PEOPLE IN THE NEWS

Neal Mohan succeeds Wojcicki as CEO, YouTube

Neal Mohan, the Indian-American Executive, has succeeded Susan Wojcicki as the CEO of YouTube, making him the fourth CEO of the video platform. In his most recent role before the CEO promotion, Neal was YouTube’s Chief Product officer, reporting to Susan Wojcicki, who has stepped down citing health and personal life. While speculations are rife on his pay check value at YouTube, benchmarking Wojcicki’s monthly salary. Business portals have reported that Neal is expected to receive a monthly reimbursement of at least $374,829 (around Rs 3.1 crore), which works out to a daily sum of around Rs 10 lakh, in addition to bonuses. The Lucknow-born Neal Mohan had an illustrious career journey before joining the Alphabet-owned YouTube and has been serving as its chief product officer since 2015. A Stanford graduate, he is renowned as a technology executive, well entrenched in the digital advertising industry. He kick-started his career with Accenture in 1996 and joined a start-up NetGravity, which was acquired by DoubleClick, an online advertising firm. In 2007, Google bought DoubleClick and Neal was instrumental in enhancing Google’s advertis- ing products, including AdSense, AdWords, and DoubleClick. He’s also had a stint with Microsoft as its corporate strategy manager. He is on the board of American firms, including Stitch Fix, a personal styling service, and the biotech company 23andMe. In 2013, Neal made headlines for his $100 Million (Rs 544 crore) retention bonus. When parent company Google learned of Neal receiving an offer from Twitter, Google offered him a hefty pay check to retain him and news reports touted that he became Google’s second person to have command- ed the princely amount. Neal has listed out plans to support YouTube creators across the platform. “YouTube helps creators build deep relationships with audiences and offers them more tools to make a living doing what they love,” he said.

Former SBI veteran is BharatPe’s, Chief Risk Officer

Aparna Kuppuswamy

Aparna Kuppuswamy takes the reins as the Chief Risk Officer with fintech firm BharatPe Group and will work closely with Nalin Negi, the CFO and interim CEO, in building the company’s robust lending vertical. Aparna will be collaborating with Amit Jain, the current Chief Risk Officer on collections and underwriting, from a merchant standpoint. She has been entrusted with managing BharatPe’s risk portfolio across the group of companies, including merchant and consumer businesses. Aparna’s understanding of financial services from the consumer perspective is expected to help the company build relevant and risk-aversive products. Her illustrious career includes 14 years as the Chief Risk Officer at SBI Cards, where she led several other key projects. She is a seasoned leader with three decades of experience in the Consumer Banking Industry with expertise in portfolio management across all major product lines including credit cards, mortgages, and unsecured personal loans. SBI grew over 20-fold under Aparna’s leadership as she managed the entire risks spectrum in a dynamic and un predictable environment. Her previous career stints before SBI include her role as Director, Credit Policy, at Ameriprise Financial, and other leadership roles with ABN AMRO Bank and Bank of America. Aparna is a Master’s in Finance & Control from the University of Delhi.

Meenakshi Nevatia joins as MD of Pfizer India

Meenakshi Nevatia

Meenakshi Nevatia takes over as Managing Director and an additional Director with Pfiz er Limited for a 5-year tenure with effect from 3rd April 2023. She succeeds S.Sridhar, who announced his early retirement last year. Sridhar is the current Country President of India and will step down as the Managing Director and a board member effective March 31, 2023. Her most recent role before joining Pfizer was that of the Vice President and Managing Director, STRYKER INDIA PVT LTD. Meenakshi is expected to streamline and bring about breakthrough therapies and health solutions to patients across the economic segments. A seasoned leader, Meenakshi brings 30 years of business acumen and consulting experiences from her previous stints with leading corporate houses, including McKinsey and Co., Novartis Pharmaceuticals, and Stryker Corporation. She has worked across eight countries, including developed and emerging nations, and held several general management roles across multiple markets such as Thailand, Spain (Iberia), and India. She is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) and Presidency College, Kolkata.

Sapna Chadha promoted as VP Google India, and Southeast Asia

Sapna Chadha

Google has promoted Sapna Chadha as the Vice President of Southeast Asia and South Asia Frontier (Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka). In the new role, Sapna is expected to lead Google’s business growth, strategy, and operations in the Asia Pacific. She was for merly the Vice President of Marketing for South- east Asia and India in 2021. She announced her new assignment with Google via a LinkedIn post. She has been associated with Google for 8+ years and kick-started her Google journey in India in 2015. Before joining Google, Chadha had previous stints in consulting at Deloitte and held senior management roles in American Express (US and India). She is recognised for championing diversity and inclusion and has been a recipient of the Campaign Asia-Pacific’s 2021 ‘Women Leading Change Awards,’ for her work in gender equity. Several Google campaigns, including #SearchForChange, highlighted how knowledge obtained through voice search might empower women and dismantle barriers. ‘Bolne se sab hoga’ (speaking out makes everything possible), has been one of her initiatives that created a voice search platform to promote gender justice in India and Southeast Asia. She is an alumnus of the Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management and University of Michigan.

