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Thomas Cook Board of Directors

Mr. Gopal Soundarajan
Chariman and Non Executive Director

Mr. Mahesh Iyer
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Chandran Ratnaswami
Non Executive Director

Mr. Sumit Maheshwari
Non Executive Director

Mrs. Sharmila Abhay Karve
Non Executive Independent Director

Mr. Rahul Narain Bhagat
Non Executive Independent Director

Mr. Sharad Kumar Saxena
Non Executive Independent Director

Mr. Gurumoorthy Mahalingam
Non Executive Independent Director

Mr. Gurumoorthy Mahalingam has more than 40 years of experience spanning across the financial sector regulators, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI). While being in RBI and SEBI, he was associated with important committees in the area of forex markets, financial benchmarks, corporate bond markets, etc. He has taken on varied roles in RBI encompassing financial market development, regulation and operations, foreign exchange reserves management, debt management, and regulation and supervision of banks.

In his role as a Whole-time Board Member of SEBI (between 2016 and 2021), which carried Executive responsibilities as well, he has had a wide experience regulating Mutual Funds, Stock exchanges, Listed companies, foreign portfolio investors, corporate governance aspects, stock and derivatives markets, corporate bond market, amongst others. He has supervised the conduct of investigations and enforcement actions in regard to violations of securities laws and regulations. He was a quasi-judicial authority for a little over 500 cases involving market misdemeanors. While being in RBI and SEBI, he was associated with important committees in the area of forex markets, financial benchmarks, corporate bond markets, etc.

Mr. Mahalingam holds a Master’s Degree in Science (Statistics) from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and a Master’s degree in Business Administration (International Banking and Finance) from the University of Birmingham.

Mr. Saxena aged 62 years is a gold medalist engineering graduate in Electronics & Telecommunication from Government Engineering College, Jabalpur. He is also a Certified Information System Auditor (CISA) from ISACA, US, and a Certified ISO 27001 Implementer and Certified Senior Examiner for Quality Management for the Indian Merchant's Chamber.

Mr. Saxena has more than 30 years of experience and had held almost all the leadership positions in ICICI Bank technology group, like, heading the technology function for Corporate Banking, Commercial Banking, Asset products including Corporate & Retail Loans, International Banking, Credit Cards, Cash Management Services, Payment Systems, Core Banking, Switching, HR, CRM and Compliance & Fraud Management, Head of IT Infrastructure group including Networks and head of Technology Compliance for interfacing all audits and inspections.

Mr. Bhagat aged 61 years is a versatile Consumer Banking professional with close to 3 decades of experience. He is a BA graduate from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University and holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from the College of William & Mary, USA. Mr. Bhagat began his career as a management trainee at ANZ Grindlays Bank (1989-1997) before joining Bank of America as Vice President (1997-1999). He later joined HDFC Bank where he spent the next 16 years (1999-2015) playing a significant role in building the retail banking business into a dominant market leadership position. As Country Head – Retail Liabilities, Marketing & Direct Banking Channels, Mr. Bhagat reported to the CEO for 10 years and was a member of the Senior Leadership Team. He thereafter partnered Vodafone India Ltd in successfully applying for a Payments Bank license in 2015 and was appointed CEO (designate) of the then proposed Bank.

During his extensive banking career, Mr. Bhagat’s contribution and leadership has been recognised through invitation to numerous Boards and Committees, including: Standing Committee on Retail Banking, Indian Bank’s Association; Executive Committee - National Securities Depository Limited; Customer Global Advisory Board, NCR Corp (USA); Global Advisory Board, Diebold Inc (USA); and Member of Indian Public Schools’ Society.

Mrs. Karve is a Chartered Accountant with extensive experience in finance, accounts and audit. She began her career with Lovelock & Lewes and grew to the position of Diversity & Inclusion Leader for PWC Global network, where she retired. Mrs. Karve is currently serving on the Boards of Syngene International Limited, EPL Limited, CSB Bank, Aadhar Housing Finance Limited etc.

Mr. Soundarajan holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Madras, is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and is a Qualified Chartered Financial Analyst and Member of the CFA Institute in the United States.

Mr. Soundarajan is the Managing Director at Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel Ltd. Prior to this, Mr. Soundarajan was the Chief Investment Officer of ICICI Lombard, the largest private sector property and casualty insurance company in India.

He held the position of Head of Investments at ICICI Lombard from 2001 to 2018 and was a member of the Investment Committee. Mr. Soundarajan serves on the Board of FIH Mauritius Investments Ltd, FIH Private Investments Ltd and Primary Real Estate Investment Fund.

Mr. Maheshwari joined Fairbridge Capital in 2011 and has been the Managing Director of Fairbridge Capital since May 2018. His key responsibilities include sourcing, evaluating, negotiating, executing and exiting investment opportunities. He also monitors portfolio companies.
Mr. Maheshwari has been closely involved in the investments of Bangalore Airport, Sanmar Group, CSB Bank, Fairchem Organics, Seven Islands Shipping, Thomas Cook, Quess Corp, Sterling Holidays amongst others. He also serves on the Board of Directors of many of Fairfax’s portfolio companies.

Prior to joining Fairbridge Capital, Mr. Maheshwari worked with KPMG in India and UK in their audit and accounting advisory functions. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant, completed a Post Graduate Programme in Management from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, and holds a degree in Masters of Commerce from the University of Mumbai.

Mr. Chandran Ratnaswami is a Managing Director of Hamblin Watsa Investment Counsel Limited, a wholly-owned investment management company of Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited. Hamblin Watsa provides discretionary investment management to all of the insurance and reinsurance subsidiaries of Fairfax and currently manages approximately $ 50 Billion of assets.

At Hamblin Watsa, he is responsible for all Fairfax and subsidiary investments in Asia. He is also the Chief Executive Officer and Director of Fairfax India Holdings Corporation, a company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Mr. Ratnaswami serves on the Boards of ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited, Fairbridge Capital Private Limited, and IIFL Holdings Limited (formerly India Infoline Limited), Quess Corp Limited (Formerly known as IKYA Human Capital Solutions Limited), First Capital Insurance Limited in Singapore, Thai Reinsurance Public Company Limited in Thailand, Union Assurance General Limited in Sri Lanka and Zoomer Media Limited in Canada.

Mr. Ratnaswami joined the Board of Thomas Cook (India) Limited with effect from 22nd August, 2012.

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Mr. Mahesh Iyer, is the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer and been with the company for 29 years. Prior to his appointment as Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, he has held multiple roles in the Company including that of Head of Foreign Exchange, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer.

Mr. Iyer holds direct responsibility for the company’s P&L, strategic planning, operations, nurturing and building key relationships as well as building a sustainable growth oriented organization that maximizes value for all its stakeholders.

He holds a Master’s degree in Marketing Management from JBIMS (Mumbai) and has successfully completed a Business Management degree from IIM-Calcutta.

Mr. Mahesh Iyer joined the Board of Thomas Cook (India) Limited with effect from May 29, 2018.

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Thomas Cook Board of Directors