Movers And Shakers Of The Week [9 January – 14 January]

Flipkart CEO Steps Down, Announces Several Structural Changes

In a rather shocking move, Flipkart has again announced a change in its organisation structure with Binny Bansal stepping down from his position as company CEO. Kalyan Krishnamurthy, currently heading the Category Design Organisation will become the new CEO of Flipkart. He will be responsible for operationally driving Flipkart and will be responsible for its P&L.

Also, Nitin Seth, presently the Chief Administrative Officer, will be the new COO. Ananth Narayanan will continue to be the CEO of Myntra-Jabong and Sameer Nigam will continue to the CEO of PhonePe. Kalyan, Ananth and Sameer will work under Binny. Sachin Bansal will continue to be the Executive Chairman, providing strategic direction for existing businesses, mentoring senior leadership, and will work closely with Binny on the new business portfolio.

Binny’s other key responsibility as Group CEO will be to oversee capital allocation across all the group companies, CEO selection, and CEO compensation as well as to ensure each business is led by a strong CEO.

Also, three of the top-level executives have resigned from the company. The trio includes Saikiran Krishnamurthy, Head of etailer supply chain unit Ekart; Samardeep Subandh, Chief Marketing Officer; and Senior Vice President Surojit Chatterjee, who headed product. All three of them were hired by then Flipkart’s commerce platform head and Myntra founder Mukesh Bansal in 2015.

Housing CEO Jason Kothari Joins Snapdeal

Jason Kothari, the interim CEO of Housing.com since Rahul Yadav’s departure has come onboard Snapdeal as Chief Strategy and Investment Officer. The announcement came in just a day after the Housing and PropTiger merger was made public.

Jason is known for turning around the Housing platform after the infamous falling out and subsequent firing of CEO Rahul Yadav and amidst high cash burn rates.

He will work alongside Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal. He will be responsible for leading strategy, corporate development, including all investments and strategic partnerships, raising new capital for the company, and portfolio management, overseeing companies Snapdeal wholly owns or has invested in.

Prior to joining Housing.com, Kothari was CEO and Vice-Chairman of character-based entertainment company Valiant Entertainment. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s The Wharton School and has also been an investor.

Madhur Advani Joins One Internet As New Business Head

One Internet, the end-to-end co-working space provider has appointed Madhur Advani as its Business Head. Madhur is an industry veteran with a proven track record of over 9 years across various roles. His previous stints – including Avanta Business Centre and Corporatedge Serviced Offices – have equipped him with remarkable industry-specific expertise and have made him a highly sought-after resource within the co-working ecosystem.

In his new role, Madhur will spearhead the entire gamut of management functions at One Internet including sales, business development, operations, customer management systems, and alliances with strategic partners. He will, moreover, provide leadership, strategic direction and guidance across marketplace, corporate sales, and sales revenue. He will also be responsible for formulating marketing and promotional plans, their implementation, and will monitor and maintain top line and bottom line to retain business growth.

Madhur holds a degree in M.Sc. in Engineering Management (UK) and also has an Executive Diploma in Management from the UK. In his previous associations, he handled project planning and promotion, strategy implementation, perceived customer demands, handled customer relationship and services, post-sale management, along with other responsibilities. With his industry experience, he aims to ensure new market development, product management, key account management, and will formulate pre-set targets and devise the profitability roadmap for One Internet.

Musafir.com Appoints Rajesh Pareek As Group CEO

Musafir.com, an online travel agency (OTA) announced the appointment of Rajesh Pareek as its new Group CEO. Rajesh joins the company from Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), where he had served as Chief Financial Officer from January 2011 to December 2016. In his new position, Rajesh will lead Musafir.com with a focus on international expansion and the Company’s next round of fundraising activities.

His key priority will be to ensure that the company delivers business results and ultimately establish Musafir.com as the number one OTA in the MENA region.

During his time at DIFC, Rajesh oversaw the financial performance of the DIFC Authority and its related companies, including DIFC Investments LLC (DIFCI). He spearheaded the refinancing of the US$1.25 Bn DIFCI Sukuk in 2012. In 2014, he led issuance of US$700 Mn DIFCI’s award-winning investment grade-rated Sukuk. Rajesh received the Middle East CFO of the Year award for his achievements in 2015.

Voonik Hires Chief Data Scientist From Silicon Valley

Bengaluru-based Voonik, an online fashion marketplace, has announced the appointment of Himmat Singh Padode as its Chief Data Scientist. Himmat will report to CEO Sujayath Ali.

The company has been revamping its top leadership team recently and has appointed Prabhakar Sunder, former Finance Head of Myntra, as CFO and Amazon Veteran Raghu Lakkapragada as COO. But this is the first time that the company has hired directly from Silicon Valley.

Himmat Singh has come back from the US after working with Groupon, leading their international data team. He comes with 14 years of rich experience in data science and insights field, across companies like Essar,  Religare. He holds a BE and MBA degrees.

Deepa Naidu Joins MoonFrog Labs

Moonfrog Labs, a leading mobile game developing company, has appointed Deepa Naidu as the Director of Human Resources.

Deepa has over 13 years of experience in people development and talent management across fast paced gaming companies. At Moonfrog Labs, she will play a pivotal role in nurturing and developing a strong talent pool to propel the company through its next stage of growth.

Deepa has previously worked with several high growth gaming companies including GSN Games India, Zynga, and Electronic Arts. At GSN, she was responsible for managing growth, leading culture change, and delivering high quality and innovative talent programs and practices. During her stint in Zynga, she played a key role in leading the people agenda and spearheaded expansion from a handful of employees to a team of over 400 over a period of three years.

Shalabh Seth Joins Ola Fleet Technologies

Ola has appointed Shalabh Seth as the CEO of Ola Fleet Technologies, a wholly-owned leasing subsidiary. Shalabh joins Ola from SAB Miller India, where he was the Managing Director and was responsible for business expansion and growth in the country. He joins Ola at a time when the company is experiencing rapid growth and is transforming the ride-sharing industry through product and business innovation.

As CEO of Ola Fleet Technologies, Shalabh will drive supply growth through leasing and other driver focussed initiatives, to consolidate Ola’s position as the market leader in the Indian ridesharing space.

Prior to joining SABMiller India, Shalabh worked with ITC Ltd for over 8 years across operations, supply chain and sales. He has an MBA from INSEAD, France and holds Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from BITS Pilani, India.

With over two decades of experience, Shalabh is a well-known and respected figure in the industry and was also the Chairman of the All India Brewers Association until June 2016.

Paytm’s Ishan Gupta Joins Udacity As MD, India

Global edtech company Udacity announced the appointment of Ishan Gupta as the Managing Director for India. A successful entrepreneur, Ishan Gupta has played a formidable role in edtech in India.

Ishan most recently served as the Vice President (Business) at Paytm, the leading Indian mobile commerce platform. Previously, he founded EduKart in 2011, which became a leading education marketplace for India. Earlier in March 2016, the team at EduKart was acqui-hired by Paytm.

Prior to EduKart, Ishan worked at Facebook as Growth Manager for India and founded another education company in 2004. He has an MBA from Stanford University and holds an engineering degree from the University of Delhi.

His in-depth knowledge of the education sector, ability to develop an innovation-driven culture in teams and passion for digital education, makes Ishan a valuable resource whose appointment will further strengthen Udacity’s leadership team in India and globally.