Replacement: Air India Announce Appointment of New CFO

Air India, the largest airline of the Tata Group has announced the appointment of a new Chief Financial Officer (CFO), set to take charge from next month. Mr Sanjay Sharma, the current CFO at Tata Projects Limited has been selected as the next CFO for the airline. He is replacing Mr Vinod Hejmadi, who is retiring after serving Air India for more than 35 years.

Air India: New CFO

Air India is currently undergoing a restructuring process. It will be merged with Vistara by the end of this year. In the Vihaan.AI restructuring program, the airline is set to move on to the next phase. In the upcoming Climb phase, it will improve its financial and operational numbers.

Mr Sanjay Sharma, who is serving Tata Projects Ltd as CFO will assume the role of Air India CFO from June 10. According to the press statement released by the airline, he has more than 30 years of experience in the banking and finance sector.

The Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director at Air India, Campbell Wilson welcomed Mr Sharma to the leadership team. He added that the airline will look forward to his contribution to the ongoing journey.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Mr Sharma marked his entry into this sector in 1993, when he was appointed director at Equity Capital Markets. In 2007, he was upgraded to the role of Managing Director. He joined Tata Group in September 2018 as CFO at Tata Realty and Infrastructure Ltd. In 2021, he became the CFO at Tata Projects Ltd. From 1993 to 2024, he held key positions in this sector, making him one of the best candidates for Air India.

Retirement After Long Service

Sanjay Sharma will replace the current CFO: Vinod Hejmadi. Mr Hejmadi is one of the longest-serving executives at Air India. He has been with Air India for more than 35 years. He joined in 1988.

The list below illustrates the timeline of Hejmadi’s career in Air India:

• 1992-1995: Finance Manager for Switzerland and North Africa
• 2000-2003: Finance Manager Midwest
• 1988-2008: Deputy Manager Finance
• 2008-2014: Deputy General Manager Finance
• 2014-2015: General Manager
• 2015-2022: Director of Finance
• 2022-Now: Chief Financial Officer

In his entire career, he has held numerous portfolios. Now, after serving for more than 35 years, he is retiring from Air India. He was one of the few executives on the transformation committee of the airline. In the airline statement, Air India CEO Wilson thanked Mr Vinod for his long service to the company, and for his key role in the airline’s transfer of ownership from the Government of India (GoI) to Tata Group.

Since privatization, Air India has made a lot of changes in the leadership unit. This appointment comes just a month after the airline appointed Jayaraj Shanmugam as Head of Global Airport Operations. Prior to this, in April, the airline appointed Ravinder Kumar GP as the new Chief Human Resource Officer.

Conclusion

Air India will soon witness a new executive assuming the role of Chief Financial Officer. Vinod Hejmadi, the current CFO will bid goodbye to the airline and will be replaced by TATA Projects CFO Sanjay Sharma. He comes with an experience of more than 30 years. In short, experience of 30 years is being replaced with experience of 30 years.

What do you think about Sanjay Sharma being appointed as CFO of Air India? Discuss in the comment section.