A change of management took place in Bata Malaysia recently. After 3 ½ years as Country Manager for Malaysia, Paolo Grassi is taking up a new posting to Bata Thailand as their Country Manager.
Taking over from Paolo is Ajay Ramachandran from India who has been working in Malaysia the last five years as General Manager of the Valiram Group in charge of Charles and Keith, Pedro and Flow brands.
He was also responsible for the warehousing and outbound logistics of the entire Valiram Group. A qualified engineer from Mumbai University, Ajay moved into marketing and the retail world after getting his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in 1998.
He also did an Advanced Management Programme in early 2012 with INSEAD and came over to Malaysia to join the Valiram Group in June 2012 as a General Manager.
Prior to joining the Valiram Group, he worked as Brand Director with Van Heusen moving up to become its COO. He also spent some time in Levis Strauss India as Head of its marketing division.
With his wide exposure and experience in retail across departments in the various brands, we expect him to take Bata Malaysia to the next level.