Neera Tanden appointed as U.S. White House Staff Secretary
Neera Tanden, the Indian-American policy expert, has been appointed as the White House staff secretary. She is currently serving as a senior advisory to U.S. President Joe Biden and is considered a close confidant of the President. Reporting to Ron Klain, the White House Chief of Staff, Tanden will be replacing Jessica Hertz who is expected to step down in due course. Her appointment comes eight months after the Republican lawmakers blocked her nomination to another key post. The White House staff secretary is a critical behind-the-scenes task in the West Wing and helps manage paper flow to the President from different areas of the administration and the Federal Government. It is understood that the person filling this job profile wields the most power in the White House building. Additionally, Tanden will keep her senior adviser title and will continue to provide leadership on particular projects and initiatives, as per White House offices. She began her career in former President Bill Clinton’s White House as an associate director for domestic policy, and as a senior policy adviser to the First Lady, Hillary Clinton. She also served as the policy director for Hillary Clinton’s first presidential campaign. Before the 2008 presidential campaign, she served as the legislative director in Hillary Clinton’s office, and as the deputy campaign manager and issues director for Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign. In previous stints, Tanden was the senior adviser for health reforms at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She also worked on particular provisions of former President Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement on the Affordable Care Act with Congress and its stakeholders. Tanden holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a law degree from Yale Law School.
Rajeev MantriCiti onboards former CFO of TransUnion CIBIL
Citi appoints Rajeev Mantri as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Citi India, and as Cluster Finance Head, South Asia, effective October 2021. Mantri joins Citi from TransUnion CIBIL-a credit information company maintaining credit files of 600 million individuals and 32 million businesses. Mantri steps down from his previous role as the CFO at TransUnion to succeed Niraj Parekh who is relocating to New York as the Head of Financial Planning & Analysis for Citi’s Institutional Clients Group. Reporting to Ashu Khullar, CEO, Citi India and Tim Monger, the Asia Pacific CFO, Citi; Mantri will be based out of Mumbai. He will be responsible for the company’s finance functions, and balance sheet management, also oversee business planning and strategy. Besides, he will supervise financial controls, reporting and tax matters. In India, his focus will be on delivering the financial plan and also work closely with key stakeholders on franchise-level matters. Additionally, he will also provide governance and oversight on the finance functions of the Group across Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. He brings in 23 years of experience in the finance domain across India, UAE, and Singapore. In a previous stint, he has worked with Standard Chartered Bank in several senior finance roles across retail banking, wholesale banking, addressing cost and balance sheet management financial controls and regulatory reporting. A Chartered Accountant, Mantri has an Executive MBA from INSEAD business school, Singapore.
Sajjan JindalSajjan Jindal becomes first Indian Chairman of WSA
The World Steel Association (WSA) has elected Sajjan Jindal, Chairman and Managing Director of JSW Steel Ltd, as Chairman of the association for 2021-22. Jindal who helms one of India’s largest steel companies has become the first representative from India to be serving as the Chairman of the WSA. Worldsteel members find approximately 85% of representation from the world’s steel production fraternity, comprising more than 160 steel producers, national and regional steel industry associations, and steel research institutes. Established in 1967 and headquartered in Brussels, WSA acts as the focal point for the steel industry, providing global leadership on strategic issues that impact the industry and is focused on economic, environmental, and social sustainability. JSW Steel is the flagship business of the diversified $13 billion JSW Group manufacturing iron and steel products in India and abroad. JSW Group’s flagship JSW Steel is considered India’s leading and one of the world’s most efficient integrated steel-makers. The company aims to reach a steelmaking capacity of 45 MTPA by FY2030.
Ola top deck rejigs continue with CFO and CEO exits
Ola’s Swayam Saurabh, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Gaurav Porwal, Chief Operating Officer (CEO), have called it quits at the SoftBank-backed Indian ride-hailing firm. The exits have triggered yet another leadership re-shuffle ahead of its proposed initial public offering (IPO). While Saurabh, will leave the company in mid-December, Porwal, has also resigned. Following the two current high-profile exits, ANI Technologies Ltd., the parent company of mobility platform Ola Cabs, is on a restructuring spree of its top management. Bhavesh Aggarwal, Co-Founder & CEO, Olacabs.com, is once again re-arranging his leadership in time for the company’s proposed IPO. Likewise, Vinay A. Bhopatkar, Chief Executive Officer, OLA Delivery will be taking on additional responsibilities for the driver and supply ecosystem of the company’s mobility platform and Anshul Khandelwal, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) will additionally take charge of Ola’s revenue management. With the proposed IPO, the 11-year-old mobility platform services would be joining a robust pipeline of Indian startups that are gearing up to tap the IPO market in the coming months. Ola has witnessed high-profile exoduses in the past two years including that of its founding partner, Pranay Jivrajka, who quit the company to pursue his own startup earlier this year. Last year, Ankit Jain, co-founder of Ola Electric, Sanjay Bhan, Ola’s Chief Business Officer and Nitin Gupta, Ola Financial Services CEO, had quit the company.
