Tata Sons has overhauled the entire board of Air India for the first time after taking over full control of the struggling airlines from the government. Four people on the board were reappointed but with new responsibilities as CFO, COO, and advisors for HR, commercial, and technology. 

Along with this, four people from the Tata Group were inducted in the top management positions including CCO, CHRO, Chief Digital and Technology Officer and Head of Customer Experience and ground handling.

According to sources, “Vinod Hejmadi, the Director of Finance, was asked to step down from the board along with other directors including Captain RS Sandhu, Amrita Sharan and Meenakshi Malik and they were reappointed in new positions.

According to an internal communication addressed by N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons and the Chairman of Air India’s board, Capt RS Sandhu is being re-appointed as Chief of Operations, Vinod Hejmadi will take over as Chief Financial Officer, while Amrita Sharan and Meenakshi Malik were re-appointed as Advisor to CEO of HR and Advisor to CEO for Commercial, Technology and other areas, respectively.

Last month, Chandrasekaran took over as Air India’s Chairman. Along with him, Hindustan Unilever Chairman and Managing Director Sanjiv Mehta and former General Insurance Corporation Chairperson Alice Vaidyan were appointed as independent directors.

Chandrasekaran said that they would be Advisors to the Chairman till the CEO joints. He also sought the employees guidance, support, and insights for a successful transformation of Air India.

Earlier, Tata Sons had appointed Ilker Ayci, the former chairman of Turkish Airlines. However, he refused to accept the offer for various reasons.

The Tata Sons chairman also informed about the appointment of the new management team which included Nipun Aggarwal, Chief Commercial Officer & Accountable Manager. BusinessLine had reported that Aggarwal’s name was being considered. He has been the Senior Vice-President at Tata Sons for Investment Management for the past five years. Aggarwal comes with other 26 years of experience.

Suresh Dutt Tripathi, who had quit Tata Steel last year, was appointed as Chief Human Resources Officer for Air India. Overall, Tripathi has around 40 years of work experience. 

Satya Ramaswamy, who is currently the Head of Strategic Initiatives at Tata Digital for over a year, has been appointed as Chief Digital and Technology Officer for Air India. Ramaswamy was working in the digital space (including TCS) for the past two-and-half decades. .

Rajesh Dogra has been appointed as Head of Customer Experience & Ground Handling. Dogra is the Global Program Director, Passport Seva Program, a joint venture between Tata Consultancy Services and the Ministry of External Affairs. He is a veteran in incubating and implementing large, complex public services programs enabled by the innovative use of IT and digital technologies. 

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