Gajen Kandiah is a visionary leader in digital transformation, AI, and enterprise technology, with a proven track record of driving AI-led innovation, cloud adoption, and large-scale business transformation. As President & COO of Hitachi Digital, he led the company’s global AI strategy, cybersecurity advancements, and industrial AI integration. Previously, he served as CEO of Hitachi Vantara and held key leadership roles at Cognizant. A Stanford and Harvard alumnus, Gajen is a strong advocate for responsible AI and serves on multiple global advisory boards shaping the future of intelligent technology.

You grew up in Sri Lanka during a time of civil conflict. How did that shape your leadership style?

Those early years taught me that life can change overnight. The night a mob—after burning houses and killing neighbours—began breaking down our door, my father returned with a small army unit seconds before they forced entry. That rescue imprinted a single rule: everything can end in a moment. We stayed two more years, but every knock since fuels my urgency. When I arrived in the U.S. as a teenager—with nothing but hope—I had to listen, adapt and learn fast. I skipped college to support our suddenly larger family, so curiosity became my currency. That experience made me both empathetic and decisive, guiding me to lead with clarity, speed and deep respect for people.

It is not a very traditional path—no degree—into an enterprise career. What fuelled your rise?

I did not have formal letters or elite connections; I had hunger. Two ears, two eyes, one mouth—that ratio, drilled in by my father, keeps me listening more than I speak. I learned by doing, reading manuals and asking questions. My first break came in the ’90s with a consulting firm that let me prove myself. From there, I co-founded a tech start-up, scaled service lines at Cognizant and later led digital transformation at Hitachi. The “unconventional” path became an advantage: it kept me scrappy, grounded and inventive under pressure.

The tech landscape has shifted fast—especially with AI. What does that mean for regular people?

Technology should empower people, not replace them. That is why we run 12-week “AI Guilds.” We meet claims adjusters, rail engineers or travel analysts where they are, up-skill them in prompt engineering and model oversight, then send them back partnered with a copilot. Microsoft’s frontier-company research shows this bottoms-up model scales capability without leaving anyone behind. Responsible AI starts with empathy and ends with trust: explainability, bias testing and human oversight are non-negotiable. If we cannot stand behind an algorithm ethically, we do not deploy it.

What leadership lessons stand out from Cognizant and Hitachi?

From my time at Cognizant, I learned several key principles. First, investing through downturns proved invaluable—crises are discounted entry points for growth. I also discovered the importance of spotting white space and building at start-up speed, which allowed us to transform BPO from $200 million to $1.5 billion by verticalising into Industry BPM. We learned to flip the org chart—field first, HQ last—empowering people closest to the customer. Most importantly, we operated every unit like a billion-dollar start-up, fixing broken businesses while seeding new ones.

At Hitachi, the lessons evolved around mastering multiple horizons: delivering now, designing the mid-term, and imagining the long-term. I learned to carry Plan B and C for every scenario, understanding that contingency is strategy. Leading across cultures taught me nemawashi—building consensus before meetings. We applied AI to heavy industries including rail, energy, signalling, and manufacturing, demonstrating how technology reshapes the physical world. Perhaps most significantly, I re-learned the primacy of teams: share praise widely, take accountability personally.

How do you build trust and empower teams to move quickly?

You cannot fake trust. It starts with listening, transparency and follow-through. I keep the North Star clear—the road may zig-zag, but direction never wavers. People who feel heard will take smart risks. Small wins build momentum; curiosity, adaptability and ownership are the traits I hire for. Give me that DNA and a shared mission, and we will move fast—and well.

Immigration, reinvention, transformation—what have they taught you about resilience?

Resilience is not about never falling; it is about learning every time. Like many first-generation immigrants, I am propelled by a healthy fear of failure—almost obsessive about turning both wins and losses into lessons. Reinvention has been a constant: from war-displaced boy to CEO guiding global change, the thread is adaptability. My advice? Get comfortable being uncomfortable and never lose sight of your values—they are the compass when everything else shifts.

What drives you now?

I am an operator at heart. AI is about to reshape everything—how we earn a living, stay healthy, unwind and connect with one another. I have taught myself this new wave—mostly alone, with a few generous friends pointing the way. Every dawn I spend those first quiet hours reading, testing, breaking things and piecing them back together. It feels like being a kid again, only this time I carry decades of hard-won experience. Those wins and scars give me the confidence to stand in this storm, guide others through it and turn fear into advantage. Watching a team that once feared AI use it as their edge is why I spring out of bed before sunrise—the future is knocking, and I cannot wait to build it.

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