Venkatesh Roddam joins Nipuna Services as CEO

“Bill Gates exemplifies the credo that it is one individual’s vision that drives a company but I believe that without team effort the vision cannot be achieved,” says Venkatesh Roddam the new chief executive officer of Nipuna Services, the BPO arm of Satyam Computer Services, a global consulting and IT services provider.

So involved is Roddam with his vision for Nipuna that his leisure activities are aligned with his professional goals. Prior to Nipuna, Roddam was the global head of Trust and Securities operations for Deutsche Bank AG based in Frankfurt. He brings over 18 years of experience in the financial services and banking industry in India and overseas. He started his career with ANZ Grindlays Bank, and later moved to work with Emirates Bank International and HDFC Bank. Roddam holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Osmania University, Hyderabad and an MBA in Marketing from Andhra University.

Shail Maniar is the choice as MD, Sabre Holdings
If a burning interest becomes a career then life is a party. This explains why Shail Maniar an aviation aficionado who began his career with Sabre Holdings, a provider of distribution and technology solutions for the travel industry, in 1992 has been loyal to the company till now. Maniar is now managing director of Sabre India headquartered in Bangalore, to oversee Sabre’s end-to-end operations at its development and services center. He has more than 13 years experience in the development, management and delivery of large-scale IT systems for the travel and transportation industries.

Prior to this promotion, Maniar was based in Hong Kong for six years as Sabre Holding’s Asia Pacific senior executive responsible for key APAC project initiatives. The best part of his work? “I enjoy traveling which comes with my job and it enables me to collect artifacts from all over the world.” He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Bombay and a Master’s in Computer Science from University of North Texas.

Ariba India Development Center welcomes K. Jaya Kumar as MD
He has been an entrepreneur, technology professional and a manager at the strategic level, and still has another dimension as an avid reader of the literary works of the gifted Afghan Sufi writer Idries Shah. Now K. Jaya Kumar slides into a new role as managing director of Ariba Technologies, the software development arm of Ariba Inc., a spend management solutions provider.

Kumar joins Ariba with over 16 years of experience in the technology sector. As managing director, his responsibilities include providing leadership to the software development, quality assurance and technical support initiatives at Ariba’s development center in Bangalore, India. Prior to joining Ariba, Kumar held multiple portfolios as chief delivery, quality and technology officer at Scandent Group managing over 1100 professionals across Asia and the U.S. He has successfully led development operations at Oracle India and Wipro Technologies. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics Engineering from IIT Mumbai and an MBA in Finance from IIM Bangalore.

Surya Kant promoted as President, TCS North America
“Working in the ‘land of the rising sun’–Japan, at the TCS office made me rise through the most challenging phase of my career,” reveals Surya Kant appointed president of North American operations, Tata Consultancy Services, a global technology services company.

‘Sury’ as he is popularly called has been with TCS for the past 27 years and most recently served as head of customer delivery in New Delhi. Prior to this, he has also served as head of TCS’ operations in Japan and the U.K. Kant views ‘Father of the Indian IT industry’–FC Kohli and current TCS CEO S Ramadorai as his mentors. International affairs interest him greatly, a consequence of having lived in the U.S., U.K., Japan and New Zealand. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineer-ing and a Master’s in Computer Technology from IIT Delhi.

Tom Kenyon to lead CSC India
“In general, in India and the U.K. people tend to question their managers or the organization less. In the U.S., I just assume people will speak out and constructively challenge. In India and the U.K. I have to work much harder at building people’s trust, so that when they are asked for their opinions, they will do so in an open, honest, constructive way,” opens up Tom Kenyon appointed to lead CSC India a global information technology services company.

Kenyon has been closely associated with CSC India during the last few years. He has worked with CSC for almost 20 years in a variety of senior leadership positions. In 1998 he moved to the U.K. Kenyon returned to the U.S. in 2001 and played an important role in running the U.S. application services division. Before his current assignment in India, Kenyon was the vice president of CSC’s application outsourc-ing management team. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Systems Analysis from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. “I unwind by skiing, running, golf although that sometimes causes me to get wound up!” wraps up Tom with a smile.

Intel India names Franklin B Jones as President Chipmaker, Intel Corpora-tion has appointed Franklin B Jones as the president of Intel India. Prior to this appointment Jones was the vice-president of finance and enterprise services of Intel at its headquarters in Santa Clara, California. He will be the first American honcho to head Intel Technology India Limited. Jones responsibility includes managing company relationship with the central and state governments, their entities, site management, education initiatives and university engagements in India.

Having managed global businesses his appointment is expected to take Intel India to the next level. Intel’s head count, which has grown from a mere 900 engineers to 2700 in the year 2005, is set to cross the 3000 mark by the year-end. Jones holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences from University of Virginia and received a Master’s in Management Science from California State University.