XLRI alumni set for homecoming with ethical recharge

Jamshedpur, Nov 14 (Financial Express): In a world where alomost everyone wants to earn more profit by any means, the alumni of XLRI, spread all over the country and abroad, are set to gather here for the fourth 'homecoming' this Saturday. Amid fun and nostalgia, they will recharge themselves with ethics, values and care for the society at large--things they learned here during their student days.

"It's a homecoming where they touch trees and visit fond places of their student days…" said Bushen Raina, president of the National Alumni Association of XLRI.

Like the previous three occasions, this year too around 250 former students representing six decades of the B-School will be here. They will also be representing various famous groups and companies spread across the world.

"Focus on ethics, values and the society at large that the institute inculcated in us are very important tenets to become successful as managers," said Raina, himself an XLRI student of the 1973 batch.

During the first 'homecoming' in 2004, a debate on 'Ethics in business is an oxymoron!' was organised. Wipro CEO Azim Premji and ex-CEO of Indal/Haldia Petrochemicals Tapan Mitra were among the panelists. This year, the debate will be on 'Entrepreneurs: Carpetbaggers or Nation-Builders', and the four-member panel will include E Sarathbabu (founder of Food King Catering Services Pvt Ltd), Manish Sabharwal (founder & CEO of TeamLease Services), S Sivakumar (chief executive, ITC agribusiness/e-choupal) and Anjan Dutt (a social and cultural entrepreneur-cum-director/producer). Business World deputy editor Rajeev Dubey will act as the moderator.

According to Prof Madhukar Shukla, OB & strategic management teacher at the B-School, even today every batch is sent to interiors of Jharkhand/Orissa for a month to gather experience on rural economy and to help people residing there. These trips are arranged in association with NGOs.

An XLRI team had recently designed a model course for computer-illiterate young people of Jamshedpur to give them an idea of how to operate a computer.

"Priests used to play a major role in our education here by way of setting examples by offering their services to society," recalled Radhakrishnan Nair (a 1984 batch student), chief human resource officer of Tata Steel.

The National Alumni Association and its Jamshedpur Chapter have set up the XLRI Social Entrepreneurship Trust, a registered one, enabling the alumni to contribute for good causes.

The association is set to institute the Distinguished Alumni Award from next year, criterion for which will be laid down and announced during the November 17-18 meet.

4th XL Alumni Homecoming Invitation

XLRI Across Ages... Documentary

To all XL Alumni:

Invitation from K Pandiarajan (84BMD)

The following is the invitation from K Pandiarajan (84BMD),

...the Founder MD of Ma Foi Management Consulting, Director of Madras Stock Exchange, recepient of Eisenhower Fellowship for Leadership...

...among his many other achievements....

-------------------------------

Dear XLers

I have pleasure in enclosing a cordial invitation to attend the first Anniversary of our Ma Foi Foundation (MFF) in Chennai on the 26th Sept 2007.

We presently have adopted 1130 poor children from the Sivakasi and Chennai areas from 46 schools – they get scholarship, mentorship and career education from 5th standard to college completion ( Rs 1200 pa upto 10th std, Rs 1500 pa during higher secondary and Rs 5000 pa during college). All our Corporate Social Responsibility efforts have been integrated under MFF since last Sept.

We run a School for the underprivileged in Chennai with about 650 children.

We have taken micro-finance to about 8000 women through Self-Help Group and fostered about 450 tiny enterprises.

We also run a network of about 172 NGO’s under the CIOSA (Confederation of Indian Organisations for Service and Advocacy) banner.

We have also recognized 10 Young Achievers (unmined gems) every year during this function.

You can get more details about this in http://www.themafoifoundation.org/

The function will start at 6.30 pm and will see a creative expression by some of our Disha Scholars, recognition of achievements, performance by young artists led by Abhaswaram Ramji/Venky (Venky Monkey fame) and networking. I look forward to your support and wishes,

Regards,

Pondy
K Pandiarajan (84BMD)

Leena (Menon) Nair 92PMIR: among "25 Most Powerful Women in Indian Business"

HR High Priestess
FMCG giant Hindustan Unilever's first, and youngest, woman Executive Director is an HR ace.

Leena Nair
37/ Executive Director (HR), Hindustan Unilever
Education: BE Electronics and MBA from XLRI
Work Experience: 15 years
Career High: First woman ED at HUL
Hobbies: Bollywood movies, reading, outdoor sports and travelling
Success Mantra: Look for a win-win in every situation



It's a hat trick, in some sense. Leena Nair isn't just the first woman to make it to Hindustan Unilever's Management Committee (mc), but also the youngest Executive Director (ED) and that too one in charge of not a profit centre, but human resources. As the HR boss, Nair heads a team of 250 people who look into the well-being of about 15,000 employees across 70 different locations in the country, including 45 factories and four regional offices.

