Celebrating International Women’s Day last month we published two lists of top 10 women in the field of corporate communications and public relations consultancy, respectively. In keeping with our vision to remain non-discriminating and an equal opportunity media, we hereby enlist the most inspiring Indian men in corporate communications.
Anuj Dayal
Executive Director, Corporate Communications, Delhi Metro
Anuj Dayal is the person responsible for managing stakeholder communication for DMRC. He is one of the heroes of the communication field in India. The way he has led the communication flow of Delhi Metro and managed the challenging task of information flow between wide range of stakeholders is exemplary.
Anuj has also written a book titled ‘25 Management Strategies for Delhi Metro’ which provides crystal clear insights into how a project of such magnitude got done with such finesse and brilliance.
Arun Arora
Chief Communications Officer, Cairn India Ltd
A mechanical engineer and MBA (Marketing), Arun has additional qualification in Journalism (Mass Communications) and Hotel Management. He has a rich exposure in media relations, internal and external communications, brand management, marketing communications, advertising, web management, events, exhibitions and CSR.
His love for learning and sharing from his learning is well known. Arun’s grip on handling crisis situations make him an exceptional communication professional.
Ishteyaque Amjad
Public Affairs & Communication, Coca Cola India & South West Asia
Ishteyaque joined Coca Cola in September 2015. Prior to this he was director corporate affairs for Cargill, based in Singapore. He has also worked with HCL Enterprises, Essar Group and served the Indian Army. Amjad launched Cargill’s flagship campaign – Nourishing India. A program aimed at providing solutions for food and nutrition insecurity. He is a post graduate from Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune and a Bachelor of Economics from Aligarh Muslim University. He is also an alumnus of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun.
People around him also love and admire him for his exceptional sense of humour.
Kanwaldeep Singh
Vice President – Corporate Planning, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.
Kanwaldeep graduated in Economics from Delhi University and worked as a journalist with The Statesman, Indian Express and The Times of India. He joined Maruti in 2000 as DGM, Communications. His communication activities have included multiple products and technology launches by the Company. The historic public issue of Maruti, internal communication initiatives and effective crisis management are some of the feathers in Kanwaldeep’s hat. He currently manages functions of Corporate Communications, Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Planning and Risk Management.
Kanwaldeep Singh has an M Phil degree from University of Cambridge, UK
Manish Kalghatgi
Vice President – Corporate Communications, Jet Airways
Manish joined Jet Airways in January 2015. He holds a Postgraduate Degree in Journalism and Communication from Pune University. He has more than two decades of rich and diverse experience in the area of Media and Corporate Communications. His earlier assignment was with the GMR group as Vice President and Group Head, Corporate Communications. At Jet Airways, Manish has succeeded with a communication strategy that resulted in better public and employee awareness of organisation issues.
Mukund Rajan
Brand Custodian and Member – Group Executive Council, Tata Sons
Rajan joined Tata through the Tata Administrative Service in 1995. He was assigned to the office of Ratan Tata where he served for 12 years. In 2008, Rajan was appointed MD of Tata Teleservices. He subsequently moved to Tata Capital in 2010. Rajan is an IIT Delhi graduate and received a Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford University where he completed his master’s and doctorate degree courses in international relations.
He currently serves as a non-executive director on the boards of Lakshmi Machine Works and Tata SIA Airlines, and is a member of the national advisory boards of AIESEC India and Enactus. Additionally, he serves as Chief Ethics Officer of the group and oversees all corporate social responsibility activities as chairman of the Tata Global Sustainability Council. Not many people know that RBI governor Raghuram Rajan is his brother.
Balaji P
Director – Regulatory, External Affairs and CSR of Vodafone India
Prior to Vodafone, Balaji was in the mobile devices industry as MD of Nokia and Sony Mobile. He has over two decades of experience in telecom technology/equipment sector. He held leadership roles in Ericsson India, was on the executive board of India operations.
Balaji has been associated with start-up and turn-around ventures of TATA group, AT&T, Ericsson, Lucent and Sony and has held senior leadership positions in these companies. An Electronics Engineer from IIT Roorkee, Balaji did his MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad in Marketing, Finance and Strategy. He was selected for the leadership program of Tata group and worked closely with senior leaders in the Tata group.
Raza Khan
Head – Group Corporate Communications, Bharti
An expert in Corporate Reputation Management and Crisis Communication, Raza started his career in PR with India’s leading consultancy firm, Perfect Relations. Later at Genesis-Burnson Marsteller, Raza was a Partner in the Consumer and Entertainment division.
He moved to the corporate sector with India’s leading business group – Bharti, handling the communication for all the group companies including Bharti Airtel, Bharti Retail, FieldFresh, Beetel and Bharti Foundation, the philanthropy arm. He had a brief stint as the Head of Corporate Communications with another leading telecom infrastructure company, Viom Networks (earlier Tata-Quippo), before returning to Bharti.
Khan graduated as a chemical engineer from the National Institute of Technology, Raipur and holds a PG Diploma in communications from the Delhi School of Communication.
Senjam Raj Sekhar
Head of Corporate Communications, Flipkart
Named among 100 most influential corporate communicators in the world by the Holmes Report, Senjam Raj Sekhar has over two decades experience of communicating and building brand and corporate reputations across South Asia, UK and Africa.
Prior to joining Flipkart, Senjam led the corporate communications of Vedanta and had also worked with Bharti. Sekhar has also spent several years on the consultancy-side, including two years as Genesis Burson-Marsteller managing partner and three years as account director with Corporate Voice Weber Shandwick.
Senjam’s love for travel is evident from the fact that he took a two-year sabbatical to fulfil a lifelong dream. He travelled across four continents in an epic journey that took him across 16 countries spending around a month in every country.
Sujit Patil, ABC
Vice President – Corporate Communications, Godrej
With an engineering degree in instrumentation, MBA in marketing and a Diploma in advertising and public relations, Sujit has over the past 16 years, worked with large global conglomerates across industry verticals viz. manufacturing, automation and technology, FMCG, chemicals & fertilizers.
Prior to joining Godrej, Sujit had worked with the Tata group, L&T and Emerson Process Management. His capabilities in the communications space are complemented by a vast network of top communications professionals across the world. Few people know that Sujit loves trying different cuisines, enjoys farming and also practices kick boxing.
* All names in alphabetical order.
CLICK TO READ: TOP 10 Men in Public Relations Consultancy
CLICK TO READ: TOP 10 Women in Public Relations Consultancy
CLICK TO READ: TOP 10 Women in Corporate Communications
Alex is also the executive editor for Reputation Today – India’s only magazine for PR & Corporate Communications professionals.
Congratulaltions dear Anuj . I am proud of u.
I think you may have to really study their efficency before
judging. There are people who are good in writing or journalistic ability, but relationship management is very poor. Have you done some study with correspondents, chief of Bureaus and Senior Editors about these people? I do not think so. Moreover, the Corporate communicaiton Deptt. inany company are using 2 to 3 PR agencies and they work for the Company concerned. What Corporate communicator has done on their own? I have my own doubts, Sir.