Gabriel India restructures its Board of Directors, inducts Pradipta Sen and Dr Arun Jaura

Gabriel India, part of the Anand Group, has undertaken restructuring of its Board of Directors.

In addition to the induction of Anjali Anand Singh as the new chairperson of the Board of Gabriel India, which manufactures shock absorbers and other ride control products in India, the company has also announced various changes to its Board of Directors to strengthen corporate governance, to bring in a global perspective and an enhanced focus on technology.

Pradipta Sen and Dr Arun Jaura have been inducted as new Independent Directors in Gabriel India. Pradipta Sen is the president for India, Middle East and Africa region of Emerson, a Fortune 500 conglomerate involved in manufacturing products and engineering services for multiple industry sectors including power, oil and gas, engineering and automotive. He has been in his present role from 2011 onwards and prior to that was the president of Emerson India for a decade, where he was instrumental in establishing and growing company’s sales and presence and consolidating its diverse operations in India. Prior to joining Emerson, Sen spent 16 years with General Electric, USA in leadership roles.

Along with his current role at Emerson, Pradipta Sen sits on the Boards of various Emerson subsidiary companies like Emerson Process Management India and Emerson Climate Technologies Ltd. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from BITS, Pilani.

Dr Arun Jaura is currently serving as MD and senior partner, TRAKTION Mgmt Services and is also on the Board of Directors of SAE International, USA and xhairman of SAE India Automotive Board. Apart from these roles, Dr. Jaura is also associated with various industry and government bodies like ‘Member on the Board of National Mission on Electric Mobility’ and  ‘Member of Technical Advisory Group constituted by MOHI and DST on Electric & Hybrid Mobility’, ‘CSIR Council Member for Advanced Materials and Climate Change Technologies’.

Dr Jaura was with Ford Motor Company, USA for 10 years. After his return to India, he was senior vice-president for automotive R&D and later Group CTO for thte Mahindra Group. Thereafter, he led Eaton Engineering Center in Pune for 4 years.

Dr. Jaura has won various prestigious awards in India and globally, like ‘2004 Henry Ford Technical Achievement Award in Detroit’. He is also a co-inventor holding five patents worldwide and has 30 plus referred papers and various publications in International journals and conferences to his credit. Dr. Jaura is an M.Tech from IIT, Chennai and a Doctorate from Canada. His Ph.D thesis was also nominated from Concordia University, Montreal for 'Governor General of Canada Gold Medal'

Meanwhile, Rajeev Vasudeva, HR Prasad and Gurdeep Singh step down from Gabriel India Board as independent members. Rajeev Vasudeva, partner and Country Head of Egon Zehnder in India had stepped down from Gabriel India Board effective August 9, 2014 as he had been appointed as the global CEO of Egon Zehnder, a renowned global executive search and talent management firm.

Deepak Chopra, the outgoing chairman of Gabriel India said, “Rajeev has been an invaluable contributor to the strategic growth and vision pursued by Gabriel in the last few years.”

H R Prasad, a director on Gabriel India board in the 1990s and over the past few years, has stepped down from the Board, expressing his inability to contribute full time to the responsibility. 

Manoj Kolhatkar, MD, Gabriel India remarked, “Mr Prasad has been a veteran advisor and counsellor for Gabriel. He has been an outstanding contributor to the Board and a huge asset to the company. Many of us have benefited from his advice and wise counsel.”

Gurdeep Singh, who has also been on Gabriel India board for last five years, also expressed his intention to be relieved from Gabriel Board owing to his various other professional and personal commitments.

Deepak Chopra said, “Gurdeep’s contribution to the growth and progress of Gabriel has been immense and noteworthy. Gurdeep brought with him a diverse knowledge of various industries, businesses and people, having been an executive member of the board of Hindustan Unilever."

The Board would like to express its deep sense of appreciation for the valuable services rendered by all three members during their respective tenures as Members of the Board.

Welcoming the new Board Members, Anjali Anand Singh, the new chairperson of Gabriel India, said, “Dr. Arun Jaura is a well renowned technocrat with deep experience and knowledge of the automotive, defence, railways and aerospace sectors of the industry and his presence on the board will help strengthen Gabriel’s technological competence."

Singh also mentioned that “Pradipta Sen’s experience of steering a global MNC in growing markets like India, Africa and Middle East and his expertise in diverse areas of management and in different Industry sectors will be very valuable to Gabriel India in its globalisation efforts."

Photograph: Mrs Anjali Anand Singh, currently the chairperson of the Supervisory Board of Anand Group, of which Gabriel India is a constituent, has taken over today as the new chairperson of Gabriel India's Board of Directors from Deepak Chopra, the CEO of Anand Group. Anand Group is one of the leading automotive components and systems manufacturers in India.