Asim Ghosh ( hi, असीम घोष; born December 7, 1947) is the former President and CEO of
Husky Energy
Husky Energy Inc. is a company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It operates in Western and Atlantic Canada, the United States and the Asia Pacific region, with upstream and downstream business segm ...
, one of Canada's largest integrated energy companies. He retired in December 2016 and sat on Husky's Board of Directors until December 2020 when it merged with Cenovus Energy Inc.
Ghosh has held senior leadership roles in Canada, India and Hong Kong at a number of multinational corporations, including
Carling O'Keefe
Carling O'Keefe was a brewing company in Canada that is now part of Molson Coors. The company's origins can be traced to Canadian Breweries, which bought the Carling Brewery in 1930 and the O'Keefe Brewery in 1934. Canadian Breweries purchased n ...
(now part of Molson Coors),
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961.
History
Pepsi was ...
Foods, and
Hutchison Whampoa
Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL) was an investment holding company based in Hong Kong. It was a Fortune Global 500 company and one of the largest companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. HWL was an international corporation with a dive ...
.
[Vodafone Corporate Web Site,"Press Release"]
accessed July 19, 2011.
Education
Ghosh did his schooling at
St. Columba's School, Delhi and graduated from the
Indian Institute of Technology
The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are central government owned public technical institutes located across India. They are under the ownership of the Ministry of Education of the Government of India. They are governed by the Institu ...
in Delhi in 1969 with a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering. Ghosh received his MBA from the
Wharton School
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in P ...
at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
in 1970.
Career
Ghosh began his career with
Procter & Gamble
The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...
(Canada) in 1971. He joined
Rothmans International
Rothmans International plc was a British tobacco manufacturer. Its brands included Rothmans, Player's and Dunhill. Its international headquarters were in Hill Street, London and its international operations were run from Denham Place in Denham ...
in 1980, eventually becoming the Senior Vice President with the subsidiary Carling O'Keefe, which was one of Canada's largest breweries. In 1989, Ghosh became founding co-CEO of Pepsi Foods (India) and was tasked with setting up food operations in the country. He moved to
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
in 1991 in order to set up a consumer goods joint venture between
Pepsi
Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961.
History
Pepsi was ...
and Hutchison Whampoa. Shortly thereafter, he became the CEO of
AS Watson Industries, a subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa (1991–1998).
In 1998, Ghosh took the role of leading Hutchison Whampoa's telecommunications joint venture in India, where he served as the Managing Director and CEO of
Hutchison Essar
Vodafone India (formerly Vodafone Essar Ltd, Huchison Essar Ltd) was the Indian subsidiary of UK-based Vodafone Group plc and was a provider of telecommunications services in India with its operational head office in Mumbai. As of March 2018, ...
Ltd. Ghosh served in the role until announcing his retirement in March 2009. During his tenure, the company grew from a one-city operation to become the country's second-largest mobile phone provider, with more than 63 million subscribers.
[ In 2007, he presided over the sale of Hutchison Whampoa's stake in the company to ]Vodafone
Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
in a deal that valued the business at approximately $19 billion. At the time, the sale was the biggest corporate takeover in India's history and, according to a Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational media conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where it is headquartered at the Bay Adelaide Centre.
Thomson Reuters was created by the Thomson Corpora ...
analysis, the largest all-cash transaction in Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
up to 2007, with Vodafone agreeing to pay $11.1 billion in cash for Hutchison Whampoa's stake.
In June 2010, Ghosh became President and CEO of Husky Energy. He retired in December 2016 and served on Husky's Board of Directors until December 2020 when Husky merged with Cenovus. In April 2019, he joined the Board of Hutchison Drei Austria, a telecommunications company.
Under his tenure at Husky, the Company successfully completed two of the largest projects in its history – the Liwan Gas Project offshore China and the Sunrise Energy Project in the Fort McMurray oil sands of Alberta, Canada. Ghosh also oversaw the transformation of the Company's heavy oil business through the deployment of thermal technology. Thermal heavy oil production grew from approximately 18,000 barrels per day (bbls/day) in 2010 to about 80,000 bbls/day at the end of 2016.
Affiliations
Ghosh is a former member of the Board of the Business Council of Canada, a former Chairman of the National Telecom Committee of the Confederation of Indian Industry, a former Chairman of the Cellular Operators Association of India
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) is an Indian non-governmental trade association and advocacy group focused mainly on telecommunications industry. COAI was constituted in 1995 as a registered, non-governmental society. As of ...
and is a distinguished alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi is a public institute of technology located in New Delhi, India. It is one of the 23 IITs created to be Centres of Excellence for training, research and development in science, engineering and technolo ...
. He is also a former member of the Board of Governors of the Banff Centre and a former director of the Li Ka Shing (Canada) Foundation.
Personal life
Ghosh is married to Sanjukta Ghosh, who is the granddaughter of Rai Sahib
Rai Sahib / Rao Saheb / Roy Sahib / Rao Sahib abbreviated R.S., was a title of honour issued during the era of British rule in India to individuals who performed faithful service or acts of public welfare to the nation. From 1911 the title was ac ...
Nagendra Kumar Bhattacharyya, a lawyer and member of the West Bengal Legislative Council, and great granddaughter of Rai Bahadur
RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (Italy), Ministry of Eco ...
Kedar Nath Chowdhury. Asim and Sanjukta Ghosh have two sons. Asim Ghosh is the son of Padma Shri
Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...
Amalananda Ghosh
Amalananda Ghosh (3 March 1910 – 1981) was an Indian archaeologist, the author and editor of numerous works on India's ancient civilizations, and the organizer and director of archaeological expeditions during the mid-1900s.
Education
Ghosh ...
, an Indian archaeologist who served as Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexande ...
from 1953 to 1968, and Sudha Ghosh.
References
External links
Husky Energy
* Hutchison Drei Austria
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghosh, Asim
1947 births
Living people
Canadian chief executives
IIT Delhi alumni
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni