While Infosys has been maintaining that it has a deep pool of talent internally to choose a CEO, Murthy explicitly said in January that he is open to a leader from outside. Some experts believe that Infosys has the opportunity to shun conservatism by bringing in an outsider. "Someone from outside who has experience on the business side would have more risk-taking ability; he could look at mergers and acquisitions," said Ajit Isaac, MD of Ikya Human Capital Solutions, a Bangalore-based HR services company. Phaneesh Murthy, the former sales head at Infosys and former CEO of iGate, would have seemed to be the likely candidate for such a role. However, a source said that "considering the public assassination of Phaneesh, no board would be willing to look at him." Phaneesh Murthy, widely regarded as an ace dealmaker, is no stranger to Infosys, where was the blue-eyed boy of founder-chairman N R Narayana Murthy. He left the company in 2002 after allegations of sexual harassment.