He has several name tags, good, bad and ugly. Better known as the Devil’s Advocate, maverick lawyer, rebel and genius, this flamboyant Ram Boolchand Jethmalani who has the honour of standing in the Bar for 76 years, has called it quits to legal practice. He made this announcement at a function organised by the Bar Council of India to felicitate the Chief Justice of India, Dipak Misra. Jethmalani turned 95 years on September 14. One of the highest paid lawyers in the Supreme Court, Jethmalani did hint about this big announcement while mentioning a service matter to Justice Kurian Joseph. A Rajya Sabha member from Bihar, Jethmalani has appeared in many leading and high profile cases. Jethmalani was the law minister during BJP’s Atal Bihari Vajpayee led NDA government for a short time. Ram Jethmalani obtained a law degree at the age of 17, and was the youngest lawyer to practise. At that time, the minimum age for becoming a lawyer was 21, but a special resolution allowed him to practise at 18.
Edith Cooper, the Global Head of Human Capital Management (HCM) at Goldman Sachs, is said to be set to bid goodbye to the company by the end of this year. Dane Holmes, the Global Head of Investor Relations and Global Head of Pine Street is expected to replace her. Cooper joined Goldman Sachs in 1996 to lead the firm’s Energy Sales Group. Within two years she was elevated as the Managing Director and soon became the partner. She was co-head of the commodities business in Europe and Asia, based in London. In 2002, she handled the firm’s futures business. Being the senior black woman in the company, she led the discussion on race and equality. Cooper has also been associated with Board of Trustees of the Museum of Modern Art, Mount Sinai Hospital, the Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership & Ethics (COLE), the President’s Council of Howard University, as well as the Northwestern University Board of Trustees. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Horizons at Brunswick School.
There have been talks of the pros and cons of the bullet train. But the newly appointed Union Railway Minister Goyal drew a parallel to the criticism Suzuki faced when Maruti was brought in 30 years ago. “I’d like to draw a parallel to Maruti Suzuki. When we partnered with Suzuki to bring in Maruti, a lot of people criticised the move. Can we imagine now that those two models, which aren’t even made anymore, changed the way we travel?” Calling it a revolution in transportation in the country, he is hopeful that the bullet train can bring about change in transportation in a similar way. This project which costs Rs. 97,636-crore will use Japanese bullet train technology. This Japan-India collaboration will also serve as a model for the adoption of the Shinkansen technology by other Indian railway systems, with China also aiming to win orders for the projects. This 500-km Railway line between Mumbai and Ahmedabad in Western India, is likely to commence in 2023. It is based on the Japanese high-speed technology Shinkansen, which is better known for its safety and comfort.
With an intention to close in the gender wage gap, and in a bid to promote diversity and inclusion in the workforce, Californiabased software major, Adobe Systems has introduced a gender pay parity policy in India. “Adobe Systems Incorporated announced it expects to close the gender wage gap in the US by the end of its fiscal year, with women paid $1 for every $1 earned by male employees,” the company said in a statement adding, “There will remain no wage-gap between white and non-white employees, as previously announced last year.” In India, Adobe said female employees are currently earning 99 per cent of what male employees earn and is working to close the remaining gap. “Fair pay and equal treatment aren’t just the right things to do, they also have a significant, positive impact on the business bottom line. We will continue to push for full pay parity globally,” said Donna Morris, Executive Vice President, Customer & Employee Experience, Adobe. Adobe’s US and India employee populations combined comprise 80 per cent of the company’s global workforce. “We are excited to announce pay parity at Adobe India, which is aimed at abolishing the gender pay disparity in the technology industry. This is in line with our commitment towards building Adobe India as a diverse and inclusive workplace for all,” said Abdul Jaleel, Vice President, People Resources, Adobe India.
He has Z-category security on board but the Reliance Industry Chairman Mukesh Ambani goes one step ahead to procure the world’s most sophisticated armoured vehicle to enhance The age of becoming a manager and supervisor is also very young. The average age of a manager is about 25 and the average age of entering the field is 21-22 personal security. The fortified Mercedes Benz is mounted on a normal S600, as this vehicle has Level-9 vehicle resistance (VR9), the highest available currently, and is customised at Benz’s Sindeltingen plant in Germany. This armoured vehicle was registered at the Mumbai Central Regional Transport Office (RTO), according to sources. But a source said: “As Chairman of India’s largest private conglomerate, Mukesh Ambani is the custodian of the interests of more than 2.8 million shareholders. He has Z-category security since April 2013. An armoured vehicle complies with advice of the security establishment for protectees of this level.” According to the source, to acquire this vehicle they had to queue up at No. 57 on the global wait list for the 2015-model armoured S600. The base price of a 2015 model Mercedes Benz S600 is a plebeian Rs. 1.5 crore. The rest of the price is accounted for by cost and fitments of Level-9 armour, import duty on the armour and corresponding levies and insurance.
Force Motors have tied up with Rolls-Royce Power Systems for setting up a Joint Venture (JV) to produce engines for multiple applications like rail and power generation. According to sources, the company will build a manufacturing facility as part of the JV at a cost of about `300 crores. “A dedicated manufacturing facility meeting the standards and specifications laid down by Rolls-Royce will be built by Force Motors at its site in Chakan near Pune. This JV will produce complete power generation systems, including associated spare parts for Indian as well as global markets,” Force Motors said in a statement.
