Kavita Nair

Chairperson

An award winning and dynamic leader, Kavita Nair has proven success in managing a wide range of leadership roles. She has spent majority of her working years with Vodafone Idea . Her career spanned 22 years here where she held leadership roles in diverse functions across both consumer and enterprise domains. In her last assignment, Kavita was the Chief Digital Transformation and Brand Officer of Vodafone Idea Limited, India’s leading telecom service provider. As a member of the National Leadership Team, Kavita led Digital Transformation across all functions for the organization and drove the strategy, course and communication of Vi – the newest brand in Indian telecom industry. She was the driving force behind Vi – a brand that emerged with the integration of two of the iconic brands – Vodafone and Idea. She has a strong track record of building some of the most admired telecom brands of the country and Vodafone’s iconic Zoozoos were born during her tenure as the Brand Head at Vodafone India. Her areas of expertise include marketing, digital, retail, pricing, product management, channel and customer operations.

Her talent and success has been acknowledged at several prestigious forums - Economic Times included her in its 25 Rising Women Leaders of India Inc. in 2015; Business Today voted her as one of the Hottest Young Executives to watch out for in 2011 and Brand Equity named her amongst the 8 Marketing Premier League Icons in 2009.

Kavita is an alumnus of the Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), M S University, Baroda where she did her MBA in Marketing and has also completed Senior Leadership Programs from London Business School and IIM Ahmedabad.

Balfour Manuel

Managing Director

Balfour Manuel has assumed the role of Managing Director w.e.f. May 16, 2019.

Balfour Manuel, a Blue Dart veteran of over 35 years, has been instrumental in the success of Blue Dart from the very beginning of the company’s inception. A longtime employee of the company, Mr. Balfour Manuel prior to his appointment as Managing Director was Chief Executive Officer of the Company w.e.f January 23, 2019. He was also Senior Vice President in charge of Blue Dart’s business-to-business customers, a cornerstone of Blue Dart’s customer base and had also held a key general management position where he was responsible for the growth and development of Blue Dart’s business in the Western region in India.

Balfour holds a Masters in Business Management in Marketing from University of Mumbai.

R. S. Subramanian

Director

R S Subramanian is currently the SVP & Managing Director, DHL Express India, a member of the DHL Express Asia Pacific Management Board and a Director on the Board of Blue Dart Express India Ltd.

With over 30 years of experience in Product-led as well as Service Industry, Subramanian has extensive knowledge across areas of business strategy, Marketing, Team development and Customer Management.  

He joined DHL Express India as the Head of Sales, subsequently moving up to the position of Vice President for South Asia Cluster (RoSA) wherein he was managing DHL Express operations in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan. He was instrumental in restructuring and developing DHL operations in these markets. 

Subramanian assumed the role of Managing Director, DHL Express India in 2010. 

India business grew manifold to a leadership position in the last decade with investments in best in class infrastructure, state of the art technology and strong people processes.    

Under his leadership, DHL has won many accolades and is today recognized and respected as a best practices organization. DHL Express has consistently featured in the India’s Great Places to Work list by GPTW since 2013. DHL Express ranked No 2 globally, and has been in the Top 5 Great Places to Work for the past three years. The company was named as a Top Employer by the Top Employer Institute - six times in a row. 

Prior to DHL, Subramanian spent 14 years with Hindustan Unilever Ltd in a variety of Sales, Brand Management and Export Management roles.

Subramanian is a Graduate in Industrial Engineering and a Masters in Management from IIM – Bangalore. He is Gold Certified in First Choice which is DHL Group's internal quality program based on the Six-Sigma DMAIC methodology.

Subramanian is Member of the Management Committee of Express Industry Council of India (EICI) and Indo-German Chamber of Commerce (IGCC). He is also a member on the Governing body of Logistics Sector Skill Council (LSC) under Ministry of Skill Development and promoted by CII. 

