New Delhi: French defence technologies major Thales today announced the appointment of Ashish Saraf as vice president and country director for India with effect from June 1.

In this role, Ashish will lead the company’s India business and will be responsible for the strategic growth of Thales in the country across all of its markets, further strengthening local teams, collaborations and innovation, the company said in a statement.

He succeeds Emmanuel de Roquefeuil, who takes up a new role as the vice president and head for Thales in the Middle East.

Prior to joining Thales, Ashish served as the president and head of region for Airbus Helicopters – India and South Asia, where he led Airbus’ helicopters sales, services, training, innovation, industrial partnerships and government relations functions across the civil, parapublic and military markets in the region.

Ashish has also served as the vice president and ‘Make in India’ officer for Airbus, has headed the Tata–Sikorsky joint venture in Hyderabad and also worked with Deloitte Consulting and Dassault Systemes, mainly in the United States and Europe.

“I am pleased to welcome on board Ashish Saraf to the Thales Group, who joins us in extremely challenging COVID situation.

“Under his leadership, Thales will continue its decades-long partnership with our Indian stakeholders to support the country in this time of need, and once the pandemic behind us, contribute to India’s longer-term vision of building an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ (Self-Reliant India),” Thales senior executive vice president Pascale Sourisse said.

“I thank Pascale for her confidence and I am very pleased to join Thales, where I will apply all my experience and energy to serve our activities and staff in India.

“I would like to express our solidarity as the country bravely battles the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

“We stand united with our employees, their families, our customers and the people at large, and look forward to overcoming this pandemic together,” Saraf said in the statement.

Ashish Saraf holds degrees in management and engineering from University of London, Cornell University, Symbiosis Institute and NIT India.

Additionally, he has also served as a member of the board of directors and member of the governing council for Aviation and Aerospace Sector Skill Council (AASSC), a governmental body dedicated to developing nationwide skills in the aerospace domain in India.

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