Industrial, Energy & Process

Client – French MNC – World Leader in Energy Management & Automation Industry

Role – Vice President – Power R&D

Location – Bangalore, India

Search Background:

Our client is a French MNC with operations in more than 100 countries. They have 5 business units and are the world leaders in the areas of LV Electrical Products, Energy Management Solutions and Automation. Our client’s focus was to localize the position and grow the 400+ strong R&D team in terms of size and the competencies to contribute to the R&D strategy of the LV Products business globally.

Need:

Our client always had an expatriate leader to manage the R&D centre since its inception. Till that time, the India R&D centre worked only on job packages model and our client wanted to transform the India R&D organisation into a self-reliant end to end Product R&D centre for the global business requirements. The need was on 2 fronts, 1 to replace the expat leader with a local R&D leader and 2 making the centre a world class product R&D centre.

Search Challenges:

The most critical challenge in the search was to manage the global stakeholders who were involved in this search as they were of the opinion that India may not have this talent and were skeptical of the search process. Another key challenge was to find a leader who had a right cultural mix. The Client was looking for a seasoned professional, having a global mindset but with the ability to work with the global business stakeholders. The target pool should have the right product knowledge and the competencies to drive the centre to the next level and bring in global visibility to the team.

WalkWater Search Strategy:

WalkWater took a global talent mapping of companies across LV, MV, Power and Energy Management domains. Potential candidates were identified from companies that had global R&D centres and have seen rapid growth in India. The assessment was focused on finding the right cultural fit for this challenging assignment. WalkWater screened 50+ senior management (both in India and Indian talent abroad) talent across the mentioned industries before presenting 5 suitable candidates to the management.

Result:

Our efforts led to the identification of the selected candidate who was leading the R&D function of the biggest compressor manufacturer in the world. The candidate also had a strong experience of being one of the earliest members in another US MNC in the Electrical and Automation domain. He has continued in this role for close to seven years and has been highly successful in building credibility for the R&D function in the organization. He has been recognized as one of the top 5 global R&D talents in the organization.

Client – One of the largest conglomerates – privately held US MNC.

Role – Head of Government Affairs (India)

Location – New Delhi

Search Background:

Client is a global conglomerate with multiple multi-billion businesses which manufacture a wide variety of products, including transportation fuels, building and consumer products, electronic components, fibers, fertilizers, and environment control equipment etc. Some of them have presence in India including a 50:50 JV with a prominent India Business House.

Need:

Being a growth focused company, client was pushing businesses to expand in the developing world. Some of the entities were already expanding their base in India including a major capex. With Make in India story going around, client wanted to hire a senior government affairs leader who would lead them through this crucial stage of growth.

Search Challenges:

The most critical challenge in the search was to find a government affairs executive who a business leader while being a culture fit with client’s philosophy on ethics & integrity. Client was looking for a seasoned professional, having a global mindset but with the ability to work with the Indian bureaucracy as well as global business heads with equal ease. Since this was the first Corporate role by the Group in India, the incumbent was expected to be a self-driven individual with ability to deal with high levels of ambiguity.

WalkWater Strategy:

WalkWater mapped companies across industries – Automotive, Oil & Gas, Power, FMCG, Agri & Seeds, Pharma, Industrial Conglomerates etc. Potential candidates were identified from companies that had multiple businesses or undergone major expansion in recent past or were experiencing rapid growth. WT was focused on finding the right cultural fit for this challenging role. WT screened 80 + senior talent across the mentioned industries before presenting 5 suitable candidates to the management.

Result:

The Search resulted in Group Vice President of a global auto-component MNC India joining the client. He continues in this role after a year and has been highly successful in building credibility for the role in India organization as that of a business enabler while driving the narrative globally on future potential business areas from policy perspective.

Client – French MNC – World Leader in Energy Management & Automation Industry

Role – Vice President – Services

Location – Bangalore, India

Search Background:

Our client is a French MNC with operations in more than 100 countries. They have 5 business units and are the world leaders in the areas of LV Electrical Products, Energy Management Solutions and Automation. Our client’s focus was to infuse digitization across all the BUs including the existing installed base across the country. Hence, they wanted to mutualize the after-market services function across the BUs and manage services as a separate P&L.

