He succeeds Emmanuel de Roquefeuil who takes up a new role within Thales
Ashish Saraf joins Thales from Airbus where he served as the President and Head of Region for Airbus Helicopters – India and South Asia.
He will lead Thales’ business in India and take forward its commitment to support the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ vision of the government.
Thales announced the appointment of Ashish Saraf as Vice-President and Country Director for India with effect from 1 June 2021.
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.
He succeeds Emmanuel de Roquefeuil who takes up a new role as the VP 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.
Thales Senior Executive Vice-President Pascale Sourisse said he is 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,” said Pascale Sourisse
Thales in India Vice President and Country Director Ashish Saraf said he thanks Pascale for her confidence and he is very pleased to join Thales.
“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,” Ashish Saraf.
Ashish Saraf holds degrees in Management and Engineering from the University of London, Cornell University, Symbiosis Institute and NIT India. Additionally, he has also served as a Board of Director 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.
Present in India since 1953, Thales is headquartered in Noida and has other operational offices and sites spread across Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Mumbai, among others. Over 1,800 employees are working with Thales and its joint ventures in India. Since the beginning, Thales has been playing an essential role in India’s growth story by sharing its technologies and expertise in Defence, Transport, Aerospace and Digital Identity and Security markets.
Thales has two engineering competence centres in India – one in Delhi NCR focused on digital identity and security business, while the one in Bengaluru focuses on hardware, software and systems engineering capabilities for both the civil and defence sectors, serving global needs.
