MAM
Hospitality PR veteran swaps solo consultancy for corporate suite
BENGALURU: After six years and eight months steering her own ship, Gayatri Dravid has docked at Rosetta Hospitality this September as group head for corporate communications and marketing—trading the freedoms of consultancy for the clout of a corporate corner office in Bengaluru.
Dravid launched Gayatri Dravid PR in February 2019, carving out a niche in hospitality and travel communications after a decade-plus climbing the industry ladder. The move followed a near-two-year stint as associate vice president for communications at RMZ Corp, where she honed her skills in corporate messaging for one of India’s largest real estate developers.
Before going solo, Dravid spent over three years as director of PR and strategy at Quo Global’s India operations, the Thai multinational specialising in hospitality branding. There she positioned India’s first Pullman hotel and North India’s first Novotel at New Delhi Airport, orchestrated launches for seven hotels across Asia in three years for Onyx Hospitality group, and developed the complete visual identity—logo, colour palette, tone—for Tiger Palace Resort and Casino’s Nepal debut.
Her CV reads like a greatest-hits compilation of India’s luxury hotel landscape. She led pre-opening communications for the 523-room JW Marriott New Delhi Aerocity in 2012, JW’s first launch in the capital. Before that, nearly three years at The Leela Palaces saw her spearhead PR for the group’s flagship property in New Delhi, manage award-winning resorts in Goa, Kovalam and Udaipur, and launch ESPA spa and Warren Tricomi salon partnerships. She even copy-edited The Leela’s first coffee-table book.
Earlier stops included Genesis Burson-Marsteller, where she handled Channel [v], Royal Bank of Scotland and Lakmé Fashion Week, and a year teaching business communications in Pune as guest faculty for the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Now Dravid returns to the mothership—not as consultant, but commander. Rosetta just hired someone who’s spent 17 years learning every trick in the hospitality playbook.
Digital
OpenAI’s Stargate lead Peter Hoeschele exits with two senior leaders
Trio behind compute push set to join new startup amid leadership reshuffle
SAN FRANCISCO: Peter Hoeschele, a key figure behind OpenAI’s early Stargate data centre initiative, has exited the company, according to a report by The Information.
The departure is part of a broader leadership shift, with two other senior executives, Shamez Hemani and Anuj Saharan, also set to leave in the coming days. All three are expected to join the same new startup, although details about the venture remain under wraps.
The trio played a central role in OpenAI’s Stargate effort, an initiative aimed at building large-scale data centre capacity in-house to reduce reliance on external infrastructure providers. Their exits mark a notable moment for the company’s compute strategy as it continues to scale rapidly.
OpenAI spokesperson said in a statement to The Information, “We’re grateful for the contributions Peter, Shamez, and Anuj have made to OpenAI and wish them the very best in what comes next.” The company also pointed to the recent appointment of Sachin Katti to lead its industrial compute organisation, signalling continuity in its infrastructure roadmap.
OpenAI has indicated that it does not plan to directly replace Hoeschele’s role, suggesting a possible restructuring of responsibilities within the team.
As competition intensifies in the race to build next-generation AI systems, leadership changes in core infrastructure teams are likely to draw close attention. For now, the spotlight shifts to what this departing trio builds next, and how OpenAI adapts as it scales its ambitions.
