India Retail Forum

Speakers Profile 2011


	ABHAY GUPTA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BLUES CLOTHING COMPANY LTD. A marine engineering graduate and MBA, he has worked with Stencil Apparel and Givo before joining the Blues Clothing Company in its formative years in mid 1990s. He has been instrumental in carving out a new identity for BCC to help expand from a single level to a multi-level and eventually to a multi-location retail network. His vision for BCC is to prominently make it the largest player in the fi eld of luxury retailing.


	ABHEEK SINGHI PARTNER & DIRECTOR, THE BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP, INDIA Abheek Singhi heads the consumer and retail practice in India. He has nearly 15 years of experience in consulting in India, Asia and North America. He is a member of key industry forums and a member of the National FMCG and Retail Committees of CII. Abheek has also closely worked with industry association and Government bodies in policy formulation. He is a frequent contributor to perspectives on the industry through industry panels and forums. He has also authored several reports on the Indian consumer and retail sector.


	ABHISHEK MALHOTRA VICE PRESIDENT & PARTNER, BOOZ & COMPANY Abhishek Malhotra is a Partner with Booz & Company and is based in Mumbai. He leads the Consumer & Retail Practice for the fi rm in India. Abhishek has 14 years of consulting experience with Booz & Company and his main focus has been business transformation and growth strategy with experience in consumer, retail and industrials products. He has participated in engagements in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. Abhishek received his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India and his BE in Electronic Engineering from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, India.


	AJAY AGGARWAL CHIEF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE OFFICER, KLISMA Ajay is the Chief Customer Experience Offi cer at KLISMA, an experience commerce platform that empowers modern consumers to fulfi ll all their shopping needs. His career as a customer-service professional in IT began in 1975 and he has been associated with the retail industry since 1993. His insights into business challenges and opportunities led to him pioneering the development of a Point Of Sales solution that became the base of most POS systems in India. He believes that consumer orientation will be the key growth factor in modern retail, and is committed to building growth models in the retail industry through consumer centric business models and processes.


	AJAY KAUL CEO, JUBILANT FOODWORKS Ajay Kaul is the Chief Executive Offi cer cum Whole Time Director of Jubilant FoodWorks. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in technology from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi and a Masters’ degree in business administration from XLRI, Jamshedpur. He has experience in industries such as fi nancial services, airlines, express distribution and logistics and food retail. Prior to this, he worked in Indonesia as the Country Head of TNT Express Division. He has also worked with TNT India, Modiluft and American Express TRS. He took over as the Chief Executive Offi cer in 2005.


	AJIT JOSHI MD & CEO, INFINITI RETAIL Ajit Joshi has been part of Retail and Hospitality industry both in India and internationally for over 20 years, specialising in business management, operations strategy, channel development and property management. Ajit has handled a number of portfolios, such as Spotless Services, Orion Capital, ITC Hotels and Les Roches, apart from being the Project Manager at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. An MBA from the Melbourne Business School, Ajit studied at Cornell University, and did his Hotel Management from Les Roches-Bluches, Switzerland and from Institute of Hotel Management, Mumbai.


	AKASH SAHAI MD INDIA, GROUPE AEROPLAN Akash has many years of experience in the loyalty industry, starting as manager of rewards for the Air Miles program in Canada and later leading US Loyalty Corp’s effort to build a coalition program in the US. In addition, Akash has extensive experience in direct marketing as CMO of Capital One Bank (Canada), EVP Business Development for Fingerhut Direct Marketing, and several management positions at United Airlines. Akash began his career as a lawyer and most recently has led several entrepreneurial ventures in Canada and Asia.


	AKHILESH PRASAD CHIEF OF OPERATIONS AND SENIOR VICE-PRESIDENT, Akhilesh brings to the table more than 20 years experience in retail in India. An alumni of St Stephen’s College & Delhi School of Economics, he was Chief of Operations & Sales, Reliance Webstore (RWSL). RWSL is the retail face of Reliance Infocomm, and comprises 250 outlets spread across the country. He had been a part of the initial team (as Circle Head Karnataka) which conceptualized and implemented the project. He was Chief Executive Offi cer, Personality Ltd. from March 1996 to May 2002 that was the Domestic division of Gokaldas Images Ltd.


	ALEX LEFTWICH CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, RETAIL MANAGEMENT Having graduated in Business Studies and worked with top retailers like C&A, Habitat, Etam and Goldberg’s, Alex has spent much of the past 25 years helping business leaders in the retail and real estate sectors to attract and retain top executive talent. RMC started operating in India 12 years ago with its 1st assignment - hiring expat leadership team for Shoppers Stop Ltd. to profi tably expand and develop the business across India. This group of UK expats were probably responsible for coaching, mentoring and developing many of the current crop of India’s top retail leadership.