Wipro hires 4 global leaders

Under the leadership of Thierry Delaporte, CEO and MD, Wipro, Wipro has reinforced its top management by hiring talent, primarily ‘outsiders’ who will take over as senior regional leaders and global account executives. Key listers are Pierre Bruno as the CEO of Europe and Stephanie Trautman as the Chief Growth Officer. Trautman joins the key leadership team, relinquishing her role as Managing Director global strategic account lead with Accenture and as its northeast diamond client account lead for one of Accenture’s global 150 insurance clients. She was also on Accenture’s Global Leadership Council and the Northeast Leadership team. Bruno joins from DXC Technology trading his role as VP and MD of Southern Europe in favour of Wipro’s top position. He has previously worked with Dell for 14 years across several functions. Other top guns include Graziella Neuvéglise who will lead Southern Europe. Roped in from CGI, she was previously VP manufacturing leader for France. Keeping in mind certain key strategic markets for Wipro such as France, Italy, and Spain, René Mulder has been given charge as Managing Director for Wipro Switzerland. Mulder worked as MD with DXC Switzerland. The new regional and strategic top appointments follow Wipro’s previous appointments of former Cognizant executive Tomoaki Takeuchi as MD for Japan and onboarding of Douglas Silva, an IT veteran, and former AWS executive as country head for Brazil.

Ligia de Noronha to head UNEP, NYC

Ligia de Noronha, a leading Indian economist and environment expert takes the helm as Assistant Secretary General and Head of the New York Office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and joins the growing list of Indian origin women in charge of key UN agencies. An economist with over 30 years of international experience in sustainable development, she has been associated since 2014 as the Director of UNEP’s Economy Division based in Nairobi, leading UNEP’s work on climate mitigation and energy transitions, on inclusive green economies, sustainable consumption, and production, as well as on trade and sustainable finance, and the nexus of environment, pollution, and health. In previous roles, Ligia worked at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi, as Executive Director (Research Coordination) and as Director of the Division on Resources, Regulation and Global Security. She was also the Secretary of the Asian Energy Institute and a Coordinator of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnerships (REEEP), South Asia and worked with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada on ecosystem approaches to human health. With a master’s degree in Economics from the University of Mumbai, she is an alumnus of the London School of Economics. She was also a member of the Planning Board of the Government of Goa and a member of the Goa Jubilee Development Council, a member of Shell International’s External Review Committee on Sustainability Reporting. She served as a member of the Global Assurance Group of the Mining, Minerals and Sustainable Development project.

Kiran Ahuja

Biden nominates Kiran Ahuja to head its civil service agency

U.S. President Joe Biden has nominated Indian American lawyer and rights activist Kiran Ahuja to head the Office of Personnel Management, a key agency overseeing the federal civil service that manages America’s more than two million civil servants. Pending confirmation from the Senate, once appointed, she would become the first Indian American to serve this numero uno position in the U.S. Government. She currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Philanthropy Northwest, a regional network of philanthropic institutions, having served as the Chief of Staff to Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management from 2015 to 2017. She has more than 20 years of experience in public service in the non-profit/philanthropic sector in leadership roles. Born to immigrant Indian parents, she grew up in Savannah, Georgia, in the wake of the civil rights era. Armed with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Spelman College and a law degree from the University of Georgia, she began her career as a civil rights lawyer at the U.S. Department of Justice, litigating school desegregation cases, and filing the department’s first student racial harassment case. From 2003 to 2008 she also served as the founding executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum.

Usha Rao-Monari

Usha Rao-Monari takes charge at UNDP

Usha Rao-Monari takes charge as the Under Secretary General, Associate Administrator of UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). The Indian American investment professional has almost 30 years of experience as a senior consultant with investment company Blackstone Infrastructure Group. The Delhi University graduate, also an alumnus of Columbia University and Mumbai’s Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management, has previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of Global Water Development Partners, a Blackstone portfolio company, and held several senior positions, including Director of the Sustainable Business Advisory Group at the International Finance Corporation. She joins a growing list of women from India helming key global agencies such as Preeti Sinha, Executive Secretary of the UN agency, Gita Sabharwal, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Thailand, Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist at the World Health Organization and Anita Bhatia, Assistant Secretary General for Resource Management, Sustainability and Partnerships and Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women). Veteran Indian diplomat Lakshmi Puri has previously served as UN Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women. The UNDP works across 170 countries and territories for the eradication of poverty and reducing inequalities.

