Ex-Turkish Airlines' Chairman now CEO & MD of Air India
Ilker Ayci, the former Chairman of Turkish Airlines, takes over as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of Air India, effective on or before April 1, 2022. The Air India board approval of Ayci’s appointment is subject to requisite regulatory approvals. Ayci has been the Chairman of Turkish Airlines since 2015. His resignation was announced on January 27, 2022, coinciding with the Tata Sons’ takeover of the Air India subsidiary, Air India Express, and a 50% stake in joint venture AISATS. The top deck development is in line with the Tata Group’s proposal to appoint an expatriate chief to run the airline when it took over Air India from the Indian Government. An aviation industry stalwart, Ayci was an advisor to Tayyip Erdoğan, the current President of Turkey, during his days as former Mayor of Istanbul Recep (Metropolitan Municipality of Istanbul) and was involved in development projects in Turkey. Born in Istanbul in 1971, Ayci is a 1994 alumnus of Bilkent University’s Department of Political Science and Public Administration. In 1995, he completed a research stay on Political Science at the Leeds University in the UK and an International Relations Master’s Programme at the Marmara University in Istanbul in 1997. As a board member, Ayci represents the Turkish Football Federation, the Turkish Airlines Sports Club, and TFF Sportif Anonim Sirketi. He is also a member of the Canadian Turkish Business Council and the US-Turkey Business Council.
Prashant PeresKellogg India ropes in ex-Unilever and Mondelez executive
Prashant Peres joins Kellogg India as Managing Director (India and South Asia), replacing Mohit Anand who has been promoted as the General Manager of the company’s snacks portfolio for Kellogg AMEA (Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa). Peres has since relinquished his former role as the President and Managing Director of Mondelez International (Indonesia), leading the company’s chocolate business. Peres is expected to steer the cereal maker’s consumer-focused array of food offerings. An FMCG sector veteran, Peres brings in 25-years of rich experience working across the snacks, beverages, and personal care categories for markets in Asia, Australia, Africa, and New Zealand. In a previous stint, he was previously the Vice President for Unilever’s South Asia foods division. He kick-started his FMCG journey as a Regional Sales Manager with Unilever and served several senior roles within Unilever’s sales and marketing division across Turkey, China, and the Middle East. He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM-C) and K J Somaiya College of Engineering, Mumbai.
Natarajan ChandrasekaranVeteran Chandrasekaran renews his tenure at Tata Sons
Veteran Tata Group lifer, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, has been reappointed as Executive Chairman for another five years with Tata Sons. The Board of the $103-billion conglomerate, following a review of its five years’ performance, renewed Chandrasekaran’s term, which is slated to end on February 20, 2022. He will continue to lead the salt-to-aeroplane conglomerate for another five years and his term extension is seen as a critical step to help close the ongoing Tata-Cyrus Mistry sensitive leadership saga. His second term will entail sustaining Tata Trusts’ focus at the group level and strengthening its digital initiatives. The recent Padma Bhushan awardee’s reappointment is subject to support the resolution from the majority of shareholders of Tata Sons, including his revised remuneration at its annual general meeting scheduled in August. With Tata Sons owning the majority of shares at 66% by Tata Trusts and Chaired by Ratan Tata, industry watchers are confident that the resolution will favour Chandrasekaran. He is one of the country’s highest-paid CEOs with an annual compensation package above Rs.60 crore. Chandrasekaran stepped in as the Additional Director on October 25, 2016, and was subsequently designated as Chairman on January 12, 2017, after Tata Sons ousted Cyrus Mistry from the top deck following his differences with Ratan Tata. Popularly tagged as ‘marathon man,’ Chandrasekaran’s journey as a TCS intern in 1987, paving his 30 years with the business conglomerate, has steered vital roles within the Tata Group. He is noted for bringing in a customer-focus appeal and innovation at TCS. The recent acquisition of erstwhile national carrier, Air India, is seen as one of his significant contributions. Born in Tamil Nadu in 1963, Chandrasekaran is an alumnus of the Coimbatore Institute of Technology and the Regional Engineering College in Tiruchirappalli. Under his leadership, TCS generated $16.5 billion in 2015-16 and consolidated its position as India’s largest private-sector employer. He was appointed to the RBI Board in 2016, was NASCOM Chairman in 2013, and an active member at India’s bilateral business forums, including Australia, the UK, the USA, and Japan.
Pradip ShahPradip Shah appointed as Chairman, Pfizer India
Pradip Shah takes charge as Chairman of the Board of Directors, Pfizer India, replacing R A Shah who has resigned from the Board effective February 3, 2022. The former independent director with Pfizer, Pradip Shah will continue to mobilise Pfizer’s strategic goals. He has been contributing to the Board as a financial expert for many years. He has been on the Board of Pfizer since December 1999 and guided the management on financial and strategic decisions. He is also the Chairman of IndAsia Fund Advisors and a Director on the Board of several reputed companies and a member of various prestigious committees. In his previous stints, he was the former Managing Director of CRISIL, India’s first credit rating agency. In 1977, prior to founding CRISIL, he had helped to establish the Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC). Shah was a consultant to USAID, the Asian Development Bank, and the World Bank. Shah is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School. The Chartered Accountant is a rank holder in India and also an eminent cost accountant.
