Brands
Perform ace’s Connect X bags exclusive Indian sneaker festival
MUMBAI: Talk about making the right move. Perform ace’s connect X has just bagged the exclusive rights to the Indian sneaker festival (ISF): a coup that cements its place at the heart of India’s booming streetwear and sneaker scene.
Billed as the country’s biggest celebration of sneakers, music and lifestyle, ISF has already become the holy ground for sneakerheads, collectors, and culture vultures. With connect X stepping in, the festival is gearing up to scale bigger heights, blending ‘phygital’ experiences to make sure India’s street style has a truly global strut.
So, what makes ISF such a cultural heavyweight? Think more than just shoes. The festival brings together limited-edition drops, exclusive showcases from global and local brands, high-octane music acts, and interactive zones with sneaker-trading pits, graffiti walls, customisation booths, flea markets and more.
This year, Grammy-winning rapper 21 Savage headlined the event: a watershed moment for India’s music-meets-streetwear scene. Past years have seen homegrown favourites like Seedhe Maut and Wazir tearing up the stage, proving ISF is as much about beats as it is about kicks.
A spokesperson from Perform ace put it simply, “Sneakers and streetwear aren’t just products, they’re identity, creativity and culture. With ISF under the PerformAce banner, we’re creating a platform that lets India’s youth connect, collaborate and celebrate on a global scale.”
Brands
Boeing appoints Barun as head of FP&A for global engineering function
Seasoned finance leader to steer budgets and strategy across global centres
BENGALURU: Boeing’s finance cockpit has a new pilot, and he is no stranger to turbulence or transformation. Boeing has appointed Barun as head of FP&A for global engineering, placing him at the centre of financial strategy for its worldwide engineering and technology operations.
Based in Bengaluru, Barun steps into a role that is as expansive as it is critical. He will serve as the primary finance lead for Boeing’s Engineering and Technology Centers globally, working closely with executive leadership to shape financial decisions, manage complex budgets, and design scalable finance processes that support the company’s growing engineering footprint.
In a note announcing his move Barun said, “I’m excited to share that I’ve joined Boeing Global Engineering. This opportunity is incredibly meaningful to me not just from a professional standpoint, but also for what Boeing represents globally.” He added that he looks forward to contributing to an organisation that continues to shape the future of aerospace and innovation.
Barun’s mandate spans strategic financial leadership, operational oversight, and stakeholder engagement. From directing large-scale budgets and schedules to influencing long-term organisational goals, the role blends financial discipline with business foresight. He will also lead cross-functional teams and partner with finance colleagues worldwide to support engineering programmes across geographies, including India.
The appointment caps a long stint at Juniper Networks, where Barun spent over a decade, most recently as finance senior manager. There, he led FP&A for global product business units and G&A functions, driving budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning. He also played a key role in enterprise-wide transformation, including spearheading an Oracle to SAP ERP migration and building advanced analytics capabilities using tools such as Tableau and SAP Analytics Cloud.
His earlier career includes finance leadership roles at Sony India Software Centre, Cognizant Technology Solutions, and Mphasis, where he focused on financial planning, governance frameworks, and operational efficiency across global delivery centres.
A chartered accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Barun brings nearly two decades of experience across financial planning, digital transformation, and analytics-led decision making.
His appointment comes at a time when global engineering operations are becoming increasingly complex and distributed, requiring sharper financial oversight and agile planning. With Barun at the helm of FP&A for engineering, Boeing appears to be tightening its financial playbook as it looks to scale innovation with discipline.
