Key Kuoni Group role for Zubin Karkaria

Zubin Karkaria, CEO — VFS Global Group, has been appointed a member of the executive board of Kuoni Group.
Besides continuing in his existing role, he will also take on the role executive board member, and will now report to Kuoni Group CEO Peter Rothwell.
Simultaneously, VFS Global has been made a separate business division of Kuoni Group.
As a member of the executive board, Zubin will play a role in the strategic direction and decision-making of the 106 year-old Kuoni Group.
The executive board, whose members include the CEO, CFO, and business division heads of the Group, is the preeminent managerial body of Kuoni Group.
Incidentally, Zubin is the first Asian to serve on the executive board of Kuoni Group.
Zubin, who joined Kuoni in 1991 in India, rapidly moved up from one managerial role to the next in the company’s Tour Operating Division, and was appointed the deputy CEO and head business development for Kuoni India and South Asia in 2003.
He was then appointed as the CEO and managing director of Kuoni India and South Asia in 2005, being responsible for all units of the company — Tour Operating, VFS Global, Business Travel and Kuoni Academy.
He was responsible for the conceptualization and launch of VFS Global in 2001, and has subsequently led VFS Global to become the largest global company in its field of providing visa and other consular services to governments and diplomatic missions.
This development further underlines VFS Global’s increasing prominence within the Kuoni Group.
Peter Rothwell, Group CEO, said: “Zubin is a highly accomplished and respected member of Kuoni’s top management. I am convinced that his rich experience and his dynamic leadership qualities will contribute positively to the functioning of the executive board and to the overall performance of the Kuoni Group. I welcome Zubin on the executive board.”