Francisco D’Souza, the outgoing CEO of Cognizant, plans to take up a new gig -- work with a small group of startups to realise their "American dream."

“Those of you who know me will recognise that I don’t like to sit still for too long. My immediate priority is to ensure that we complete a transition smoothly and successfully….Over the next year, I have agreed to work with a small group of startup companies to help them realise their own version of the American Dream. It will be my opportunity to give back while I take the time to plan my future,” wrote D’Souza in an email to employees on Wednesday.

D’Souza said he will also continue to work as vice-chairman of the research innovation and entrepreneurship committee of the Carnegie Mellon board, as a trustee of the New York Hall of Science, and on the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation Board.

D’Souza, who steered the company’s scorching growth over the past decade, wrote in the email about how he himself epitomised the American dream: “Each of us has our own version of the Cognizant story. Francisco D'Souza's version is the story of the American Dream – of an immigrant who came to the United States with all his possessions in two suitcases and a few dollars in his pocket. I was provided an opportunity to be educated at Carnegie Mellon University – one of the world’s finest institutions of higher education and to later participate in creating a business that enabled me to not only create value for our shareholders but to give back in the form of great jobs to hundreds of thousands of people around the world including 180,000 in my home country of India.”

Cognizant’s new CEO Brian Humphries too wrote an email to employees on how he plans to learn the ropes of the new business he is taking over.

Humphries, who is seen to have done a successful cloud transformation as the CEO of Vodafone Business, spoke about coming to India and about culturally immersing himself with the new organisation. “Given the company’s scale, global reach and special culture, I know I have a great deal to learn and with your help, I will get to speed quickly. One of my first priorities is to immerse myself in the culture and travel to India and other locations and meet with as many associates as I can to begin the process of learning what’s on your minds and how I can support your efforts. So I expect most of my time will be spent travelling to build trust and transparency with you and our clients around the world," he said.

Humphries said the future of the company lies in doing what it excels at -- drawing on deep client and industry knowledge, identifying emerging needs and responding quickly to these needs with differentiated offerings and scaling growth opportunities.