FMCG veteran takes the reins as MD and CEO of Bagrry’s

Jayant Kapre

Jayant Kapre takes over as MD and CEO of Bagrry’s, a prominent brand in the breakfast cereals and health food sector. His primary focus will be to accelerate the brand’s growth strategy. He is expected to strengthen the brand’s foundation and gain sustainable market growth, especially expand into newer categories. A veteran in the food category market, Kapre has had 26+ years of valuable experience in the FMCG sector and has held leadership roles with Wrigley, Frito Lay, McVitie’s, and Britannia. Before joining Baggry’s, he managed close to nine businesses including those in the packaged food industry in India and Southeast Asia. In an earlier role, he was also the CEO (President), of United Biscuits (India and SEA), Business Head of Adjacent Bakery and Snacks, an arm of Britannia Industries Limited, amongst other roles in his illustrious career. He has a track record of launching, turning around, and growing consumer-branded businesses. He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) and Hindu College, Delhi.

IKEA India onboards Elena Pogosova

Elena Pogosova

The Swedish home furnishings retailer IKEA has onboarded Elena Pogosova as the new Country Commercial Manager for its India business. Pogosova will report to Susanne Pulverer, CEO & CSO, of IKEA India as part of the country’s management team at IKEA India. She is expected to drive the company’s commercial strategy and grow the market, ensuring a positive customer experience. Pogosova brings over two decades of experience in the commercial real estate business and has been associated with Hines, the leading American property developer, before joining the Ingka group in 2010. In her 13-year stint with the Ingka Group,she has held multiple positions including operations, as Deputy Country Property Manager, Country Facility Manager, Regional Centre Manager for the Ingka centres in Russia, and Market Area Manager for Ikea Retail in Russia.

Joee De Choudhury takes over as Pepperfry HR Lead

Joee De Choudhury

Joee De Choudhury has been appointed as the new lead for Pepperfry’s human resources team and this is her second stint with the company. She will be responsible for building capabilities, a culture of enablement, HR strategy, and excellence for enhancing the e-commerce furniture and home goods marketplace in becoming a future-ready organisation. Choudhury has been driving Pepperfry’s talent acquisition agenda over the last couple of years. She joined Pepperfry in 2020, and in her previous role, led the talent acquisition team, and developed and executed hiring plans. She has 10 years of experience in human resources management and has worked across several sectors, including e-commerce, information technology, and real estate.Her in-depth knowledge and expertise in talent acquisition, talent engagement, and people operations have enabled organisations to streamline their HR operations and people practices. Choudhury holds a Master’s degree in human resources from the Welingkar Institute of Management and a Bache lor’s in Management Studies from the Birla Institute of Technology and Management Studies.

Former Tata Motors VP joins as MD Jaguar Land Rover

Rajan Amba

Rajan Amba has been appointed as Managing Director of the luxury car manufacturing company Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) India, succeeding former MD Rohit Suri, who is due for retirement on March 31, 2023. Jaguar Land Rover India is an arm of Tata Motors, and Rajan has been serving as the Vice President of sales, marketing, and customer care, with Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles(TMPV), before his new position with JLR. He has been a key contributor in developing the commercial teams, the new zone organisation, the network expansion, improving customer experience, and the growth of TMPV’s market share during his tenure with Tata Motors. Amba is a mechanical engineering graduate from the National Institute of Technology, Calicut, and holds an MBA in Marketing from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. Before joining JLR, he had previous experiences across several top managerial posts at Titan and Nike. Before joining Tata Motors, Amba was the Chief Operating Officer at Carat Lane. He kick-started his career in 1990 as a sales executive at HCL Technologies. During his tenure with Titan, he redefined the product design and language for the Titan brand and built synergies with the science and art of product line management.

Prashant Khullar appointed as CHRO of Ecom Express

Prashant Khullar

Prashant Khullar takes over as the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) of Ecom Express, the end-to-end technology-enabled logistics solutions provider. He confirmed his appointment via social media posts. Based in Gurugram, he will serve over 50,000 employees at Ecom Express managing, a team of 200+ HR professionals. Khullar has been helping the company succeed by connecting with people and organising, simplifying, and improving HR processes. He has over two decades of experience, with core strengths in strategic HR, talent acquisition, compensation and benefits structuring, leadership, and talent development. In previous stints, he worked with Max Life Insurance Company Limited, Mahindra Holidays, and The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), among others, and was the Founder and CEO of nerv2serv Learning Company. Armed with an MBA from the SP Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR), he began his career as a Management Intern – Hotel Operations at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. He is a visiting faculty at SPJIMR, leading sessions on HR strategy and leadership development.