Neerja SethiForbes spotlights 5 Indian-origin businesswomen
Indra Nooyi, Jayshree Ullal, Neerja Sethi, Reshma Shetty and Neha Narkhede have become the cover girls in the Forbes list of ‘America’s Richest Self-Made Women 2021’. The latest edition features fifteen newcomers including Indra Nooyi, former chair and CEO of PepsiCo. The other notable Indian-American power listed are Jayshree Ullal, President and CEO, Arista Networks; Neerja Sethi, Co-founder, Syntel; Neha Narkhede, Co-founder and former Chief Technology Officer, Confluent; and Reshma Shetty, Co-founder, Ginkgo Bioworks. With a net worth of $290 million, India-born Indra Nooyi stands 91st gaining fortunes from her long legacy of 12 years with PepsiCo, before stepping down as CEO in 2018 and as chairperson in 2019. During her tenure, she nearly doubled sales to $65 billion and introduced healthier products and environmentally friendly practices before joining Amazon’s board in 2019. Ranked 16th, the London-born Jayshree Ullal was raised in India. She heads and owns about 5% stocks in the computer networking firm, Arista Networks: securing a net worth of $1.7 bn. She studied electrical engineering at the San Francisco State University and engineering management at Santa Clara University. Ranked 26th, Neerja Sethi, with a net worth of $1 bn, co-founded Syntel-the IT consulting and outsourcing firm with her husband Bharat Desai in 1980. When French IT firm Atos SE bought over Syntel for $3.4 billion in October 2018, Neerja gained an estimated $510 million as part of her stakeholding. At 29th place is Neha Narkhede who grew up in Pune has a net worth of $925 million. Neha is co-founder and former CTO at cloud-based tech company Confluent. In 2014, she quit LinkedIn to establish Confluent which enables organisations to process large volumes of data on the open-source messaging system, Apache Kafka. She had helped developed the data software, during her stint as a LinkedIn software engineer. In June 2021, Confluent went public at a $9.1 bn valuation assuring 8% of the value ownership to Neha and her family. At 39th position, Reshma Shetty with a net worth of $750 mn, co-founded Ginkgo Bioworks, a synthetic biotechnology company in 2009. With a doctorate in biological engineering from MIT, she founded Ginkgo along with four of her collegemates including her husband Barry Canton. Ginkgo uses data analytics and robotics to speed up the discovery of new organisms and is slated to go public in a $17.5 billion SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) deal.
Farida KhambataFarida Khambata joins Tata Steel Board
Farida Khambata has been inducted into the Tata Steel Board as an independent director- a development that comes months after she resigned from the Board of its promoter Tata Sons. While Khambata’s appointment strengthens Tata Steel’s Board to ten members, her onboarding has taken the count of women directors to twothe other independent director is Mallika Srinivasan, Chairperson, Tractors and Farm Equipment and spouse of Venu Srinivasan, who is also a Director at Tata Sons. Tata Steel is the latest listed Tata Group company to have two women directors as with TCS, Tata Motors, and Indian Hotels Company, which is over and above the mandate of incorporating at least one woman director on the Board of any publicly listed entity. Khambata- co-founder, Cartica, a US-based private equity fund is an alumnus of Cambridge University and London Business School and begins her term with Tata Steel effective August 12, subject to shareholders approval. She has also been appointed to Tata Steel’s audit and risk management committee. She was inducted to the Board of Tata Sons by former chairperson Cyrus Mistry.
