CMS Info Systems Ltd (CMS), a business services company with operations spanning ATM management, retail and currency logistics, and technology and payments, has appointed William Poole VIII (Will Poole) as an additional director (independent).
The appointment comes as CMS steps up investments in Vision AI, data and automation, particularly within its Technology & Payment Solutions segment.
Poole brings around four decades of experience in building and scaling technology businesses. He has held senior leadership positions at Microsoft and, more recently, has worked as a venture investor backing technology businesses across emerging markets.
Technology and emerging markets experience
Poole is Managing Partner and Co-founder of Capria Ventures, a venture firm that invests in technology founders across the Global South. He also serves as the firm’s Chief AI Evangelist.
Before co-founding Capria, Poole spent more than 12 years at Microsoft, where he rose to the position of Corporate Vice President and led several business lines.
Among his responsibilities was the company’s $13 billion Windows desktop business, which accounted for around two-thirds of Microsoft’s profits at the time. He also led Microsoft’s efforts to adapt its products for mass-market customers in emerging economies.
Poole joined Microsoft in 1996 following its acquisition of eShop, an e-commerce pioneer he had co-founded.
He is also the co-author of the upcoming Penguin book ‘Flourishing with AI’ and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Brown University.
CMS looks to accelerate technology investments
CMS Info Systems, Executive Vice Chairman & CEO, Rajiv Kaul, said, “Over two decades, we have grown CMS into a market leader in all our businesses. Will joins our board at an important point in our transformation, as we accelerate investments in our Technology & Payment Solutions segment.”
“He has operated technology businesses at global scale and backed founders building in markets like ours, and that mix of operating judgment and investing discipline is exactly the perspective we want in the room as we shape the next phase of CMS’s growth,” Kaul added.
Poole said CMS has established a combination of trust and last-mile reach that could provide a strong foundation for technology-led financial infrastructure services.
Capria Ventures, Managing Partner & Co-founder, Will Poole, said, “CMS has built something rare in India: banking-grade trust and last-mile reach at national scale.”
“What draws me to this board is the chance to help transform that foundation into intelligent, technology-led services for the country’s financial infrastructure. Some of the most consequential applied AI opportunities will be built in India, serving large national institutions that reach hundreds of millions of citizens,” Poole added.
The appointment strengthens CMS’s board-level technology expertise at a time when the company is seeking to combine its physical infrastructure and nationwide reach with AI, data and automation capabilities.