Dr. Vandana Aggarwal

Independent Director

Dr. Vandana Aggarwal has been a civil servant and economist for about 36 years. She joined the Indian Economic Service in 1986 after her studies at the University of London and University of Delhi, including Lady Shri Ram College for Women, and the Delhi School of Economics. She has a Ph.D. in ‘Investment and Regulatory aspects of Deep-Sea Mining’ from the Department of Financial Studies & Business Economics. She superannuated from regular service in the Government of India on 31 May 2021. She has not held any regular post in the Government of India since then.

She had last served as Senior Economic Adviser (Additional Secretary) in the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. She handled key reforms and policy formulation, implementation of schemes and economic regulation, as well as security and crisis management (including the Covid-19 pandemic). She has also served on the Boards of Directors of central public corporates and councils such as AAI Cargo Logistics & Allied Services Limited (AAICLAS) and Aerospace and Aviation Sector Skill Council (AASSC).

In a large and diverse developing country like India, prior to Civil Aviation she had worked in various other Central Government Ministries (Finance, Commerce, Industry, Cabinet Secretariat, Environment, Forests & Climate Change, Planning Commission, Ninth Finance Commission, and the Permanent Mission of India to the World Trade Organisation at Geneva, Switzerland) handling core reforms in India across industry, infrastructure, trade and taxation sectors, programmes and schemes, economic regulation, climate change matters as well as national security and crisis management. Her dossiers inter-alia have included the 1991 New Industrial Policy, agriculture sector reforms, PPPs in Power Transmission, National Air Cargo Policy, Krishi Udaan Scheme, development of a fixed-wing Regional Transport Aircraft and the Light Utility Helicopter and an ecosystem for Manufacturing Aircraft in India, Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) including convergence between defence aerospace and civil aviation, National Logistics Policy, Indirect and Direct Taxes (including Goods and Services Tax), Competition Issues, environment and forest (ENVIS) Centres, and investment, capital markets and external debt matters. She has been India’s trade negotiator on the Doha Development Agenda, has handled settlement of inter-Governmental disputes under international laws and been a standing panellist, for adjudications in the WTO’s Dispute Settlement Body. She has also dealt with corporate arbitrations as Member of the Governing Body of the Indian Council of Arbitration. She has represented India at the UNFCCC on climate change matters.

Dr. Vandana Aggarwal is currently serving in an honorary capacity on various governmental regulatory and non-governmental bodies as follows:

• Chairperson of the reconstituted Standing Committee of the International Finance Services Centre Authority (IFSCA) for the development of aircraft leasing and the financial ecosystem in the GIFT-City as of 4 July 2024 / 5 August 2024.
• Member, Advisory Committee on Maritime Studies, and Lead Expert for Course Consolidation, both at the Indian Maritime University.
• Honorary Member on the Advisory Committee of the Air Cargo Forum India, a non-profit, nongovernmental, nationwide trade and logistics forum.

She is an Independent Director on the Boards of Blue Dart Aviation Limited, a material subsidiary company of Blue Dart Express Limited, and of the Delhi Cargo Service Centre Private Limited.

Sebastian Paessens

Director

Mr. Sebastian Paessens (DIN: 09058693), aged 51 years, is the CFO of DHL e-Commerce, a business division of Germany based DHL Group. Mr. Sebastian Paessens started his professional career as Management Consultant for Finance and Controlling related projects. Mr. Sebastian Paessens joined DHL Group in 2008 and held various Management positions in the DHL Express Division, the German Post and Parcel Division and in the Corporate Controlling Department. In October 2017, he assumed the role of CFO, DHL e-Commerce. In October 2018, Sebastian Paessens was appointed as CFO DHL e-Commerce and DHL Parcel Europe, before moving on to his current role in January 2019. He is a Member of DHL Group's Finance Board. Mr. Sebastian holds a Master of Science Degree in Business Administration and Mechanical Engineering.

Mr. Sebastian Paessens had also served as a Non-Executive Non-Independent Director on the Board of Blue Dart Express Ltd from February 24, 2021 to August 23, 2024.

Charles Simon Dobbie

Director

Mr. Charles Simon Dobbie is a seasoned global executive with more than three decades of leadership experience in the logistics, aviation, operations, large-scale international supply chain networks and technology sectors.

