Company Leadership | Elgi Equipments Ltd

BOARD OF
DIRECTORS SENIOR
MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
MEMBERS INDEPENDENT
DIRECTORS

DR. JAIRAM VARADARAJ

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Dr. Jairam Varadaraj serves as the Managing Director of Elgi Equipments Ltd. and Board Member of Elgi Ultra Industries Ltd., Elgi Rubber Co., Magna Electro Castings, Precot Meridian Ltd. and Thermax Ltd. Dr. Varadaraj is a third-generation entrepreneur from the illustrious business family of LRG Naidu. For nearly 30 years, Dr. Varadaraj has led and guided the organisation’s business interests in textiles, polymers, mechanical machines and consumer appliances. Prior to this, he was engaged in teaching and research in the United States. Dr. Varadaraj is the former Chairman of the Tamil Nadu State Committee of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and past member of the Southern Region Council of CII. He holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from George Washington University, USA, and a PhD in international business from the University of Michigan, USA. He also enjoys the distinction of holding four patents in the fields of compressors, drive belts, consumer appliances and food manufacturing.

ANVAR JAY VARADARAJ

Anvar Jay Varadaraj is a marketing professional and part of the fourth generation of the promoter group of ELGi. Following undergraduate degrees in Economics and Philosophy at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Anvar started his professional career at Target Corporation in Minneapolis. At Target, Anvar started in finance and strategic audit prior to supporting Target’s Pharmacy Operations business. In 2013, Anvar pursued his MBA at Cornell University specializing in marketing and brand management. Following his MBA, Anvar spent two years at Mars Chocolate North America supporting the Snickers Brand. During his tenure at Mars, Anvar oversaw the launch of Snickers Bites, the relaunch of Snickers Peanut Butter, while leading financing reporting for the brand. Anvar started with ELGi in 2015 where he established ELGi’s marketing and communications function and activities to build the ELGi brand and support the company’s “CK2” aspiration. Anvar moved to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2018 to establish ELGi North America’s marketing function. Anvar was appointed to ELGi’s board of directors in 2020 and continues to mentor ELGi’s marketing organization while supporting the company’s strategic, long term goals.

DR. JAIRAM VARADARAJ

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Dr. Varadaraj is ex Chairman of the Tamil Nadu State Committee of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and past member of the Southern Region Council of CII. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from George Washington University, USA, and a PhD in international business from the University of Michigan, USA. He owns the distinction of holding four patents in the fields of compressors, drive belts, consumer appliances and food manufacturing.

RAMESH PONNUSWAMI

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Ramesh Ponnuswami is responsible for ELGi’s business in India, South Asia, Africa, Middle East, SEA and Oceania. He is also the Director of ATS ELGI Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of ELGi. He joined ELGi in November 2011.

Prior to joining ATS ELGI, he was with the EID Parry (India) Limited, a Murugappa Group company, as Vice President – Operations. He was with Parry for ten years, handling several roles involving sugar, power and distillery plant operations, sales and marketing. He also led the project team that engineered, built and commissioned Asia’s largest port based sugar refinery. Before joining Parry, Ramesh Ponnuswami worked for five-and-a-half years at Sugar Research Limited in Australia as business development manager, responsible for selling technology and services to sugar companies worldwide.

Ramesh Ponnuswami holds a mechanical engineering degree from India and an MBA from RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. He was part of the Murugappa Group Business Leadership Program.

CHRIS RINGLSTETTER

PRESIDENT - EUROPE

Chris Ringlstetter is responsible for all of ELGi’s European operations, including Rotair. He has 25 years of business leadership experience with Ingersoll Rand and Doosan. His career has spanned application engineering, marketing, service and sales management, product management. He was the president of Ingersoll Rand’s air treatment division – a $200 million global business with full P&L responsibilities, including three manufacturing facilities. He has worked in multiple countries including the US, Germany, Italy, England and Belgium. He speaks English, German and Italian fluently.

Prior to joining ELGi, Chris Ringlstetter was the European president of the Luminator Technology Group, which makes passenger information systems for the mass transit and aerospace industries. In this role, held full P&L responsibilities over Europe, ME, Africa and Asia and led two manufacturing facilities.

Ringlstetter has an MBA from Duke University, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University.

DR. VENU MADHAV

DIRECTOR, TECHNOLOGY

Dr. K. Venu Madhav is responsible for new product development, technology development and innovation with a view to meeting global market requirements. He has close to 24 years of industrial experience and has been with ELGi since 1998, barring a short stint in a research organisation after his master’s degree. Dr. Venu has played a pivotal role in designing air ends and has been singularly responsible for bringing the “know why” of rotor design to the company. Venu Madhav holds a doctoral degree in Mechanical Engineering with specialisation in compressors from City University, London. He has several technical publications and 2 patents in compressor technology to his credit. Apart from this, he enjoys playing badminton with his children and reading during his leisure time.

S.No	Programme	Date of Programme	Duration
1	Visit to the Air Compressor Plant & Foundry. During the visit, they were briefed about the manufacturing process, productivity, raw materials used, overall power consumption, cost savings and environmental protection activities undertaken by the new plant.	25-09-2014	2 hrs
2	Presentation about the performance of Elgi Gulf FZE – Wholly owned subsidiary of Elgi Equipments Limited by Mr. Raghavan Neelakantan – Director ISAAME	03-02-2015	2 hrs
3	Presentation on proposed New Project by Mr. Salim Ramachandran – Vice President Technology.	30-10-2015	2 hrs
4	Presentation on Technology Road Map by Mr. Rajendra Singh – Director Technology	05-02-2016	2 hrs
5	Presentation on the current operations of the Chinese Subsidiaries ie., Elgi Equipments Zhejiang Ltd and Elgi Compressors Trading Shanghai Ltd by Mr. S Sriram – Chief Financial Officer & Director COSEA.	29-07-2016	1 hr
6	Presentation on Technology Road and updates on Motor Project by Mr. Rajendra Singh – Director Technology	10-02-2017	2 hrs
7	Presentation on Project Phoenix by Mr. Ramesh Ponnuswami – Director ISAAME	09-05-2017	1 hr
8	Presentation by Mr. Ramesh Ponnuswami, Director – ISAAME and Mr. Jayakanthan, Director – Product, Systems and Strategy, members of the Risk Management Committee on a high risk area from the NPPO and ISAAME departments.	28/07/2017	Half an hour
9	Presentation on the Technology Roadmap by Mr. Sree Ramachandra Murthy, Director – Technology & Operations.	28/07/2017	Half an hour
10	Presentation on Funding Plan for the future in line with CK2 by Mr. S Sriram – Chief Financial Officer on.	28/07/2017	Half an hour
11	Presentation on the Project – Oil Free Compressors by Dr. Venu Madhav, Vice President, Technology	29/01/2018	Half an hour
12	Presentation on Air~Alert services by Mr. Salim Ramachandran, Vice President, Technology	29/01/2018	Half an hour
13	Presentation on Overall Global Strategy of the Company by Mr. Jayakanthan R, Director – Product, Systems & Strategy	29/01/2018	Half an hour
14	Presentation on the Dash Board showing progress of R&D Road Map by Dr. Venu Madhav – Vice President Technology	10/08/2018	Half an hour
15	Presentation on Deming Prize by Mr. Jayakanthan R, Director – People, Systems & Strategy and Mr. Sundarrajan P, VP- BS	08/11/2019	Half an hour