MAM
Hero Vired bolsters leadership team with two key appointments
Mumbai: Hero Vired, a homegrown ed-tech company for higher education aspirants and professionals has announced the appointment of Geetika Goel as head of technology and Dr Ankur Sodhi as associate vice president for career services and corporate relations. According to the statement, both leaders will spearhead their respective teams to prepare for the company’s next phase of growth and expansion.
Goel is a seasoned IT professional with over 20 years of experience building large technology-focused organisations in diverse domains. She commands an in-depth understanding of technology with an ability to recruit, mentor, and grow other tech professionals.
“Geetika will report directly to the CEO and serve as a technological and business specialist, making decisions that will affect the company’s present and future operations. She will integrate business objectives and strategy into technology vision and requirements, manage a world-class team of engineers, encourage them, and instill a strong engineering culture inside the firm,” said the company. “In addition, she will investigate, compare, select, and deploy technology solutions to meet current and future industry needs.”
Commenting on her new assignment, Goel said, “I am very excited about working with the leadership teams to create and deliver exceptional outcomes for learners. At the same time, I see a great opportunity to transform Hero Vired into a LearnTech organisation.”
With over 18 years of experience as an educationist, public speaker and strategic planner, Sodhi has played a vital role in improving the systems at various organisations. In his previous role at upGrad as associate director, career services and corporate relations, Sodhi was actively involved in the learners’ journey and ensured their successful transition from students to professionals.
“In this role, Sodhi will be responsible for end-to-end student placement preparation and career counselling,” said the statement.
“Our experts at Hero Vired aim to upskill learners and provide them with better outcomes when they join the workforce or take their careers to the next level,” stated Hero Vired founder and CEO Akshay Munjal. “We are delighted to bring on board Geetika and Dr Ankur to lead two of the most crucial teams for Hero Vired, as we increase our focus on technology and learning outcomes in the coming year.”
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
