"XL Dream Run" (Nov 16, '08) on Youtube

"XL Dream Run" curtain-raiser is up on Youtube

... thanks to the amazingly creative work by Mayur Bhutani & Varun Gulati (09BMD batch)


XL Dream Run (Nov 16th, 2008)



http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=zq1cIKS2poI

Big B, Ajay Devgan & Kajol on Mahesh Mahadevan (XLRI 1976-78)

This is an excerpt of the "Kaun Banega Crorepati" special episode for Mahesh Memorial Trust on YouTube:



An earlier post on Mahesh: Remembering Mahesh... he still makes a difference!

Dr Pallab Bandyopadhyay (05FPM) appointed Perot Systems' Head (HR, Asia Pacific))

May 23: Perot Systems Corporation (NYSE: PER), today announced the appointment... Dr. Pallab Bandyopadhyay as Head of Human Resources for the company's Asia Pacific Region.

....Dr. Pallab Bandyopadhyay will be responsible for the group's global talent acquisition, resourcing and retention strategies. As such, he will oversee performance management, rewards & recognition, career planning & development, as well as employee communications & relationship management.

Dr. Bandyopadhyay has over twenty four years of professional experience in the areas of Institution, Organization and Human resources development. Prior to joining Perot Systems, he was heading the global HR function of Cambridge Solutions, a multinational IT and ITES organizations, as its Chief People Officer.

Having earned a doctorate in HRD from XLRI, Jamshedpur, Dr. Bandyopadhyay has undertaken training at various human process and organization development programs at NTL, USA, in addition to adult learning theories at Interactive Consultants, Canada.

Ajay Mallapurkar (02PMIR): The New Consulting Chief of Ma Foi

Chennai (May 7th, 2008): Ma Foi Management Consultants has named Ajay Mallapurkar as Chief Executive Officer, Ma Foi Consulting Services Ltd. (MCSL). He was the General Manager for the Western operations of Ma Foi Management Consultants.

Alumni Meet @ Hyderabad (May 10th, Taj Krishna)

Pope appoints Guilherme Vaz (80PMIR) as Member Of Vatican’s Laity Council

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Mr. Guilherme Vaz (80PMIR), Director of IL&FS Education and Technology Services Ltd, Mumbai, as member of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

Previously, Mr Vaz worked for 23 years, in the TATA group, before taking up the present assignment.

Mr Vaz is also a member of the Bombay Archdiocesan Board of Education and an adviser to the Archbishop of Bombay on Educational matters.

Jaspal Bindra (84BMD) in Olympic Torch Relay

Jaspal Singh Bindra (84BMD, CEO - Asia, Standard Chartered Bank) was one of the torchbearers in the Olympic Torch Run in Delhi on Friday, April 18, '08.


According to Indian Olympic Association, a total of 70 torchbearers, including 47 sportsmen, took part in the Olympic torch relay in New Delhi.

Among the world's top four HR Bloggers

Gautam Ghosh (99PMIR) who blogs at http://gauteg.blogspot.com/ was featured in the Hindustan Times (April 20, 2008). His blog is amongst the top four HR blogs in the world:

Atisa and Seven Wonders by Anu Kumar (94PMIR)

After her two earlier fictional works - In Search of Raja and Other Stories, and Letters for Paul, Anu Kumar (94PMIR) has published her third book - This time for children.

Atisa and the Seven Wondersis published by Penguin Books India (Puffin), and is described as a story:

"...full of thrills, chills and spills, Atisa and the Seven Wonders weaves fact and fiction to take you on an action-packed, imaginative and informative exploration of the seven wonders of the ancient world."

XLer as a Social Entrepreneur: Aparna Banerjee

April 11, 2008 (The Hindu BusinessLine): Big retail chains such as Reliance Fresh, Spencer's Daily and Big Bazaar have competition. Not from a rival business group, but from a Kolkata-based enterprising woman - Aparna Banerjee. An alumni of the prestigious Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI) in Jamshedpur, Bihar, Aparna, 36, retails her goods under the name of Project Sukanya.