Mr. Dobbie joined DHL in 1986 and held various leadership positions across the DHL Group in Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. In 2006, he assumed the role of Global Executive Vice President – Operations, Aviation & IT (DHL HQ Germany), where he was responsible for global operations, aviation and information technology across more than 220 countries and territories until his retirement in 2023.

Mr. Dobbie’s Global Functional Areas of Responsibility include:

• Aviation network
• Operations hub and facility design, build & engineering
• Security
• Customs and regulatory
• IT development and operations
• Compliance: whistle-blowing and internal complaint handling

Mr. Dobbie is recognized for sound judgement, strategic clarity, and the ability to govern complex, high-risk, regulated operational environments—balancing commercial growth, compliance, safety, digital transformation, and sustainable performance.

Mr. Dobbie has served on several governance bodies of the DHL Group, including the DHL Corporate Operations & Aviation Board, DHL Corporate IT Board, Global Management Board, Corporate Diversity Board and Corporate Finance Board.

Mr. Dobbie currently serves on the Board of Blue Dart Aviation Limited and has also served on the Boards of Polar Air Cargo, AeroLogic Air Cargo and Express Couriers Limited.

Rajat Kumar Jain

Independent Director

Mr. Rajat Kumar Jain is a Gurgaon based corporate leader turned startup enthusiast who is on the social journey of creating India’s leading open architecture mentoring platform and accelerator for deserving startups, to get early stage business support and capital. An IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus, he founded PadUp Ventures in 2015 along with his partner Mr. Pankaj Thakar, who is a technology startup expert, from MIT and Harvard. PadUp is focussed on providing deep mentoring services to early-stage tech startups in India to help them survive and scale, to drive INNOVATION and create value.

After a 30+ years career in Corporate India in leadership roles, Mr.Rajat now performs a few Non-Executive roles including Chairing the Fino Payments Bank Board and being an Independent Director on the Boards of Vodafone Idea, Mahindra Holidays and EMA Partners India.

He also works with SME’s supporting their growth and transformation journeys. He is also a trustee on the Board of the globally well known Make a Wish Foundation (India), as well as Braj Foundation, an NGO focussed on environment and water conservation and an Advisor to the E&H Foundation, working for the education and health of underprivileged kids in Uttar Pradesh.

In his corporate career, he has worked in the FMCG, media & entertainment, technology and telecom sectors in India, both at young stage companies and MNCs like Unilever, Sony, Walt Disney and Xerox. His last roles were MD of Xerox India and MD of Disney India before he started his social journey in 2015. His key areas of expertise include distribution and sales, understanding consumers across various spaces, mentoring and working with teams and building and growing businesses that revolve around services & brands.

Avijit Mukerji

Independent Director

Mr. Avijit Mukerji is a Chartered Accountant, having overall experience of more than three decades in audit and assurance. He is a former senior partner of Price Waterhouse, member of PricewaterhouseCoopers Network Firms in India (PwC India). He held several leadership roles within PwC India including as a member of the PwC India Board, PwC India Leadership, Managing Partner of the Eastern Region as well as India Assurance Leadership. Currently, he is the founder and managing partner of TatvaSutra Solutions LLP, a boutique investment and equity research firm. He is also an Independent Director on the boards of Bandhan Financial Holdings Limited, Balaji Telefilms Limited and DIC India Limited and a Non-Executive - Nominee Director on the Board of Bandhan Bank Ltd. He serves as Member Board of Governors of Welham Girl’s School, Dehradun and is also the current President of The Bengal Club, Kolkata.

He is an experienced auditor leading audits of several marquee companies during his tenure as an audit partner with Price Waterhouse. He has a wide experience of audits ranging from large, listed companies, multinationals as well as Indian promoter companies and founder/startups. Further, during his tenure as the Transformation Leader, he was responsible for digital upskilling of 14,000 partners and staff again conceptualizing and implementing the firm’s flagship digital upskilling program Acing Digital.

Prior to the commencement of his professional career, he had a brilliant academic record securing ranks both in the Intermediate (AIR 12) and Final (AIR 21) examinations of the Institute of the Chartered Accountants of India. He is a past Chairman of CII West Bengal and was also member of the executive committees of AMCHAM eastern region and Indian Chamber of Commerce.