Muthuswami is TCS Chairman, North America

IT major, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has elevated Suresh Muthuswami as Chairman, North America, effective from April 1, 2022, as part of its leadership rejig for the North American region, one of TCS’s most significant markets in revenue terms. Muthuswami replaces veteran Surya Kant, who has been steering TCS North America for the past 16 years and is due for retirement at the end of the fiscal year. Reporting to Rajesh Gopinathan, CEO and MD, TCS - Muthuswami will helm corporate governance and corporate affairs. In his current role, Muthuswami is the President & Global Head of Banking, Financial Services & Insurance Platforms at TCS, with an estimated 528.7 thousand employees and based in Edison, United States. Surya Kant’s 43 years at TCS includes his most recent role as the head of its BFSI Platform business. TCS’s move is seen as one of the most significant leadership changes announced by the company in recent years. The company has shuffled a few more roles for its North American businesses. Amit Bajaj will step in as President, TCS North America, and R Vivekanand will head the BFSI platforms. North America is one of TCS’s most prominent regions in terms of revenue contribution and registered a 49.7% contribution in the Financial Year 2021. According to analysts, the rejigs are a part of Gopinathan’s focus for the next five years to onboard the right people to head business units in scaling the company’s business.

Pratima Badhwar

Accor appoints Pratima Badhwar as Commercial Head

Accor has appointed Pratima Badhwar as the Head of Commercial for India & South Asia. With her extensive background in Sales and Distribution within the hospitality industry, she will be responsible for India and the South Asia Commercial Team to meet business targets for all Accor brands and hotels in the region and execute global strategies. In her most recent role, she was the Area Director of Sales and Distribution—North India, Nepal and Bhutan. She defined and led the hospitality group’s sales and pricing strategy across all segments, evaluated market demand trends, and identified and communicated strategic opportunities. She brings in 19-years of career experience as a contributor for various leadership roles in the hospitality segment. Her forte for creating and managing high-performing teams has enabled intangible products to translate into revenue. A collaborator, effective communicator, and result-oriented individual, she has driven business growth through her exemplary organisational skills. She holds a diploma in Hotel Management from IHMCTAN Chandigarh, affiliated with IHM Pusa. She was previously associated with the Marriott International Group.

Nitin Paranjpe

HUL appoints Nitin Paranjpe as Chairman

FMCG veteran Nitin Paranjpe, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Unilever has been appointed non-executive chairman of the Rs.45,000 crore-Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) effective March 31, 2022. The former chairman, Sanjiv Mehta, will continue as the CEO & Managing Director (MD). As Mehta’s predecessor, Paranjpe, was the CEO of HUL between 2008 and 2013. With the new top rejigs, HUL has now separated the Chairman and CEO positions and the MD role to fall in line with global progressive governance trends. Although Paranjpe’s appointment as the non-executive chairman keeps up with good governance practices, industry watchers view it as a significant move to strengthen its relationship with parent Unilever. Unilever had recently appointed Paranjpe as the Chief Transformation Officer (COO) and Chief People Officer (CEO), and as the business transformation leader and HR function head, effective April 2022. Paranjpe was CEO of Unilever’s India unit and served as the executive Vice President for South Asian regions from 2008 to 2013. He was appointed as the President of Unilever, homecare business and was also the President, Food and Refreshments in 2018. He became a member of the Unilever Leadership Executive in 2018 and the COO in 2019. Mehta welcomed Paranjpe back to the fold and acknowledged his significant knowledge and experience base for further value additions to the HUL board. Paranjpe is an alumnus of the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management, the College of Engineering Pune (CoEP) and JaiHind College, Mumbai.

Samiran Gupta

Samiran Gupta joins Twitter as Head of Public Policy

Twitter India has roped in public policy veteran Samiran Gupta as Head of Public Policy and philanthropy. He will lead the microblogging platform’s public policies department across India and South Asia. The appointment to this most pertinent role comes almost a year after Mahima Kaul, the former Public Policy Director for India and South Asia, resigned in February 2021. Gupta brings in a total of over 30 years of experience working across multiple companies assisting corporations in setting up industrial and services pursuits. He is considered an experienced public policy and stakeholder engagement leader. Kathleen Reen, Senior Director Public Policy and Philanthropy, APAC, Twitter, tweeted Gupta’s appointment through the platform. Gupta was previously associated with a non-profit organisation, The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), for seven years and briefly held the position as the firm’s head for stakeholder engagement for South Asia. “Thrilled to join @Twitter to lead the Public @Policy team’s work to engage with govts, NGOs, and partners in India and South Asia. Can’t wait to get started with the incredible @Policy team and contribute towards an Internet that is a global force for good,” Gupta tweeted. His role assumes significance in the wake of the Government’s notified IT rules announced in 2021, making digital mediators more accountable and responsible for the content hosted on their platforms.