Interestingly, the goods are not sold from huge showrooms, but from 54 roadside mobile kiosks, manned by 141 women who work in shifts. Another 3,500 women directly benefit from this project by making products such as handicraft items, edibles like papad , pickles and jams. Packaged spices and ready-to-eat lunches are also sold. And in the next six months 500 more `boucarts' would be deployed across 18 districts, again manned by women.

"When I got the idea of these mobile kiosks, my first step was to finalise the design and patent it under the Intellectual Property Rights Act.," says Aparna. The project was the result of extensive research based on material gathered from 62 villages across India during her studies on Anthropology at Calcutta University.

"I did my MBA in Logistics and Supply Chain Management from XLRI and realised during that time that I wanted to become a social entrepreneur. I then did a course in Anthropology to get a grip on human rights. I realised that women need financial independence to get freedom from restrictions, abuse and social taboos," says Aparna, who struggled to complete her studies under great financial constraints...

... The turnover for the Project, which started rolling in early 2007, has already reached Rs 1.05 crore. The target is to touch Rs 50 crore by 2009. "We market a range of handicrafts and home-made edibles under the brand name Sukanya. The organised sector never bothered to tap the potential of the cottage industry, but we are giving a brand identity to these products," says Sudakshina Sen, 43,Chief Coordinator, Project Sukanya.

Project Sukanya has a 20,000 sq. ft. common facility centre at Topsia. The rural women who supply the products come here with their samples.

The products are graded into three categories. Under A category, the product is immediately bought with a 10 per cent advance. For the B category products, Sukanya gives support for better packaging and then it is bought. Falling under the C category are products that have market saturation. Sukanya trains these women to shift focus to products that would have more market demand.

The edible products are tested and certified by the central government's National Test House. The success of the venture is obvious from the fact that several big retail chains have started making offers to buy out Project Sukanya as well as the patent for the mobile kiosks.

"But I am committed towards my social responsibility. Rather than entrepreneurship, it is the emancipation of women that is my primary concern. My venture helps several needy women take home a well-earned salary," says Aparna....

Full Article at:
Manned by Women, BusinessLine, April 11, 2008

XL Alumni Achievements '07-'08: A Round-Up

Compiling such a list will always remain an incomplete task...

Nevertheless, here is an indicative list of what XLRI Alumni have been upto during last year:
[Last Year's List is available here]

PL Barua (70PMIR) assumed charge as the Executive Director of the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (Assam Oil Division).

RS Thakur (72BMD) took over as Executive Director of TACO, the Tata auto-component company.

Jagdish Dore (73BMD) was appointed the CEO & Managing Director of Matrix Laboratories Ltd. (of Mylan Group).

Ninad Gupte (75BMD) took over as the Managing Director of Cheminova India, and was elected the Vice Chairman of the industry association, Crop Care Federation of India.

Rattan Bhavinani (75BMD) joined Cisco Globalisation Center East, Bangalore, as Director Head of AsiaPAC Vendor Management Services.

Madhukar Kamath (76BMD) Managing Director & CEO of the Mudra Group, was elected as the President of Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI).

S Nandkumar (76BMD) was elected the President of Institute of Management Consultants of India (Hyderabad chapter)

Bipin Lal (78BMD) was appointed as the Managing Director, Nitrex Chemicals India.

Prakash Puram (78BMD), President & CEO, iXmatch Inc., was appointed to the Advisory Council on Small Business & Labour of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

N Krishnakumar (81BMD) took over as the CEO & Managing Director of Mindtree Consulting.

Prabhakar Jain (81BMD) joined as the Chairman and Managing Director, Goodyear India Ltd.

Aneeta Madhok (81PMIR) joined as the Dean, Center for Human Resources (Dubai & Singapore), SP Jain Center of Management.

Deodutta Kurane (81PMIR) joined as the President (HR) of Yes Bank.

Kamlajeet Bhullar (81PMIR) took over as the Group Head (HR) of Anand Automotive Systems.

NS Rajan (83BMD), Partner (Human Capital), Ernst & Young, was chosen as Global Leader-HR Advisory of Ernst & Young. He was also elected the President (Northern Region), National HRD Network.

Jaspal Bindra (84BMD) took over as the Head-Asia Region, Standard Chartered Bank.

