Dr Kamlesh LullaIMF’s Gopinath, NASA’s Lulla are Carnegie’s ‘Great Immigrants’
Indian Americans Gita Gopinath, Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and NASA scientist Dr Kamlesh Lulla have featured in the Carnegie Corporation of New York’s annual list of Great Immigrants. Constituted by the philanthropic foundation set up by the noted industrialist Andrew Carnegie, the 2021 list honours 34 individuals. India-born Gopinath focuses her research on international finance and macroeconomics and is one of the world’s outstanding economists. Growing up in India, she was not aware of the prospects of economics in the working world in an environment where children aspired to become doctors or engineers. So, she studied science and was encouraged towards administrative services. But she finally pursued economics around the early 1990s, when her interest gradually directed her into international finance. Her pursuits led her to take a “leave of public service” from her job of teaching international studies and economics at Harvard University when she assumed the office of the chief economist of IMF. In 2019, she was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, the highest honour given by Indian government to overseas Indians and persons of Indian origin.
An internationally reputed scientist, Lulla’s career at NASA has spanned more than three decades. A recipient of three NASA Exceptional Achievement Medals, the India-born Lulla has trained astronauts, enabled the International Space Station’s observational science capabilities and published crucial research on issues of climate change and science. The former chief scientist for Earth Observations (Space Shuttle), is a senior advisor for university research and technology collaboration at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. He is a recipient of the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award and the Ellison Onizuka Award.
Hiral ChandranaWipro’s Chandrana joins as Global CEO, Mastek
Hiral Chandrana, former Wipro senior executive has been roped by Mastek as its global Chief Executive Officer (CEO). With a proven track record of spearheading a growing digital transformation business, Chandrana will be based out of the U.S. for the enterprise digital transformation specialist firm. He brings in over two decades of global expertise in IT services and solutions across a diverse set of industries. In his most recent role with Wipro spanning over 14-years, he served as Senior Vice President and Global Head, Business Application Services, where he transformed the $3B applications business to a digital framework. He also drove strategic cloud partnerships and M&As. Chandrana has also had a stint with Electronic Data Systems (now part of DXC Technology) in progressive business leadership roles. A mechanical engineer, he has an MS and MBA from the US.
Andy PalmerFormer Aston Martin CEO to helm Ashok Leyland’s UK-EV arm
Ashok Leyland has roped in stalwart Andy Palmer, former President and CEO of UK’s iconic Aston Martin as its Executive Vice Chairman and CEO of its EV (electric vehicle) arm – Switch Mobility. The Hinduja Group-backed new electrified commercial vehicles group marks the company’s strategic move to formally launch a combined EV operation between Ashok Leyland and its British EV arm in the net-zero carbon buses segment. Palmer will take control of Ashok Leyland’s new diversification into electrical vehicles as it also seeks further expansion in the electric vans’ category. Palmer will be supported by a team of experts in mobilising the company’s ambitious plans in urban e-mobility. Palmer was expelled from Aston Martin after a devastating slump when UK’s iconic luxury carmaker’s share price fell following its flotation in 2018. Palmer has worked with Nissan before his Aston Martin stint and helped launch Nissan’s first electric car, the Leaf; he was also responsible for its van division. Leyland’s expansive intention has seen multiple top board appointments such as Nitin Seth as Chief Operating Officer, Sarwant Singh Saini as Chief Planning Officer and Roger Blakey as Chief Technical Officer. The company has hinted at other leadership appointments in the pipeline. Dheeraj Hinduja, Chairman, Switch Mobility is focused on rapidly growing its zero-carbon mobility sector by combining advanced engineering and development skills in the UK and India in addressing global market demands. Switch Mobility, formerly known as Optare, supplies 67 electric buses to London’s fleet of 500, with another 30 being built at its Yorkshire factory. Switch has manufactured a total of 208 electric buses in the UK.
Paytm’s President and Chief HR Quits, board rejigs
Amit Nayyar, President, Paytm and Rohit Thakur, Chief HR Officer, Paytm, along with some high-profile executives of the company have quit the company ahead of its much-anticipated $2.2 billion Initial Public Offering (IPO), expected in November. A former Goldman Sachs executive, Nayyar came on board in 2019 to steer its financial services arm and was responsible for its insurance and lending verticals. Rohit Thakur onboarded in December 2019 and having completed his notice period has quit the company in June 2021. Nayyar and Thakur were from the new breed of leaders that Paytm had hired when some senior executives from the older brigade quit the company a year ago. Thakur, a former HR head at Accenture has also held leadership positions at Microsoft and GE. Paytm has yet to find a replacement for Thakur. Meanwhile, the fintech firm has initiated Douglas Lehman Feagin, former senior vice president at Ant Group, to its board as an additional director. Besides, Ashit Lilani, managing partner of Saama Capital, has joined Paytm’s board as an independent director. While Vikas Agnihotri of SoftBank Vision Fund has onboarded as an alternate director, existing members, Michael Yuen Jen of Alibaba and Todd Anthony Combs of Berkshire Hathaway has exited the company. Also, the terms of Ting Hong Kenny Ho and Guoming Cheng of the Alibaba Group, who were alternate directors, have expired. While some of these changes are on account of Paytm’s rotational retirement policy.
