Archana (Archie) Deskus

Former EVP and CTO of PayPal Holdings, Inc.

Archana (Archie) Deskus brings extensive experience to Cognizant’s Board of Directors from her years setting and leading technology strategy as either CTO or CIO for several large global corporations, including PayPal Holdings, Inc., Intel, Hewlett Packard, Baker Hughes Incorporated, Ingersoll Rand Inc., Timex Group USA, Inc. and United Technologies Corporation.

Key skills and qualifications:

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

Relevant experience:

Archie was elected to Cognizant’s Board in March 2020. She most recently served as EVP, CTO and EVP, CIO of PayPal, a digital payments company, from March 2022 to August 2024. Prior to PayPal, she served as CIO for several other global companies in the technology, industrial, energy and consumer products industries. These companies include Intel, a technology company; Hewlett Packard, an information technology company; Baker Hughes, an oilfield services company; Ingersoll Rand, an industrial manufacturing company; Timex, a watch manufacturing company; and United Technologies, a multinational conglomerate that provided high-technology systems and services to the building and aerospace industries, as well as various affiliated entities of United Technologies.

Archie currently serves on the board of directors of East West Bancorp, Inc., the holding company for East West Bank, the largest independent bank in Southern California, while also serving on the board of directors of East West Bank. Since 2022, Archie has also served as a director of DataStax, a real-time data for artificial intelligence company. She formerly served as a customer advisory board member for IBM Global Technology Services, as a board member for the non-profit Junior Achievement of Southeast Texas and as an advisory board member for the Data Science Institute of the University of Houston.

Archie holds an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management information systems from Boston University.