Myntra ropes in former Google senior executive as product head

Ambarish Kenghe, an alumnus of Berkeley and IIT Kanpur, co-founded and led product management for Google Chromecast

In an attempt to scale up business, fashion and lifestyle e-commerce company Myntra on Tuesday said it has appointed former Google senior executive Ambarish Kenghe as the senior vice-president and head of product at the company. In his previous role, Kenghe, an alumnus of Berkeley and IIT Kanpur, co-founded and led product management for Google Chromecast, a digital media player developed by Google.

Kenghe, who would join the company by the end of this month, would report to chief executive Mukesh Bansal. Kenghe would be responsible for scaling up product roadmap while leveraging the mobile smartphone revolution in India.

Kenghe was also a key member of the Google TV team that helped build the first android compatible TV. Prior to Google, he was a management consultant at Bain & Co and technical leader at Cisco, where he worked on Catalyst 6000.

The move is in line with the recent trend in the new age technology-backed companies who have been hiring senior resources from larger and established technology companies, offering them lucrative pay packet.

Recently, Punit Soni, a former Google executive, who led Motorola’s mobile phone initiatives, had joined Flipkart as chief product officer. In February this year, a former Yahoo veteran, Jeyandran Venugopal, was brought in as technology advisor at Snapdeal.

Kenghe who has more than 15 years of experience in product development and management was also a key member of the Google TV team that helped build the first android compatible TV. Prior to Google, he was a management consultant at Bain & Company and technical leader at Cisco where he worked on Catalyst 6000.

"We are excited to have Ambarish join our leadership team to lead product management… He will be driving product innovation to build the next generation of mobile products to deliver a highly engaging and personalised fashion experience to our customers," said Bansal, who is also the head of commerce at Flipkart.
 
“I am honoured to join a company such as Myntra that is rewriting the rules of the game… I am also excited about moving to India where a large chunk of next billion Internet users will come from,” Kenghe said.