Nushad to take up regional role at Axiata

Dialog Axiata PLC announced yesterday the secondment of its Group Chief Marketing Officer Nushad Perera to take up a regional role at the Headquarters of the Axiata Group Berhad in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.  

Perera’s new role will be in the capacity of a Senior Vice President within the Group Strategy function of the Axiata Group, and will commence in January 2012.

Axiata Group is one of the largest telecommunications companies in Asia and has businesses operations in 10 countries in the region providing a comprehensive range of mobile communication services to over 100 million subscribers.

The Group currently has controlling interests in subsidiary operations in Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Cambodia as well as strategic stakes in India, Singapore, Iran, Pakistan and Thailand.

Going forward Perera will be a key member of the team that will spearhead the development and implementation of new businesses for the Axiata Group.

Perera is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), holds an MBA from the University of Leicester and is a much-decorated marketer, having been named ‘CIM Marketer of the Year’ in 2001 and awarded the coveted ‘Global Brand Leadership Award’ at the Asia Brand Congress in 2007.

Perera, a longstanding member of Dialog’s Senior Management team, headed the Marketing function of the Group for a period of 13 years since 1998. In addition to his role as the Group’s Chief Marketing Officer, Perera was also the founding CEO of Dialog TV, the market-leading media arm of the Dialog Group.

“Perera was a key and founding pillar of the Leadership Team which propelled the company from its beginnings as the fourth entrant to the mobile sector, to an undisputed market leader,” said Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Group Chief Executive of Dialog Axiata PLC.

“He played a pivotal role in architecting the Dialog brand and elevating it to its position of leadership across multiple ICT sectors and as one of our nation’s most valuable brands. It gives us all great pride to see him take up this role, which will no doubt provide him with a broader regional canvass to bring to bear his uniquely creative strengths in business development, innovation and market creation,” Dr. Wijayasuriya added.

Perera’s regional assignment flows from the vision of the Axiata Group and its President Dato’ Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim to create regional leadership opportunities for high-performing senior management professionals from amongst its operating companies.

Commenting on the vacancy in the Leadership Team of the Dialog Group, Dialog Axiata PLC Group Chief Corporate Officer Kavan Ratnayaka confirmed that the Group would, within the ensuing period, make an announcement with respect to the successor to the role of Group CMO.

“The vacancy created in our senior Leadership Team has been addressed through a senior executive search covering local and overseas candidates. I can confirm that we are at the penultimate stage of selecting Perera’s successor and we are confident of a seamless transition of Dialog’s Marketing function and brand to its new custodian,” he said.