Adi GodrejAdi Godrej resigns, Nadir to chair GCPL
Veteran industrialist Adi Godrej and Chairperson of the Godrej Group will step down from the Board of Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. (GCPL), effective September 30, 2021. He will, however, retain Chairmanship of the Godrej Group and remain Chairman Emeritus of Godrej Industries (GIL). His brother Nadir Godrej, Managing Director, GIL, will take over as the new Chairperson and Managing Director of the company. GCPL had appointed Sudhir Sitapati, former HUL’s Executive Director as the company’s new MD and CEO, effective October 18, 2021. With the latest rejig, his younger daughter Nisaba Godrej will take over as the company’s Executive Chairperson. Adi in 2017 had passed on the baton of the Rs.11,000 crore GCPL to daughter Nisaba as the company’s CMD. The 79-year-old patriarch has been gradually stepping away from the daily functioning of its group companies. In 2017, he resigned from the Board of Godrej Properties as his son, Pirojsha, took over as the chairperson, while younger brother Nadir chairs the Board at Godrej Agrovet. He led GPCL for 17 years and was the non-executive chairperson of the board of its flagship Godrej Industries. Senior Godrej’s leadership style has nurtured the 124-year-old conglomerate by bringing in professional talent as well as mentoring the next generation, in Nisaba and Pirojsha’s contributions. In his illustrious journey, Adi Godrej has helmed key positions across national trade and industrial bodies-prominently as former Chairman of the Board of the Indian School of Business and as former President of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). He was as a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council at the MIT Sloan School of Management, as Chairman of the Board of Governors at the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies and as a member of the Wharton Asian Executive Board. He is a recipient of multiple recognitions, including The American India Foundation (AIF) Leadership in Philanthropy Award, 2010 and the Rajiv Gandhi Award 2002.
Kumar Mangalam BirlaKumar Mangalam Birla quits Vi Board
Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairperson and scion of the Aditya Birla Group (ABG) has resigned as a non-executive director and non-executive chairperson of the cash-strapped telecom major-Vodafone Idea Ltd. (Vi). Stepping into Birla’s shoes is Himanshu Kapania, non-executive director and the former MD of the erstwhile Idea Cellular who has been unanimously elected by the Board. Kapania is a telecom industry veteran with 25 years of experience and has served on the Global GSMA Board for two years and as Chairman of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). Industry veteran, Sushil Agarwal, CFO, Birla Group has been appointed as an additional director on the Vi Board. Birla’s resignation comes less than two months after he offered to dilute the Group’s 27.66% stake in Vi to any public sector or domestic financial company that could help keep the company afloat. Without immediate government support, Birla said that the telecom major would face an irreversible collapse. Birla had written a letter to the Government of India offering to hand over his stake in Vi considering the “looming crisis” that lay before the telecom major. The government has not yet responded to Birla’s letter. Vi had an AGR liability of Rs.58,254 crore out of which the company has paid up Rs.7,854.37 crore and Rs.50,399.63 crore is the outstanding sum. The company has self-assessed its dues to the tune of Rs.21,533 crore. The Supreme Court had dismissed a petition seeking re-computation of AGR dues. Birla had taken over as non-executive chairperson of Vodafone Idea in August 2018 after the closure of a $23-billion merger between Idea Cellular and Vodafone India, the telecom unit of UK’s Vodafone Group.
Manish SharmaManish Sharma promoted as Chairman, Panasonic India
Manish Sharma has been promoted as the Chairman of Panasonic Corporation’s India business. In his new role, he will be responsible for steering Panasonic’s India businesses and subsidiaries such as operational excellence, its appliances company and lifestyle business division. The former President & CEO at Panasonic India and South Asia is an engineering graduate and Panasonic’s first Indian and the youngest CEO globally. He has been instrumental in framing the company’s future growth plans as part of its senior leadership team. He began his journey with Panasonic in 2008, playing a key role in spearheading the growth and transformation of the company from a consumer electronics brand to a technology solutions company. Sharma had initially joined as the brand lead for the consumer electronics and home appliances division. It was in 2010, that he was promoted as the Director of sales and marketing, moving up as the MD of Panasonic India in April 2012, and in 2016, he became CEO of the business. In previous stints, Sharma has worked with Haier, Samsung, and LG Hotline.
Nivedeeta MoirangthemIKEA’s India promotes Nivedeeta Moirangthem
IKEA India promotes Nivedeeta Moirangthem as Country Communications Manager to lead their entire communications portfolio, including public relations, public affairs and co-worker communication. An IKEA veteran, she has been with the company for close to 20 years. In her new role, Nivedeeta is expected to work closely with the business and its key stakeholders in supporting IKEA India’s expansion plans. She will also be engaged with the company’s digital transformation initiatives in establishing itself as an omnichannel retailer. She is an industry expert with 23 years of experience in stakeholder engagement and supply chain communication in the South Asia region, Corporate Communications and PR and advertising and Internal Communications. Her previous stint was with McCann Erickson India.
