Alumnus of the Month (March 2011)

Mr. Faizal K E (PGDM 1988-90)

The Alumni Affairs Committee (AAC) is pleased to announce Mr. Faizal K E (PGDM 1988-90) as the Alumnus of the Month (AoM) for March 2011.

Mr. Faizal is the Founder-Chairman of KEF Holdings, a $400 Million enterprise based in the UAE, which caters to the oil, gas and petrochemical industries with cutting edge engineering products. KEF Holdings is the holding company for ETC Foundries, ETC Corrosion Engineering and JCF Valves. KEF Holdings is also a very socially responsible company. It recycles most of its wastes and uses the least amount of virgin raw materials, which has helped it maintain a very low carbon footprint.

Mr. Faizal is a Civil Engineer from MIT, Manipal and PGDM-Finance from TAPMI. He has also completed his MS in Industrial Engineering from the University of Chicago, USA. After his education, he worked in Inductotherm, USA for 2 years. He later came back to India to head his family business. He went to UAE in 1996 and set up his first ETC foundry in 1997.

Mr. Faizal and his wife Mariam Shabana are blessed with four children, Sophiya, Sarah, Zachariah & Czarina. Mrs. Shabana Faizal is also a Director of KEF Holdings and she currently heads the Admin/HR Department.

Mr Faizal is an avid sportsperson and has represented all his universities in various games. He plays tennis and basketball. In spite of his busy schedule, he religiously practices Yoga and Meditation in his daily routine.

Mr. Faizal has established the Shabana Faizal Foundation which supports many humanitarian causes like support of special needs children by running ‘Shanti’, a school in Mahe, India and actively supports the Sharjah Humanitarian Services in their programs for special needs children. A fully equipped charitable hospital with modern technology with a capacity of 100 beds is also being funded by KEF Holdings.

As a testament to its achievements, the Government of Dubai awarded KEF Holdings with the prestigious MRM Business Excellence Award for Manufacturing, 2010.

The Alumni Affairs Committee wishes Mr. Faizal success in all his future ventures and hopes that he continues to win laurels and accolades!

– Alumni Affairs Committee (AAC)

Alumnus of the Month (February 2011)

 

Ambuja Hegde (PGDM 1988-90)

It gives us immense pleasure at Alumni Affairs Committee to announce Ms. Ambuja Hegde (PGDM 1988-90) as our Alumnus of the Month (AoM) for February 2011.

Having majored in HR and Marketing at TAPMI, Ms. Hegde currently works with Wrigley, the world’s number 1 Chewing Gum company as HR Director for Middle East & Africa. Some of Wrigley brands include Extra, Orbit, Juicy Fruit, 5, etc. Wrigley is also a part of MARS, the makers of Mars bars, Snickers, M&Ms, Malteasers, etc.

Ms. Ambuja Hegde got her first break in a marketing role at NIIT, Mumbai. She then switched to corporate recruitment at BPL in Bangalore after which she moved to Siemens as a HR Manager. In 1998 Ms. Hegde moved with her husband and daughter to Dubai to join IKEA. She’s been in Dubai since then. After four years at IKEA, Ms. Hegde joined Black & Decker as HR Manager for the Middle East & Africa region.

Ms. Hegde’s job takes her all around the world through which she’s been able to fulfill and live her passion of meeting and developing relationships with a diverse spread of people.

On the personal front, her husband Pravin, daughters Nikita and Rhea also love to travel and spend time with friends. Ms. Hegde says that she’s blessed to have been able to continue friendships with some good ole classmates from TAPMI in Dubai. Music is her passion. She also loves reading, cooking and of course eatingJ. Her nicknames at TAPMI were Amby, JAZZ and Ambax.

We at TAPMI hope that Ms. Ambuja Hegde would continue to live her life with the same passion and bring more laurels in her career and personal life.

– Alumni Affairs Committee (AAC)

Alumnus of the Month (January 2011)

Mr. Ganesh Baliga (PGDM 1996-98)

Alumni Affairs Committee (AAC) is pleased to announce Mr. Ganesh Baliga (PGDM 1996-98) as the Alumnus of the Month (AoM) for January 2011.

