Appointments
Vodafone’s Sunil Sood is now COAI Chairman
NEW DELHI: Vodafone India’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Sunil Sood, who was Vice Chairman of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) for the last two years, will now hold the position of Chairman while the Vice Chairman will be Ajai Puri, Chief Operating Officer, Bharti Airtel.
The decision was taken at Annual General Body Meeting for the financial year on 7th June 2018, with the announcement of its leadership for the term 2018-19.
“Mr Sunil Sood, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Vodafone India Ltd., who was Vice Chairman of the industry body for the last two years, will now hold the position of Chairman while the Vice Chairman will be Mr. Ajai Puri, Chief Operating Officer, Bharti Airtel Ltd,” the statement said.
Sood has been the Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of Vodafone India Limited since April 2015.
He served as the Chief Operating Officer at Vodafone India Limited since February 3, 2012 and served as its Director of West Zone.
Sood is a part of the senior leadership team at Vodafone India and is responsible for the day to day operations and the P&L management for all circles in the country. He also spearheads the new business development initiative of Mobile Commerce for the organization.
He is a Telecom Veteran and has been in the industry for over 12 years. Prior to joining telecom, he has had a long career with Pepsi in various roles within India and abroad, he served as the Chief Executive Officer at Pepsi in Bangladesh.
He has also spent four years in Nigeria where he was working to establish the market for Nestles’ milk and infant formulae in the country.
Puri is the Chief Operating Officer (India and South Asia) at Bharti Airtel Limited. He has been with Bharti Airtel since 2004 and has held several senior leadership positions including Director – Market Operations, Director and CEO – DTH, and CEO – Kolkata & West Bengal, Odisha.
Prior to joining Bharti Airtel, Puri served as the Business Head – Foods at Cargill Foods India.
He began his career with VST India Ltd, an associate company of British American Tobacco (UK).
Rajan S Mathews, Director General, COAI, extended his heartfelt gratitude to Gopal Vittal and Sood, for their bold and courageous leadership over the last year, one of the most challenging periods in the history of India’s telecom sector. He further expressed confidence in their work to steer the Association and the sector towards long term health, sustenance and stability.
Mathews, Director General, COAI said that, “We would like to thank our leadership for their guidance and support during one of the most challenging periods in the telecom sector and further express confidence in their ability to steer the Association and the sector towards long term health and stability. The sector has been one of the primary drivers of India’s economic growth, contributing 6.5% to the national GDP. While, the industry is reeling under INR 7.64 Lakh crore debt and the additional investment of INR 2 Lakh crore is still required over the next two years to fulfil the dream of a Digitally connected India, we are sure the partnership between the Government and the sector will get stronger and these targets will be achieved.”
“The National Digital Communications Policy 2018, recently unveiled by the DoT, holds significant promises for the industry that has been facing difficult times over the last few years. This will also boost Government’s key initiatives like Digital India and SmartCities. New technologies like AI, Machine Learning as well as Robotics and Automation promise to make our lives much easier while significantly diversifying the revenue streams of the telcos and making room for significant differentiation and long term viability. It is also designed to place India at the forefront of the global Knowledge Revolution,” added Mathews.
The AGM was followed by an informative High Level Leaders Panel Discussion on ‘Going Digital – People, Places, Things’, which saw contribution from senior delegates from the Government and the industry leaders including N. Sivasailam, Special Secretary, DoT, Ministry of Communications; Sood, MD & CEO, Vodafone India and Nitin Bansal, MD & Region Head – India, Ericsson.
NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, India’s leading communications solutions provider, today announced the appointment of Naval Seth as the Head of Investor Relations. In this role, Naval will spearhead Airtel’s representation amongst investors, lenders, equity partners, & financial institutions and will report to Soumen Ray, Chief Financial Officer.
Welcoming Naval to the role, Soumen Ray, Chief Financial Officer, Bharti Airtel said: “We are delighted to have Naval with us. His deep relationships with the investment community, strong subject knowledge in Equity Research and Capital Markets will add immense value to the company as we steer ahead in our growth journey. I wish Naval the very best”
Naval joins Airtel from Emkay Global Financial Services Limited where he was Deputy Head of Research. Prior to that, he had worked with ICICI Securities Limited. Naval brings with him over 14 years of experience in Equity Research and Capital Markets. He has a deep research experience across both B2B and B2C facing businesses along with a trusted relationship with the investment community.
Over the years, Naval has been recognized for in-depth and differentiated research across the sectors- Telecom, Media and Consumer Discretionary. He has also been consistently voted by institutional investors and also ranked in Asia Money polls.
NEW DELHI: Taiwanese tech giant – ASUS, today, announced the appointment of Tribhuwan Joshi as Lead – Corporate Communications, PR and CSR, Consumer and ROG PC Business, ASUS India. He will oversee communications and brand reputation practice for ASUS’ consumer, lifestyle, and gaming device segments in the Indian market.
