America, from 2016 until 2020 and as Chair, CEO and President from 2019 until 2020.

Steve has been the principal owner of SGR Equity Investments, a private equity and venture capital company, since 2015. He is also a Strategic Advisor for KungFu.AI, a professional services firm focusing on AI solutions for businesses. He previously served on the advisory board for Apogee Inc., the largest provider of on-campus residential networks and video solutions in higher education, from 2017 until 2020, and on the advisory board for Kony, Inc., a cloud-based enterprise mobility solutions company and mobile application development platform provider, from 2015 until 2019.

Steve holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Texas at Austin.