Jamsetji Tata-top global philanthropist of the century
India’s pioneer industrialist Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata and the founder of Tata Group has been heralded as the biggest global philanthropist over the last 100 years, as per a listing collated by EdelGive Foundation and Hurun Report. With donations worth $102 billion Jamsetji Tata has become the biggest ever giver in the last century. He had begun giving donations as early as 1892. The first-ever Edelgive-Hurun India Philanthropist list of the century positions Jamsetji ahead of Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffet, Henry Hughes and George Soros and their ilk. The listing breaks down the current valuation of Jamsetji’s donations at $102.4 billion over the past century, followed closely by Bill and Melinda Gates ($74.6 billion), Warren Buffett ($37.4 billion), George Soros ($34.8 billion) and J D Rockefeller ($26.8 billion). The report stated that “The total philanthropic value of Tata is made up of 66% of Tata Sons, estimated at $100 billion, solely based on the value of listed entities.” The only other Indian in the list includes former Wipro Chairman Azim Premji who is amongst the top 50 donors. Premji decided to give away at least half of his fortune by signing the Giving Pledge in 2013 and had earlier topped the Edel-Give-Hurun India Philanthropy List for 2020. Surprisingly, Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, and Elon Musk, CEO, Tesla Inc., are not included in this list. Only 13 of the 50 philanthropists who have made the list are alive. The total donations by the 50 givers have been pegged at $832 billion over the last century, of which $503 billion came from foundation endowments and $329 billion from donations to date. The highest number of givers listed were from the U.S. (39), the U.K. (5), China (3), India (2) and one each from Portugal and Switzerland.
Akriti ChopraZomato promotes Akriti Chopra as CPO
Food aggregator Zomato has promoted Akriti Chopra as its Chief People Officer (CPO) and co-founder of the business indicating a new chapter; having stepped down as from her former role as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in October 2020. Akriti’s association with Zomato stands for almost a decade and the food aggregator has been undergoing management changes in the run-up to their proposed IPO (initial public offering) expected this year. Akriti began her journey with the online food-ordering and restaurant-discovery firm in November 2011 as a senior manager of finance and operations and eventually was elevated as the Vice President (finance) and then as the CFO in April 2019. She played an important role in Zomato’s international expansion and led government relations practice for them. In October 2020, she exited from her CFO position to lead Zomato’s learning and development segment and took the responsibility of setting up growth modules for people across leadership and training.
Satya NadellaCEO Nadella takes charge as Chairman at Microsoft Corp
Satya Nadella, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Microsoft (MS) Corporation, has unanimously been elected to head the company’s board of directors. In a historic turning point, Nadella, 53, assumes the Chairman’s position at MS Office nearly three decades since he joined the $143 billion global technology corporation-becoming the only second CEO to do so following co-founder Bill Gates. Nadella succeeds John Thompson who will return as a lead independent director, a position he held before being named as the Chairman in 2014. As the company’s third CEO, Nadella will also be the third Chairman in Microsoft’s history, a position graced previously by both Gates and Thompson. He dons Microsoft’s Chairman mantle, having run the company for seven years, replacing Steve Ballmer as CEO in 2014. This coincided with Gates stepping down as the Chairman of the corporation and replaced by John Thompson. In his additional new role as Chairman, Nadella “will lead the work to set the agenda for the board, leveraging his deep understanding of the business to elevate the right strategic opportunities and identify key risks and mitigation approaches for the board’s review”, said an official company statement. Nadella took the charge at Microsoft when the company was struggling to make the shift to mobile-led computing technology. Nadella soon got Microsoft out of the mobile-phone business and more deeply and tactically into cloud computing; seen as a lucrative growth engine at the tech giant’s Redmond city base in Washington, US. Under Nadella, Microsoft focused on renting software and services hosted at data centres in cloud computing, while also bulking up on its Azure platform. The Hyderabad-born Nadella who moved to the US to pursue engineering gradually introduced fundamental changes through a collaborative team culture at Microsoft. He enabled shifting Microsoft’s business focus from selling yearly software licenses to the pay-as-you-rent model; parallelly also leading the adoption of cloud as the driver of future growth.
Aashish ChandorkarAashish Chandorkar to represent India at the WTO
The Union Government has appointed Aashish Chandorkar, one of India’s leading public policy commentator as Councilor at the level of director in India’s Permanent Mission in the World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva, for a period of three years. A frequent Swarajya contributor, Chandorkar’s appointment represents a first at the mission and comes ahead of a crucial WTO’s ministerial conference later this year. As a VP who currently heads the India consulting arm of a global technology firm (VP, Capgemini Invent), his appointment signals that the Government is ready to take the expertise of private sector talent for critical roles. A management consultant with 21 years of experience, Chandorkar has worked in global firms heading business and technology transformation projects for clients across industries and geographies. He is also co-founder of Smahi Foundation of Policy and Research, a public policy and research focusing on the intersection of governance, entrepreneurship, and technology. He is a frequent host of Bharatvaarta, one of India’s fastest-growing podcast platform specialising in long-form discussions on issues of policy, politics, and culture. A prolific policy commentator, he recently authored a report on Indian metro systems analysing its growth within Indian cities and implementation lessons learnt from previous projects.
