Movers And Shakers Of The Week [5 December – 10 December]

One of the most interesting developments of the week was Ritesh Jain, resigning from Tata Asset Management Co.

Tata Asset Management Co. is the 12th largest fund house in India. Ritesh had joined Tata Asset Management as chief investment officer (CIO) in May 2013 from Canara Robeco Asset Management Co., where he worked for more than 5 years as CIO. According to his profile on LinkedIn, Ritesh holds a Masters in business economics, and in one of his previous assignments, was the head of fixed income at Kotak Asset Management Co. He has also earlier worked with IDBI Bank and Corporation Bank.

Let’s have a look at some important movers and shakers of the week.

Airtel Appoints Sunil Taldar As CEO And Director Of DTH Business

Bharti Airtel Limited appointed Sunil Taldar as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and director for its DTH business. Taldar will be a member of the Airtel Management Board and will report to Gopal Vittal, chief executive at Bharti Airtel (India and South Asia).

Having an experience of 28 years in the consumer goods industry, Sunil has previously worked with Cadbury as India sales director and with Mondelez (Indonesia) as country head. His experience across consumer facing categories will add value to our DTH portfolio.

In his new role, Sunil takes over from Shashi Arora who, after approximately 5 years as CEO – DTH, has moved to be MD and CEO, Airtel Payments Bank.

iProspect India Appoints Rubeena Singh As CEO

iProspect India has appointed Rubeena Singh as chief executive officer (CEO). Rubeena will be taking over Vivek Bhargava, who will now be chief executive of DAN Performance Group. She will be reporting to Bhargava.

Rubeena has over 15 years of experience in the media industry. Prior to this, she was chief operating officer (COO) at Moneycontrol.com for over three years, where she spearheaded business strategy, marketing and sales, among others. She has also held various positions in Forbes India, CNBC TV18, CNBC Awaaz, CNN News 18 and News18 India, part of Network18 which owns Moneycontrol.

Before joining Network 18, Rubeena spent 4 years at Star TV India. Rubeena mandate is to lead iProspect India into the next stage of growth, help win new business and increase market share.

Mywish Marketplaces Announces Appointment of  New Members to the Board

Mywish Marketplaces (MMPL) yesterday announced strategic additions to its Board of Directors. Alok Sethi, Chairman, Franklin Templeton Services, and Vivek Kudva, Managing Director, EMEA & India, Franklin Templeton Investments have joined the company’s Board of Directors effective July 2016.

Alok, prior to joining Franklin Templeton he was with MphasiS BFL as the chief of staff to the chairman. Before MphasiS, he was the COO of Andersen as a part of their India Leadership Team. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and is a Bachelor of Commerce (honours) graduate from Delhi University.

Whereas, Vivek has over 30 years’ experience in the financial services industry. He has been with Franklin Templeton for over 10 years. Prior to joining Franklin Templeton, Vivek was General Manager of Banking with National Bank of Oman, Muscat. He is an engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and has a post-graduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA).

Their vast experience and expertise in developing some of the most successful financial services businesses in the world will provide company board with a unique perspective and effective mentorship.

Apart from them Samir Sood, ex-Googler and Founder, Venture Highway, has joined the Board, effective October 2016. Samir brings a unique perspective of having analysed and invested in multiple technology businesses across the world for Google and Cisco. His understanding of scaling technology businesses globally and his access to some of the best technology leaders and talent will be very valuable for company.

He has an MBA from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business, a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University, and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Scienaptic Appoints Aditya Khandekar As Chief Analytics Officer

Scienaptic new age big data and Analytics Company has appointed Aditya Khandekar as its Chief Analytics Officer (CAO). Aditya will be based out of the New York office and engage strategically with clients around the value proposition of the Ether Platform to improve customer journeys/interactions and refine operational processes using predictive intelligence. Furthermore, he will also help develop cross-vertical solution frameworks on the Ether platform solving real-world problems for businesses.

Aditya brings over 20 years of strategy and analytics leadership experience in building technology enabled Analytics business models. In his prior role as MD Analytics at Zafin, he was responsible for building a suite of relationship and loyalty analytic offerings on big data platforms. Prior to that, he built out the Analytics offering suite at Fiserv, a large US-centric transaction processing service provider for banks.

His long-standing experience as an analytics leader will significantly strengthen company’s solution capabilities and help them to transform how clients deploy big data solutions.

OKWU Mobiles Appoints Jason Stephen Morais And Swadeep Pillarisetti As Directors

OKWU Mobiles, a mobile phone startup has appointed Jason Stephen Morais and Swadeep Pillarisetti as Directors in Strategy & International Business and Sales & Marketing, respectively.

Jason has a strong experience of over 17 years in the area of strategic advisory, management consultancy, financial services management, business development, and investment management. In the past, he has worked for large multinational corporate firms like British Telecom, Emirates Airlines, Vestas Wind Energy, and AC Nielsen.

He was also the President and Board of Director at eFans Inc., USA, founder & Managing Director at La Empresa Events and Sports Management and also serves on the Board of over 10 companies. Having a prior experience in Business Development and Strategy, Morais has a hands-on approach in formulating & implementing business strategies and developing new market segments.

Whereas, Pillarisetti has a strong experience of over 12 years in the area of sales, marketing & consulting and over 7 years of research experience in spearheading research projects all across the United States and India.  He has led several projects involving strategy consulting, process optimisation, lead generation, and pre-sales. His expertise lies in the strategising of sales and marketing initiatives and account management of channel sales. He has also worked in the Intellectual property space, helping companies build, manage and monetise their patent and trademark portfolio.

Founded in 2016, OKWU is an upcoming mobile phone company that believes in engaging their client through a “smart way” of living.