Spotlight: CXO movements this week (Feb 24—Mar 1)

The week of February 24—March 1 was filled with several CXO movements in the technology industry, including major appointments in key business positions. Tech firms like Snowflake and SG Analytics made important new appointments, while non-tech firms like Aether Industries, Prism Johnson, and MediBuddy also recruited senior executives in technology roles. Movements also occurred in cybersecurity firms — Palo Alto Networks and Seqrite, the enterprise cybersecurity arm of Quick Heal. Here’s the roundup:

Palo Alto Networks appoints Kunal Ruvala as SVP and GM for India

Palo Alto Networks announced Kunal Ruvala as Senior Vice President and General Manager for India. Kunal will lead the company’s India Development Centers and oversee the next phase of growth and innovation for Palo Alto Networks India as a center of innovation excellence. In his role, Kunal will drive continued innovation with responsibility across all areas of the Network Security Product function in the market, supporting India’s goal of being a $1 trillion digital economy by 2026. Kunal reports to Anand Oswal, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Network Security, and is responsible for building best-in-class products that deliver excellent security outcomes as part of the Network Security platform and managing teams and projects across the business. In this role, he will partner with Anil Valluri, MD and VP, India & SAARC, who continues to lead the go-to-market efforts across the region. Kunal will also oversee partnerships with India’s higher education ecosystem to drive co-innovation in R&D efforts. Kunal has deep experience driving innovation at scale and championing growth initiatives at several organisations including Dell, RSA, and EMC, and most recently as President of Honeywell Technology Solutions. He’s also been deeply involved in Employee Resource Groups and is an inclusion and diversity champion. (Read more)
 
Ex-Cloudflare India head joins Quick Heal’s enterprise cyber arm Seqrite

Seqrite, the enterprise cybersecurity arm of Quick Heal, announced the appointment of Samuel Sathyajith as the Senior Vice President — Enterprise Sales. With nearly three decades of experience in the IT industry, Sathyajith brings a wealth of expertise in scaling businesses, leading start-ups to prominence, and driving market innovation. Prior to joining Seqrite, he served as the Head of India & SAARC at Cloudflare, where he played a pivotal role in steering the company to the forefront of the Network Security sector in the region. Sathyajith’s career journey began in the Indian Air Force, where he served as a Commissioned Officer in the Aeronautical Engineering branch. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Instrumentation Technology from Bangalore University and has consistently demonstrated innovation and excellence in the IT sector. (Read more)
 
Neeva's co-founder Sridhar Ramaswamy becomes Snowflake's new CEO

Data Cloud company Snowflake has named Sridhar Ramaswamy as its new chief executive officer and member of the Board of Directors. Ramaswamy takes over the role from Frank Slootman, who has decided to retire. Ramaswamy, who was earlier the senior vice president of artificial intelligence (AI) at Snowflake, will assume the new post effective immediately. Ramaswamy joined Snowflake in May 2023 after his company Neeva was acquired by the organisation. Neeva, founded as a generative AI-based search service provider by Ramaswamy and Vivek Raghunathan, was widely touted as a rival to Google when it launched its search engine in February 2023. However, within a few months, Neeva’s founders admitted that the search engine was unable to attract enough users. (Read more)
 
Aether Industries appoints new CTO

Specialty chemical manufacturer Aether Industries has appointed James W Ringer as its new Chief Technology Officer, effective from March 1. Ringer, before his new appointment, was serving as the business development and technology leader at Aether’s Americas region. In his new role, he will oversee research and development efforts and technological advancements within the company. Prior to Aether, Ringer worked at US-based Dow Chemical Company for three decades, holding various positions including AgroSciences new products development leader, process sciences leader, senior technical leader for process sciences, and director of process chemistry and development. At the time of his exit from the company, he was the director of engineering and process science for the Dow Core R&D organisation. He is an alumnus of Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin. (Read more)
 
MediBuddy appoints Kuldeep Singh as SVP & Head of Engineering

MediBuddy, a Bengaluru-based digital healthcare platform, has announced the appointment of Kuldeep Singh as Senior Vice President and Head of Engineering. With over 18 years of experience leading distributed teams across the globe, Singh brings a wealth of technical leadership from his notable roles in high-value startups and global financial institutions. In his new role, he will spearhead the engineering efforts at MediBuddy, focusing on designing and implementing innovative solutions that align with the company’s vision of making high-quality healthcare accessible to a billion people. In his previous role at Gojek, Singh was leading Engineering for Business platforms (Marketplace, Cartography, Customer, and Communication platform). This formed the core engine of Gojek powered by machine learning systems for real-time, high throughput use cases, in pricing, allocations, routing, and incentives. Prior to Gojek, Singh served as a Distinguished Engineer at Deutsche Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland and as Director of Engineering at Indian e-commerce unicorn Snapdeal. He holds an engineering degree from IIT Delhi.
 
Rohith Chintawar joins Prism Johnson as Chief Digital Officer

Rohith Chintawar has joined H & R Johnson (India) — Prism Johnson as Chief Digital Officer. Prism Johnson is one of India’s largest integrated building materials companies, offering a wide range of products from cement and ready-mixed concrete to tiles and bath products. Before this, he was Head of Digital Transformation at HIL Limited. He was earlier associated with Hitachi Consulting and Deloitte. As CDO at Prism Johnson Limited, Chintawar will spearhead a cutting-edge digital transformation journey, leveraging AI technologies, data analytics, and Industry 4.0 advancements. His primary focus is on building a robust digital team, establishing core systems, and fortifying information security to ensure data integrity and protection.
 
SG Analytics appoints Das Dasgupta to Its Advisory Board

SG Analytics, a global data solutions firm, proudly announces the appointment of Das Dasgupta to its advisory board. Dasgupta’s role will be pivotal in enhancing and streamlining SG Analytics’ data analytics and strategy initiatives, as well as providing expert guidance on customer experience programs. With over two decades of expertise in the data strategy domain, Dasgupta brings a wealth of knowledge to SG Analytics. His seasoned proficiency lies in harnessing data and artificial intelligence to drive revenue growth with product innovation and enhanced customer experience while optimising business costs with operational excellence. He excels at assembling top-tier data strategy teams and implementing cutting-edge AI and ML technologies for data-driven decision-making. Dasgupta has earlier worked at organisations such as Viacom, Amazon Customer Experience Systems (ACES), McKinsey, and EY. Most recently, he held the esteemed position of Chief Data Officer at Saatchi & Saatchi (S&S).