Saurabh KumarGrofer’s co-founder quits, to remain a board member
Saurabh Kumar, co-founder of delivery startup Grofers has quit the company after eight years after co-founding the company with CEO, Albinder Dhindsa. While Kumar will no longer be involved in day-to-day responsibilities at Grofers, he would continue to be a board member. Although his next destination remains unknown, Kumar has hinted at pursuing greater personal goals, while market know-hows also point towards another entrepreneurial venture. He reportedly holds over 3% stake in the company, which is currently estimated at around $644 million. The two IIT alumni -Kumar and Dhindsa founded Grofers in 2013, which offers products across grocery, fruits, and vegetable categories. Currently operating in more than 27 cities, the startup initiated itself under a marketplace model but by 2017, it swung towards an inventory-led strategy. Grofers closely competes with BigBasket which was recently bought over by the Tata Group. Kumar’s exit coincides with when Grofers has reportedly been in talks with Zomato to raise around $100 M to enhance its position in the online grocery segment. Grofers-the SoftBank-backed company is also looking to launch its initial public offering (IPO) by the end of 2021. As per a retail report by Motilal Oswal Financial Services, e-grocery space is expected to grow over 59% CAGR to $18 billion by 2024.
Sumitra MitraThe European Patent Office honours Sumitra Mitra
The European Patent Office (EPO) has awarded Sumita Mitra with the European Inventor Award 2021 in the “Non-EPO countries” category. Mitra was the first to have successfully integrated nanotechnology into dental materials for producing stronger and more aesthetically pleasing fillings, currently used by dentists the world over. It was in the late 1990s during her stint with the oral care division of US MNC 3M, that Mitra became aware of the limitations of existing materials. She applied nanotechnology to explore how these new developments could be applied to dentistry. It was her desire to use her expertise in polymer chemistry and materials science in developing inventions that solve real-life problems. Mitra’s enduring legacy gained a mettle when in 2019, when 3M was named as one of the top three manufacturers of global composite fillings in the dental restoration market. Following her retirement from 3M in 2010, she became a partner at Mitra Chemical Consulting, LLC, which advises companies on new technology development, product design, commercialisation, mergers, and acquisitions. She was named an American Chemical Society Hero of Chemistry in 2009, inducted into the US National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2018 and elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2021 for her work related to inventions in nanotechnology for use in dental materials. She was also elected to the 3M Carlton Society in 1998-the highest 3M award given for the lifelong contribution to R&D. Her other awards include a Hollenback Memorial Prize from the Academy of Operative Dentistry (2020); a Peyton-Skinner Award for Innovation in Dental Materials from the International Association of Dental Research (2012); and a Top 25 Women in Dentistry Award (2010).
Vijayaraman SubramanianVerizon India promotes its interim head as VP & MD
Vijayaraman Subramanian, interim head of Verizon India-the Global Capability Centers (GCC) of American telecoms corporation, Verizon Communications has been promoted as Vice President (VP) and Managing Director (MD) of the Indian arm. He succeeds Kalyani Sekar who has moved to the US to spearhead a global leadership role within the company. In his new role, Subramanian will steer and evolve Verizon India into a strategic development centre and an emerging innovation hub for driving new capabilities for technologies like 5G for Verizon. Subramanian has been associated with the Indian arm of the company since its inception in 2001 and has led multiple business teams. He played a significant role in driving comprehensive solutions for Verizon’s network and technology needs. He has also led organisational initiatives like talent transformation, driving innovation through intrapreneurship, and engaged with the external ecosystem including startups and academia.
Anand ShankarTata veteran joins as SVP - Group HR & Director of TMTC
Tata Group veteran Anand Shankar has been elevated as Senior Vice President - Group Human Resources & Director of Tata Management Training Center (TMTC) effective July 31, 2021, succeeding Emmanuel David who will retire shortly. The new announcement marks Shankar’s 33 years of association with the Tatas and a successful career working with the Taj Group of Hotels. He has close to 32 years of experience in leading multiple functions across industries, which also include Littlewoods Plc UK, Hewitt Associates and Talent2 International. Prior to joining the Tatas, he was Senior Partner and Leader of the HR Transformation for three years at Deloitte. He had a long inning with AON Hewitt, joining as AON Chief Commercial Officer, APAC in 2009 and rose through the rungs to become Global Chief Commercial Officer-HR consulting. His longest 11-years stint was with Hewitt Associates as Regional Manager-Client Development, Asia Pacific. He has also worked with Talent2 International as Group Director-Corporate Development; Littlewoods PLC (International Retail) as Manager-Retail Store Operations. An alumnus of University of Chicago Booth School of Business and IHMCTAN, Chennai, Shankar is highly skilled in HR consulting and transformation, leadership development and succession planning, learning management and corporate universities, culture change and innovation and is well versed in helping manage and transform businesses and accelerate business performance.
Amrita PaddaAirtel ropes in former Unilever CPO
Bharti Airtel has roped in Unilever Marketplace HR stalwart, Amrita Padda as its Chief People Officer (CPO) replacing Samit Deb, who has relinquished his position to seek entrepreneurial opportunities outside of Airtel. Effective from October 1, 2021, Amrita will report directly to Gopal Vittal, Managing Director (MD) and Chief Operating Officer (CEO) of Bharti Airtel. She will be responsible for handling the telecom operator’s people strategy as the company switches over to digital services provider of choice. Prior to joining Bharti Airtel as the CPO, Amrita has had an impressive career graph working for Hindustan Unilever for over two decades taking on the entire spectrum of Human Resources for the company. Her most recent role was that of Chief People Officer for Unilever Marketplace which is Hindustan Unilever’s new business set up for transforming distributive trade. In previous roles, Amrita also led the HR for Unilever Philippines and for their global procurement function. India’s second-largest telecom operator has acknowledged Amrita’s strong expertise in leading HR transformation projects globally and in her pioneering efforts of new initiatives at Unilever.