Tata Sons, the holding arm of the diversified business conglomerate Tata group, has appointed Gopichand Katragadda as group chief technology officer (CTO). Katragadda will join the group on August 3, 2014 and will report to Tata group chairman Cyrus P Mistry.
In the position, Katragadda will be responsible for technology at the group level and share his expertise in managing research and development operations, and act as an evangelist for innovation across group companies, Tata Sons said in the statement.
Prior to joining Tata Sons, Katragadda was serving as managing director of GE India Technology Centre. He had taken over as the chief of the unit two years ago after having spent some 10 years with the global conglomerate. In this position he has been leading GE’s India technology team of over 5,000 engineers and scientists.
Before joining GE, Katragadda had worked with Karta Technologies, San Antonio, Texas, as vice president – R&D. He also was an adjunct professor at the University of Texas and served on the board of Texas Public Radio.
Katragadda has over 30 publications and five patents and has also authored a book on innovation.
An active volunteer in community programmes, Katragadda had also founded an NGO named the India Literacy and Leadership Trust.
He holds master’s and PhD in electrical engineering from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. He was also selected as a fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology in 2014.
Although Katragadda has not been formally named as part of the six-member group executive council chaired by Mistry, where the five members report directly to the group chief, by virtue of his reporting structure he appears to be joining at a similar capacity.
Tata Sons had formed this executive council last year whose members provide strategic and operational support to the group chairman.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)
