FB ropes in ex-Ola chief as Director of its India chapter

Facebook (FB) appoints Arun Srinivas as the Director of its Global Business Group to lead the strategy and delivery of the India Marketing Solutions charter. The appointment follows Facebook's recent spree of leadership recruitments across marketing, partnerships, communications, and key verticals to mark its India commitments. Srinivas is expected to steer FB's strategic relationship with India's leading brands, agencies, and partners in driving Facebook's revenue growth across key channels in India also partner the media and creative ecosystems for fasttrack adoption of digital tools by businesses. FB's prime business vertical teams, agency teams, and business solutions teams will report to him. Prior to this role, he was the Chief Operating Officer (COO), and Global Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at OLA Mobility. An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata, Srinivas brings in 24 years of leadership experience in sales and marketing with leading companies, having started his career with Reebok and subsequently moving on to Unilever. His 15-years association with Unilever marked his presence across food, beverages, skincare, and personal care categories. He has also had career stints with investment firm WestBridge Capital Partners where he was responsible for their consumer vertical.

Pidilite Industries on boards Rajeev Vasudeva

The board of Pidilite Industries Limited has inducted Rajeev Vasudeva as an Additional Director (Independent) with effect from September 10, 2020. Vasudeva's global experience and strong track record is seen as a valuable asset for enabling governance advice, to one of India's leading manufacturers of adhesives, sealants and construction chemicals. Vasudeva was Chairman of Centum Learning Ltd since 2019 before he was hand-picked for this additional responsibility with Pidilite. He is also a board member with the NYSE and TSX-listed Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. Prior to that, Rajeev was associated with Egon Zehnder, a premier global leadership advisory firm and was its global CEO till December 2018. Armed with an LLB from the University of Delhi, he is also a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and an alumnus of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, U.S. Founded in 1959, Pidilite Industries' iconic adhesive brand, Fevicol, leads the pack with most of its products being developed through strong in-house R&D. Its other popular brands includes Fevicryl, M-Seal, Fevikwik, Fevistik, Roff and Dr. Fixit, as part of popular DIY (Do-It-Yourself) products and polymer emulsions.

Karthik Narain to head Accenture's new Cloud division

Industry veteran Karthik Narain will head 'Accenture Cloud First', a new division at $3 billion investment over three years that will enable Accenture's client-base to accelerate their digital transformation. Narain, who has lead Accenture Technology in North America, will spearhead the new venture by joining its Global Management Committee from October 1, 2020. This venture is a new multi-service group of 70,000 Cloud professionals. Silicon Valleybased Narain, has in the recent past helped steer 'Global 2000' brands in mobilising the power of the cloud and other technologies in transforming their businesses. In a career spanning over 20 years, he has led several innovative tech-related programmes for clients across sectors such as Software & Platforms, High-tech and Financial Services. Most businesses currently operate at around 20% in the cloud and moving to 80% or higher in a cost effective manner would require a bold new model. With this new Cloud venture, Accenture along with its market-leading Software as a Service (SaaS) capabilities in Intelligent Platform Services, will ensure its clients value, speed and innovation in their Cloud journey. With approximately $11 billion in cloud revenue in fiscal 2019, Accenture's advancement in SaaS is delivered through the company's Intelligent Platform Services to its migration, infrastructure and application cloud services "Digital transformation requires cloud at scale, and post- Covid-19 leadership requires that every business become a 'cloud-first' business," said Julie Sweet, chief executive officer, Accenture.

Ex-Amazon VP to take over as Uber CTO

Ride-hailing service, Uber Technologies Inc. has roped in Sukumar Rathnam, the outgoing Vice President (VP) at Amazon as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Rathnam is likely to assume office at Uber sometime in the latter half of September. Rathnam steps in to fill the CTO position that has remained vacant for over three and a half months. Rathnam will relinquish his nine-year stint with Amazon.com Inc. as its VP in charge of product selection and catalogue systems. He replaces Uber's former CTO, Thuan Pham, who had resigned in May, having served Uber for seven years. Pham's exit coincided with the San Francisco-based ride-hailing company laying off more than 6,000 employees (25% of its workforce), as it battled the coronavirus-crisis and the subsequent slowdown in demand for cab rides.

