Novelis buyout gets AV Birla group its first woman chief

LONDON: Here’s one for the gender brigade in India — and what globalisation can do for you. The AV Birla group has just acquired its first-ever woman chief executive in Martha Finn Brooks, who has been appointed as president and chief operating officer of the US-based Novelis.

As the head of a $9-billion company, with 12,900 employees, this puts Ms Brooks well in the top echelons of women executives in India Inc — since Novelis is now a subsidiary of Hindalco. In her new position as president, Ms Brooks becomes the senior Novelis executive, responsible for all global activities of the aluminium rolling and recycling company.

Ms Brooks has been chief operating officer of Novelis since the company’s 2005 creation via a spin-off from Alcan. “Martha has been an essential element in the building of Novelis over the past two years,” said Novelis’ vice-chairman Debu Bhattacharya, “and she will make a great leader for the company as we look to accelerate the Novelis business strategy and maximise the opportunities for both Novelis and Hindalco.

A Yale-alumnus, Ms Brooks was president and CEO of the Americas and Asia division of Alcan’s Rolled Products group, before joining Novelis. Edward Blechschmidt, who was Novelis’ acting CEO since January of this year, will step down from that role but will continue to provide support in the role of senior advisor to Hindalco.

The AV Birla group has also appointed Steve Fisher as the chief financial officer of Novelis, as well as a series of changes to the board. Kumar Mangalam Birla will be chairman of the board of directors, while Mr Bhattacharya will be vice-chairman. Others to join the board of Novelis include AK Agarwala of AV Birla group, Clarence Chandran of Conros Corp, and Donald Stewart of Sun Life Financial and Sun Life Assurance.

Rick Dobson, senior vice-president and chief financial officer since 2006, will step down from that position, but will remain in an advisory role during a transition period. Mr Fisher was previously vice-president of strategic planning and corporate development. Mr Fisher was a chief architect of Novelis’ corporate strategy and managed the discussions that led to the acquisition of Novelis by Hindalco.

Additional members of the corporate team announced Friday include Les Parrette as general counsel, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary, and Bob Virtue as vice-president of Human Resources. Brenda Pulley continues as vice-president of corporate affairs and communications.

The company’s four regional presidents continue in their current roles: Kevin Greenawalt in North America, Arnaud de Weert in Europe, Tom Walpole in Asia, and Tadeu Nardocci in South America.