 "Mistry builds his Team 'A' with young blood")
The GEC comprises N S Rajan, 51, who has been appointed as chief human resource officer for the group. Rajan is currently partner and global leader people and organisation at Ernst and Young and will join Tata Sons on May 9. Rajan replaces Satish Pradhan, 58, who left Tata Sons this month from his role as chief, group human resources.
Other members include Mukund Govind Rajan, 44, and Madhu Kannan, 40. Rajan, a veteran of Tata Group, was appointed as the group’s brand custodian in February. Kannan, a former chief executive officer of the Bombay Stock Exchange, was appointed in 2012 to head business development for the group by Mistry when he was vice-chairman of the group last year.
With GEC coming in formations, the earlier apex executive bodies--group executive office (GEO) and group corporate centre (GCC)--set up by former chairman of the group Ratan Tata respectively in 1999 and 2001, ceased to exist. Tata Sons is the holding company for Tata Group.
“Members of GEO and GCO were from Tata Sons board so despite these bodies getting abolished these members remain on the board and will continue to guide,” said a group spokesperson.
GCC that worked on group strategy comprised R K Krishna Kumar, R Gopalakrishnan and Isshat Hussain, who are currently non-executive directors on Tata Sons board. GEO, the body that ensured the execution of strategy consisted of Isshat Hussain, R Gopalakrishnan and Kishore Chaukar, former managing director of Tata Industries.
In fact, Tata Sons does not have an executive director on its board since September last year when group chief financial officer Isshat Hussain turned 65 and became a non-executive director.
“With most of the board members retiring in the next two to three years, Mistry has created the body that can stay with him for long and execute his vision and strategy,” said a management consultant, who has worked with the group earlier. He did not wish to be identified. “This also relieves the senior members of the board to advisory role while the young team builds its learning,” he added.
“The mandate of the GEC is to own and drive the delivery of the core purpose of Tata Sons, which is long term value creation for all stakeholders,” said the company in a statement. “The GEC will work closely with and partner the boards, CEOs and senior management of the various Tata companies,” it said.
Now, Mistry will continue to appoint new members for different roles in GEC to complete his ‘Team A’. Since he took the reins of the group in December last year, he has already talked about Rs 45,000-crore investment in the next two years. The group also made a strategic move in March by entering into the aviation industry through equity partnership with Kuala Lumpur-based Air Asia to launch a low-cost air service in India. The move came 13 years after Tata Group's bid to buy a stake in Air India in partnership with Singapore Airlines collapsed. More such strategic moves can come as Mistry chalks out growth plan for the 145-year-old Tata Group.