Meenakshi Tervqeshi · Chief Marketing Officer · India
I would help directors ask what management's commercial evidence supports before it becomes an investment commitment. An attributed order total, a single loss code and an internally approved product phrase can each be useful, but none is a complete account of a customer's decision. My experience includes correcting a causal interpretation I had endorsed and funding research that left important limitations unresolved. A board needs to understand those limits without commissioning every interview itself. I would ask what was observed, which inference management drew and what action depends on that inference. I would also ask whether a result that challenges a senior sponsor can reach the board without being softened. My contribution would concern the quality of the business question and the decision sought, while executives retain responsibility for marketing programmes, sales, pricing and technical product acceptance.
Presented to the Board or a committee
Invited commercial planning and marketing-investment reviews
April 2021–present
Presents customer research and marketing investment recommendations as CMO; no statutory seat or committee membership.
| Capacity | Committees |
|---|---|
| Ready to join | Commercial strategy and market development · Customer understanding and business planning |
I would consider one first non-executive appointment in an industrial business where commercial evidence is important to strategy and other directors bring complementary financial and operating experience. An experienced chair should define the contribution and make clear that management owns programme execution. I would initially contribute as a member after completing further preparation, without claiming immediate readiness to chair a statutory committee. Invited executive presentations at Narqethi do not establish director service. I would want the receiving company to explain its relationship-review process, access to specialist advice and expectation of time between meetings. The right role would let me question an attractive market narrative while respecting confidential customer information and the responsibility of the company's own commercial team to decide and act.
Twenty-four orders associated with an exhibition had supported a proposed spending increase. Eleven already had active quotations, and the remainder lacked a credible comparison establishing incrementality. I would ask a board whether the investment case distinguishes activity, association and causation, and whether management has stated the purpose that remains reasonable despite measurement uncertainty. Our response retained the existing programme and deferred expansion; it did not declare the event useless. Directors should understand what would justify another decision and who will obtain that evidence. They should also know that I had approved the original account. The oversight issue includes management's willingness to correct its own explanation, not only the sophistication of a measurement method.
Forty bids marked price led to a discount proposal before buyers were interviewed. Twenty-six participants described overlapping concerns, and fourteen did not respond. I would ask directors whether the recommendation respects that response pattern and whether a general action is justified by the evidence available. The research supported a defined communication programme, not a claim that price never mattered or that all lost buyers would answer similarly. Commercial leadership retained pricing authority and no recovered-order total was claimed. My board contribution would be to preserve the distinction between a useful finding and an overextended conclusion. That helps directors challenge the proposed response while leaving management responsible for the next customer conversation and the commercial terms it can authorise.
I would spend the first part of an appointment understanding how the company learns about customers and how that learning changes an approved business plan. With the chair and management, I would examine one market-investment proposal from its underlying records through the recommendation and subsequent review. I would ask where customer nonresponse, overlapping reasons or an unresolved causal question disappear from the presentation. The purpose would be to improve the board's understanding, not to create a parallel marketing department. Twenty-two annual days are an initial allowance that must be tested against induction, preparation, travel and unexpected demands. I would seek feedback on whether my questions help directors distinguish the decision from the supporting activity. A useful first year might produce a more candid investment account even before the company can demonstrate an attributable commercial improvement. I would ask management to revisit a decision after enough time has passed to observe its consequences, using the original scope and assumptions. If the result differs from the recommendation, the board should hear the explanation without rewarding selective reporting or demanding that every experiment appear successful.
My executive role gives me access to customer conversations, campaign plans, commercial priorities and product positioning. A prospective appointment must be examined for relationships involving our owners, investor, customers, agencies, distributors and competitors before confidential material is exchanged. I would not use another company's board access to gather buyer intelligence for my employer or bring our restricted interview records to its meetings. Lack of personal equity does not remove these conflicts. Appropriate advisers and the chair should assess eligibility, independence and committee participation for the actual role. Repeated exclusion from central market decisions could make the appointment ineffective, even if each individual exclusion is handled properly. Employer consent and a realistic time commitment are also necessary. I would decline a role whose central contribution depends on information I cannot properly share or judgement I cannot exercise without divided obligations.
I am an employed CMO with no equity or statutory seat. An outside appointment requires a specific review of relationships and eligibility; absence of shares does not establish independence.
IICA Independent Directors’ Databank: Not yet registered
Preparation and registration relevant to a first outside appointment are unfinished. Invited marketing presentations are not statutory director service.