Vi Chief Digital Officer steps down

Reema Jain

Reema Jain, Chief Digital Officer (CDO) of Vodafone Idea (Vi), has stepped down. Reema’s role was significant in setting up Vi’s digital function and has led the company to a certain level of functional maturity, as per an internal company email. Reema delivered remarkable progress on various digital parameters and objectives. She had laid the functional foundations enabling the company to elevate the digital organisation to the next growth and success levels. The third-largest telecom company is in the process of integrating its Consumer Digital product curation and delivery by bringing all its digital resources under different functions into a more holistic delivery model. Vi has re-aligned its digital business under three verticals: Consumer Digital Products & Partnerships, Consumer Digital Marketing, and Digital Delivery. All functions will be reporting to Jagbir Singh, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Avneesh Khosla, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Vi had created their digital function a year ago and enhanced their partnership and synergy for functional digital agendas to drive more significant solution implementation for customers. Holding a B.E.(Electronics), she is an INSEAD (AI) alumna, specialised in Artificial Intelligence for business transformation.

Takuta Tsumura

Takuta Tsumura named President & CEO of Honda Cars India

Honda Motors has appointed Takuta Tsumura as President & CEO of Honda Cars India Limited (HCIL) effective April 1, 2022. The move is part of Honda’s annual management changes as Tsumura replaces Gaku Nakanishi, promoted as General Manager, Automobile Business for Honda’s Asia and Oceania region. Tsumura’s global experiences working in Thailand, Australia, China, Turkey, Japan and Europe are expected to steer the Japanese automobile major when it is going through one of its most challenging phases in India. From 1998 to 2000, Tsumura led Honda Cars’ head office for South Asian countries, including India. His association with the Japanese automaker dates back to over three decades. Market watchers hope to see how Tsumura kick-starts HCIL’s progress across newer markets and away from his predecessor’s shadow.

Susanne Pulverer promoted as CEO, IKEA India

Susanne Pulverer

IKEA India, the local arm of the Swedish home furnishings retailer has appointed Susanne Pulverer as its new and first-ever woman Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO). Susanne takes over from Peter Betzel, former India CEO, who has moved on within the IKEA Group. Before her new responsibility, Susanne was in charge of Group Business Risk and Compliance Manager at Ingka Group, IKEA's parent company which has prioritised India as an important market for them. Susanne joined IKEA in 1997 and has worked across different roles within the company. Her most recent top deck role is her third stint in India. She moved to India in 2007 and was the head of the purchasing function for IKEA South Asia and developed a strong connection and passion for India and its people. In her second stint in India, since 2011, Susanne came with the proper understanding of the company’s nerves and displayed her capabilities driving strategies in the Indian market. She again joined Ikea India in 2017 for five years as the MD at Ikea Communications, the in-house agency of Ikea. She led IKEA’s major transformation in driving better business and people results. In her last role in India, she led market development for the Delhi-NCR region, working towards the group’s sustainability agenda and local community initiatives, crucial to IKEA’s vision and mission in becoming a climate-positive business by 2030. She started her IKEA journey as Environmental Manager for the IKEA Group, Sweden, and held various roles in diverse business categories.

Vipula Gunatilleka

Jet Airways ropes in SriLankan Airlines’ Gunatilleka

The Jalan-Kalrock consortium-owned Jet Airways has roped in former SriLankan Airlines’ CEO, Vipula Gunatilleka, as the airline’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) effective from March 1, 2022. Gunatilleka, an aviation expert and turnaround strategist, relinquished his CEO role with SriLankan Airlines in January 2022 to onboard Jet Airways. Gunatilleka was part of Jet’s Airway’s extended hiring process as part of the airline’s 2022 ‘take off’ plan, having been grounded for almost the last three years. A qualified chartered accountant, Gunatilleka was headhunted in 2018 to re-structure SriLankan Airlines. In less than two years as the CEO, he enabled the Srilankan national carrier to record a positive EBITDA and cash flow for 2019-20 despite the devastating April 2019 terror attacks in Sri Lanka, followed by the global pandemic early 2020. Before joining SriLankan Airlines, Gunatilleka was the CFO & Board Member of TAAG Angola Airlines from November 2015 to July 2018 under Emirates Management and played a crucial role in turning around the loss-making Angolan national carrier. He is known for his deep-dive knowledge of aircraft financing, cost-efficient business modelling and openness to adopting hybrid models to keep business costs low and efficient. Jet Airways was grounded on April 17, 2019, due to a cash freeze under founder Naresh Goyal. In June 2021, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the insolvency resolution plan by the Jalan-Kalrock consortium, comprising British investor Kalrock Capital Management and UAE-based entrepreneur Murari Lal Jalan.

Bella Patel

FCB Promotes Bella Patel as Global Talent Officer

Agency Foote, Cone & Belding, or FCB has promoted veteran Bella Patel as the Global Chief Talent Officer. Patel has been associated with the agency in North America for more than a decade. The new role is part of the agency’s succession plan following former Chief Talent Officer, Cindy Augustine moving to McCann Worldgroup. Patel will directly report to the Global Chairperson and Global Chief Creative Officer, Susan Credle and Global CEO, Tyler Turnbull. As per reports, the Global Chief Talent Officer, Patel will team up with talent leads across the network’s offices and build the agency’s inclusive culture and its “talent above all else” approach for recruitment and retention. She joined FCB in 2006 and since 2011, has led Human Resources. Under her leadership, FCB Chicago attracted and nurtured top talent fuelling the agency’s business and creativity. Before joining FCB, Patel worked with Raytheon Polar Services Company’s Antarctic program and Hyatt Hotels. As a talent champion, she hopes to helm the global role in partnership with transformational leaders like Susan and Tyler, who believe in talent as the most significant asset.