Movers And Shakers Of The Week [July 6-11]

We bring you the next edition of the movers and shakers of the week.

This week, fintech company PayU has announced layoffs in PaySense, the digital credit business it acquired in January this year. According to sources, somewhere between 40-50 employees across departments such as sales and operations have been laid off. The spokesperson said that the layoffs weren’t because of the Covid-19 pandemic, but because of the company automating various processes.  

“As we progress to be future-ready and find efficiencies in our business and automate, certain roles and functions become redundant. Where possible we have absorbed, repurposed or re-skilled roles to retain as many people as possible within a number of functions in the organisation. We are working hard with those impacted to help them during this transition period,” a PayU spokesperson said.

Further, Arun Srinivas, who until recently was Ola’s chief operating officer and global chief marketing officer, has resigned and is serving notice. Ola reportedly confirmed these exits. “Arun Srinivas, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer and Sanjiv Saddy, SVP- Corporate Affairs, are moving on to pursue other opportunities outside of Ola. The organization wishes them well in their future endeavours,” the company said.

Here are the other movers and shakers of the week:

GiveIndia Hires Scripbox CEO Ashok Kumar

Bengaluru-based nonprofit GiveIndia announced the appointment of Ashok Kumar E.R. as the President of the organization. In his new role, he will be responsible for advancing the strategy and vision, scaling up the donor ecosystem, and spearheading the next phase of growth and expansion for GiveIndia.

Kumar brings extensive leadership experience, with a track record of accelerating growth in technology companies, championing purpose-driven transformation initiatives, and leading corporate social responsibility and nonprofit funding efforts. 

Previously, Kumar was the co-founder and CEO of Scripbox. His cofounders and management team will continue to run Scripbox. Prior to Scripbox, he has held various leadership positions at IT, Telecom & Hi-tech companies such as Wipro, Intel, Airtel & Cisco. 

Founded in 2000, GiveIndia has been promoting giving for the last two decades through its online donations platform, consumer and workplace giving partnerships. 

Neelima Ronanki And Deepak Thakur Join Housejoy Leadership Team

Bengaluru-based real estate platform Housejoy has appointed Neelima Ronanki as the Associate Vice President, Design and Deepak Thakur as the Vice President, Product and Technology with a focus on innovation and digital transformation.

Ronanki has over 15 years of diverse experience in consultancy and real estate industry of handling projects of various scale ranging from Greenfield residential developments to large scale in-fill mixed-use developments and various complex revitalization projects.

Thakur is a technologist with over 20 years of technology leadership in organizations like IBM, Oracle, CGI, etc. and strong international exposure. His leadership principles are based on innovating and inspire, strengthen employee confidence in tech organization, walk the talk, focus on the big picture, evolve vision and invest in people.

In her new role, Ronani will focus on the extensive domain of services – with a particular focus on IRC. Thakur will leverage technology and innovate in the IRC services and other areas.

Housejoy plans to scale up its construction business in the known cities across the country, apart from Bengaluru. The brand’s overall goal is to become the largest tech-enabled construction and home services platform in India.

Vibha Mahajan Joins Ken42 As VP, Growth And Strategic Alliances

Bengaluru-based edtech learning management system, Ken42 has appointed Vibha Mahajan as Vice President- Growth and Strategic Alliances, based out of Delhi.

In her position as VP-Growth & Strategic Alliances, Mahajan will leverage her experience as a seasoned education leader in delivering next-generation digital learning solutions to help students achieve improved outcomes and lead growth strategies at local and global levels, through innovative customer-driven educational solutions.

Mahajan with over two decades of experience in leadership roles in edtech companies like Matific and McGraw-Hill Education. She was previously working with Australian edtech company Matific as Vice-President, India for over a year. She has also previously worked at McGraw-Hill Education for over 20 years in various leadership roles, eventually amalgamating into Director of Portfolio & Marketing where she was responsible for developing and delivering product portfolio strategy for organizational success and lead digital product development through a variety of state-of-the-art learning environments, all based on consumer needs.

Mahajan has completed her education from Nagpur University with a Bachelor’s of Engineering in Electronics & Communication. She has also pursued the General Management Program from the prestigious IIM Lucknow.

Ken 42 is a complete education ecosystem that revolutionizes how administrators manage their institutions, faculty imparts learning, and how students gain academic and real-world knowledge and skills. Ken42 also enables online classroom and exams, certificate courses from universities around the world, and opportunities for personal growth in the form of interview preparation, public speaking and professional skills. 

Industry Veteran Sanjay Trehan Appointed Advisor for AdPushup

Revenue optimisation platform AdPushup has appointed Sanjay Trehan, a digital media industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience, as its Advisor.  In his new role, Trehan will help AdPushup improve its value proposition for current and prospective customers, develop stronger positioning in the Indian market, and accelerate market share expansion.

Trehan currently provides consulting services to some of the top brands in digital media, marketing, and online advertising, as well as start-ups in India. He has helped several companies scale their business using strong partnerships, new monetization models, content syndication, content mix and tiering video, and audience acquisition strategies.

Before running his consulting practice, Trehan held senior leadership positions at HT Media, Microsoft, NDTV Convergence, and Times Internet. During his time at these companies, Trehan led digital and new media initiatives across web, video, and mobile categories. He also spearheaded new global partnerships and developed go-to-market strategies based on value creation and sustainable competitive advantage.

AdPushup specializes in helping publishers unlock the true value of their advertising inventory using in-house technology, premium demand partnerships, and proven ad operations expertise.

Swaminathan Subramanian Joins Sterlite Power 

Sterlite Power, a leading global power transmission player has appointed Swaminathan Subramanian as the Group Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO). In his role, Subramanian will be responsible for leading the HR function across India and Brazil.

With more than 22 years of experience working across domains like Consulting, Mergers & Acquisitions, Compensation & Benefits and HR Governance, he has an in-depth exposure to markets in Asia, Africa and Middle East. He has worked with renowned firms like Standard Chartered, Barclays, JP Morgan and Fullerton. Prior to joining Sterlite Power, Subramanian was associated with Reliance Capital as Chief People Officer for Financial Services business of the ADAG Group.

Subramanian is a Bachelor of Technology degree from Jadavpur University, Kolkata and an MBA in HR from XLRI Jamshedpur. Sterlite Power is a global developer of power transmission infrastructure with projects of over 13,670 circuit kms and 24,800 MVA in India and Brazil.

Stay tuned for the next edition of Movers and Shakers of the week!