Rahul GuhaBCG’s Rahul Guha to join Thyrocare as MD & CEO
API Group backed, Thyrocare Technologies Limited has appointed Boston Consulting Group’s (BCG) Rahul Guha as the new Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective May 2022. The Senior Partner and Lead - Healthcare and LifeSciences Practice India at BCG, is expected to scale Thyrocare’s diagnostics targets and expand into newer global markets. Thyrocare owns the popular healthcare platform PharmEasy. While Guha is scheduled to join Thyrocare, the pan India diagnostic laboratory services provider, Guha’s 17 years stint with the BCG currently involves his role as MD and senior partner, leading the Healthcare & Life Science practice which is focused on healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and the process industry. In his previous stints, Guha was the co-founder and CEO of Nautilus Software and the Chief Technology Officer at ValuePay.com, he was responsible for product development in the US market. He has extensive project experience in MedTech and HealthTech and has worked closely with multiple startups on their digital incubation projects. The Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore alumnus has over two decades of experience as an active contributor in the pharma sector.
Suresh Dutt TripathiTata Sons taps group talent to steer Air India
Suresh Dutt Tripathi, a recently retired senior talent at Tata Steel HR has been moved to Air India HR to help with the integration process. Likewise, Nipun Aggarwal, senior Vice President, Tata Sons will steer the Air India management committee. It is reported that the Air India management committee will include Vinod Hejmadi (Director - Finance), Meenakshi Mallik (Director - Commercial), Amrita Sharan (Director - HR), and Capt. R S Sandhu (Director - Operations). As Tata Sons brings back the erstwhile national carrier into its fold, the company has started employing a specific group talent. Industry sources confirm that the focus would remain on improving customer experience and on-time performance. The ministry of civil aviation had earlier appointed Vikram Dev Dutt as the Chairman and Managing Director of Air India Limited on January 18, 2022.
Rahul BhatiaBillionaire founder steps in as Indigo MD
Rahul Bhatia, the billionaire co-founder of Interglobal Aviation Limited (Indigo), takes over as Managing Director (MD) with immediate effect and will oversee all aspects of Asia’s largest budget airline and actively lead the management team. The Board of Directors unanimously approved Bhatia’s appointment as the MD for a tenure of five years, subject to the shareholders’ approval. Bhatia’s role would be transformational, focusing on long-term expansions in India and the international markets. Bhatia’s appointment comes close on the heels of India's largest domestic airline (53.5% market share), announcing a profit of Rs.129.80 crore for the quarter ending December 31, 2021, having previously faced losses in seven successive quarters. Bhatia as the promoter had stepped in to take on a managerial position in the airline as the CEO in July 2018 when Indigo’s former CEO, Aditya Ghosh, quit. Bhatia’s tenure at the time lasted a few months, but his current five-year tenure as the MD indicates more power and intentions in handling Indigo’s day-to-day operations. In 1989, Bhatia established InterGlobe Enterprises with its flagship air transport management business. Bhatia’s 30 years of experience in the travel industry has enabled him to steer the InterGlobe Group’s diverse portfolio, including civil aviation (Indigo), aircraft maintenance engineering, hospitality, airline management, travel commerce, and advanced pilot training. Bhatia’s takeover as the MD is seen as a strategy to combat upcoming market competition as Tata Son’s incorporates Air India into its fold; and billionaire and stockstrader Rakesh Jhunjhunwala and the former Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube’s proposed ultra-low-cost airline Akasa Air, set to foray into the market.
S R NarasimhanNarasimhan takes additional charge as CMD of POSOCO
S R Narasimhan, Director (System Operation) of the state-run Power System Operation Corporation Ltd (POSOCO) has taken additional charge as the company’s Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) and replaced K V S Baba, who superannuated on February 1, 2022. POSOCO is a Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Power, Government of India. POSOCO monitors and ensures the round-the-clock integrated operation of the Indian power system in a reliable and efficient manner. Narasimhan brings in over three decades of his experience in power system operation across CEA (Central Electricity Authority), POWERGRID and POSOCO, following an initial stint with BHEL. With extensive experience in the interconnection of regional grids, he has managed facets of power system operation including planning, scheduling, real-time operation and post-dispatch analysis. He is well-versed in visualisation and situational awareness tools. Narasimhan has contributed at the government and regulatory levels in multiple areas across system operation, grid integration of renewable energy (RE) resources and institution building. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers, India, Senior Member of IEEE, and a member of CIGRE, and was conferred with the IEEE-PES, Delhi Chapter Outstanding Engineer Award in 2019 and the CIGRE Distinguished Member in 2020. He has published over 50 papers at the National and International levels. He has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and an MBA in Finance).
Sonal MataiKarl Storz ropes in Philip’s Matai as MD
Karl Storz Endoscopy-America, Inc. (KSEA), has roped in Sonal Matai as MD. The former business leader and general manager of Philips Respironics succeeded Charlie Wilhelm, who has departed from KSEA after 30 years with the company. Matai, the visionary MedTech leader is expected to bring in a unique perspective based on his work experiences working in senior roles within the commercial, marketing, and strategy positions at Philips and GE across the USA, Netherlands, Thailand, and India. In his most current role before joining Karlz, he was the North American business leader for Philips’ sleep and respiratory care business and has a deep understanding of the healthcare industry and customer needs. Matai is an alumnus of IMT, Ghaziabad, India, and has an MBA from the IMD Business School, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Anil KotianPublicis’s Kotian joins as SVP, Zee OnDemand
Zee Entertainment’s video on demand and over-the-top platform, has brought in Anil Kotian as Senior Vice President (SVP). The former SVP at Publicis Emil, since March 2021, will be heading Zee’s relationship team. Kotian brings-in15 years of experience creating and managing media and building marketing strategies for brands. In former roles, he was VP-Digital Marketing and Digital Transformation at Bada Business, AVP - Head of Client Servicing and Strategy at Dentsu, and Client Lead at Wavemaker. He was associated with Standard Chartered Bank, Rediff.com, and Ohana Media.