Dr. Bhupendra Kumar Modi, Chairman
"Technology Futurepreneur"
Dr. Bhupendra Kumar Modi was appointed to the board on 31st August 2009 as Non-Executive
Director and Chairman, and was re-elected as Director on 30th April 2010.
From his early days, when he defied family business norms to introduce Photocopying
to India, Dr. Modi has always shunned conformity in order to embrace the future.
As a "Futurepreneur" with 30 years of business leadership behind him, Dr. Modi has
always lived and worked on the principal philosophy of challenging conventional
wisdom. In his words "I want to ensure that people everywhere enjoy the highest
levels of personal productivity. And today the mobility of the Internet will drive
this more than any other phenomenon."
Over the last three decades Dr. Modi has consistently demonstrated this intent through
a series of very successful alliances with category leaders like Xerox, Alcatel,
Telstra, Olivetti and more recently with Telekom Malaysia. He pre-empted the revolutions
in Office Automation, Internet infrastructure, Wireless Telephony and Specialty
Retailing.
Continuing with this thinking, Dr. Modi now wants to foster Western levels of personal
productivity for the youth in the exciting geography that extends from the Ivory
Coast to Indonesia. To this end, he has created a US $ 2 bn organisation built on
some exciting acquisitions to the Spice group. These include very successful entrepreneurial
brands like Nexian in Indonesia, CSL in Malaysia, WellcoM in Thailand and Media
Ring in Singapore, that together provide a brilliant orchestra of passionate professionals
who will drive leadership in the region.
Dr. Modi is a Chemical Engineer and an MBA from South California, and was awarded
a Ph D in Financial Management. He has also been conferred a D Litt in Industrial
Management.
Mr. Dilip Modi, Executive Vice Chairman & Managing
Director
Mr. Dilip Modi was appointed to the board on 30th April 2010 as Director and appointed
as Executive Vice Chairman on 1st October 2010. On 14 May 2011, Mr. Dilip Modi was
also appointed as Managing Director of the Company.
Currently Group President, Global Operations – Spice Group and Managing Director,
Spice Mobility, Dilip started his professional career in 1996 working closely with
McKinsey to help restructure the BK Modi Group businesses. This led to the formation
of Spice Corp (formerly Mcorp Global) and its vision to grow in the ICE (Internet,
Communications and Entertainment) domain. He has since executed instrumental roles,
amalgamating his inherited business acumen with contemporary professionalism to
build the Group into a vibrant, energetic business entity with a highly skilled
team managing the core and strong businesses forming the periphery.
He built Modi Telstra, India's first cellular service provider, and was later instrumental
in divestment of this company through one of the smartest deals. As Chairman-MD
of Spice Communications, he developed 'Spice Telecom' into one of the most valuable
and enduring brands in Punjab and Karnataka, the two highly profitable mobile markets
in India. Over the past five years, Dilip founded and set up Mobility businesses
in the areas of Mobile Devices (Spice Mobile), Mobile Value Added Services (Spice
Digital) & Mobile Retail (Spice Hotspot), which have since emerged as amongst the
leading players in their respective domains in the fast growing Indian mobility
landscape.
Currently Dilip is working towards building a leading Mobile Internet and Digital
Lifestyle company across i2i (Ivory Coast to Indonesia) with the objective of building
solutions that reduces the digital divide across emerging markets of Asia and Africa.
Dilip is currently the President of ASSOCHAM (Associated Chamber of Commerce), a
leading industry chamber with over 400,000 members. He was the youngest Chairman
of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and currently the youngest
President of a National Industry Chamber. Dilip Modi holds a BSc from Brunel University
and MBA from Imperial College London.
Ms. Divya Modi, Executive Director
Ms. Divya Modi was appointed to the board on 31st August 2009 and was last re-elected on 30th April 2010.
Currently working in the company as an Executive Director, Divya started her career by setting up S Group's first 25,000 sq mt. lifestyle real estate project in India. She worked closely with various consultants to develop the project, tie up key anchor tenants and manage the project funding.
Ms Modi also has experience in M&A and Corporate Finance. She setup the Management Assurance Services within the group to oversee the internal control framework in the organization, setup the Investor Relations function and worked closely with the finance team in the major M&A's. She was also the Joint MD of the retail operations of the group in India where she worked closely with Mckinsey to develop the strategy for the business and implemented key measures required to drive the strategy through.
