"Technology Futurepreneur"
Dr. Bhupendra Kumar Modi was appointed to the board on 24th April 2010 as Non-Executive Director and Chairman. Dr. Modi, Global Chairman, Spice Group 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. In keeping 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 was appointed to the board on 21st August 2006 as Director. Mr. Modi is presently also Group President Global Operations – Spice Group and the Executive Vice-Chairman of S i2i Ltd, a group company listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. He started his professional career in 1996 working closely with McKinsey to help restructure the Dr. BK Modi Group businesses. This led to 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 Executive Vice Chairman & Managing Director 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, Mr. Modi 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 Mr. Modi 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.
Mr. Modi 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. Mr. Modi holds a BSc from Brunel University and MBA from Imperial College London.
Ms. Preeti Malhotra was appointed to the Board on 24th April 2010 as Executive Director. She has over 20 years of rich experience and has held various leadership positions in the Group. She is presently also the Non-Executive Director of S i2i Ltd. Ms. Malhotra is the past President of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) & is 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 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 has received several awards and citations and was awarded the Bharat Nirman Talented Ladies Award in the fi eld of profession and the Vocational Service Excellence Award by Rotary Club of New Delhi. 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 MCA. She is a Fellow Member of The Institute of Company Secretaries of India and a Law Graduate from Law Faculty, Delhi University.
Mr. Memani was appointed to the Board on 24th April 2010 as Independent Director. Mr. Memani was Chairman and Country Managing Partner, Ernst and Young, India until March 31, 2004. He was also member of Ernst and Young Global Council for 10 years. Mr. Memani specializes in business and corporate advisory, foreign taxation, financial consultancy etc. and is consulted on corporate matters by several domestic and foreign companies. He was also member of various committees of ICAI. For two (2) consecutive years, Mr. Memani was on the External Audit Committee ("EAC") of the International Monetary Fund and was appointed the Chairman of EAC for the year 1999-2000, the first Indian to be appointed in the committee. Previously, Mr. Memani has been the Chairman of American Chamber of Commerce in India and former President of Indo American Chamber of Commerce and PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
He is a member of the managing committee of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, ASSOCHAM, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Mr. Memani was co-chairman of the New Company Law Drafting Committee i.e. the Dr. J.J. Irani Committee and first chairman of Quality Review Board, both set-up by Government of India. Mr. Memani holds Bachelors' degree in Commerce from Calcutta University and is fellow member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India ("ICAI")
Mr. Chattopadhyay was appointed to the Board on 24th April 2010 as Independent Director. He is Chairman of the Peninsula Foundation and Audit Bureau of Circulations and Trustee of Techno Serve of India. He is a member of Indian Polo Association and is associated with Sri Aurobindo Society in Pondicherry. He has worked for 28 years at management positions in Brooke Bond Limited (Unilever), British American Tobacco Industries (ITC Limited), PepsiCo South Asia, where he was an Executive Director and RPG Enterprises where he was Management Board Member and Sector Head. His experience covers food and beverage and entertainment industries. He taught in ASCI and ISB in Hyderabad and Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. He has produced "The Japanese Wife" and published music albums with the likes of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. Mr. Chattopadhyay holds a Bachelor's (Hons.) degree in Economics from St. Xavier College, University of Kolkata and also completed a course in Finance for Senior Management BAT and a course in product innovation conducted by the University of Michigan.
Mr. Saurabh Srivastava was appointed to the Board on 30th May 2011 as Independent Director. Mr. Srivastava is Chairman of CA India, one of India's leading IT entrepreneurs, angel investors and venture capitalists. He founded and chaired IIS Infotech which was ranked amongst the top 20 Indian software companies within 4 years of inception and was listed, post merger, as Xansa on the London stock Exchange, with revenues of around US $ 800 million till it was acquired by Steria. He is a cofounder and past Chairman of NASSCOM. He is also on the National Executive Committees of the two apex industry chambers in India, CII and FICCI. He chaired the Indian Venture Capital Association till April this year and is Chairman Emeritus of TIE Delhi.
He serves / has served on several government committees, task forces & boards. He is also on the Advisory Board of Imperial College Business School, London, on the Entrepreneurship / Incubation boards of IIT Delhi and IIT Kanpur and on the Advisory boards of Uttarakhand and Himachal Universities. He has been awarded with "Distinguished Alumnus" from IIT Kanpur, Honorary Doctorate in Technology from the University of Wolverhampton, UK and a Lifetime Achievement award from the IT Industry in India. Mr. Srivastava holds a Master degree from Harvard University and a B Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur.
