Unilever announces appointment of Douglas Baillie as HLL chief
Mumbai: Hindustan Lever Ltd, on Friday announced the appointment of Douglas Baillie as Managing Director and CEO of HLL with effect from March 2006. Baillie, currently group vice president and heading Unilever AMET (Africa, Middle East and Turkey), will also be group vice president responsible for Unilever's business in South Asia, which includes Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The appointment of Baillie, marks the return of an expatriate to the top job at HLL after nearly 50 years. Stephen Turner was Lever's first expat chairman in the 1950s.

Unilever Asia and Africa president and HLL chairman Harish Manwani, said that the appointment was cleared by the company's board of directors at a meeting in Mumbai.

HLL also announced that Arun Adhikari, currently managing director at HLL and looking after the home and personal care (HPC) division will be moving over to Japan as chairman, Unilever Japan. The appointment will also be effective from March 1, 2006.

M K Sharma, vice chairman, D Sundaram director, (finance & IT), and S Ravindranath managing director, foods, will however continue with their current responsibilities .

"The current national management structure of HLL will be extended to a broader management committee headed by Baillie," the company said in a statement.

Announcing the appointments, Manwani said: "India and Japan are key to our long-term sustained growth in the region. I believe that these two appointments will provide a renewed strategic thrust to these businesses. Both appointments reflect Unilever's commitment to enriching and widening international exposure of our leadership."

Commenting on Baillie, Manwani said he is an "experienced and an outstanding leader with a proven track record. He has successfully held several key assignments across both developing and developed markets. This will be of enormous value to HLL in the current business environment."

On the transfer of Adhikari, Manwani said his appointment as the chairman of Unilever, Japan was a significant step to further strengthen their business in one of the most developed markets of Asia.

A statement from the company said that as chairman of HLL, Manwani will continue to lead the company's board "providing strategic direction and guidance to the business in India."

"HLL being the largest operating entity in the Asia and Africa region will remain a key focus area for him as the president of the region."

Baillie joined Unilever South Africa in 1978 and his career has spanned various sales and marketing positions. His various assignments include working as sales director in 1988, which was followed by a stint as marketing director.

He moved to London in 1994 to Lever Pond's personal products co-ordination where he became the regional liaison member before becoming vice president, home and personal care, Africa Business Group.

In March 2004, Douglas took over as president, Africa Regional Group and in July 2004 was appointed group vice president, AMET.
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Malcolm Monteiro will be new Blue Dart MD
Mumbai: Blue Dart Express Ltd has announced the appointment of Malcolm Monteiro, currently chief operating officer, as managing director with effect from March 13, 2006. Monteiro will succeed Clyde Cooper, who will however continue as a director of the company.

According to an official statement, Monteiro, a graduate of IIT-Mumbai and an alumni of IIM-Ahmedabad, will focus on growing the business, ensuring high customer service standards, and continuing business as usual.

A founding member of Blue Dart, instrumental in building the organisation over the past 22 years, Cooper will relinquish his position due to family commitments.
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Satyam inducts Kenneth Taormina as senior VP
Hyderabad: Satyam Computer Services has announced the induction of Kenneth Taormina as senior vice-president, manufacturing.

Taormina, will operate from Virginia, and be responsible for client relationships at the CXO level.

Director and senior vice-president, manufacturing, Subu D. Subramanian, in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange said, "Ken brings to Satyam the combined experience of high-end consulting, software services and manufacturing industry knowledge to provide the right value proposition at the market place."
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India's 40 richest individuals worth four times more than China's top 40
Chennai: Forbes' latest list of the richest Asians says that inspite of China being hyped as an economic powerhouse, India's richest 40 are collectively worth a whopping US$106bn, four times more than China's richest 40, who have a collective worth of only US$26bn.

Steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal continues to be the richest Indian with a net worth of US$20bn, followed by Wipro's Azim Premji with US$11bn. The Ambani brothers follow in the third and fourth slots with Mukesh Ambani worth US$7bn and Anil lagging behind at US$5.5bn.

The Forbes list sees seven newcomers in the line up of the richest Indians, with Tulsi Tanti of Suzlon Energy at number 8, Anurag Dikshit at number 10, Naresh Goyal of Jet Airways at the 16, and Vikrant Bhargava of PartyGaming at 30.

Only two women figure in the list with Ms Indu Jain, "the matriach" of Bennet Coleman, at No 17 with US$1.7 billion and Ms Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of Biocon at the 34th slot with US$0.71 billion.

Compared to only one from Wipro, three from Infosys feature in the Forbes' list -N.R. Narayana Murthy (US$1.05bn), Nandan Nilekani (US$0.74bn), and S. Gopalakrishnan (US$0.7bn).
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