· Inducts renowned professionals as Independent Directors to strengthen the board
· Board restructuring focusses on transitioning Gokaldas Exports into a truly professionally-managed and board-run company, maintaining close to 50% institutional ownership
Gokaldas Exports Ltd., one of India’s top garment exporters, has completed its board restructuring on April 27th by inducting Pavitra Rajaram as its fourth independent director. This is in addition to the three accomplished independent directors inducted in October 2022. The restructuring is part of the company’s strategy of focusing on the next phase of growth.
Pavitra Rajaram is the founder and Creative Director of Pavitra Rajaram Design, a multidisciplinary design practice. She is also the Design Director for Asian Paints and a recipient of the INTACH Urban Heritage Award, the EDIDA award for Product Design, and the prestigious AD100, which is awarded annually to the 100 most influential designers in the Indian subcontinent and which she has won five times.
Pavitra has a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and Art History, which she received magna cum laude from Smith College in Massachusetts, USA. During her time at Smith College, she served as the President of her graduating class.
In October 2022, the Company had inducted Rama Bijapurkar, George Varughese and Shiv Dalvie to the board. The independent directors bring years of experience and diverse knowledge to the company. Bijapurkar is a veteran of several top Indian boards, a respected author and consultant, and an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad. New York-based Varughese is currently a managing director with global management consulting firm Alvarez and Marsal. He was previously with Credit Suisse, Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette, and Drexel Burnham Lambert, and is an alumnus of both Harvard and Stanford universities. Dalvie, erstwhile partner of AEA Investors and a veteran of Credit Suisse First Boston and Microsoft, is the founder of Cotton Tree Management that advises on India and Asia-bound PE investments. He is an alumnus of Yale and Stanford universities.
Commenting on the restructuring, Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Sivaramakrishnan Ganapathi said, “I am delighted to announce the completion of the restructuring of our Board of Directors. Our objective was to focus on the next phase of growth for the company and ensure that it is professionally-run
The induction of independent professionals with deep experience and global reach has been a key aspect of this restructuring. We are confident that their expertise and insights will prove invaluable as we navigate the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. With their guidance, we believe that Gokaldas Exports will be able to achieve its full potential”.
This restructuring is aimed at ensuring a more streamlined and efficient board, with a focus on institutionalising the company and driving growth. The company is optimistic that this new structure will help it achieve its full potential and deliver value to all stakeholders.
INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR PROFILES
PAVITRA RAJARAM
Pavitra Rajaram is the founder and Creative Director of Pavitra Rajaram Design, a multidisciplinary design practice that straddles the worlds of architecture & interior design, brand strategy and experience design and product design. She is also the Design Director for Asian Paints. For 25 years, Pavitra Rajaram was the Lead Designer of the luxury retail brand Good Earth. She was also responsible for the Visual Merchandising, Creative Strategy and Communication strategy for the brand. During this time, she was also a key member of the core team that set up two ancillary brands: Nicobar and Paro.
For the past 15 years Pavitra has advised clients in the retail space on creative strategy, design thinking and how to create holistic customer experiences through innovation in product, retail and below the line communication strategy.
RAMA BIJAPURKAR
Rama Bijapurkar is a researcher, academic, independent director on several Indian blue-chip boards and author of widely-acclaimed books on Consumer India and business-market strategy. Her core area of work is bringing market focus and customer insight to business strategy and public policy. She has spent over two decades teaching MBA students and offering executive education programmes at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA).
Bijapurkar holds a B.Sc. (Hons) degree in Physics from Delhi University and a post graduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. She is also one of India’s most experienced independent directors, having served on the boards of several of India’s blue-chip companies. She currently serves on the boards of Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd., Cummins India, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises and Sun Pharma.
GEORGE VARUGHESE
New York based George Varughese is the CEO of A&M Securities, a unit of Alvarez and Marsal. Before joining A&M, he was the Head of Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette’s India private equity business and later, Partner in Credit Suisse’s private equity group based in New York. Prior to that, Varughese led the restructuring group at Kidder Peabody. He joined Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1982 and eventually became a managing director in its investment banking practice.
Varughese earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford University. He also served as a Professor of Finance at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore from 1993 to 1995.
SHIVANANDAN ASHOK DALVIE
Shiv Dalvie’s Cotton Tree advises on private equity investments in technology-enabled companies in consumer, industrial and business services sectors across Asia and India. Prior to founding Cotton Tree, he was a partner with AEA Investors, a U.S. private equity firm with $16 billion under management. Dalvie has worked at Credit Suisse First Boston in New York, Microsoft Corporation in Redmond and ChrysCapital in Mumbai previously. Dalvie earned a B.S. in computer science and economics from Yale University and an MBA from Stanford University.
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