Meher Pudumjee

Chairperson

Ms. Meher Pudumjee is the Chairperson of Thermax Ltd, a company focused on providing energy and environment solutions.

A postgraduate in Chemical Engineering from the Imperial College of Science & Technology, London, Meher joined Thermax as a trainee engineer in August 1990. A year later, along with her husband Pheroz Pudumjee, they took over the responsibility of turning around a Thermax subsidiary company in the UK.

After her return to India in September 1996, she was appointed on the Board of Directors. With her newly acquired interest in Finance, she worked closely with the treasury and working capital management functions of Thermax. She was involved with overseeing a Joint Venture Company in the area of drinking water as well as the Air Pollution Control businesses of the company. In January 2001 she became a non-executive director and was appointed Vice Chairperson in 2002. During this period she played an active role in the turnaround of Thermax.

She took over as Chairperson on October 5, 2004, after the retirement of Mrs. Anu Aga.

Ms.Pudumjee represented India at the Asian Business Women’s Conference in Osaka in 2006. The World Economic Forum in 2008 selected her as a Young Global Leader for her professional accomplishment, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world. She was selected CEO of the Year, 2009 by Business Standard.

Ms. Pudumjee served as the Chairperson of Pune Zonal Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). When a member of CII's Young Indians, she chaired the National Employability initiative.

Meher has a keen interest in music, especially western classical and is a member of a Pune based choir. She lives in Pune with her husband and has two children.

Pheroz Pudumjee

NON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Pheroz Pudumjee is a NON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of the company since January 15, 2001. He managed Thermax's overseas venture in UK and facilitates the company's international initiatives including the incubation and development of new business and relevant organisational changes.

Mr. Pudumjee was the Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Pune. He was also a member of CII'S national committee on Export and a member on the Maratha Chamber of Commerce's International panel.

He has a Masters in Business Administration and a diploma in Automobile Technology from Stanford University.

M S Unnikrishnan

Managing Director & CEO

M.S. Unnikrishnan is the Managing Director & CEO of Thermax Group since July 1, 2007.

Mr. Unnikrishnan began his career with Thermax after graduating in Mechanical engineering from VNIT, Nagpur in 1982. He is a graduate in Advanced Management Programme from the Harvard Business School, USA.

He worked with the EID-Parry group for five years as the Head of its Engineering business and with Terrazzo Inc, U.A.E from 1992 to 1997 as its Assistant General Manager.

He re-joined Thermax as General Manager in 1997. Since then, he has headed the Waste Management and Absorption Cooling divisions of Thermax. In 2000, he became a member of the newly formed Executive Council. He has also led the human resources function and spearheaded the transformation initiative of the company.

Under Mr. Unnikrishnan’s leadership, Thermax grew to be a billion-dollar company in 2010-11. During the period, Thermax expanded its global footprint through acquisitions in Europe, establishing a greenfield manufacturing facility in Indonesia and setting up sales & service network across countries.

He chairs the CII National Committee of Industrial Relations. He has chaired the Capital Goods Skill Council Committee under the National Skill Development Corporation. He also chaired the Skills Working Group of BRICS Business Council in 2016. He is a member of the Development Council constituted by the Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India, to create strategies for the industrial development of the country. 

Mr. Unnikrishnan is actively involved in initiatives for the improvement of technical education in India. He is a member of the AICTE Jury Committee for annual ranking of technical and management institutes of the country. He Co-Chairs the Apex Council to implement the ‘Prime Minister’s Fellowship Scheme for Doctoral Research’, a joint initiative from the government and industry to encourage industrial research and nurture talent.

Harsh Mariwala

Independent Director

Harsh Mariwala is an independent director of the company since November 10, 2016.

He is the Chairman of Marico Limited, and is also Chairman & Managing Director of its wholly owned subsidiary, Kaya Limited. Mr. Mariwala has transformed Marico, a traditional commodities driven business into a leading consumer products and services company in the beauty and wellness space. From a turnover of Rs. 50 lakhs in 1971, Marico's products generated a turnover of INR 6,132 crores during 2015-16. The company has won several awards and recognition under his leadership. He established the Marico Innovation Foundation in 2003 to fuel innovation in India. He started ASCENT in 2012, a not-for-profit and unique peer-to- peer platform for high potential entrepreneurs to exchange experiences and ideas

Mr. Mariwala was the President of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in 2011. He has been a part of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), held the position of YPO Education, Membership and Chapter Chair for the Bombay Chapter, and was a member of the International Forum Board of YPO International. He is now a part of the World Presidents Organization (WPO).

Dr. Valentin von Massow

Independent Director

Dr. Valentin von Massow is an Independent Director on the Board and also chairs the Strategic Business Development Committee.

