NE BUSINESS BUREAU
CHENNAI, JULY 2
Leading jewellery and watches maker Titan Company, a joint venture between the Tata Group and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), on Thursday said it has appointed Ashok Kumar Sonthalia as its new chief financial officer (CFO).
It also announced the appointment of Swadesh Behera, a seasoned HR leader, as the chief people officer of the company. Both appointments are effective from July 1, 2021, it said in a statement.
Introducing our Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Ashok Sonthalia, at Titan Company Limited.
We heartily welcome him to the Titan family and wish him the best of luck for his journey with us! pic.twitter.com/9D2gtJ1IzC— Titan Company Limited (@TitanCompanyLtd) July 1, 2021
Sonthalia is a chartered accountant with around 30 years of experience in areas of strategic financial planning, business development, M&A, treasury, finance and accounts in diverse industry verticals in multi-cultural and multi-national environments, it added.
“I am looking forward to working with the team here on executing its strategic growth plans in India as well as in select international markets,” Sonthalia said.
Behera has been a recipient of several prestigious awards such as CFO Award for Large Enterprises from Financial Express in 2018 and winner of ICAI – CFO of the Year for Information Technology Sector for year 2016. He was also recognized as one of the Best CFO for Technology / IT Services & Software Sector for the last two consecutive years in the institutional Investor’s 2020 and 2021 All- Asia Executive Team Survey by the Sell Side category.
We are pleased to introduce our new Chief People Officer, Mr. Swadesh Behera.
We are delighted to have you as part of the Titan family! pic.twitter.com/azJ2KEGiuJ— Titan Company Limited (@TitanCompanyLtd) July 1, 2021
Commenting on his appontment, Swadesh Behera said, “Delighted to join Titan and be a part of a leadership team which truly believes in putting people first in everything they do, where employee care and happiness is valued as much as the business growth. Looking forward to working with the team whose continuous endeavour has been to build a strong leadership pipeline, future capabilities, an inclusive culture to propel the growth aspirations and making Titan as an employer of choice.”
Prior to this appointment, Behera was Senior Director-HR at Boston Scientific Corporation. He has also worked at Ranbaxy, Coca Cola, MSD and Tata Steel.
He has extensive change management experience which encompasses setting up Greenfield operations, building capability, talent acquisition during high growth phases of business, implementing appropriate HR interventions, Employee Transition Management during business closures and many other initiatives and programmes. Analytical skills, Business Acumen, Process Orientation, and Strong Inter-Personal skills are some of his key strengths.
Swadesh has completed his Post Graduate Degree in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (T.I.S.S), Mumbai and Post Graduate Degree in Sociology from the Central University of Hyderabad.
