Executive Board

Mr Karkaria joined the Kuoni Group in 1991. In 1999 he was appointed as the COO of the tour operating division (outbound and domestic leisure travel) of Kuoni India, and effective 2003, as the Deputy CEO of Kuoni India and South Asia, responsible for all divisions of the company – tour operating, destination management, business travel, and travel education. From May 2005 until 31 December 2010, Mr Karkaria was the CEO and Managing Director for Kuoni India and South Asia.

In 2001 Mr Karkaria conceptualised and set-up VFS Global – one of the most outstanding examples of innovation across the Kuoni Group, and led VFS Global to become a global leader in its space within 4-5 years of its launch. Between 2007 and 2010, Mr Karkaria also served as a director on the board of the India Tourism Development Corporation.

Mr Karkaria has recently been awarded a number of accolades: Pacific Area Travel Writers Association's "Young Achiever Award in Travel" presented at the ITB Berlin in 2008, "India's Best Travel Professional Award" presented at the ITB Berlin in 2009, Safari India's "Best Professional - Travel" award for 2009, Today's Traveller "Leadership Award" in 2007 and 2008, Times Ascent HR Excellence Award as "CEO with HR Orientation" in 2007, listed as one of the "Top 25 Young Executives in India" by Business Today in 2005 and South Asia Travel & Tourism Exchange's "Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award" in 2004.

Mr Karkaria graduated in Commerce from the University of Mumbai and obtained a diploma in Business Management from Prin. L N Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research. Mr Karkaria carries with him a rich experience of over two decades in the travel and tourism industry.

Mr Maliekkal has previously held the positions of Senior Manager reporting to the CFO at ESPN Star Sports and also Manager at Money Television and Industries Pvt Ltd Mr Maliekkal joined the Kuoni Group in 2005 as Vice President - Finance, VFS Global. From October 2008 until 31st March 2011 Mr Maliekkal was the Chief Financial Officer of Kuoni Travel (India) Pvt Ltd having earlier held the position of Senior Vice President Finance with VFS Global Mr Maliekkal graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Bombay and then qualified as a chartered accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Mr Martyris has been in charge of VFS Global' HR department since 2004, when he joined VFS Global. Mr Martyris is responsible for VFS Global' global HR strategy, leadership development and talent and performance management. Mr Martyris has over 35 years of experience in dealing with human resources matters and over two decades of experience in the hospitality industry. Mr Martyris graduated from Xavier Labour Relations Institute in 1976 since which time Mr Martyris has held management positions at the Oberoi Group and The Indian Hotels Company Ltd, served on the board of Tata Coffee as an independent director in 2003, was a member of the Global HR Council of the Conference Board, USA in 1998 and was Chairman of the HR Committee of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce between 2007 and 2009.

Mr Savla joined VFS Global in January 2004 as Chief Technology Officer with the responsibility for strengthening the company’s global IT delivery, before becoming the Chief Information Officer for Kuoni India & South Asia in September 2005. Mr Savla remained with Kuoni until 2010 when he joined Standard & Poor's (CRISIL) as CIO for their South Asia region, with responsibility for its KPO business IT in Europe and the Americas.

In March 2011 Mr Savla re-joined VFS Global as Chief Information Officer – with additional responsibility for emerging markets for Kuoni’s travel businesses till January 2012. Prior to joining VFS Global, Mr Savla held various leadership positions within Merrill Lynch, G.E. Shipping and IL&FS in India. During his career, Mr Savla has won several industry awards including the CIO 100 award (2007 - 2010), SAP ACE Award  & NASSCOM innovation award to name few. Mr Savla graduated from the University of Mumbai with an Engineering degree.

Mr Alexander is responsible for managing and leading VFS Global’s business across South East Asia, North Asia and the Pacific Rim, focussing on strategy, business development, and managing key client relationships. In addition to his core responsibility, he also heads the CSR mandate for the company and manages the Verification Services Business Unit.

Mr Alexander joined VFS Global in 2005, as General Manager for Business Development. He has over 21 years of experience in client acquisition, sales & marketing, strategic planning & brand management portfolios in Indian & International markets. Prior to joining VFS Global, he has held leadership positions across a wide spectrum of organizations viz. Coats Viyella India Ltd, GE Lighting India Ltd and Hutchison Max Telecom (now Vodafone). Ajit has completed his Bachelor’s degree (with Honours) in Commerce from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata and holds a Master’s degree in Management Studies from Sydenham Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. He has also completed the Management Development Program from The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Mr Dix is responsible for managing and leading VFS Global’s business across Europe and the Americas, focussing on strategy, business development, and managing key client relationships.  He joined VFS Global in August 2011 as Regional Head for Europe and the Americas, becoming COO for the region on 1 January 2012. Before joining VFS Global, Mr Dix spent 25 years as a career diplomat working for the UK Foreign Service - most recently on secondment to the UK Border Agency as Regional Director for South Asia (2007- 2011), Regional Director for Africa (2004-2007), and Director of Visa Services India (1999-2004). Prior to that Mr Dix worked on Central American and South Asian affairs, and on UN humanitarian issues. Mr Dix has worked in Switzerland, Bangladesh, Spain, Nigeria and India.

Mr Raghavan is responsible for managing and leading VFS Global’s business across South Asia and CIS, focussing on strategy, business development, and managing key client relationships. He is also the Administrative Head of all the central departments in Mumbai. Having joined VFS Global in 2004 as Sr General Manager, he was responsible for setting up operations across China. Since then, he has been responsible for establishing VFS Global's operations in a number of countries in the CIS region including Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Turkey, etc, besides managing other regions such as Europe and MENA. Mr Raghavan has almost 27 years' experience in the travel and hospitality sector – 7 years with Oberoi Group of Hotels and 12 years with Air-India. Mr Raghavan is a Hotel Management Graduate from Delhi and a Post Graduate in Marketing Management from Mumbai University.

Mr Vijayakumar is responsible for managing and leading VFS Global’s business across Africa and Middle East, focussing on strategy, business development, and managing key client relationships.  He joined VFS Global in October 2007 as Regional Head Africa before becoming COO for the Africa and Middle East region on 1 January 2012. Whilst with VFS Global
Mr Vijayakumar has managed the biometric enrolment of visa application services for the UK in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi and Namibia. Before joining VFS Global, Mr Vijayakumar spent 27 years in a number of international companies including consumer products and pharmaceutical companies holding various positions up to and including managing director. In addition, Mr Vijayakumar has held senior sales and marketing positions for Ranbaxy India, Britannia and Bombay Oil Industries in India.

Mr Vijayakumar is a post graduate in Management (Agriculture) from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, India and is a certified Biometric professional of the IEEE in the USA.