Praj's Chaudhuri receives George Washington Carver Award

Pramod Chaudhari, founder and executive chairman of Praj Industries becomes the first Indian and the 2nd Asian recipient of the prestigious 2020 George Washington Carver Award for Innovation in Industrial Biotechnology and Agriculture. Chaudhari thus joins an elite club of renowned industry leaders, accomplished government officials, distinguished professors, and agri experts worldwide. One of the highest forms of recognition for outstanding contribution in the global industrial biotechnology sector, the annual Carver award reinforces India's technology competence while acknowledging Chaudhari as a global brand ambassador. The award, instituted by the Washington D.C. - based Biotechnology Innovation Organisation (BIO), is one of the world's largest trade association of biotechnology with a presence in over 30 countries. The award constituted in 2008 with the help of Iowa Biotechnology Association (Iowa BIO) is named after the legendary agricultural scientist, inventor and environmentalist George Washington Carver. While the award acknowledges Chaudhari's leadership and contribution towards building a bio-friendly economy, his pioneering work has helped establish a sustainable eco-system in industrial biotechnology. Chaudhari's efforts in environmental science, bio-refining and development of bio-based products and enhancing rural economy is seen as a part of Carver's legacy. "This recognition is a testament to 35 years of sustained efforts towards the causes of innovation and technology. My passion for the planet, people and prosperity has led Team Praj to derive value from agri-processing and support the rural economy by offering sustainable end-to-end solutions", said Chaudhari.

Chandan Joshi to helm MobiKwik

MobiKwik, the Gurugram based fintech which is into digital payments and financial services, has promoted the company's Senior Vice President (SVP) Chandan Joshi as co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of its payments business, thus kick-starting its initial public offering (IPO) plans by 2022. Joshi will now take full ownership of its flagship payments business which drives 75% of the firms' revenues along with mobilising sales, marketing, product and engineering functions. Thus, all of MobiKwik's functions in the payments business unit will now report to Joshi. Joshi was part of MobiKwik's leadership team as SVP for around two and a half years and has been managing its wallet and the payments gateway business. He joined in 2018, post the national demonetisation drive and jumpstarted his MobiKwik innings by organising its retail payments business, running of its e-commerce payments and finally growing the firm's entire payments business. An IIT alumnus, Chandan is armed with a master's degree in Business Management from the London School of Business. He has had previous stints as a financial trader with Credit Suisse in London & Hong Kong in global financial markets. With the IPO trigger, MobiKwik now joins startups PhonePe, Paytm, and Zomato that have also proposed their IPO plans. MobiKwik operates via three business divisions into consumer payments, financial services (digital lending, insurance and mutual fund offerings) and the payment gateway and ticked a revenue growth of 133% year-on-year to Rs.379 crore in 2019-20.

Bhattacharyya is CEO of U.S. wealth management firm

Raj Bhattacharyya has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer at Robertson Stephens Wealth Management, the US-based independent SEC-registered investment advisor. He succeeds Stuart Katz, who will continue in his role as the Chief Investment Officer. In his new role, Bhattacharyya will manage both the operational and growth strategy, while continuing to improvise the firm's client-driven service offerings such as its investment strategy, financial planning solutions and technology. He has been crucial to the firm's growth since he joined the company board in January. He brings in 27 years of his experiences in financial services across trading and capital markets, including his long-standing association of 17 years with Deutsche Bank; posted as the head of the Foreign Exchange franchise in the Americas and head of the Latin American Markets business in the recent past. Prior to that, he was head of Capital Markets and Treasury Solutions in Western Europe and the head of Debt Capital Markets in North America. He has had previous stints with Goldman Sachs in quantitative research and Merrill Lynch in derivatives. He has been an early-stage investor and advisor for financial technology companies looking to scale their businesses in his recent role as the founder and CEO of YY Capital.

