Sharing insights from a CEO hiring specialist. This article focuses on CEO Hiring Trends 2024

Only ~30% of the Incoming CEOs Were From Different Industry

As mentioned in the last post on CEO Hiring Trends, India Inc prefers to hire an experienced CEO when they hire externally. But, how open are they to people coming from different industry?

In our analysis, we have classified moves as ‘within sector’ even if the move is from one consumer sector (e.g., paints) to another, but harder-core sector (e.g., FMCG)? If, on the other hand, the move is from a FMCG to an auto component, we classify it as ‘across sector’.

Even with this broader classification, only about 30% of the CEO moves were ‘across sectors’ and the remaining 70% were ‘within sectors’.

We think this will change and will have to change, as the demand-supply mismatch, along with other constraints such as compensation, ability to offer wealth creation vs vanilla compensation plans, location constraints, perceived/real governance standards, cultural fit and chemistry etc start coming into the picture.

If we look at the CEOs of US Fortune 500 or their European counterparts, it is not uncommon to find CEOs who have moved fluidly across industries and sectors.

As another analogy, 5 years ago, it was not common to find ex-management consultants in CEO roles – but today, with successful examples, we have quite a few across sectors (Anish/Mahindra, Vivek Gambhir/Boat, Mohit/Godrej Properties, Shveta Arya/Cummins, Nilesh/JSW Cements, Jagdish/Sobha). A few successful cross-sector CEOs will open the gates to more such moves.

Checkout the ‘CEO Hiring trend 2024’  → Here 

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Anu graduated from DU and subsequently completed her full-time MBA from IMI. Post her MBA, she worked in sales in the BFSI space, with ICICI Lombard, Principal Asset Management, DSP Blackrock and Edelweiss, across bancassurance, and institutional sales. Later, she worked in the start-up space, while pursuing and completing the Master's in Business Law from National Law School. At Resource Bridge, Anu is a Sr Associate in the CEO Practice and has worked closely with Ram on key mandates.


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Ram is currently the Leader for the CEO Practice and also the Managing Partner of the firm. Ram is an Engineer-turned (BE Mechanical, MS Industrial) MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, and brings with him 7 years in corporate, 14 years in top-tier consulting and 10 years in executive search. He was last the leader for Life-sciences at Monitor Group and prior to that, headed IMS Consulting and AT Kearney, starting his career with Ashok Leyland. Brings extensive experience in automotive and healthcare/life-sciences space.


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Dhanlaxmi is a CA and ICWA from Mumbai, and brings with her extensive experience as a practicing chartered accountant, serving clients across industries. Alongside, she also served as a visiting faculty in several institutions. At Resource Bridge, Dhana is an Consultant in the CFO Practice, where she has worked with Saroja on several of the key CFO mandates.


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Saroja is a merit-ranking ICWA and is the Lead for the CFO Practice. Coming from an industrial family, she initally worked in the family business focused on automotive forgings. Later, she set up Resource Bridge along with Ram and grew it from infancy. Just over the last few years, she has led 40+ CFO engagements for a variety of clients, and has one of the best networks within the CFO Community, not only in India but outside too. She brings extensive experience in Retail, FMCG and Manufacturing sector.


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Avni Modi has worked in the field of finance for more than 7 years in BMR Advisors, Avacare Health Group, Mahesh Patira and Company and Mohan Chandiramani and Company. As a regional financial manager, she has worked with liasioning with international investors, investment banks and various executive committees in the organisation. She co-led a team of 40+ professionals and headed the financial reporting vertical in the India office. She is a chartered accountant and has completed her Bachelor's in commerce from NM College in Vile Parle.


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Mona leads the BD & New Client Engagement function at Resource Bridge and is responsible for all client development activities for the firm. She comes from a marketing and brand promotions background, having worked in the marketing function at Matsushita. Mona has done her full-time MBA.


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