Ms Modi is a CFA Charter holder, a Graduate in Economics and Business Finance (Honors) from Brunel University, UK and a Masters in Accounting from the University of Southern California, USA.
Dato' Dr. Chuah Seong Ling, Executive Director
Dato' Chuah Seong Ling was appointed to the Board on 30th April 2010 as an Executive
Director. He is a self-made entrepreneur who is known for his innovativeness, fighting
spirit and business acumen.
The founder of the CSL Group of Companies, Dato' Chuah Seong Ling, plays an instrumental
role in not just the management of the company but also in charting its overall
direction. Under his exceptional leadership, the company has grown from strength
to strength, hitting key milestones like the integration of its mobile phone assembly,
establishment of retail and distribution arms, after-sales and customer care services,
and third party logistics services, all within a decade. As its chief product architect,
he is the creative force behind CSL's ever expanding range of products and services,
constantly injecting fresh innovative ideas to ensure the company maintain a competitive
edge over others through technology advancements.
From an unknown home-grown brand, the CSL brand is today recognised as one of Asia
Pacific's Top Excellence Brands, awarded by Global Business Magazine in Malaysia;
Its footprint now spans across Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh and China.
In April 2010, Dato' Chuah entered into a joint venture with Singapore main-board
listed, Spice i2i Limited to further harness the CSL brand's potential. As part of
this new global driving force, Dato' Chuah will spearhead the Supply Chain initiative
that will bring synergy to the group as a whole.
Dato' Chuah is a holder of Ph.D in International Marketing from Inter America University,
New York, USA. An engineer by profession, Dato' Chuah graduated from University
Technology Malaysia with a Degree in Bachelor of Electrical and Electronics.
Mr. S. Chandra Das, Independent Director
Mr. S. Chandra Das was appointed to the Board on 31st July 2010 as Independent Director.
At present he is the Managing Director of NUR Investment & Trading, Chairman of
Southern Africa Investments (a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings) and Director of several
other trading and manufacturing companies. He also sits on the board of two public
listed companies Nera Telecommunications Ltd and Yeo Hiap Seng Ltd.
He is Singapore's non-resident Ambassador to Turkey, Pro-Chancellor of Nanyang Technological
University and Board-Member of the Institute of South Asian Studies.
S. Chandra Das has been simultaneously involved in the corporate sector and public/community
services for over 4 decades, holding several high profile appointments.
He was a Member of Parliament (1980 to 1996), Chairman-Parliamentary Committee for
Defence & Foreign Affairs (1985-90) and Chairman- Parliamentary Committee for Finance,
Trade and Industry (1990-91); Chairman-Trade Development Board (1983-86); Chairman-Jurong
Shipyard and Jurong Engineering Ltd; Chairman-NTUC Fairprice Co-operative (1993-2005)
and Director- CIES Food Forum, Paris (1994-2006).
His efforts across various fields have also earned significant recognition through
several awards and citations. These include NTUC's Friend of Labour Award (1979),
Meritorious Service Award (1997), Distinguished Service Award (2001) and Distinguished
Service (Star) Award (2005); Poland's Golden Cross of Merit (1991), Rochdale Medal
by Singapore National Co-operative Federation (1998) and President's Medal by Singapore
Australian Business Council (2000).
An economics graduate, Chandra Das has been conferred honorary doctorates in Business
(by the University of Newcastle, Australia) and in Commercial Science (by St. John's
University, NY).
Mr. Thomas Henrik Zilliacus, Lead Independent Director
Mr. Zilliacus was appointed as Lead Independent Director on 28 February 2002 and was
last re-elected to his position on 24 April 2008.
Mr. Zilliacus is the founder and Executive Chairman of Mobile FutureWorks Inc, a
company which develops mobile companies and invests in the mobile space. He is also
the Executive Chairman of YuuZoo Corporation, a leading global mobile payments,
mobile social networks and mobile media company. He is the former head of Nokia’s
Asian operations, and the former global head of Nokia’s brand, corporate marketing,
PR & IR. He is a board member or advisor for several technology & finance companies
in Asia, Europe and the US.
