Brands
Jio Platforms Limited appoints Dan Bailey as president to drive its international business
London-based telecom veteran joins the executive committee, and will report to Akash Ambani
MUMBAI: India’s digital disruptor is sharpening its global claws. Jio Platforms Limited has appointed Dan Bailey as president to drive its international business, signalling that the next leg of its growth story will be written well beyond Indian shores.
Based in London, Bailey will report to Akash Ambani, chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, and take a seat on Jio Platforms’ executive committee. His mandate: translate Jio’s domestic dominance into global heft.
Announcing the appointment, Akash Ambani said: “We are delighted to welcome Dan to Jio. Dan has been a trusted advisor to us for many years, and his counsel has been invaluable as we have grown and evolved.”
He added: “He has spent his career at the centre of the global telecom and technology ecosystem and brings deep relationships, strategic insights, and a strong understanding of the industry’s complexity. Just as importantly, he shares our ambition and energy for what lies ahead. I look forward to working closely with him.”
Bailey brings more than 35 years of experience across consulting and investment banking. He has held senior leadership roles at Schroders/Citi, Morgan Stanley and HSBC, and most recently served as chairman of Deutsche Bank’s TMT practice. Over the decades, he has advised some of the world’s largest corporates and financial sponsors on transformative transactions, including several of the most consequential telecom deals in history.
On taking up the role, Bailey said: “I have long admired what Jio has built in India — the scale, the speed, and the genuine impact on people’s lives. The chance to help take that story global is the kind of opportunity you don’t think twice about. I am delighted to be joining Akash and the team and cannot wait to get started.”
The move follows signals from Jio Platforms’ most recent annual general meeting that its next chapter lies beyond India. Over the past decade, Jio has built digital platforms and technologies that have reshaped connectivity and access for over a billion people. Armed with a defined roadmap, strong partnerships and hard-won scale, it is now preparing to export that playbook to global markets.
If India was the proving ground, the world is now the arena.
Brands
Lululemon picks former Nike executive to be its next chief
Heidi O’Neill, who helped grow Nike into a $45 billion giant, will take the top job in September
CANADA: Lululemon has found its next chief executive, and she comes with serious credentials. The athleisure giant named Heidi O’Neill as its new CEO on Wednesday, ending a search that has left the company running on interim leadership since earlier this year. O’Neill will take charge on September 8, 2026, based out of Vancouver, and will join the board on the same day.
O’Neill brings more than three decades of experience across performance apparel, footwear and sport. The bulk of that time was spent at Nike, where she was a central figure in one of corporate sport’s great growth stories, helping take the company from a $9 billion business to a $45 billion global powerhouse. She oversaw product pipelines, brand strategy and consumer connections, and played a significant role in shaping how Nike spoke to athletes around the world. Earlier in her career, she worked in marketing for the Dockers brand at Levi Strauss. She also brings boardroom experience from Spotify Technology, Hyatt Hotels and Lithia and Driveway.
The board was unequivocal in its enthusiasm. “We selected Heidi because of the breadth of her experience, her demonstrated success delivering breakthrough ideas and initiatives at scale, and her ability to be a knowledgeable change and growth agent,” said Marti Morfitt, executive chair of Lululemon’s board.
O’Neill, for her part, was bullish. “Lululemon is an iconic brand with something rare: genuine guest love, a product ethos rooted in innovation, and a global platform still in the early stages of its potential,” she said. “My job will be to accelerate product breakthroughs, deepen the brand’s cultural relevance, and unlock growth in markets around the world.”
Until she arrives, Meghan Frank and André Maestrini will continue as interim co-CEOs, before returning to their previous senior leadership roles once O’Neill steps in.
Lululemon is betting that a Nike veteran who helped build one of the world’s most powerful sports brands can do something similar for an athleisure label that has genuine love from its customers but is still chasing its full global potential. O’Neill has done it before at scale. The question now is whether she can do it again.
