Dr. A. L. Rao Chief Operating Officer, Wipro Limited

Dr. A. L. Rao is the Chief Operating Officer, Wipro Limited and a member of the Corporate Executive Council of Wipro Corporation. He joined Wipro’s Information Technology business as a founder member in 1981 and contributed significantly towards building a R&D team. As Head of R&D, he spearheaded the development and launch of Wipro range of computers in the Indian market.

From 1993 to 1996, he worked as Vice President (Technical) at Wipro Systems and played a significant role in building competence in Client/Server and Object technologies. As group Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Wipro from 1996-1999, he implemented ISO 9000 compliant quality processes across the Software Divisions of Infotech Group. He has also driven the SEI CMM initiative enabling Wipro to become the first SEI CMM Level 5 Software Services Company in the world.

In Oct 2000, Dr. Rao took over the leadership of Telecom and Internetworking Solutions Division and steered the business through multifold growth to its present preeminent position. The engagements in the Telecom Solutions business today spans across all segments of Telecom R&D and Network Providers services.

In June 2005, Dr. Rao took over the position of Chief Operating Officer, with the responsibility of CIO & CTO organization, Telecom Service Provider business and the Japan geography along with the Product Engineering business.

Prior to Wipro, he worked in Electronic Corporation of India Ltd. from 1973 - 1980 and was associated with the development of Operating Systems and Compilers for ECIL computers.
Dr. Rao has been actively associated with a number of academic institutions. He has made vital contributions to the design and upgradation of the curriculum for MCA and MSc. (Computer Science) courses in Mangalore and Mysore Universities. He was also associated with a number of R&D strategy & Technology initiatives of Department of Electronics, Govt. of India.

Dr. Rao has delivered the keynote speech at the 2nd World Congress on Software Quality in Japan in 2000. He was also a guest speaker at the Project Management Conferences held in Japan & USA. He has also been elected a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering for distinguished contribution to Computer Science & Engineering.

Dr. Rao did his MSc. and PhD from Andhra University.