About

Currently heading the secretarial, legal, ethics and internal audit departments at IT services company Mphasis, Sivaram Nair has over 25 years of experience spanning across the manufacturing and services industries. Having worked at Mphasis for more than 11 years, Nair has been a part of Mphasis’ leadership team during its journey of growing its revenue from $150m in 2005 to its present revenue of $1bn. Nair and his legal team also supported this growth through their key role as negotiators with global clients, making sure the best value possible value is attained. Leading a team of 34 professionals, Nair has developed the team into ‘integral decision-makers within Mphasis’. The team is now ‘involved in every aspect of business operations, helping determine Mphasis’ strategic growth plans, analysing risk factors, and even outlining the Mphasis’ public image and becoming a profit centre’, he says. Constant training from Nair has led the team to becoming ‘business enablers; not only do we understand the business well but also the risk profile of the organisation. I constantly advise my team not to review the document but the transaction or business as a whole’. The global role Nair plays has allowed him to add value through proper contracting, ensuring minimal negative exposure for the organisation and being 100% compliant on statutes. Reputational damage and penalties can therefore be avoided, and intellectual property can be leveraged more effectively due to lawyers’ awareness of commercialisation methods and the company code of conduct. Over and above his responsibilities at Mphasis, Nair is the co-founder of Technology Law Forum, a non-profit organisation, and also a member of the National Regulatory Committee of the Confederation of Indian Industry. Sivaram has been running the Whistleblower and Prevention of Sexual Harassment programs in the company for many years and has established credibility and faith in the system by acting decisively and expeditiously