GORDON COBURN
Chief Financial & Operating Officer,
From Tuck School, Dartmouth College.
Now @ Cognizant
It was a moment of pride and reflection to attend my 20th college reunion. Away from campus for so many years, I contemplated on my education and the career path that followed.
At 15 and growing up in a small town with limited choices for schooling, I attended Phillips Exeter Academy, a boarding school in the state of New Hampshire. The high school education I received was truly outstanding, but it meant “growing up” too quickly, earlier than most.
After finishing boarding school, I attended Wesleyan University, a liberal arts university in the state of Connecticut, and majored in American history. In addition, I was Editor-in-Chief of the University's newspaper—a job that included pulling an all-nighter twice each week for an entire year. Fortunately, my professors were very understanding when I nodded off during the lectures! I also had the privilege of being the student body representative on the University's Board of Trustees.
Upon graduating from Wesleyan, with the desire to pursue a career in education, I spent two years working at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). And it was here that I became increasingly interested in the business aspects of technology.
Thereafter, I returned to school to earn an MBA from the Tuck School at Dartmouth College. For those of you who are not familiar with Tuck, it is one of the business schools in the US with an unusual openness among its faculty, and an extremely loyal alumni. More importantly, it is located in the mountains of New Hampshire, which allowed me to go skiing after class, on most days in the winter!
With an MBA tucked under my hat, I once again stepped into the professional circuit and joined the Financial Management Training Program at the Dun & Bradstreet Corporation (D&B). Here, I was exposed to new assignments from around the world every six months. My wife and I became quite adept at quickly packing and moving, during this period of our lives!
Eventually, I settled down at D&B as the Corporate Staff Finance Director for their high tech and venture capital businesses. Cognizant was also a component of this portfolio then.
Then came 1997, when I was offered the opportunity to relinquish my corporate position and become Chief Financial Officer of Cognizant, as it prepared for a public offering. Although a risky decision (considering it was then a budding company with a new business model), moving to Cognizant was, by far, my best decision.
Since then, a little over ten years ago, Cognizant has grown from an in-house development shop for D&B, into one of the leading IT firms in the world. Our headcount has grown from 1,000 to a projected 55,000 at the end of 2007. Revenue has grown from $25 million to over $2 billion. Most importantly, it is exciting to have had the opportunity to participate in creating a business that has launched the successful careers of thousands of associates, world over.
Cognizant is a unique institution. Twenty years ago, I would never have imagined that I would be part of such a great firm. Returning to my 20th college reunion last year and talking about Cognizant was a source of great pride.
Come, join us for the next phase of this incredible journey called Cognizant!