He holds a Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration from the Swedish
School of Economics and Business Administration, Helsinki.
Mr. Vijay Brijendra Chopra, Independent Director
Mr. Vijay B. Chopra was appointed to the board on 14 October 2009. Mr. Chopra is
a Senior International Financier with a robust TMT Executive track record, experienced
in origination, structuring, and managing Equity and Debt investments across a wide
range of sectors. Mr. Chopra is a veteran in M&A, private and traded equity, as
well as in project/leveraged debt financing and loan/bond markets.
Mr. Chopra is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Millennium Capital Pte. Ltd.
Prior to this current assignment, Mr. Chopra was Managing Director with UBS Bank
in Singapore and held senior executive positions in BNP/BNP Paribas/BNP Paribas
Peregrine and ABN Amro.
Mr. Chopra holds a degree in Masters of Commerce from University of Bombay and is
an MBA (Finance) with distinction from University of Hull (UK). He is an Associate
of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India and a Certified Associate
of the Indian Institute of Bankers.
Mr. Lim Chin Hu, Independent Director
Mr. Lim Chin Hu was appointed to the board on 12th August 2011 as an Independent Director.
Mr Lim has over 28 years of experience in the Infocomm industry. He is currently
the Managing Partner of Stream Global Venture Catalyst Pvt. Ltd, a venture fund
providing seed funding for Infocomm startups in the social media and interactive
digital media space.
He was previously CEO of Frontline Technologies Corp. Ltd; formerly a SGX listed
company before it was acquired by British Telecoms (BT) in 2008. Frontline was one
of Asia’s premier IT companies with a wide geographic reach across the Asia Pacific
region. He was then tasked with integrating the merged entity as CEO of BT South
East Asia from 2008 until his retirement in November 2010.
Prior to joining Frontline, Mr Lim held many senior positions at Sun Microsystems
from 1992 to 2000 including Managing Director of Sun Microsystems Singapore; country
manager for Sun Microsystems in Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. Mr
Lim began his career at Hewlett Packard and held various sales, marketing & management
positions in Singapore and South East Asia since joining in 1981.
Mr Lim has also served in various technology industry bodies such as a council member
in Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF), a board member of Infocomm Development
Authority of Singapore (IDA) and a council member of IT Standards Committee and
National Infocomm Manpower Council. He currently sits on the board of Changi General
Hospital and Integrated Healthcare Informations Systems. He is also a board member
of Caledonian Investment Ltd focusing on technology related investments in the Asia
Pacific region.
Mr Lim holds a Bachelor of Electronics & Computer Science degree from La Trobe University,
Melbourne, Australia and a Diploma in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from
Ngee Ann Polytechnic.
Mr. Jai Swarup Pathak, Non-Independent Non-Executive
Director
Mr. Jai Swarup Pathak was appointed to the Board on 14th October 2009 as Non-Independent
Non- Executive Director and was last re-elected to his position on 30th April, 2010.
Mr. Jai S. Pathak is the Partner-in-Charge of the Singapore office of Gibson, Dunn
& Crutcher. He is also located in Gibson Dunn’s Los Angeles office. Mr. Pathak is
a member of the firm’s Corporate Department and its Mergers and Acquisitions Practice
Group.
Mr. Pathak has extensive experience in cross-border mergers and acquisitions, takeovers,
dispositions, privatisations, joint ventures, licensing, infrastructure development,
as well as private equity and structured finance transactions. His clients have
included governments, financial institutions, investment banks, multinational companies
and U.S., European, and Asian companies.
Mr. Pathak previously practiced with Jones Day since 1985, where he was a partner
head of Jones Day’s India practice in Los Angeles and coordinating the M&A section
for the California region. He previously served as head of that firm’s India practice
and Partner-in-Charge of the Singapore office. He also spent more than a decade
practicing in their London, New York and Cleveland offices.
Chambers & Partners Asia Pacific 2011 ranks Mr. Pathak as a leading lawyer for Corporate/M&A
in both Singapore and India. Mr. Pathak won the “Best Corporate Lawyer” award at
Asian Legal Business’s Legal Who’s Who Singapore 2003. He was presented the “National
Law Day Award – 2001” by the Indian Council of Jurists for his unique contribution
to the development of Indian corporate law. In addition, Mr. Pathak was also named
by The American Lawyer’s February issue, in its list of the Top 20 Lateral
Partner Hires for 2008.