The name Satya Nadella is synonymous with the tech sector. But very few know him personally. Who could be a better person than Nadella himself, to give us details about his life and his journey to become the CEO of software giant Microsoft? The most celebrated leader in this sector, Nadella goes down memory lane while offering rare insights into his personal and professional life in a book, ‘Hit Refresh’. The book is co-authored by Greg Shaw and Jill Tracie Nichols, and is on the stands. This book also includes a foreword by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Nadella in a blog on LinkedIn said it was about two years ago when he set out to tell the story of Microsoft’s quest to rediscover its soul and imagine a better future for everyone,’ which draws inspiration from the digital world where the screen is refreshed by hitting the function ‘F5’ key. Giving an insight to his book, Nadella said, “We believed ‘hit refresh’ was the perfect title for all the three storylines of the book - my personal journey so far, the company’s ongoing transformation, and the coming of the wave of technological and economic change.” Nadella, who took over the reins of Microsoft in February 2014 from Steve Ballmer, goes on to stress that the book is no “victory lap or a how-to manual” but a set of reflections, ideas and principles on transformation and is hopeful that this book will inspire people to discover more empathy in their own lives. On the same lines, Nadella recounts how his wife helped him value quality when their son was born with severe disabilities 21 years ago. “It’s (also) a quality that shapes our mission of empowerment at Microsoft and our quest to meet unmet and unarticulated needs of customers. And it’s this quality that helps us as a society to move forward in creating new opportunity for all,” he wrote in the blog. Nadella will donate all proceeds of the book to Microsoft Philanthropies.
With its focus on streamlining operations during the company’s growth phase, Culture Machine has found Devleena S Majumder as the best person to bring in as its Chief of Staff (COS). As President, People & Culture, she played a key role in initiating a discussion about the first day of period leave in the company, which was well received by the employees. In her new avatar, she will be responsible for driving operations across the board. She will be ensuring that the major operations of the organisation are streamlined through one source, while reporting to Sameer Pitalwalla, the CEO and co-founder of the company. Majumder has experience of over 18 years in areas of strategic business partnering, organisational development, analytics, employee engagement, organisational culture building, compensation management and leadership talent acquisition. “Since its inception, Culture Machine’s growth has been exemplary. As we gear up for a more streamlined growth phase, our immediate goal is to align corporate functions so that we can leverage both the experience and expertise that our respective teams possess. With the new role, I hope to bring in synergy and rigour to the existing system and ensure the organisation is driven to work towards a common goal,” said Devleena about her new role in the company.
With four executives opting for the exit door, Reckitt Benckiser has elevated Gurveen Singh as the Global Head of Human Resources. The British consumer healthcare company claimed that the four top gun exits was a mere coincidence and were all voluntary decisions. The company confirmed the movements, saying that Deborah Yates, Head of HR is being replaced by Singh, who is currently Head of HR for developing markets. India-born Singh is based in Dubai in her current role, which she has been serving for three years now. Prior to this, she was Regional Human Resources Head for South Asia. Singh is a management graduate from XLRI Jamshedpur, and an honours graduate in Philosophy from Delhi’s Lady Shri Ram College. Singh is among the few talented HR professionals who have risen up the ranks. Some of the other Indian officials in global leadership roles within HR are Tanuj Kapilashrami, Global Head of Talent at Standard Chartered Bank, Leena Nair, Senior Vice President for Leadership and Organisation Development at Unilever and Bhuvaneswar Naik, Head of Global Talent Management at SAP SE. Recently, Sameer Khanna, who was the Head-HR India, Ericsson, took up the role of the Global HR Business Partner for Product Area (PA) Managed Services (MS) Network, PA- Managed Services IT and MS Strategy.
With over five years in the company, Vinod Rai has been elevated as the Head-HR (Engineering, QA, and Rohtak R &D), Maruti Suzuki India. Rai, who was the Head-HR (supply chain and plant) will now be responsible for leading end-toend HR operations of engineering, quality analysis, as well as Rohtak R&D facility, which has an employee strength of about 3200. He was responsible for setting up standardised HR/IR capabilities for the company’s external stakeholders or vendor companies ensuring sustainability for the overall business in his previous role. Being a little different from the regular internal HR function, the role itself was challenging and offered him remarkable exposure to third-party integration. With that experience in hand, Rai takes the lead for managing HR for another critical arm of the company. Commenting on his new role, Rai said, “R&D is where the future of Maruti Suzuki is created, and hence, it is extremely crucial to the business. With investments into research and development, quality assurance and engineering, the company has also made some internal changes in HR. This role is much larger, allows me to contribute to internal HR and will also be a great value- add to my experience.” Rai is a management graduate and had joined Maruti Suzuki in 2011 as the Head-Talent (Corporate). Prior to this, he also worked with Jubilant Life Sciences as the Head, DGM-Business HR and Talent Acquisition.
Arif Khan has been appointed as Chief HR officer of Sasken Technologies, (formerly Sasken Communication Technologies). For this product engineering and digital transformation solutions company, Khan, who brings over two decades of experience, will be reporting to Rajiv C Mody, Chairman, Managing Director & CEO. He will be responsible for Global HR including business HR, compensation and benefits, recruitment, resourcing and policies. “As Khan taps into the tremendous opportunities that the market place is providing today, his addition will enable us to attract the best-in-class talent, which will accelerate our growth trajectory,” said the CEO of the firm while welcoming Khan into the family. Khan, who was heading the Harman Connected Services’ global strategic operations joins Sasken with extensive experience in business operations and has worked with senior business leaders in product engineering, strategy, business management, and global operations. Khan’s experience spans all facets of HR from conception to fulfilment, coupled with a deep understanding of the underlying drivers of business. He has been part of over ten acquisitions of varying sizes across organisations he has worked for, and has demonstrated experience in smooth transitioning, especially in the HR area.
Joe Williams