Commenting on the appointment, Paramjeet Singh Mehta, Marketing Head Consumer PC & Gaming, Systems Group at Asus India, said “As we continue to invest in talent, we are focused on identifying and providing opportunities to people where they can have the greatest impact on our business. Tribhuwan is a welcome addition to our team. His rich experience and in-depth understanding will help us in elevating the amazing work that we have been doing across the country.”
Tribhuwan will be driving Integrated Communications Strategy, Reputation Management, Brand Communications CSR Initiatives, Influencer & KOL Management for corporate & consumer campaigns, and drive market-specific campaigns for ASUS India. He has over 15 years of cross-functional experience across corporate and agencies. He has looked after communications strategy for some renowned organizations including Fujifilm India, HTC India, Panasonic India, Anchor by Panasonic, MSL Group India, and Team Orange PR.
On the announcement, Tribhuwan Joshi, Head – Corporate communications, PR and CSR, Consumer and ROG PC Business, ASUS India said, “It has been an absolute delight to have been associated with a robust brand like ASUS, which has been one of the leaders in the technology space. I am thrilled and ecstatic to embark upon this new journey and responsibility. I keenly look forward to working with the leadership team in strengthening the brand and its communications approach, while being devoted to exploring the best for the company’s growth.”
NEW YORK: Sriram Krishnan, an Indian-American technology executive, is helping out Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk as he revamps the social media giant following its acquisition by the billionaire entrepreneur.
Krishnan is a general partner at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
Now that the word is out: I’m helping out @elonmusk with Twitter temporarily with some other great people. I (and a16z) believe this is a hugely important company and can have a great impact on the world and Elon is the person to make it happen, Krishnan tweeted.
Krishnan added that he is still very much in my day job at @a16zcrypto. If you’re a crypto founder, you know how to find me!.
According to his profile on Andreessen Horowitz’s website, Krishnan invests in early-stage consumer startups and serves on the boards of companies Bitski, Hopin, and Polywork.
Prior to joining a16z, Chennai-born Krishnan held numerous senior product roles and most recently, he led core consumer teams at Twitter where he was responsible for products including the home timeline, new user experience, search, discovery, and audience growth, his profile said.
Previously, he created and oversaw various mobile ad products for Snap and Facebook, including Snap’s Direct Response ads business and the Facebook Audience Network, one of the largest networks in display advertising, his profile said. Krishnan started his career at Microsoft where he touched numerous projects related to Windows Azure.
Author of “Programming Windows Azure” published by O’Reilly, he also co-hosts with his wife Aarthi Ramamurthy The Good Time Show’ on Clubhouse, a nightly show through which they interview innovators around tech and culture.
He is an alumnus of SRM Engineering College, Anna University where he did his Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in Information Technology, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Last week, Musk completed the USD 44 billion acquisition of Twitter and ousted chief executive Parag Agrawal, legal executive Vijaya Gadde, Chief Financial Officer Ned Segal and General Counsel Sean Edgett.
Musk, according to reports, plans to rethink the company’s content moderation policies and permanent bans for users who previously violated the platform’s policies, including former President Donald Trump, although he said over the weekend that no major decisions have been made yet. He also is reported to be planning large layoffs at the company.
Musk has said the process of gaining a prestigious “blue tick” will be revised. Reports said the firm could start charging USD 20 per month to be verified. Many of Twitter’s most prominent verified users said they would leave if it tried to implement the plan.
Stephen King, an American author, tweeted: “USD 20 a month to keep my blue check? F that, they should pay me. If that gets instituted, I’m gone like Enron.
Hours later, Musk replied to King: We need to pay the bills somehow! Twitter cannot rely entirely on advertisers. How about USD 8?
A blue tick is currently free and a way of signalling an account is authentic. While there has been no official confirmation of the plan, on Monday Musk appeared to acknowledge the speculation in a new tweet which said: “On no, all our diabolical plans have been revealed!!”
In a separate development, Musk has denied a New York Times report that he plans to lay off Twitter workers before the start of next month to avoid having to make payouts.
The New York Times reported that Musk had ordered major job cuts across Twitter’s workforce.
Citing people with knowledge of the situation, the report said that some managers were being asked to “draw up lists of employees to cut.
The newspaper said the layoffs would take place before November 1, when workers were due to receive grants of shares in the company as a major part of their pay deals. But replying to a Twitter user asking about the report, he said: “This is false.”
The takeover has prompted discussion among Twitter users over what the platform will look like under Musk’s ownership, the BBC said.
Some have voiced concerns that more lenient free speech policies would mean people banned for hate speech or disinformation may be allowed back to the platform.
Source: Press TRust of India
