OYO names silver-medallist Paralympian Deepa Malik as independent director

Joins three other independent directors and one nominee director, besides Ritesh Agarwal who is the chairman

Oravel Stays Limited (OYO), which recently filed its initial public offering, said Wednesday it has appointed the current President of the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) Deepa Malik as an independent director to its Board.

An Indian athlete and a silver-medalist at the 2016 Paralympic Games, Malik joined OYO on September 26 2021.

"I have learned during my journey that having a diverse Board is one of the best ways to inculcate lateral thinking in the Board. We are delighted to welcome Dr Malik to OYO’s board of directors. We have been working on making our company and the Board more inclusive over the last couple of years. Dr Malik’s experience and her passion for travel and adventure would be invaluable for OYO for years to come. She is not just an inspiration to a whole generation of Indians but also embodies the spirit of thriving in the face of adversity, a mind-set which a company like us has to make an integral part of our thinking," said Ritesh Agarwal, Chairman, Founder and Group CEO, OYO.

Malik joins the board of OYO that has three other independent directors and one nominee director, besides Ritesh Agarwal who is the chairman. The other independent directors as per the reconstituted Board include Bejul Somaia, W Steve Albrecht and Troy Alstead.  Bejul is partner at Lightspeed India Partners. Steve is a certified internal auditor and certified fraud examiner. Troy is the former chief operations officer at Starbucks.

"It is an honour for me to join OYO’s board of directors and I look forward to working with Ritesh, the leadership team, and my fellow board members,” said Malik.

The Board also includes Aditya Ghosh, former Director at InterGlobe Group (Indigo), as a non-executive nominee director.

Ritesh Agarwal, RA Hospitality Holdings and SoftBank Vision Fund are the largest shareholders at OYO.

Commenting on the development, Munish Varma, Managing Partner, SoftBank Investment Advisers, said, "We welcome Dr. Deepa Malik on the Board of OYO. The combination of independent directors and the leadership, led by Ritesh Agarwal, truly sets up OYO well for the future.”