Roxanne Darshevi · Chief Operating Officer · India
| Capacity | Committees |
|---|---|
| Ready to join | Risk committee following induction and assessment of fit · Stakeholder committee where its remit and eligibility suit the appointment |
I would consider one first non-executive role at a specialty retailer or service company that wants operating promises examined carefully. A risk committee or relevant stakeholder committee could provide a useful setting after induction and assessment of eligibility. I am not claiming prior statutory board or committee service. The board should have complementary expertise, particularly where the products, premises or services involve specialist technical judgements beyond my experience. My February 2026 databank registration is recorded, but assessment preparation remains unfinished and no exemption is asserted. Those obligations and the proposed company's requirements must be addressed properly. I would welcome a chair who wants operating questions to improve decisions rather than simply find reasons to delay them. Sometimes the evidence will support the proposed expansion or a faster promise. My contribution would be to make the physical dependencies, costs and remaining uncertainty clear enough for the directors to judge together.
Presented to the Board or a committee
Full-board operating and capacity reviews; executive presenter without a vote
June 2020–Present
Presents access-planning, assembly investment, warehouse-capacity and installation-completion proposals through the CEO; no statutory directorship.
IICA Independent Directors’ Databank: Registered
Roxanne's fictional record includes February 2026 registration in the IICA independent directors databank. She is still preparing for the applicable assessment and asserts no pass or exemption; continuing obligations remain subject to proper review.
I would ask what physical work and professional judgement sit behind the operating figures directors receive. A product can fit its destination while failing to reach it. An assembly area can create useful capacity while removing storage the company still needs. A photograph can record presence without establishing completion. I have had to correct those differences in executive work, including where my own review accepted an incomplete account. In a board role I would help management explain the dependency and the choice, rather than inspect individual routes or redesign a warehouse from the boardroom. I would want the appropriate technical, financial and commercial owners to remain visible in the recommendation. My contribution is practical scrutiny of the promise and the resources needed to fulfil it. It also includes accepting that an attractive operating improvement may require more expense, less capacity elsewhere or a later customer date, and asking whether directors have seen those consequences before they approve it.
The conversion of 5,200 square feet in a 42,000-square-foot warehouse cost ₹1.9 crore capital plus ₹23 lakh one-off transition expense. It reduced pallet positions from 420 to 328 and depended on a revised stock plan owned with buying and finance. Nine weeks of later overflow cost another ₹11 lakh. I would use the experience to ask whether a capacity proposal has accounted for what it displaces, rather than compare only the new facility's headline cost. The separate depot had different space, rent and capital requirements; avoiding its rent did not establish a net saving. Directors need an account of the operating alternatives and their assumptions, with professional owners responsible for the relevant premises and financial conclusions. I would also expect the review after opening to follow the displaced work, so a local improvement does not quietly move its cost into another part of the business.
Our review of 512 jobs confirmed 451 complete and identified sixty-one for follow-up. By September's end, forty-six follow-ups were finished, nine were customer-rescheduled and six still needed contractor correction. The six remained open in October. I would ask a board whether management's completion event corresponds to the obligation it has undertaken, and whether open work remains visible with a responsible owner. The related payment account requires its own precision: undisputed components and genuinely disputed milestones should be handled under agreed terms and appropriate advice. Directors should not adjudicate individual invoices, but they should understand whether the operating system encourages premature closure or indiscriminate withholding. My experience also reminds me to acknowledge management's role in designing the evidence. The photograph was useful; the excessive meaning we had attached to it was a process responsibility I could not assign only to contractors.
I would begin by learning how the company turns a customer commitment into physical work. Through an induction agreed with the chair, I would meet operating, technical, commercial and finance leaders and review the reports directors use to judge delivery and completion. A site visit would help me understand the language and constraints behind those reports, without becoming an informal inspection outside the board's process. I would ask where capacity is shared between activities and how management records work that has started but is not yet complete. I would also study committee practice and collective duties because executive presentations have not supplied that experience. My early interventions should clarify a consequential assumption rather than reproduce Amlaqeri's methods. After the first year I would seek the chair's feedback on whether my questions improved the board's understanding while respecting management's responsibility to choose methods, direct teams and resolve individual customer issues.
My employment, 0.8% direct shareholding and relationships through Amlaqeri's investors, furniture suppliers, property arrangements, carriers and installation contractors need review before I receive another company's confidential plans. A prospective appointment could overlap with those relationships even where the product range differs. I would obtain employer consent and appropriate advice about whether any conflict can be managed without making me unavailable for too much of the board's work. Private customer details, unpublished contractor terms and internal capacity plans would remain confidential. The calendar also needs a realistic account of retail peaks, project transitions and unexpected operating problems. Twenty-six days is a starting allowance for preparation, meetings, travel and contingency work, not a promise of unrestricted availability. If an appointment depended on independence or time my circumstances could not support, I would withdraw from consideration. Disclosure is necessary, but it does not itself resolve every conflict or create additional capacity.
My continuing COO employment and 0.8% direct holding in Amlaqeri require disclosure and company-specific assessment. Relevant business relationships must be reviewed alongside applicable Companies Act independence conditions, SEBI LODR requirements where relevant, committee eligibility and directorship limits. A databank entry and executive presentations do not by themselves establish suitability or independence for a proposed board.