Indian American entrepreneur Harsha Kumar named as the NewRocket CEO

SAN FRANCISCO (TIP): NewRocket, a San Francisco-based leading digital workflow advisor and Elite ServiceNow partner, has named Harsha Kumar, an Indian American entrepreneur, technologist and proven chief executive, as CEO. Kumar will assume the role previously held by Gary DiOrio, who will re-join the NewRocket board, the company announced Nov 11. NewRocket is backed by Gryphon Investors (“Gryphon”), a leading middle-market private equity firm.
“I’m ready to take off in (a) NewRocket !” Kumar posted on Linkedin.
“I am honored and super excited to join the NewRocket crew on our mission to be the world’s leading ServiceNow partner,” he said. “ServiceNow has established itself as the AI platform for business transformation, and I’m confident our consulting acumen and deep technical skills will enable impactful transformations for our clients. I’d like to thank Gryphon and the NewRocket leadership team for providing me this fantastic opportunity.”
Kumar, according to the release, is an entrepreneur, technologist and proven CEO with a track record of driving significant revenue and EBITDA growth, customer satisfaction, and career progression for team members.
“We are lucky to have Harsha join the team as CEO. His hands-on leadership style and knowledge of the ServiceNow space, coupled with his track record for building great companies with the best people, is a rare blend of talent,” DiOrio said. “We look forward to partnering with Harsha as we continue to build the leader in the ServiceNow ecosystem.”
Most recently, Kumar served as CEO and President of Prodapt from 2016 to 2024, establishing the company as a leading transformation partner for telecommunication companies worldwide.
In 2023, Gartner recognized Prodapt as an industry leader across America, Europe, and LATAM. Under his leadership, Prodapt raised private equity funding from Affirma Capital and received a strategic equity investment from ServiceNow.
Prior to joining Prodapt, Kumar held a number of senior leadership roles that helped establish and grow Virtusa into a leading IT consulting and transformation services firm. He oversaw the creation of advanced technology centers and led the company’s business units for Telecom & Media, Information and Entertainment, Insurance, Healthcare, and Technology industries. He was a member of Virtusa’s core leadership team as the company scaled from a small $13 million private company to a billion-dollar publicly listed company.
Kumar previously co-founded EC Cubed – a software platform company for B2B eCommerce and raised significant venture capital. As its CTO, he architected and developed a workflow engine and other components.
Paul Fipps, ServiceNow’s President, Global Industries and Strategic Growth, added, “ServiceNow is thrilled to see one of our leading pure-play partners, NewRocket, bring on a talent like Harsha Kumar. As a proven CEO and technologist in the digital workflow automation space, Harsha has developed a prior strategic relationship with ServiceNow. We are confident he will accelerate and further elevate the strategic partnership between NewRocket and ServiceNow.”
Gabe Stephenson, Deal Partner & Head of Gryphon’s Technology Solutions & Services group, noted, “We thank Gary for his leadership of NewRocket, and we feel fortunate to have someone with Harsha’s directly relevant experience joining the company as CEO at this stage. Harsha’s deep understanding of workflow software, experience scaling multiple high-growth IT services firms, and his impressive track record of building large and long-term customer relationships is an ideal fit for NewRocket. We know the talented crew at NewRocket will thrive with Harsha’s people-centered leadership.”