Need:

Our client always had a well-defined working of individual BUs. The BUs were structured as separate P&L units encompassing the services as a function. With an initiative to mutualize the services functions across BUs, the need was of a senior leader in the services function who would bring different BU services functions under one umbrella and drive the newly created function with P&L responsibilities while achieving synergy and stakeholder alignment in a complex organisation matrixed environment.

Search Challenges:

The most critical challenge in the search was to find a leader who had an experience of managing multiple BUs. The Client was looking for a seasoned professional, having a global mindset but with the ability to work with the other VPs of individual BUs. The proposed services structure of our client was first of its kind in the industry and none in the competition had anything remotely closer as planned by our client.

WalkWater Search Strategy:

Recognising that the target candidate may not be available in the competition, WalkWater broadbased the mapping process and mapped companies across Power, Energy Management, Compute Hardware, Networking and building management industries. Potential candidates were identified from companies that had Services as a separate P&L and were experiencing rapid growth. The assessment was focused on finding the right cultural fit for this challenging assignment. WalkWater screened 80+ senior management talent across the mentioned industries before presenting 4 suitable candidates to the management.

Result:

Our efforts led to the identification of the selected candidate who was leading the Services function of the largest ATM player in the Country. The complexity of the operations and the technology advancements in both the domains were complimentary in nature. He continued in this role for close to four years and has been highly successful in building credibility for the Services function in the organization. He has been recently elevated to a global role within our client organization.

Client – Dutch MNC – World Leader in lighting Products & Solutions

Role – Country Manager Sri Lanka

Location – Colombo, Sri Lanka

Search Background:

Our client is a Dutch MNC with operations in more than 120 countries. They have multiple business units and are the world leaders in the areas of Lighting Products, Solutions and Automation. Our client’s focus was to localize the position and grow the P&L for the Srilanka country operations. Till then, the business in Sri Lanka was led by an Indian National based in India.

Need:

Since the inception of the business, our client always had an expat leader to manage the P&L in Sri Lanka. The organization was heavily dependent on a local master distributor who in turn appointed dealers across the country. This setup hindered the growth of our client in the country as majority of the strategy and operations were driven by the master distributor. In a major transformation exercise, our client intended to strengthen the Sales & Operation directly by setting up their own team led by a Country Manager of native origin with a strong background and experience of working in a heavy distribution led business model.

Search Challenges:

The most critical challenge in the search was to find a leader who had a right cultural mix. The Client was looking for a seasoned professional, having a global mindset but with the ability to work in the local setup. The target pool should have the right product knowledge and the competencies to drive the P&L to the next level. The leader would have built large business in Sri Lanka and would have first-hand experience on the distribution and projects models in the country.

WalkWater Search Strategy:

WalkWater carried out a very targeted search of key talent in Sri Lanka across distribution led industries (other than FMCG) and mapped companies across Lighting, LV and Energy Management domains deeply in the local geography. A unique challenge was faced as majority of the companies also had master distribution setups and good leadership talent across these master distributors were also mapped. Potential candidates were also identified from companies that had own distribution model and have seen rapid growth in Sri Lanka. The assessment was focused on finding the right cultural fit for this challenging assignment. WalkWater screened 70+ senior management talent across the mentioned industries before presenting 4 suitable candidates to the management.

Result:

Our efforts led to the identification of the selected candidate who was leading the P&L for Sri Lanka for the lighting business of the biggest master distributor in Sri Lanka. The candidate also had a strong experience of lighting as a domain and had built deep distribution capabilities in Sri Lanka for multiple lighting companies. He has continued in this role for close to four years and has been highly successful in building credibility in the organization.

Client – Dutch MNC – World Leader in Lighting Product & Solutions Industry

Role – Global Head – R&D, Systems & Services BU (Diversity Search)

Location – Bangalore, India

Search Background:

Our client is a Dutch MNC with operations in more than 70 countries and a world leader in lighting for professionals, consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Our client’s focus was to bring a global role of Head R&D for the Systems & Services BU (~ 3 billion Euro PnL) for the first time to India. The role, earlier based out of their global headquarters was being transitioned to India.

