Vivek Paul is vice-chairman of Wipro
Bangalore: Vivek Paul has replaced Ashok Soota as vice-chairman of Wipro. The 41-year-old Paul was  global head of the computerised tomogrpahy business of General Electric of the US.

He will operate from Santa Clara, California. The reasoning, as Wipro chairman Azim Premji put it - the company, which wants to become a global leader in the software business, must move its centre of gravity closer to its overseas customers.

Paul is an alumnus of Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, and the University of Massachusetts. He has worked with Pepsico, Bain & Co, and Wipro GE Medical Systems.
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Soota quits
Bangalore: Ashok Soota, almost synonymous in the past with Wipro and its fortunes, has moved out of the company. Soota, currently vice-chairman, said he is leaving Wipro to join a start-up venture.

Soota said he had thought of starting something on his own but had never seriously considered leaving Wipro. He is joining a venture floated by N. Krishna Kumar of Wipro and Subroto Bagchi of Lucent.

Soota joined Wipro in 1984 to head the then Wipro Infotech, and has been with the company ever since. He has a year and half to go for retirement.
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Desai quits Whirlpool
New Delhi: J.R. Desai, chairman of Whirlpool of India, has resigned with effect from 1 July 1999. The company has convened a meeting of its board on 12 July to consider the resignation and appoint a new chairman.

Desai said as the company belongs to Whirlpool Corporation of the US now, it is only fair that it appoint its own person as chairman.

Whirlpool Corporation acquired a 51 per cent stake in Kelvinator of India in 1990 and renamed it Whirlpool of India. Desai and his family had a majority stake in Kelvinator. Whirlpool Corporation has increased its equity in the company to 82.83 per cent.
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Piyush Patel made Cabletron CEO
New York: Piyush Patel, a 43-year-old Indian American, is president and chief executive officer of networking solutions company Cabletron Systems with headquarters in New Hampshire.

Patel, has served the company as senior vice president. He was with YAGO Systems, a closely held company that Cabletron acquired in 1998 as CEO.

Patel succeeds Craig R. Benson, who co-founded Cabletron in 1983 and helped the company achieve $1.4 billion in sales.
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