ITC rejigs top deck, appoints new CFO

Supratim Dutta takes over as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) with the Indian MNC, ITC Limited. Dutta steps in to replace former CFO and Executive Director, Rajiv Tandon who has been re-appointed to the board of directors. While Tandon relinquishes his decade long role as CFO, he will continue to remain on the board of ITC as a whole-time director with Dutta reporting to Tandon. Dutta brings in 30 years of his knowledge across diverse domains such as finance, planning, mergers and acquisition (M&A), treasury, accounting, taxation, information technology, investor relations and business strategy. He joined the company in 1990 and has since justified his varied leadership roles before being promoted to his current CFO role. His other past leadership positions include Head of Corporate Planning, Strategic Planning, Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate Finance and Corporate Financial Controller. A chartered accountant, Dutta is an alumnus of St. Xavier's College, Kolkata, and has played key roles within industry watchdog organisations such as Chairperson of the Finance and Banking Committee of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Dutta's appointment follows the conglomerate's new strategy of appointing comparatively younger blood in key senior management positions, a trend that began when Sanjiv Puri was appointed as the group's Chairman. Dutta's role also falls in line with ITC's ongoing organisational restructuring when Vikas Gupta, the Chief of Lifestyle retailing business, took over additional responsibility as the head of education and stationery business. Rajnikant Rai has since been promoted as the CEO of ITC's agri-business from his previous role as its Chief Operating Officer.

Ex-JSW Energy CFO takes over as IndiGrid CFO

Infrastructure investment trust IndiGrid (India Grid Trust) has roped in Jyoti Kumar Agarwal as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Agarwal relinquishes his role as Executive Director (Finance) and CFO at JSW Energy Limited to onboard IndiGrid. He had previously served as Vice President (Finance) at JSW Steel Limited. Agarwal brings in over two decades of his experiences in areas of corporate finance, asset management, investment banking, treasury and foreign exchange Management. A chartered accountant, and an alumnus of IIM, Kolkata (Finance), and St. Xavier's College, he has had a towering career with both multinational and Indian firms such as Standard Chartered Bank, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Franklin Templeton and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Poddar joins MCFL Board

Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd (MCFL) has appointed Akshay Poddar, a non-executive director as Chairman with effect from September 29, 2020. MCFL had earlier posted a net profit of Rs.11.01 crore for the quarter ended June 2020 while reporting a net loss of Rs.4.64 crore in the same quarter of previous fiscal.

Dilip Cherian steps down from Taj GVK Board

Dilip Cherian, the founder of Perfect Relations, the public relation agency, has stepped down from the board of Taj GVK Hotels & Resorts following his appointment as an independent director. Tata Sons, through Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), owns about 26% in the Taj GVK Hotels & Resorts, while Perfect Relations handles Shapoorji Pallonji (SP) Group, a minority stakeholder of Tata Sons. Taj GVK currently holds seven properties and over 1362 rooms across Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai and Chandigarh.

JSW Energy appoints Pritesh Vinay as CFO

JSW Energy has onboarded Pritesh Vinay as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO), replacing its outgoing CFO Jyoti Kumar Agarwal. Vinay has had a good track record at JSW Group for the past eight years. Prior to joining JSW Energy, he has held prime positions as Vice President (Corporate Finance) at JSW Steel and as Head Group Investor Relations for the JSW Group. At 44 years, Vinay brings in over 19 years of professional experience in areas of Fund Raising (both onshore and offshore), Corporate Finance, M&A and Equity Research and Investor Relations for both reputed Indian and multinational corporations. A Computer Science & Engineering graduate from the Bihar Institute of Technology, Sindri; he also holds a Master's degree in Finance from Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai University.

Lumax's Jakhmola quits after a 15-year stint

Vivek Kumar Jakhmola, long-time Senior Vice President and Domain Head Body, Emission & Trim Domain of Lumax Auto Technologies Limited will quit the company with effect from September 30 2020. As per industry sources, he will be relinquishing his 15 year long stint with Lumax in favour of an Indian auto component manufacturing company as its CEO. Jakhmola's long-lasting contribution has been charted as a board member of the three companies under the Lumax Group. During his long stint with Lumax, he has had the privilege of closing and creating two joint-venture companies as the lead. Besides, he held top leadership positions across the company's four diverse business (non- lighting) portfolios and other group companies such as Lumax Mannoh, which became a market leader in gear shifter system in India during Jakhmola's tenure.