United Spirits (USL), the country?s largest liquor company, on Monday said that it has appointed former Diageo chief executive officer, Paul Steven Walsh, as an additional director on the company?s board along with former Shell India chairman Vikram Singh Mehta as an independent director with effect from August 19.
Walsh, who stepped down as CEO of Diageo in June after a 13-year stint, is currently associated with the British drinks company as an advisor to the chairman and chief executive. India-born Ivan Menezes is currently the CEO of Diageo.
Diageo, which last month completed its acquisition of 25.02% stake in USL for R5,235 crore, currently has Gilbert Ghostine, its business head for the Asia Pacific region, as a non-executive director on the USL board. Following the acquisition, the USL board, which Vijay Mallya heads as chairman, was also revamped to include four new independent directors. They include Renu Sud Karnad, managing director of HDFC, Arun Gandhi, a former executive director of Tata Sons, former Karnataka chief secretary Sudhakar Rao and former IPS officer D Sivanandhan.
The company also said that its board has approved the appointment of BSR as statutory auditors for FY14 in place of Walker, Chandiok who were not seeking re-appointment.