Mr. Ganesh Baliga currently holds the position of Senior Vice President – Application Development Group Manager at Citi and is based out of London. In his current role, Mr. Ganesh is responsible for all developments in funds services technology in the EMEA region, including alternative investments as a part of Citi’s global transaction services’ technology. Additionally, he continues to be the area manager for alternative investments’ servicing in EMEA.

Mr. Ganesh Baliga graduated from TAPMI in 1998 and joined Citicorp Overseas Software Ltd. as an associate consultant. Over the years, he has progressed and grown in Citi taking up various roles including the role of Application Analyst in London on deputation from India where he  was involved in the support of the Recon Plus cash reconciliation system for European implementation.

Apart from his impressive career growth, Mr. Ganesh also holds many professional certifications that add to his credentials. Some of his certifications are-

• 2009 – Certified in Change Management from APM Group
• 2008 – Competent Communicator from Toastmasters’ International.
• 2007 – Prince 2 Practitioner
• 2005 – PMP certified project manager from Project Management Institute (PMI)
• 2004 – UK Securities Institute Regulatory paper

Mr. Ganesh graduated from Karnatak University specializing in Instrumentation Engineering. After having completed his engineering, he enrolled for TAPMI’s PGDM course (1996-98) specializing in Information Systems and General Management.  He was also an active member of the General Management Forum at TAPMI.

Apart from work, Mr. Ganesh loves reading books. Some of his reads include Samurai William: The Englishman Who Opened Japan, The Industrial Revolutionaries: The Making of the Modern World 1776-1914 and The White Tiger.

We at TAPMI hope and wish to see Mr. Ganesh Baliga scale greater heights in his career!

– Alumni Affairs Committee (AAC)

Alumnus of the Month (December 2010)

Mr.Sid Nair (PGDM 1993-95)

Alumni Affairs Committee (AAC) is pleased to announce Mr.Siddharth V Nair (PGDM 1993-95) as the Alumnus of the Month (AoM) for December 2010.

Sid Nair is Wipro’s Chief Sales & Operating Officer – North America. In his current role, Sid is responsible for driving higher revenue and profitable growth, with a strong focus on       growing faster than the competition in Wipro’s largest market. Sid will also focus on transforming the sales organization to mine deeper in existing accounts, win large deals, open new logos, leverage Wipro’s strong alliances and penetrate deeper with Wipro’s       world-class service lines. In his current role, Sid’s goal is to drive about 60% of Wipro Technologies revenue with high growth.

The business portfolio includes all the teams that focus on over Wipro’s 400+ existing accounts as well as new business across the North American market. Sid is also responsible for leading the teams that focus on special initiatives like Strategic Alliances, Global Programs, Program Management Group and the Atlanta Development Center. He also takes care of the functional teams that support North America that include Finance, HR, Recruitment, Marketing and Legal.

Sid joined Wipro in 1995 into the Software Products Division (India) where he held multiple roles across Business Development, Product Management, Channel Management & Operations Management. In 1999 he moved into a business strategy role and was responsible for creating Wipro’s entry strategy into the Asia Pacific market for software services.

Sid moved to the US in the year 2000 where he initiated and developed multiple strategic relationships for Wipro in the BFSI market for 7 years and became the General Manager & US Head for the Banking & Insurance business. In 2007, he joined the Retail, CPG, Transportation & Government (RCTG) SBU as Vice President & US Head. He has led his team to grow the RCTG US business over 300% in 3+ years.

Sid is a MBA in Marketing & Finance from TAPMI, Manipal and is based out of Dallas, Texas.

We at TAPMI hope and wish to see Sid scale greater heights in his career!

– Alumni Affairs Committee (AAC)

Alumnus of the Month (November 2010)



Mr.Sapthagiri Chapalapalli (PGDM 1993-95)

Alumni Affairs Committee (AAC) is pleased to announce Mr.Sapthagiri Chapalapalli (PGDM 1993-95) as the Alumnus of the Month (AoM) for November 2010.

Mr.Sapthagiri Chapalapalli (Saptha) completed his PGDM from TAPMI and was a part of the 1993-95 batch. Saptha is the Director, Central Europe, at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). He is responsible for leading Tata Consultancy Services in Deutschland and Austria.

Saptha has been with TCS for the past 15 years. Prior to moving to Germany, he was part of the TCS leadership team in the UK, based in London. He was also part of the leadership team in TCS North America before that.