Manu Sharma

Carl Pei ropes in ex-Samsung veteran for its India venture

Manu Sharma, former Samsung Senior Director joins Nothing India, an upcoming London based consumer technology firm started by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei. His appointment as Vice President and General Manager, Nothing India, is in line with the company’s strategy to make inroads into new markets and hiring Sharma confirms that the company will be launching the products in India. Sharma relinquished his most recent role as Samsung’s Vice President Head of Product Strategy in favour of Pei’s India venture. A stalwart in the consumer tech domain, Sharma’s role will involve driving growth, business development and operations for Nothing’s brand in India. He will also oversee regional product strategy, marketing and sales operations which also include setting up of the India office. The Samsung veteran had quit in December 2020 after nearly a decade long innings with the company, functioning across multiple roles. He has also had a longer inning of 12 years with Hewlett-Packard across different roles. While there is little clarity on when Carl Pei is expected to launch all its products in the Indian market, Nothing is expected to launch its first wireless earbuds in the summer. The company is also allowing the public to invest up to $1.5 million in the company as part of a community funding round campaign starting 2nd March. The campaign is part of its Series A funding and, around 20,000 individuals have signed up for early access with a registered interest estimated at $30 million (Rs.217.5 crores).

Shantanu Mitra

Mitra re-joins Fullerton India as CEO & MD

Shantanu Mitra, a former Standard Chartered veteran, re-joins Fullerton India as CEO and Managing Director effective April 2, 2021. His last role for Standard Chartered was based out of Mumbai as Senior Regional Risk Officer for India, the Middle East and Africa. With over 40 years of experience in financial services, he brings in over 20 years served at Standard Chartered and Citibank working across geographies across India, Singapore, and Thailand. His previous stint with Fullerton from 2010 to 2017 began as the Head of Consumer Risk for the parent company Fullerton Financial Holdings, Singapore. The Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) with a strong pan-India presence had also announced changes in senior leadership positions in January 2021. Its Chief Risk Officer Pavan Kaushal was appointed as Chief Operating Officer (CEO) and Pankaj Malik, its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is slated to take over as the head of strategy execution.

Vinay Jha

Ex-Walmart SVP-Corporate Affairs joins UB

United Breweries (UB) has appointed Anand Vijay Jha former Walmart Senior Vice President and Chief of Corporate Affairs Officer, as the company’s Chief of Corporate Affairs (public policy). He will be responsible for government relations, corporate communications, philanthropy, and CSR. Heineken controlled UB, the country’s largest brewers and seller of the Kingfisher brand has onboarded Jha, a former civil servant who has had about two decades of experience working with ministries, departments and regulatory bodies including the Competition Commission of India. Jha has also played a key role in setting up and operating of RLDA, a statutory body responsible for raising revenue through non-tariff measures such as commercial leasing of government land. Jha is an alumnus of the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) (University of Delhi), Campus Law Centre (University of Delhi) and Durham University (United Kingdom). He is also a member of Oxford University’s corporate affairs academy and a regular visiting faculty in law and business schools and public administration institutions in the country.

Gautam Thakar

OLX Autos appoints ex-Star Sports CEO

OLX Group, a global leader in classifieds marketplaces has onboarded Gautam Thakar as global CEO of the Prosus-owned OLX Autos effective March 15, 2021. To be based out of India, he will spearhead a worldwide workforce of more than 4,000 employees across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the U.S. He recently relinquished his role as CEO of Star Sports in India which was acquired by Walt Disney Company. He brings in a strong consumer focus from his early years as a brand manager with Procter & Gamble in Asia and a stint with eBay marketplaces. In previous roles, he was the Country Manager of eBay India in 2005, before his international roles as the CEO of eBay’s Shopping.com followed by a stint as Vice President and General Manager of eBay Advertising and LivingSocial (acquired by Groupon). He was based in the U.S. for over a decade bringing in his deep leadership experiences in areas of digital marketplaces. He was also a part of the founding management team of baazee.com which initiated the concept of e-commerce in India before being acquired by eBay in 2005. With a career spanning across India, the Philippines, and the U.S., he has managed teams across more than 15 markets globally.