Mr Pathak graduated law school with a B.A.(Hons. in Jurisprudence) from Oxford
University in 1984 (M.A., 1989) and received his LL.M from the University of Virginia
in 1985. He previously earned his B.A. (Hons.) and M.A. degrees from the University
of Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
Ms. Preeti Malhotra, Non-Independent Non-Executive
Director
Ms. Preeti Malhotra was appointed to the Board on 14th May 2011. She is presently
Executive Director, Spice Mobility Ltd and Group President- Corporate Affairs, Spice
Group. Preeti is responsible for instituting good Corporate Governance in all Spice
Group entities and during her tenure with the Group she has handled a number of
re-structuring transactions including IPOs, Takeovers, Mergers and other JV initiatives
of the Group.
Ms. Malhotra is the past President of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India
(ICSI) & was the first and still the only woman to be elected as President amongst
the premier National Professional Bodies in India.
Ms. Malhotra was a member of the Dr. J.J. Irani Expert Committee constituted by
the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), Government of India, to advise the Government
on the New Company Law being framed. She specifically drove the discussions on Management,
Board Governance and Shareholders democracy. She is a member on various expert panels
on Corporate laws ,Governance and regulation and regularly interacts with the MCA
and SEBI on the new laws being framed. She is/has been Chairperson / Member of various
Committees of ICSI and of various Chambers of Industries in India and is presently
also the Chairperson of the National Council of Corporate Governance, CSR & Corporate
Affairs of ASSOCHAM. She is also invited by OECD regularly to participate in the
Asian Round Table discussions on Corporate Governance.
She has received several awards and citations and was awarded the Bharat Nirman
Talented Ladies Award in the field of profession in the year 2003 and the prestigious
Vocational Service Excellence Award by Rotary Club of New Delhi in the year 2009.
She also received on behalf of ICSI as its Past President “Recognition of Excellence
Award” from Her Excellency Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil (Hon’ble President of India
) during the Celebration of India Corporate Week 2009 by Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
She is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India and a Law
Graduate from Law Faculty, Delhi University.
Committee
Shareholder Value Enhancement Committee
The Shareholder Value Enhancement Committee is chaired by Ms Divya Modi and members
include Ms. Preeti Malhotra, Mr. Vijay Brijendra Chopra and Mr. Thomas Henrik Zilliacus.
Executive Committee
The Executive Committee is chaired by Dr. B.K. Modi and members include Mr. Dilip
Modi, Ms. Divya Modi and Dato’ Chuah Seong Ling.
Audit Committee
The Audit Committee is chaired by Mr Vijay Brijendra Chopra and members include
Mr. Lim Chin Hu, and Ms. Preeti Malhotra.
Nominating Committee
The Nominating Committee is chaired by Mr. Thomas Henrik Zilliacus and members include
Ms. Divya Modi, Mr. Jai Swarup Pathak, Mr. Vijay Brijendra Chopra and Mr. S. Chandra
Das.
Remuneration Committee The Remuneration Committee is chaired by Mr. Vijay
Brijendra Chopra and members include Mr. S. Chandra Das and Ms. Preeti Malhotra.
Mr. Kul Taran Singh Anand (KTS), Chief Financial
Officer
Mr. Kul Taran Singh Anand (KTS) has valuable professional experience of over 27
years in the field of corporate finance, accounts, global taxation, commercial and
corporate laws, strategic planning, corporate governance, mergers & acquisitions,
investor relations and secretarial functions.
Mr. Anand has worked with large corporate houses and multinationals. His last assignment
was as Chief Financial Officer with NIIT Technologies Ltd, a leading global IT solution
organisation having businesses in more than 20 countries in America, Europe, Australia
and Asia.
His previous experience includes working as Vice President - Finance & Manufacturing
and SBU head in TCNS Limited, engaged in manufacturing and export of textiles/garments
from India, China, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.
Prior to this, he has also worked with Pepsi, MilkFood and Nuchem.
Mr. KTS Anand is a gold medalist and topped the University while doing his graduation
(B.Com). He also holds a Masters degree in Commerce. He is a fellow member of The Institute
of Chartered Accountants of India.