UKG Appoints Former Autodesk CIO Prakash Kota to Lead Global Tech and AI Strategy
UKG has appointed Prakash Kota as its new Chief Information Officer, marking a strategic move to enhance its global HR and workforce management offerings. With over two decades of experience in enterprise technology, including his recent role as CIO at Autodesk, Kota will align UKG’s technology vision with business objectives. His leadership will focus on strengthening AI-driven processes, optimizing go-to-market systems, and delivering seamless experiences for UKG’s 80,000+ customers. The appointment highlights UKG’s continued investment in innovation and digital transformation to empower global workforces.
UKG, a leading provider of HR, payroll, and workforce management solutions, today announced that Prakash Kota joined the company as Chief Information Officer (CIO) on April 3. Kota will report to UKG President, Chief Financial Officer Arlen Shenkman, and align UKG technology priorities with the company’s business strategy and customer and employee objectives.
“Prakash is a global technology visionary who is recognized by his peers as a leader and innovator,” said Shenkman. “He has an impressive history in leading complex initiatives focused on optimizing go-to-market strategies, processes, and systems. As a champion of enterprise AI strategies that increase employee productivity, Prakash will strengthen our reputation for providing organizations the intelligence and insights they need to tackle complex workforce challenges and make critical decisions that drive the business forward.”
Kota most recently served as senior vice president and chief information officer at Autodesk (NASDAQ: ADSK), a global design and make software company, where he drove a multi-faceted enterprise strategy that allowed the company to grow and scale its business and deliver world-class technology experiences. He also oversaw Autodesk’s enterprise data platforms, infrastructure and cloud engineering, and digital transformation initiatives, including global customer operations.
“I am excited to join UKG at such a pivotal time in its growth journey,” said Kota. “Leveraging a data- and AI-first framework, we have a tremendous opportunity to create intelligent, seamless experiences for our employees and our 80,000 customers worldwide. My focus will be on ensuring that UKG solutions foster trust, enhance collaboration, and drive meaningful outcomes.”
Kota, who is based in San Francisco, is a Bay Area CIO Global Orbie award winner, a Forbes innovative technology leader honoree on the CIO Next list, and a National Diversity Council Top 100 CIO.
About UKG
At UKG, our purpose is people. We are on a mission to inspire every organization to become a great place to work through HCM technology built for all. More than 80,000 organizations across all sizes, industries, and geographies trust UKG HR, payroll, workforce management, and culture cloud solutions to drive great workplace experiences and make better, more confident people and business decisions. With the world’s largest collection of people data, work data, and culture data combined with rich experience using artificial intelligence in the service of people, we connect culture insights with business outcomes to show what’s possible when organizations invest in their people. To learn more, visit
ukg.com.
Copyright 2025 UKG Inc. All rights reserved. For a full list of UKG trademarks, please visit
ukg.com/trademarks. All other trademarks, if any, are property of their respective owners. All specifications are subject to change.