He was also involved with the TCS Telecommunications Business Unit leadership team. Saptha has managed multiple global programmes, including many in consulting covering Business Strategy, Business Processes and Systems. Over the past 10 years, Saptha has been associated with some of TCS’ large relationships in North America, UK and India.

Saptha holds a PGDM degree from TAPMI specializing in Finance and a Bachelors degree in Management specializing in Systems.

We at TAPMI wish Saptha the very best in his career and we hope to see him scale greater heights!

– Alumni Affairs Committee (AAC)

Alumnus of the Month (May 2010)

Ms. Simeran Bhasin (Batch 1999-01)

We are pleased to announce Ms. Simeran Bhasin as the Alumnus of the Month for May 2010. Ms.Simeran Bhasin is an Alumnus of TAPMI 1999-2001 batch. She was a member of the Literary Committee and then the Placement Committee at TAPMI.

After completing her PGDM at TAPMI, she joined TITAN Industries in 2001 as a Management Trainee. From June 2002 to June 2003, she worked as Assistant Manager, Sales Operations, at TITAN Industries. She then worked as the Assistant Brand Manager for TITAN Industries for a couple of years from July 2003 to July 2005. After this she had a brief stint working with Britannia Industries Limited as a Brand Manager for about 8 months from July 2005 to February 2006 before joining TITAN Industries again.

Currently she is the Marketing Head of the SBU- Fastrack & New Brands – which includes all categories under Fastrack including retail operations and marketing as well as licensed brands covering Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss and FCUK watches.

Her achievements have been covered by the media on many occasions. You can find some articles relating to Ms. Simeran’s achievements provided in the links below-

1. The Hindu Business Line
2. Exchange4media
3. Tata.com

Recently, Ms. Simeran Bhasin appeared on the cover page of the 4Ps magazine as well. We sincerely hope that Ms. Simeran Bhasin scales greater heights in her career!

– Alumni Affairs Committee (AAC)

Alumnus of the Month (April 2010)

Mr. Anil J Philip

We are pleased to announce Mr. Anil J Philip (Batch 1992-94) as the Alumnus of the Month for April 2010. Anil J Philip recently assumed (January 2010) the role of Vice President – Marketing, Strategy & Sales Program for the Systems Technology Group (STG- the group that manages IBM’s Server & Storage Portfolio) for IBM India South Asia. He is excited about the opportunity to be back in the functional area that interests him.  Prior to this role he was Vice President – Business Development with IBM Integrated Technology Services (ITS). He enjoyed this learning experience in the services space and was responsible in building a crack National Business development engine.

Prior to returning to IBM in July 2008 he spent 3 exciting years at Lenovo India. He joined Lenovo as part of the sale of the IBM PC Division to Lenovo in May 2005. As part of the India Leadership team of Lenovo India he played a pivotal role in building the Lenovo organization in India.

In his first year at Lenovo as Director of Product , Marketing & Strategy he played the lead role in writing the  India growth script and in the launch of Lenovo’s  consumer portfolio in India. His next stint was as head of the Transaction Business Unit responsible for the Consumer and SMB Portfolio. During this period he was also promoted to the position of Executive Director.  His team was credited establishing Lenovo Consumer notebooks to the Number 2 position in India in 2007 in a short span of one year from launch. The India Transaction team was recognized across the Lenovo World with the Chairman’s award. He also had the privilege of Leading Lenovo India for a brief period (Aug – Dec 2007) as Acting Managing Director.

Prior to the Lenovo stint he spent 9 year of his work life with IBM in a number of roles. Just prior to moving to Lenovo he was heading the Channels for IBM’s PC Division. He spent most of his years in IBM with the PC division in various Product and Marketing roles.  IBM recognized his contribution to marketing and in particular ThinkPad and provided him an opportunity to work in Asia-Pacific marketing roles based out of Sydney for 2 years and later Singapore.

He also had work stints at Wipro & Wipro Acer in Product Management roles.  He joined Wipro from campus after two wonderful learning years at T A Pai Management Institute, Manipal.

Anil is married to his junior from TAPMI Meret.  Their two children provide them with the best guiding principle – reach for the Stars (Sitara) with your feet firmly on the Earth (Prithvi).

– Alumni Affairs Committee (AAC)