Mumbai, Jan. 7: MphasiS is getting a new set of head honchos.

The company, a majority-owned subsidiary of EDS, today named Jeya Kumar as chief executive officer and Michael Coomer as chairman of the MphasiS board of directors. Coomer, executive vice-president of EDS Asia Pacific, will replace MphasiS co-founder Jerry Rao.

Rao will become chairman of the EDS Asia Pacific advisory board, while retaining his current position as vice-president, general manager for EDS India operations.

Coomer’s appointment is with immediate effect. The appointment of Kumar — a former Sun Microsystems executive — will be effective from February 1. Kumar will be based at the MphasiS headquarters in Bangalore. MphasiS managing director and chief operating officer Deepak Patel will continue in his current role and report to Kumar.

Kumar, who will report directly to Coomer, served as senior vice-president of Sun’s services group from 2006 to 2008 and as a member of the company’s executive management group. Kumar was responsible for Sun’s $5-billion services business with operations in more than 120 countries.

MphasiS is a leading applications services, remote infrastructure services, BPO and KPO services provider.

“Jeya Kumar is a proven global leader with a track record of success,” said Coomer. At Sun, he developed a deep knowledge of the Asia-Pacific market and of technology, professional and managed services at the operational level. We are confident he will build on MphasiS’s solid foundation and further leverage the strong synergies between MphasiS and EDS,” he said.

“I want to personally thank Jerry Rao for his vision, leadership and entrepreneurial spirit in building MphasiS,” said Coomer. “I am extremely pleased that Jerry will remain available to assist me on matters of strategic importance to our Asia Pacific region,” he added.

“I am fully supportive of Jeya’s appointment and pleased that a world-class senior management team will be in place as the company moves forward,” said Rao.