 Mr.Rakesh Khanna, a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1986. He did his professional training with Messrs S.K. Kandhari and Company, a leading firm of Chartered Accountants and also started his career with them.
He joined Cox & Kings, a leading travel and tours operations company, in September 1986 as Chief Accountant. In his 16 year tenure with the company, he was elevated to Financial Controller in 1990, Vice President - Finance in 1995 and Director - Finance in 2000. During this period the company grew from a turnover of Rs 10 crores to Rs 350 crores. He was actively involved in business strategizing and fulfilling larger organizational goals with specific focus on cost optimization, process improvement and finance reengineering. His accomplishments included - developing a robust and advanced accounting system, a comprehensive Management Information System, implementing best practices in areas of reporting, financial planning and management, effective tax planning and successful handling of legal matters for MRTP, FERA and Company Law related issues. He was also exposed to various aspects of hotel functioning on account of his regular interaction with senior management of the Taj Group of Hotels, including the Chairman and Managing Director.
Ms. Ritu Mehra, a post graduate from St. Stephen's College, Delhi is a sales professional with over 17 years experience in the service sector. She started her career with Diners Club India Limited to promote credit card sales, at a time when this industry was still in its nascent stage. She successfully introduced this concept to the Indian corporate market. Consequent to the Diners credit card sell off to Citibank, she took over as Center Manager for Diners Business Services ( DBS ) in Delhi, handling sales and operations.
She joined Cox & Kings in 1994 and set up the Business Travel sales team and introduced major clients. She set up the Corporate Sales division to monitor branch sales activity to acquire accounts nationally and synergise sales efforts of the Business Travel, Conferences and Outbound Leisure Travel divisions. She was also the Company spokesperson in Delhi for the media.
Ritu joined Carlson Wagonlit Travel as National Sales Manager in 2000 and left after a stint of one and a half years to set up Affinity Consultants. |
