Sanjay Kumar and the Rise and Fall of a Good Leader

Sanjay Kumar was a Sri Lanka-born computer expert. He became the Chairman and CEO of Computer Associates International, which is known today as CA Technologies. Following the civil unrest in Sri Lanka, the Kumar family immigrated to the US in 1976 and settled in South Carolina. Kumar studied at Furman University between 1980 and 1983 but quit the school without successfully completing a degree.

Kumar worked with Computer Associates in 1987 after the company was successful in its buy-out of UCCEL Corporation for $800 million. At the time of the purchase, Kumar was the director of software development at UCCEL.

In 1988, Kumar had to move to Long Island where Computer Associates’ headquarters were located because he was promoted as Vice President of Planning. Kumar had to move from one position of leadership to another while he was with Computer Associates. Kumar was promoted two more times; as Senior Vice President of Planning in 1989, and as Executive Vice President of Operations in 1993, before he became the company’s President and COO in 1994. He was 31 years old.

In 2000, Kumar became Computer Associates’ CEO. He replaced Charles Wang, who was his mentor for a long time. In 2002, Kumar became the company’s chairman. Computer Associates evolved to become more customer-friendly, a corporate image credited to Kumar’s leadership.

Kumar was forced to resign as President and CEO in April 2004 after he was involved in an investigation of alleged obstruction of justice and securities fraud at Computer Associates. He stayed with Computer Associates for six more weeks as Chief Software Architect before he left the company completely.

A Brooklyn federal jury indicted Kumar of fraud charges. He pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and obstruction of justice. The jury sentenced him to 12 years of imprisonment and a fine of $8 million for his involvement in accounting fraud while at Computer Associates. Kumar is serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Miami, Florida. He is expected to complete his sentence by January 25, 2018.