K Pandiarajan (84PMIR), Founder-CEO of MaFoi Consulting, was inducted into the Board of Madras Stock Exchange Limited as one of its Directors.

K Shankar (84PMIR) joined Airtel as the Director (HR).

Radha Krishnan Nair (84PMIR) joined as the Chief HR Officer of Tata Steel. He was also inducted into the Board of Governors of XLRI.

Sankaran Raghunathan (84PMIR) was elected as the President of IT SME Association, which represents 3,200 companies with exports of $10bn.

Vineet Nayar (85BMD) took over as the CEO, HCL Technologies Ltd from its founder, Shiv Nadar.

Mahesh Nair (86BMD) published his book of photographs Let There Be Light: Exploring Nature Through Light (Roli Books).

Ramesh Gudalur (86BMD) joined Mphasis is President – BPO, and Member of the Executive Leadership Team.

Sandra (Sequeira) Mahadwar (86PMIR), Sr Director (HR) with KLA-Tencor Corp., was selected to receive the 2008 YWCA’s Silicon Valley Tribute to Women Award, for Executive Leadership.

Arjun Trivedi (87BMD) was appointed the Head of Nokia Siemens Network, Indonesia.

Srinivas Duvvari (87BM-Eve) took over as the Managing Director of Rolls-Royce India Ltd.

Ernst Louise (87PMIR) was appointed as the Global Head (HR) for Essel Propack Ltd.

Ronald Mark D’Souza (87PMIR) took over as the Vice President (HR), Alcatel-Lucent (India).

Anurag Prashar (88BMD) took over as the Chief Officer, Customer Management Systems and Shared Infrastructure for all telecom businesses of Bharti Airtel Ltd.

M Shankar Prasad (88BMD) joined Tata Communications Ltd (formerly VSNL) as President, Broadband.

Amar Babu (89BMD) was appointed as the Managing Director of Lenova India.

Amitabh Jaipuria (89BMD) joined as the Managing Director of Monsanto India Ltd.

KR Ravi (89BMD) published his 2nd book Ten Minutes to Creativity (St Paul’s Publications).

Satish Nambisan (89PMIR) published his book The Global Brain: Your Roadmap for Innovating Faster & Smarter in a Networked World (Wharton School Publishing).

Sutapa Banerjee (89PMIR), Head of Private Banking at ABN Amro Bank, was nominated among 20 most successful, rising wealth managers in the world by leading international business magazine, The Institutional Investor.

Ajay Bagga (90BMD), CEO of Lotus India Asset Management Co Pvt. Ltd., was elected the Vice Chairman of Financial Planning Standards Board of India.

Ashish Khera (90BMD) took over as the CFO of Microsoft India

VS Sridhar (90BMD) was appointed the Chief Operating Officer of the VSNL Global Services.

R Chandrasekar (90PMIR) took over as the Group Head (HR) of the Noor Islamic Bank (Dubai Investment Group), Dubai.

Sudip Mall (91BMD) joined as Country Manager (Philippines), Kraft Asia.

Suprio Guha Thakurta (91BMD) joined The Economist as its Associate Publisher in India.

V Chandramouli (91BMD) was appointed as the Director (HR) of Cadbury India

Jayaram Philkana (91PMIR) took over as the Director (HR) of Cargill Inc.’s Health & Nutrition business at MN, USA.

NT Arunkumar (91PMIR) took over as CEO of Dun & Bradstreet.

Ramesh Soundarajan (91PMIR) joined as the Vice President (HR) of Trianz India.

Ravi Parmeshwar (91PMIR) joined Cargill India as their Director (HR).

Anurag Behar (92BMD) was selected to the World Economic Forum’s list of Young Global Leaders 2008.

Lokesh Jindal (92BMD) returned from USA to take over as Sr Vice President & General Manager of Computer Associate’s India Technology Center.

Leena Nair (92PMIR) took over as the Executive Director (HR) of Hindustan Unilever Ltd., thus becoming the youngest and the first woman director in HUL’s Board. She was also featured in the Business Today’s “25 Most Powerful Women in Indian Business List”.

Sabyasachi Nag (92PMIR) published his first book of poems Bloodlines with Writers' Workshop.

