The new board members are PwC Global Chairman Bob Moritz, Cognizant EVP Malcolm Frank, ITC Managing Director Sanjiv Puri, and Star India CEO Uday Shankar.
The Washington, DC, -based advocacy group US-India Strategic Partnership Forum has added four new members — two from the United States and two form India — to its board of directors.
The four global business leaders who joined the organization’s board are PwC Global Chairman Bob Moritz; Cognizant Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Marketing Officer Malcolm Frank; ITC Managing Director Sanjiv Puri; and Uday Shankar, President of 21st Century Fox, Asia and Chairman and CEO of Star India.
The Chairman of the USISPF board is John Chambers, Chairman Emeritus of Cisco and founder & CEO of JC2 Ventures. Other prominent members on the board include Indian American CEOs Shantanu Narayen of Adobe, Ajay Banga or MasterCard and Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo.
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USISPF, which was launched last year, said in a press release on Thursday that the addition of the four global business leaders is in keeping with its goal of strengthening ties between the United States and India.
“These four new leaders have already made a tremendous impact on U.S.-India relations,” said USISPF President Dr. Mukesh Aghi. “Their knowledgeable backgrounds and distinct interests bring even greater value to the strong Board of Directors that leads The Forum’s strategic goals. With the most valuable leadership team for US-India relations, we look to bring the two countries closer together than ever before.”
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“I’m proud to join the Board of US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, given the importance of India to PwC’s overall global presence,” said Moritz. “India’s growing economy, talented workforce, and innovative culture make it an important country for us, today and into the future. I look forward to working closely with USISPF in the coming years.”
Frank, who led Cognizant for more than a decade, helping the company grow to 260,000 employees, said “India is a very attractive market for digital services and infrastructure” and his company “sees much potential in building” the bilateral relations. “I look forward to working with USISPF and its members to increase opportunities and collaboration between the two countries,” he said.
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Puri, a 32-year ITC veteran, said he is looking forward “to engaging with the business community and the government, as a member of the USISPF Board, to further mutual collaboration and to promote our shared goals in the area of innovation, technology and trade so that we can, together, create a future that is inclusive and sustainable.”
Shankar, the fourth member inducted into the USISPF board, heads 21st Century Fox’s video businesses across Asia. He has spearheaded the transformation of Star, and the company has grown has grown 7-fold in the past 10 years, under his leadership. “These are exciting times for the technology and media sector in India and there are great opportunities for transformative collaboration,” he said. “I look forward to building upon this momentum through greater partnership between the US and India in my role with USISPF.”