Ranjan RevandkarSun Pharma’s Revandkar joins HDB Financials
Ranjan Revandkar has quit Sun Pharma to join HDB Financial Services as the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). He will be responsible for HDB’s cybersecurity and risk management functions. Prior to his appointment with CISO, he was associated with Sun Pharma as its Head of Information Security for close to four years. In this new role, Revandkar will be heading the cybersecurity and risk management departments at HDB Financial Services, which is a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) and a subsidiary of HDFC Bank with about 1400 branches. In a career that caps more than 14 years of professional experience, he has worked with several leading financial companies like Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, and RBL Bank. A NextCSO 2017 winner, Revandkar, graduated from the University of Mumbai with a bachelor’s degree in engineering. He also holds a postgraduate diploma in Management and a certificate in Cyber Law.
Amar NagaramMyntra CEO quits
Amar Nagaram Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Myntra, will be stepping down from his senior role to pursue his own venture. He has put in his papers, having served the leading e-commerce fashion platform for three years. Nagaram will continue in an advisory role with the company until December 2021 for facilitating a smooth transition. However, the company email has also stated that the details of the successor will be shared shortly. Nagaram has been associated with the group for around 10 years and was instrumental in leading diverse teams at Flipkart prior to joining Myntra. In previous stints, he was the Senior Vice President at Flipkart and took over as the CEO of Myntra as well as Jabong in January 2019 when his predecessor Ananth Narayanan abruptly resigned from the company following Walmart’s takeover of Flipkart. Having built a strong leadership team, Nagaram has stepped up Myntra ‘s vision in taking the business to greater heights during his tenure with the company.
Mukut DeepakFormer Tata Sky Business Head joins Byju’s
Mukut Deepak, former Chief Business Development Officer (CBO) & CEO, Tata Sky Active Digital, joins Byju’s as the Head of Business and will be responsible for expanding and leading its flagship business in Class 4 to 10 segment. Reporting directly to Mrinal Mohit, CEO of Byju’s; Deepak will work with the product, marketing and sales teams. He is expected to engage in forecasting, building, and proposing strategies. Deepak will be responsible for growing the vertical and establish systems and operations to optimise the company’s goals in steering its 4 to 10 school segments. A business leader and an entrepreneur, Deepak has over two decades of experience in varied sectors and brings his expertise in building new-age digital businesses, service excellence, strategy, entrepreneurship, and sales acumen. He has been an entrepreneur twice-as a founder of Distribution 2.0, a distribution venture aimed at retailing innovative financial services products and as the Director and Head of advisory for a logistics startup - Thinklink Supply Chain Services. The former Tata Sky CBO has spent nearly a decade in Revandkarmanagement consulting across Boston Consulting Group and Bain & Company working with CEOs and board members. He started his career with Unilever (India) into sales and marketing. He is an alumnus of the India Institute of Management, Calcutta, and St. Stephen’s College, Delhi.
Anil Kumar MisraJioMart ropes in former MagicBricks’ CHRO
JioMart has roped in former Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) of MagicBricks, Anil Kumar Misra as the company’s CHRO. Misra joins JioMart – B2B Grocery, Reliance Retail, effective October 2021. In his new role, he will be responsible for managing JioMart’s people and culture agenda. Prior to his new role, he has had a five-year run as the CHRO, MagicBricks while also playing multiple roles within HR across sectors, with fortune 500 Global MNCs as well as Indian corporates. He brings over two decades of HR experience across brands like Just Dial Limited, Tesco HSC, Fidelity National Financial, Patni Computer Systems Limited (Capgemini), Denso and Oberoi Hotels amongst others. He is an expert in Startup HR, Strategic HR Leadership, Talent and Culture Transformation, HR Business Partnering, Change Management and Leadership Development in building competent workplaces. With a proven track record of managing 10,000 plus employee-based organisations comprising of a team of about 100 plus HR colleagues, Mishra inspires and motivates young HR professionals through his own achievements. Misra is an alumnus of the Berhampur University and a Gold medallist winner in his Master of Industrial Relations and Personnel Management. He also holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Performance Management from Delhi University (DU).
Ramnath KrishnanICRA promotes Ramnath Krishnan
The credit analytics expert and capital markets specialist - ICRA, has promoted Ramnath Krishnan as Managing Director (MD) & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with immediate effect. He succeeds N Sivaraman, who has stepped down from the position citing personal reasons. Krishnan has relinquished his role as the President – Ratings and Chief Rating Officer, ICRA to take over his new role. Krishnan is expected to drive ICRA’s business strategy and enhance its organisational capabilities. Besides, he will also strengthen ICRA’s culture of analytical excellence, its independence and objectivity while continuing to uphold its high standards of corporate governance. He joined the credit rating agency formerly known as Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India Limited, in 2020. He has gained a long track record in his 30 years of service in the banking and finance sectors in India and abroad. His deep knowledge of risk, credit and markets, and strong leadership skills is expected to steer ICRA into its next growth phase. ICRA Limited was set up in 1991 by leading financial and investment institutions, commercial banks, and financial services companies as an independent and professional investment Information and Credit Rating Agency.