Harish Bhat joins Mistry's A-team

Harish Bhat, managing director, Tata Global Beverages and chairman of Tata Coffee, will join Tata Sons as member, group executive council (GEC), reporting to Tata Group Chairman Cyrus Mistry from April. Ajoy Misra, deputy chief executive officer (CEO) at Tata Global Beverages, will replace Bhat as managing director and CEO of the beverage company.

Mistry had created a second tier of leadership by setting up the GEC under the aegis of the board of Tata Sons in April. The GEC is expected to drive group-level initiatives. The GEC works closely with and partners the boards, CEOs and senior management of various Tata companies. Bhat is the fifth member of this team.

Others are Madhu Kannan, head, business development; N S Rajan, chief human resources officer; Mukund Govind Rajan, brand custodian and chief ethics officer; and Nirmalaya Kumar, head, strategy. A statement by the Tata Group said Bhat, an alumnus of BITS Pilani and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, had joined in 1987.