Need:

The role was always based in their global headquarters and the need was to find a globally competent leader to head the function being based out of Bangalore. The Bangalore R&D Centre was growing with more IoT, Software & Digital competencies which are also the business needs for the future.

Search Challenges:

The most critical challenge in the search was to identify a leader who had either worked outside of India or managed R&D centers beyond India. The leader had to have a mix of expertise across Hardware, Software and Digital Technologies and should have driven the function independently. The search was driven by the Global CEO of the BU directly and our client was looking for a seasoned professional, having a global mindset and the ability to work with the global business stakeholders. The target pool should have the right product knowledge and the competencies to drive the R&D function to the next level and bring in global visibility to the team.
To add to the complexity, the client preferred a gender diversity candidate.

WalkWater Strategy:

The WalkWater team undertook a global mapping of R&D leadership talent across companies in the Energy Management, Lighting & Healthcare sectors. Potential candidates were identified from companies that had global R&D centres and have seen rapid growth in India. The assessment was focused on finding the right cultural fit for this challenging assignment. WalkWater screened 50+ senior management (both in India and Indian talent abroad) talent across the mentioned industries before presenting 4 suitable candidates to the management.

Result:

Our efforts led to the identification of the selected diversity candidate who was leading the R&D function of one of the biggest Healthcare equipment providers in the world. The candidate had earlier worked with a German MNC in the automotive domain and had worked in Germany leading R&D centers across India, Germany & Latin America. The candidate also had a strong experience of being one of the earliest members in adopting and driving Software, Cloud and Digital Technologies. In a short period, she has been recognized as one of the top talents for the business for the organization.

Client – Leading Renewable Energy Asset Management Company, amongst the Top 10 in the Global RE Asset Management Industry

Role – CEO

Location – Mumbai

Search Background:

Our client is a new age tech-enabled Renewable Energy Asset Management company and a part of a large well renowned Indian Group, USD 20.7 Billion Group spread across 100+ countries. It is amongst the Top 10 global RE asset management companies, with more than 500+ years of collective team experience and a total portfolio (O&M, SCADA, Due-Diligence and Testing & Commissioning Services) of over 6 GWp. The client wanted to hire a CEO who is ambitious, can drive change and make this asset profitable for the group. The focus of this role was to build a strong topline, expand client reach and build a strong customer service focus with the right team on the ground.

Need:

The Renewable Energy Asset Management business is increasingly gaining traction amongst customers and technology and digital focus is becoming a strong differentiator and competitive advantage. The client brief given to us was to look for someone who is native digital in mindset and who can transform the organization through digitization and technology transformation.

Search Challenges:

The most critical challenge in the search was to find a leader who was a seasoned professional, having a global mindset and someone who had scaled up a large asset management business preferably in the renewable industry. The challenge was to find a young leader, technology savvy and strong customer service mindset.

However, the reality is that the renewal energy asset management function is typically insourced within the Asset owner and there are no major third party renewal energy asset management companies. Also, the talent available in the Solar and Wind Energy sectors was not up to the benchmarks set by the client. There was a clear need to broadbase the search strategy and to look at talent in the adjacent industries for this search.

WalkWater Strategy:

Realizing the challenge in this search, the WalkWater team mapped companies across the solar, wind and thermal sectors and looked for talent who have worked in the O&M / Asset Management functions in both the Asset Manager as well as the EPC / Third Party Asset Management companies. Potential candidates were identified from companies that had undergone major expansion in recent past or were experiencing rapid growth. We also specifically mapped companies which had used technology and digital as tools for business transformation. The assessment was focused on finding the right cultural fit for this challenging assignment. WalkWater screened 110+ senior management talent across the mentioned industries before presenting 5 suitable candidates to the management.

Result:

Our efforts led to the identification of the selected candidate who was leading the Services business of Thermax Babcock & Wilcox Energy Solutions business. The selected candidate is a seasoned leader and brings more than 27 years of experience, of which the last 15 years was spent with Thermax in a variety of role. He has been leading Services business for over 11 years in Thermax and was identified as a HiPot within Thermax.

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