Sarma ChillaraŠKODA AUTO India promotes Chillara
Sarma Chillara will take over as Group Head HR of ŠKODA AUTO Volkswagen India, succeeding Jan Frydrych, who will move on as Head of Operative HR care, digitisation, HR 4.0 at ŠKODA’s headquarters in Mlada Boleslav, Czech Republic. Chillara was previously responsible for the company’s HR Operations and will now take up responsibilities across Human Resources & Administration for the auto major in India. In his new role, Chillara will be responsible for the company’s HR strategy and execution, internal stakeholder and talent management while also leading HR strategies for the Group within the structure of its India 2.0 project. The company is in the midst of its digital transformation journey, and Chillara’s role will focus on enhanced employee experiences, diversity and inclusion, education and upskilling. Chillara brings over 15 years of experience across various roles within the HR domain. He joined Volkswagen Group in 2011 and has been associated with the Group for over nine years in various leadership roles. He has had previous stints with Citibank, heading its HR analytics unit, before moving on to the Boston Consulting Group. He is an alumnus of the Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai.
Geetika MehtaHershey India ropes in HUL’s former GM
Hershey India, the local arm of American chocolate company-The Hershey Company has roped in Geetika Mehta as the company’s Managing Director (MD), effective July 1, 2021. In a strategic move, Geetika Mehta succeeds Herjit Bhalla, Vice President, India and AEMEA at The Hershey Company who was recently elevated to the global role. Geetika will report to Bhalla as she relinquishes her almost two decades of experience at Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL). An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad, she was the former General Manager for the home and hygiene business at HUL and also spearheaded roles in the packaged consumer goods industry and food businesses across categories that include soups, noodles, spice mixes et.al. She was also the regional brand director (South Asia), responsible for delivering annual P&L and long-term business health-related to market shares, brand health and other innovation pipelines. Geetika led innovations for all markets in the South Asian cluster and rendered leadership roles in business operations overseeing demand and supply, forecast and planning. Mehta kick-started her career with HUL in 2003 as part of the 'Unilever Future Leaders Programme' and slowly moved up the rung playing several other roles within the company across different segments.
Bhanumurthy BallapuramWipro COO Bhanumurthy retires
Bhanumurthy Ballapuram, COO, Wipro Limited has retired marking the end of his 28 years of long inning with the company. Bhanumurthy began his Wipro journey some three decades ago in the retail and CPG vertical. In fact, he set up the RCTG (retail, CPG, transportation, and government) unit for Wipro and brought in key clients like Nike to the client listings. An alumnus of IIM-Ahmedabad, Bhanumurthy managed business application services, which has so far been the largest service line for Wipro. Calling Wipro his home for 28 years, Bhanumurthy said that he was grateful to Wipro for shaping him as a leader and as a human being while giving him all the opportunities to contribute to the best of his abilities. When he joined Wipro in 1992, he was a part of a team of a few hundred employees, which has now strengthened into a conglomerate of over 200,000 associates. He said that despite the changes, the company has retained its underlying spirit over the years.
Harish Laddha
Harish Laddha CEO of Airtel Business
Harish Laddha joins as the CEO, Emerging Business unit of Airtel Business-the B2B arm of Bharti Airtel. He is expected to influence new growth opportunities in emerging small and medium business (SMB) categories. He will report to Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO of Airtel Business. He will lead a dedicated team in bringing highly differentiated offerings for these emerging segments. His most recent role before he joined Airtel was as Executive Director–India Sales at Ingram Micro where he was responsible for driving the company’s annual revenue stream exceeding $3 billion. Prior to that, he was the Director for Ingram’s Cloud Business in India. In a career span of over 25 years, he has also worked with Tata Communications and Tech Pacific. An alumnus of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Telecommunication from MIT, Pune. Airtel Business has a presence across verticals such as B2B connectivity space with a portfolio that includes Cloud, Data Center, IoT, Cyber Security, and Ad Tech. The company posted a revenue of Rs.14.407 for FY ended March 2021.
Koji WadaKoji Wada replaces Iwata as new MD, Fujifilm India
Fujifilm India Private Limited has appointed Koji Wada as Managing Director (MD) replacing Haruto Iwata. Iwata has moved on to take charge of his new role as MD for the company’s Asia-Pacific region in Singapore. Wada will lead Fujifilm’s operations and business strategy in India and be responsible for its organisational growth and profitability with an integrated approach in sales, marketing and business policies. This is Koji Wada’s second stint in India for Fujifilm, a pioneering company in diagnostic imaging technologies. He brings in over 20 years of experience having expedited his responsibilities as General Manager in leading the company’s medical business in India. Wada was Marketing Manager of PI, EI, RM for Fujifilm India in 2007 and also took charge as the Secretary to Global CEO Komori. In 2014, he was made the General Manager for Fujifilm Thailand and in 2017, as Fujifilm’s MD for Myanmar. In 2019, he was appointed as the Senior Manager of ME and Director of FFIN. Wada has been associated with Fujifilm since 2001 and has been contributing to its global businesses across offices in Japan, Thailand, Myanmar and India.
Siddharth BanerjeePearson appoints Siddharth Banerjee as MD
UK-based education and publishing firm Pearson has appointed Siddharth Banerjee as its new Managing Director (MD) for India and Asia. The move reflects Pearson’s embarking on a digital transformation journey with a greater and gradual focus on the online higher education market. Banerjee succeeds Joe Lam who was heading both its India and China operations. Banerjee is expected to strengthen Pearson’s direct to consumer (D2C) strategy and digital proposition in the region and also build a direct relationship with the education ecosystem in these regions. Most recently, he served as CRO and Global CMO of Games24x7, which is one of his long career spans of over 21 years helming leadership positions with Facebook, Vodafone and Unilever. A specialist in consumer-centric, technology-based businesses, he is an alumnus of La Martiniere College, Lucknow, the Harvard Business School, IIM-Ahmedabad FMS-Delhi as well as ISB-Hyderabad.