Salil Raghavan (92PMIR) took over as the Head (HR) of Great Eastern Shipping.

Ratnesh Mittal (93BMD) branched out to start his own firm, Market Entry Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Sadashiv Nayak (93BDM) joined the Pantaloon Retail India Ltd, as the CEO, Food Bazaar.

Sharat Dhall (93BMD) was appointed as the Managing Director (India) of the travel portal Expedia.com.

NV Krishna (93BMD) joined EXL Holding Inc. (NY, USA), as the Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer

Amitabh Hajela (93PMIR) joined as the Vice President and Global Head of Human Resources of the ExlService Holdings, Inc, USA.

Uday Shankar Sinha (94BMD) took over as Executive Director of PepsiCo India.

Biplob Banerjee (94PMIR) joined Nokia Siemens Networks as Director (HR – Global Services, India).

Raj Ambekar (94PMIR) moved to the shipping & logistics company, Maersk, as the Head (HR) for South Asia.

Naveen Kumar (94PMIR) took over as the Vice President (HR) of Lehman Brothers, India.

V Satish (94PMIR) took over as Sr Vice President (Global HR & Recruiting) at AztecSoft.

Ramki Sundaram (95BMD) was appointed the CEO of Air Deccan.

Suman Bose (95BMD) joined Dassault Systemes (part of French Dassault Group) as the Country Head – India.

Brajesh Bajpai (96BMD) moved into an enlarged role as the Head of Middle East and North Africa Region of Marico’s International Business.

Zohmingliana Hualngo (96PMIR) joined as the Head (HR) of Airbus Engineering India.

Ketan Awalegaonkar (98BMD) joined McKinsey & Co. as Associate Principle & Leader for North American Operations Practice, USA.

Indraneel Roy (98PMIR) took over as the Global Head of Hewitt Leadership Consulting.

Gaurav Lahiri (00PMIR) was elected as the Partner, Hay Group. He also co-authored the book The Indian CEO: Portrait of Excellence (Sage Books).

Kulshaan Singh (01PMIR) took over as the Country Manager (Singapore), Hewitt Associates.

Tanmay Prusty (06BMD), Sales Manager with ITC, won the south zone BusinessToday ACUMEN 2007, and was the runner-up in the national finals.

Jishnu Dasgupta (06BMD), Sales Manager with ITC, and joined as bass guitarist and backing vocals with the Hindi Band “Swarathma”, which won the Best Band prize in All India City Radio Finals.

Amitabh Hajela (93PMIR) is EXL's new Global Head HR

NEW YORK, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ExlService Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXLS), a recognized business solutions provider, today announced Amitabh Hajela has joined EXL as Vice President and Global Head of Human Resources.

Amitabh joins EXL from Celanese Corporation, a Dallas-based Fortune 300 Chemical company, where he served as the Director for Global Talent Acquisition and Leadership Development. Amitabh also led the talent acquisition and review process for Celanese in the U.S., Europe and China.

Before Celanese, Amitabh Hajela was based at American Express, New Delhi as the Vice President and Business Leader for Strategic Initiatives and Projects. He was responsible for providing leadership to the strategic development and implementation of operating strategies for the American Express controllership function in India.

Earlier, Amitabh served in several significant capacities with General Electric both in the U.S. and India. From 2001 to 2005, Amitabh managed GE's effort to establish organizational capability to support global sourcing from the U.S. which included outsourcing work to India. Amitabh is an alumnus of XLRI with a specialization in personnel management and industrial relations.

Commenting on Amitabh's hiring, Rohit Kapoor, President and Chief Operating Officer of EXL stated: "We are delighted to have someone with Amitabh's background join EXL at this stage in our growth and evolution. Amitabh's focus will be helping to ensure that we meet the future challenges of talent management and a higher level of employee engagement as EXL experiences rapid growth and the further globalization of our organizational footprint."

Vikram Talwar, CEO and Vice-Chairman of EXL, stated: "With his international exposure and his rich experience in talent acquisition, leadership development and organization restructuring, Amitabh is a valuable acquisition as EXL focuses on acquiring and retaining the best global talent within our organization. We are excited to have Amitabh join the senior leadership team of EXL..."