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PEOPLE
 Rono
Dutta
This global CEO is flying high,
literally! Rono J. Dutta, 47, the India-born, Harvard-educated president
of Chicago-based United Airlines (UA) pulled off a major coup last month
when he announced UA's decision to buy US Airways for $11.6 billion (Rs 51
crore), creating aviation history. If cleared by the US regulatory
authorities, the merged behemoth will have 6,500 daily flights, 150,000
employees, and revenues close to $30 billion. But then, Dutta, the first
Indian CEO of a global airline, has never set his sights low. A 1972
graduate from IIT-Kharagpur and an MBA from Harvard Business School's 1980
class, he has had a multi-faceted career, spread over Voltas in India, and
Booz-Allen & Hamilton and Bell & Howell in the US, before winging
his way to UA in 1985 where he blazed a trail to CEOdom last year. And it
was no fluke! Throughout his 25-year-long corporate career, Dutta has been
known for exceptional operational skills, an ability to build and nurture
internal and external networks, and a strong team-orientation. Personally,
he is known to swear by a credo of trust, cultural sensitivity, and
innovative ideation. Will he pilot UA to greater glories? There are
problems like labour unrest, rising costs, and a bloated top management
which Dutta will have to deal with, not to mention the expected exit of
close friend and mentor, Rakesh Gangwal, the erstwhile CEO of US Airways.
''The biggest thing that has worked for me is developing good
relationships with different people in different situations,'' Dutta has
been quoted as saying. He may need all of that now...
 V.
Raghunathan
His passion and mission are driven by the same principle, that of
logic! Yes, V. Raghunathan, who teaches finance and accounting to wannabe
CEOs at IIM-Ahmedabad, collects antique locks and has a 350-strong set
that would turn most museums green with envy. His locks date back 50 to
400 years and include all possible varieties: those that open with five
keys, some have single customised keys, and yet others with both hard and
soft keys, i.e., a key and a particular way of insertion. Some even have
built-in alarms and written instructions, including ayats of Quran, to go
with them. Raghunathan is busy scripting a coffee-table book on his
collection and also wishes to create a virtual museum, complete with
diagrams and instructions. ''It is tough on both me and my wife. I spend
all my money on the locks and she has to dust them,'' quips Raghunathan,
45. Love's labour, but surely not lost!
 Kishwar
Ahluwalia
This is one wake-up call she just had to take! From being the peppy
anchor for Doordarshan's Good Morning Today, Kishwar Ahluwalia has shifted
gears effortlessly to settle into her new role of CEO, Tara Punjabi, of
Broadcast Worldwide, floated by former star TV chief, Rathikant Basu. But
then, this intrepid journalist-turned-full time-mom-turned-TV host is
quite at home with such switches. She has been a political reporter with
the Indian Express, a producer with NDTV, and even ran her own outfit.
Now, she is all set to bring this basket of skills to bear on her new job.
''I'll make it my job to help dismiss the notion that Punjab doesn't have
a culture-only agriculture,'' says Kishwar, 43, an attractive Punjabi
herself. Three Cheers to that!
 K.
Sudhakar
Toys-R-Cars should be his
motto! For, if Kanaboyina Sudhakar had his way, he would turn the
cyber-city of Hyderabad into a Toonsland with brinjal-, camera-, and
boot-shaped cars jostling at the traffic signals. A self-taught auto-modelling
buff, Sudhakar has honed his passion for designing funky cars to a fine
art, with over 80 creations that include a 1925 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost
fitted with a recycled Premier 1100 engine and a miniature London bus,
apart from the nursery rhyme-inspired automobiles. He has also built a
wooden 1910 Rolls-Royce model for Union information technology minister
Pramod Mahajan and a three-wheeled seven-seater Janmabhoomi cycle for
Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu. ''My inspiration is the
legendary Henry Ford,'' says Sudhakar, 38, who has set up a Sudha Cars
museum on the lines of the Ford Museum in Detroit (US), and will be
applying for a Guiness Book entry. Well, he could whiz his way to
success...
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