Dr. Valentin von Massow received his PhD in Agricultural Economics from Georgia Augusta University, Göttingen (Germany) in 1983. After initial work experience in Africa, he worked for almost 20 years as a Management Consultant with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Europe, US and India; in 1993 he was promoted to be Vice President and Director of BCG Inc. During his tenure with BCG he held a number of senior positions, including that of Managing Director for BCG, India. He brings with him a rich global experience of business models, governance, strategy and operations.

Since 2006, Dr. Valentin von Massow has been working as an Independent Non-Executive Director. His board mandates include companies and organizations in the (renewable) energy, environment and agriculture sectors in India, Germany and UK. He serves, among others, on the Board of Crompton Greaves Ltd. (India) and Chairman of the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF-D) in Germany and UK for many years.

Dr. Valentin von Massow is also on the Board of Ritterschaftliches Kreditinstitut Stade.

Nawshir Mirza

Independent Director

Nawshir Mirza is an independent director of the company. He is Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India having qualified in the year 1973. He spent most of his career with Ernst & Young and its Indian member firm, S. R. Batliboi & Co., Chartered Accountants, and its predecessor firm, Arthur Young, being a partner from 1974 to 2003.

He has contributed to the accounting profession, being a speaker or the chairperson at a large number of professional conferences in India and abroad.

As a philanthropist, he is actively involved with Childline, an all-India NGO for abused and distressed children. He is also Honorary Treasurer of the Indian Red Cross, Maharashtra and a trustee of the Narielvala Fire Temple in Mumbai.

Since 2003 Mr. Mirza has been involved in the movement for improved governance in the corporate sector. He is also involved in propagating knowledge of the threat to humankind from climate change and an appropriate response to it.

S. B. (Ravi) Pandit

Independent Director

Ravi Pandit is an independent director of the company, He is the co-founder, chairman and group CEO of KPIT Technologies Ltd. His vision has steered the company from product engineering, IT consulting and services, to three industries namely automotive & transportation, manufacturing and energy & utilities.

He is a gold medalist and member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, an associate member of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India, and holds a master from Sloan School of Management, MIT, Cambridge, USA. In 2014, Tilak Maharashtra University decorated him with an honorary D.Litt.

Having run a Chartered Accountancy firm for close to a decade after finishing his master's studies, Mr. Pandit decided to venture into information technology consulting and services, thus setting up KPIT with his co-founder in 1990.

For his commitment to conducting business in an ethical manner and for the value KPIT partnership has brought to Cummins, Mr. Pandit was honoured with the J Irwin Miller Award of Excellence by Cummins. He has also been conferred the Rotary Excellence Award, Maharashtra Corporate Excellence (MAXELL) Award and the Samata Award.

Ravi is a founder trustee of NGO Janwani which focuses on improvements in urban India. He is a founder trustee of the Pune International Centre, a national level think tank working on policy issues. Mr. Pandit was a member of the Government of India’s Automotive Research Program Committee and on DST’s Technology Development Board. He has served as the president of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture and has been on the NASSCOM executive council twice.

Dr. Jairam Varadaraj

Independent Director

Dr. Jairam Varadaraj is an independent director of the company. He is also Managing Director of ELGI Equipments Ltd. and is also on the Board of Elgi Ultra Industries Ltd., Elgitread (India) Ltd. and Precot Mills Ltd. His varied experience of 16 years in India, covers textiles, polymers, mechanical machines and consumer appliances. He has spent 4 years in teaching and research in the US. He was also Chairman of the Tamil Nadu State Committee of CII.

Dr. Varadaraj is a Ph. D. from the University of Michigan and an MBA from George Washington University.

Rajani Kesari

Independent Director

Ms. Rajani Kesari, 48, is a commerce graduate, Chartered Accountant, Cost Accountant and Certified Public Accountant from the USA.

She is currently the CFO of ACC Limited, which is one of the largest Cement manufacturers in India and a part of LafargeHolcim group. Rajani joined Lafargeholcim in January 2018 as Regional Finance Head - Asia (India, SEA & Australia). During her career, Rajani had two distinct stints at Schneider Electric and Dr. Reddy's. She has diverse experience across internal audit, compliance, global taxation, treasury, M & A and in driving transformation. She has played a very meaningful role in driving business impact both in India and Overseas.

She has a very good understanding of Audit and Compliance and comes across as a much focused CFO who clearly drives for making an impact, speaks her mind, while at the same time she understands the need to drive the business as well.

She is on the Board of Holcim Philippines Inc., ACC Mineral Resources Limited, Oneindia BSC Private Limited, Alcon Cement Company Private Limited, Aakaash Manufacturing Company Private Limited and Asian Concretes and Cements Private Limited.

Ms. Rajani Kesari does not hold any shares in the Company.