Jasmin PillayMicrosoft promotes Jasmin Pillay as HR Director
Jasmin Pillay takes over as Microsoft’s Director- HR Consulting for the Middle East and Africa regions and will report to the company’s senior HR Director for the Middle East and Africa region. She will be expediting an integrated portfolio focused on a consistent manager and employee experience through global scale and impact. Pillay will empower employees and managers, enabling predictive solutions through data driving insights, building manager capability and driving HR excellence to support the company’s people priorities and business strategy. The role is expected to enhance opportunity in maximising team impacts while partnering with their teams to drive innovation in mobilising support for their customers. She began her journey with Microsoft in 2018 as HR Director-South Africa. Prior to Microsoft, she was the Global HR Functional Lead with Petronas. In her previous stints, Pillay worked with Aspen Pharmacare, AfriZulu and PwC.
Top Indian Philanthropists Nita Ambani, Gautam Adani, KM Birla
Nita Ambani, Gautam Adani, and Kumar Mangalam Birla have been featured in a unique global listing of 100 Indian corporate leaders who have left more than a symbolic impression through their philanthropic actions worldwide. The list is a tribute to more than 32 million individuals of Indian origin, one of the largest in the world. Several of these philanthropists stepped forward during the Covid-19 crisis. The ‘Indiaspora 2021 Philanthropy Leaders List’ was released by the U.S.- based organisation, Indiaspora, with guidance from nine jurors who drew the list from multiple sources, including reputed studies, previous verified lists and publicly shared documents. The compilation includes philanthropists from India and from geographies with significant diaspora migration, including the U.S., the UK, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and Australia. Some of the A-listers are U.S-based Ajay Banga, Mastercard, executive chairperson, Manoj Bhargava, Indian-American billionaire businessperson; Sonam Ajmera, Canadian property owner and businessperson Bob Sing (Navjeet) Dhillon, Indian Canadian entrepreneur and activist Aditya Jha; Mohamed Amersi, Manoj Badale and Kuljinder Bahia from the UK. “Covid-19 taught us that businesses, non-profits, government and philanthropy all play a critical role in lifting the communities they serve and operate in during times of crisis,” said Prem Watsa, founder and CEO, Fairfax Financial Holdings and one of the honourees on the List.
Manish MaheshwariTwitter’s Maheshwari reassigned as Senior Director
Manish Maheshwari, Country Director, Twitter has been transferred to San Francisco and reassigned as Senior Director, Revenue Strategy and Operations. In his new role, he will be joining the newly conceived “leadership council” to run its operations in the country. Maheshwari’s new role and marks Twitter’s decision to scrap the position of a country director in favour of a leadership council that will guide its India operations. This council is likely to have senior functionaries such as Kanika Mittal (responsible for leading Twitter’s business in north and east India) and Neha Sharma Katyal (heading the western and southern region businesses). Maheshwari, formerly with Network 18 joined Twitter India in April 2009 and his latest move to the U.S. comes within a span of two years after he was appointed as the MD of Twitter India. Maheshwari’s transfer and new arrangement Twitter’s “Revenue Strategy and Operations” team for new global markets comes as a relief to his India tenure which has been rife with multiple FIRs and police cases filed against him over a variety of legal issues following the rollout of new IT Rules in India.
Srivats T SNetflix India ropes in Swiggy’s Srivats
Srivats T S has joined Netflix India as Vice President, Marketing and will report to Barry Smyth, Vice President, Netflix’s APAC Marketing. Srivats will lead the marketing team in India and brings in his experience gathered at Swiggy where he helped build the brand from scratch over the past five years. He was Senior VP, Marketing at Swiggy. He joined Swiggy in 2016 as the head of marketing, prior to which he was Assistant Vice President with Quikr and led their digital marketing. He began his career with Nokia where he worked for over eight years expediting varied roles across brand activation, key account management and consumer insights. He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management - Calcutta.