Anika Agarwal

Anika Agarwal joins as President of MMTC-PAMP

Anika Agarwal has been appointed as President - Consumer Business by MMTC-PAMP, India’s first and only London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) accredited Good Delivery refinery for Gold and Silver. Reporting to Vikas Singh, MD & CEO, MMTC-PAMP, she would be responsible for creating and delivering growth strategy for building nationwide footprints for the MMTC-PAMP’s brand. A seasoned sales and marketing leader, she comes with two decades of expertise across diverse and competitive sectors such as retail, telecom, and insurance. Her acumen in building strong consumer brands will enable her to scale up the company’s direct to consumer businesses. She brings in her extensive experience for leveraging technology as an enabler for business growth and superior customer experience. A people centric business leader, she focuses on driving innovation and new ideas. She has recently been adjudged the ‘Marketer of the Year 2020’ by ACEF and as ‘Insurance Personality of the year’ at the 5th India Insurance Summit and Awards. Prior to joining MMTC-PAMP, she has worked with Max Bupa Health Insurance holding several leadership roles in the past nine years across marketing, digital transformation, direct and digital sales functions. She also played a pivotal role in building many industry first digital innovations for the Indian health insurance market. Prior to Max Bupa, Anika spent almost seven years with Nokia Corporation in India, the Middle East and Africa. An English Literature graduate from Delhi University, she holds an MBA degree from LBSIM, Delhi.

Gautam Kaushik

BharatPe ropes in former Amex VP & CFO

BharatPe, the merchant’s payments start up has roped in Gautam Kaushik, former Vice President and CFO of American Express (Amex), as the company’s second Group President. He will be working closely with Ashneer Grover, Co-founder and CEO of BharatPe and lead its payments business (including UPI, card acceptance, BharatPe XtraIncome Card, loyalty) as well as new banking partnerships for the company. Kaushik will also be joining Suhail Sameer, the other group President at BharatPe. Kaushik, a renowned financial stalwart has close to two decades of experience in leading successful multimillion dollar businesses in payments and financial services. His last role before joining BharatPe was as CEO and MD at PAYBACK India the American Express controlled loyalty management company one of the largest coalition loyalty programme in India. He has also held multiple roles during his decade long stint with Amex. He was the former CFO of American Express, India business and has led many strategic initiatives for the company in India and New York. Prior to joining Amex, he worked for Tata Strategic Management Group as a strategy adviser to key Tata Group companies. Kaushik is a Chemical Engineering and an MBA from SPJIMR, Mumbai.

Timothy Prentice

TVS onboards ace motorcycle designer as VP

Chennai based TVS Motor Company has appointed Timothy (Tim) Prentice as the company’s Vice President Design. One amongst globally acclaimed motorcycle designers, Tim will bring in 35 years of his experience in motorcycle designing, project management and product development to the table. Tim’s specialisation in advanced design planning and experience in designing high performance electric vehicles (EV) is expected to take up TVS’s EV line up design to the next level. TVS’s association with Tim will enable the company to boost its ability in staying ahead of the pack in design trends while also building up a competitive edge in future technology. Tim began his career with Honda R&D, and Raymond, and was responsible for concept design development of motorcycles, ATVs (All Terrain Vehicle) and PWCs (Personal Watercraft). Armed with a degree in Industrial Technology from California State University, he is also an alumnus of the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, California, where he was awarded the first ‘William Mitchell’ scholarship for ‘Outstanding Promise in Transportation Design’. His design studio ‘Motonium Design Inc’ has worked on the design, project management and creative direction for clients such as Honda R&D, Mission Motors, Triumph Motorcycles, Polaris, Windecker Aircraft, BMW Motorrad, Aprilia, Yamaha, and Disney Studios.