Rackspace Technology has announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Gajen Kandiah as Chief Executive Officer, effective September 3, 2025.
Under Kandiah’s leadership, Rackspace will advance its AI-first multicloud strategy by designing, building and operating governed multicloud operations for AI and data workloads across private, public and sovereign clouds with hyperscalers, regional cloud partners and the open ecosystem.
Kandiah succeeds Amar Maletira who has served as CEO since September 2022 and previously served as CFO. Maletira will become the Vice Chairman of the Board and continue as a member of the Board working closely with Kandiah to ensure a smooth transition.
Kandiah brings depth across services, infrastructure, software, and AI. He previously served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Hitachi Digital, where he integrated AI across industrial and enterprise portfolios. He also served as CEO of Hitachi Vantara, where he led digital infrastructure, software, and services. Kandiah’s earlier leadership roles include helping to build and scale industry BPO and digital engineering businesses at Cognizant, where he spent 16 years helping the business grow from $368 Million to over $16 Billion during this tenure.
Under Kandiah’s leadership, Rackspace will continue to focus on delivering measurable customer outcomes across all cloud environments including highly-regulated sectors. His strategic priorities include accelerating platform and product innovation in cloud management and private AI, deepening partnerships with major clouds and the open ecosystem, and driving consistent execution across sales, delivery, and operations.
Jeffrey Benjamin, Chairman of the Rackspace Board, stated, “Gajen is a proven operator across services, infrastructure, software, and AI. His experience aligns with our strategy to deliver secure and governed multicloud solutions with stronger reliability, security, and time to value.”
“I am honored to lead Rackspace Technology and its exceptional team of Rackers. What draws me most is the Racker culture and our unwavering dedication to customer success. As industries take AI to production, they need the governed multicloud operations that our talented teams design, build, and operate across private, public, and sovereign clouds. It’s exciting to lead an organization that gives customers real choice while simplifying how workloads are managed and protected,” said Gajen Kandiah, CEO, Rackspace Technology.
Benjamin added, “On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, I thank Amar for his leadership in driving Rackspace’s transformation into a customer-centric, forward-leaning hybrid cloud and AI solutions company, while establishing a scalable business in regulated industries.”
