Author

Sean Middleton is the Founder and President of Cognizant Accelerator. Accelerator is the company’s innovation engine responsible for working inside and out to build Cognizant’s next generation of product and service offerings. It collaborates closely with core business units to identify good ideas and ensure they have the executive support and resources that they need to grow into great business that solve clients’ problems. Accelerator runs LaunchPad, a 6-month immersive program to help new entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground, Studio, a global software development team serving internal and external startups, and Ventures, Cognizant’s Corporate Venture Capital group. Since its founding in 2012, Accelerator has launched businesses that have generated more than $1.5B in annual top-line growth for Cognizant, spearheaded its entry into new markets like Government, and laid a foundation for new business models built-atop products and platforms. Examples of these businesses include Cognizant’s services practices around mobility, data science, and cloud, and as-a-Service products like HPA, assetSERV, and ZDLC. Today, Accelerator focuses on new business models enabled by emerging technologies such as automation, artificial intelligence, blockchain, augmented reality, drones, additive manufacturing, and the internet of things. Sean is a company officer and a member of Cognizant’s Enterprise Leadership Group. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Measure, a drone flight operations company. Prior to founding Accelerator, Sean served as Chief of Staff to CEO Francisco D’Souza. He joined Cognizant from PricewaterhouseCoopers where he was a management consultant working in corporate strategy, corporate development, IT strategy & operations, and information security domains across industries. Sean has a bachelor's degree in computer science from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.