Reference: GILA/ID/PE-051/EVCHG
Board seat: Independent Director, Non-Executive
Primary board location: Gurugram with corridor and depot sites
Meeting model: Seven boards, quarterly Risk/Investment and project gates
Mandate type: PE/VC-Backed Company Governance Mandate
Status: Confidential live-search specification; client identity released only after conflict clearance and NDA.
The anonymised enterprise
A late-stage venture platform deploying public fast-charging, fleet-depot and destination-charging infrastructure, with software and energy-service revenue.
Network exceeds 8,000 charge points. Series C investors are considering a large infrastructure-capital round while founders pursue aggressive corridor expansion.
The board problem and strategic reason for appointment
The board must distinguish installed, energised, available and economically utilised assets. Land tenure, grid delay, OEM interoperability, uptime credits and power economics can turn headline network growth into stranded capex.
The board is not buying a credential. It is appointing an independent decision-maker who can convert this problem into a governed sequence of choices, evidence and accountability. Success will be judged by the quality of decisions and control improvement, not by the number of recommendations made.
Board position, authority and interfaces
Contractual independent seat; Chair of voluntary Risk/Investment Committee; Audit member once formalised.
The appointee will have direct, unfiltered access to the Company Secretary and to the relevant control-function leaders. Any advisory support requested by the board must remain management-executed: the director sets questions, tolerances and evidence standards, but does not become an executive or consultant.
First 12–18 month strategic charter
- Adopt one controlled asset taxonomy from signed site to cash-generating charger; set investment gates for land, grid, utilisation and anchor demand; review uptime, interoperability, payment and cyber risks across OEMs; define financing/downside triggers and board treatment of founder secondary liquidity
- Clarify how statutory-board duties interact with reserved matters, investor consent rights, founder control, information rights and the path to exit; record where the independent director must arbitrate rather than align.
- Build a board pack that reconciles growth narrative with cash, unit economics, customer concentration, control maturity and downside runway under a delayed fundraise or exit.
Decision profile sought
Essential evidence
- EV infrastructure, power distribution, project finance, mobility or network-operations leader; venture-board and cap-table judgement
Differentiators
- Charging-unit economics, utility interconnection or infrastructure-fund experience; a failed deployment portfolio and its lessons
GILA will assess growth-stage or buyout governance, fluency in shareholder-agreement mechanics, independence from both fund and founder, and experience when the plan did not work. Candidates should expect a case discussion based on an ambiguous board decision from this mandate, not a career-history interview alone.
Independence, suitability and downside diligence
The search will apply Section 149(6), Sections 164–165, Schedule IV and the applicable listing or sector rules to the entity’s legally verified status at the appointment date. Databank/proficiency status, listed-entity directorship and committee ceilings, pecuniary relationships, relatives’ interests, recent audit/advisory work and interlocking directorships will be checked. The appointment is subject to formal legal and secretarial confirmation; this posting is not a substitute for that determination.
Mandate-specific screens: OEM, power trader, landowner, fund, founder or competing network relationships; brokerage of the upcoming raise; site aggregation interests.
Before accepting the seat, the candidate will receive under NDA the latest board composition, committee charters, material litigation/regulatory schedule, related-party map, last audited accounts, current D&O policy and the specific risk papers necessary to make an informed liability assessment.
Twelve-month outcomes
The board expects a board that can make difficult financing, founder and scaling decisions without confusing investor preference with company interest. For this particular seat, the evidence will be:
- Board uses energised/economic assets rather than installed claims; new sites meet investment gates; runway and utilisation downside govern expansion pace
Commitment, protection and economics
- Expected load: 22–28 days annually plus financing peak.
- Terms: Three-year appointment; fixed fee and sitting fees; equity only after independence analysis; D&O/indemnity in place first.
- Protection: Appointment letter, deed of indemnity where legally available, appropriate D&O cover including discovery/run-off terms, access to independent advice under the board-approved protocol, and complete minuting of dissent.
- Equity: No stock options where the appointment is legally an independent-director seat subject to Section 149(9). Any private-company structure outside that perimeter will be expressly classified and separately advised; no equity is implied by this posting.
Search process
Conflict pre-clearance → GILA/SYMPHONY™ board-fit interview → mandate case → document-led diligence under NDA → references from board peers and control functions → NRC/owner interviews → statutory, regulatory and reputation checks → board recommendation. Candidate consent, disclosures and appointment approvals will follow the law and the entity’s constitutional documents.