Brands
Rahul Agarwal joins MakeMyTrip Group as VP head of technology
GURUGRAM: Rahul Agarwal has taken over as vice president head of technology at MakeMyTrip Group, stepping into a role that sits quietly at the centre of India’s fast moving travel ecosystem.
Based in Gurugram, Agarwal will lead enterprise technology across MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, redBus and other group entities. His mandate is wide and weighty, spanning ERP, analytics, artificial intelligence and cloud platforms, all with one clear goal: making the group’s technology sharper, faster and ready for scale.
While travellers may never see the systems he builds, they will feel their impact. From smoother bookings to smarter pricing and more reliable operations, Agarwal’s work is expected to power the backstage engine of India’s most recognisable travel brands.
He joins MakeMyTrip after a high impact stint at Airtel, where he served as AVP and centre of excellence head for supply chain and ERP. There, he led large scale digitisation programmes across 23 circles, rolled out global logistics and planning platforms, and drove AI and automation across dozens of supply chain use cases. Before that came senior technology leadership roles at The Coca-Cola Company, KPMG and Deloitte, with a career steeped in ERP, cloud transformation and enterprise strategy.
Agarwal’s journey began far from travel tech, in engineering roles focused on simulation and manufacturing, before evolving into a career defined by digital transformation at scale. That mix of deep technical grounding and boardroom level execution now places him at the heart of MakeMyTrip’s next chapter.
As the group sharpens its focus on innovation and customer experience, Agarwal’s appointment signals a clear intent. Travel may be about destinations, but at MakeMyTrip, the next journey is firmly powered by technology.
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.
