“I am filled with a sense of gratitude to my colleagues on whose shoulders I have grown, my sponsors who have nurtured me, the SG group that gave me a platform of trust, empowerment, collaboration to express myself, my school, college, IITM, IIMA that shaped my character, and expanded my mind, the industry that helped me to make a difference, my nation that enabled me to bring my best every day to play a modest role in its growth, my friends, classmates who have always been present to support, cherish, applaud my development and most importantly, my family who have been a bedrock of encouragement.”
“Leveraging the personal and professional networks that I have, I look forward to playing an active role in India’s journey towards becoming a developed country,” he added.
Mr.Santhanam holds a B.Tech in Civil Engineering (1978) from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and Post-Graduation in Management (1980) from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
He began his career as a Management Trainee in May 1980 at Grindwell Norton, a Saint-Gobain Group company, and served in assorted functions such as information technology, operations, product development, sales and marketing. In 1996, he worked closely with the Saint-Gobain Group to develop a strategic blueprint for investments in India. In April 1997, he was appointed as Managing Director of Saint-Gobain Glass India. On January 1, 2020, he became CEO India.Since July 1, 2021, he has been functioning as the CEO Asia-Pacific & India Region.With his exceptional technical, human and conceptual skills, he is an admired leader in the Indian business environment.He was largely responsible for transforming a green field site on the Chennai-Sriperumbudur highway into a world class integrated glass manufacturing complex, surpassing many records in quality, cost, efficiency and profitability.
Last year at the Global Investors’ Meet in Chennai, he led Saint-Gobain India to ink a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tamil Nadu Government in the presence of Chief Minister M K Stalin. The MoU entails a series of green and brownfield investments in several manufacturing sectors in Tamil Nadu, taking Saint-Gobain India’s total investment in the state to over Rs. 8,000 crore.