The 37-year-old Nair joined Hindustan Lever (as it was known until recently) straight out of XLRI, Jamshedpur, 15 years ago, and has risen quickly through the ranks. From being a factory personnel manager to management development planning manager to hr manager for the detergents business, Nair has been there, done that....

Jaspal Bindra (84BMD) as New StanChart Asia Head

Press Release (Sept 7, 2007): Standard Chartered Bank is pleased to announce today that Jaspal Bindra, currently Regional Chief Executive Officer for South and South East Asia, will take responsibility for growth and governance across the Asia region, excluding South Korea. He will oversee several of Standard Chartered’s key markets like China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, among others.

Mr. Bindra succeeds former Group Executive Director Kai Nargolwala’s governance role who has resigned to pursue other career interests.

Mr. Bindra was in August appointed Director of Standard Chartered Bank, the main operating subsidiary of the Group, and is a key member of Standard Chartered Group’s senior management team. He is on the Boards of Standard Chartered Bank (Thai) PCL, Prime Financial Holdings Limited, Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Berhad and SCOPE International (M) Sdn Bhd. He is the Chairman of Standard Chartered Nepal Limited, Standard Chartered Bank (Mauritius) Limited and Scope International Private Limited, India.

.....Jaspal joined Standard Chartered Bank in 1998 as Chief Executive India and successfully led the acquisition of ANZ Grindlays. Prior to his current role Jaspal was Global Head of Client Relationships, Wholesale Banking where he was responsible for all client relationships and commercial banking products across all the 56 countries that the Bank operates in.

An Interview with Percy Siganporia (74BMD), MD Tata Tea

Signalling its intent to evolve as a complete ‘beverage solutions company’, the once conservative Tata Tea has been in the news lately for a couple of big-ticket acquisitions and aggressive business moves.

....In the domestic branded tea business, Tata Tea overtook market leader Hindustan Unilever in volumes for the first time in several years.

Read this exclusive interview with Percy Siganporia (74BMD), Tata Tea’s MD about how the company has changed its DNA to adopt a challenger mindset for growth.

Click to Read

Sutapa Banerjee (89 PMIR) - a First for India Inc.

Economic Times (Sept 2): In a first for India Inc., Abn Amro Bank’s Sutapa Banerjee (89PMIR) has been nominated among 20 most successful, rising wealth managers in the world by leading international business magazine, The Institutional Investor. For Banerjee, who heads the private banking department in Abn Amro Bank, the feat is even more noteworthy as there are only two nominations from Asia.

Banerjee.... will fly to New York on September 10 to take part in the award ceremony....

Banerjee, who has experience of 18 years in the banking business, also holds to her distinction setting up consumer banking division for ABN Amro in India from scratch in 1996. Prior to joining ABN Amro, she was working with ANZ Grindlays Bank plc for seven years from 1989 to 1996.

NV Krishna (93BMD) as VP & Chief Sales & Mktg Officer of EXL Holdings Inc.

Exl Service Holdings, Inc. has recruited Krishna Nacha (NV Krishna, 93BMD) as Vice President and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer effective 30 August 2007. Based out of EXL's New York office, Krishna will report to Vikram Talwar, vice chairman and CEO....

Prior to joining EXL, Krishna was working with iGate Global Solutions since 2004 and was a member of the executive leadership team. Prior to that, Krishna worked with Infosys for 4+ years in roles including group sales manager - insurance and healthcare and head, sales for Canada.

Rohit Kapoor, president and chief operating officer, ExlService, said, "Krishna will be a key asset for EXL as we execute on our strategic vision of becoming a trusted partner for our clients in transforming and outsourcing business processes. We are impressed with Krishna's strategic and systematic approach to client engagement and business development."

Sharat Dhall (93BMD) joins Expedia as India Head

Sharath Dhall (93BMD) has been appointed online travel portal Expedia.com as its head of India operations.

...Prior to joining Times Internet Ltd (TIL) as its Director (e-Commerce) about a year-and-a-half ago, Dhall was working for HLL (now, HUL) as business head of its rural venture, Project Shakti. He has 14 years of experience and has also worked with Asian Paints.

Expedia created buzz in October 2006 when it said it was looking for a person to head its imminent operations in India. The company now has an office in Gurgaon, but has not announced any other plans. Expedia offers the ‘Expedia Best Price Guarantee’ which guarantees customers the best rates for all types of travel -- it offers vacation packages, flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises and in-destination activities. Since Expedia is very strong globally on hotel bookings, the company is expected to follow the same route when it officially launches in India.