Rajeev, widely recognized as one of the doyens of the Executive Search industry in India, established Grassik Search in 1993. A Marine Engineer, he sailed for 15 years before settling ashore in 1987, when he joined Hotel Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, New Delhi as Chief Engineer & was instrumental in opening the largest hotel project in the country at that time. He then joined Gillette India as Head of Engineering. After a 2 year stint, he decided to turn an entrepreneur.
Amongst other projects, he was hired by Dalcem Veciap BV, of Holland to set up India’s first fully automated mushroom plant. An off-chance opportunity to find talent for his clients gave him an exposure to executive search. Such was his success that in February’1993, he along with his wife Geeta set up a fully operational search firm.
A year into their operation, Grassik executed McDonalds India entry recruitments exclusively, followed a year later with Coca-Cola India. Grassik pioneered search in Hospitality & Media Industries, becoming the first dedicated search firm in both Industries in the country.
On the back of extensive business knowledge and strong people engagement, Rajeev helped Grassik scale exponentially for the first decade of its existence. He built the company’s reputation on integrity, efficacy & relevance to the changing times.
Over the past 27 years, he has diligently built the Grassik brand equity as talent curators. Today he is fully involved in mentoring & guiding his internal team. A voracious reader, he follows his passion of writing his personal blog and for various business publications.
He loves to travel extensively in India & overseas with his wife. He finds his moments of relaxation in his daily routine of morning walks & evening yoga. He enjoys spending time with his cocker spaniel & if not catching the latest movie, will be seen watching Netflix late into the night. He considers sleep an essential waste of time & is completely focused on taking Grassik forward.
Sidharth Thakur
Director
Sidharth comes with over a decade in the Executive Search business. Armed with an MBA degree and prior stints at McDonalds (Corporate) and Polyplex Corp, he joined Grassik right in the midst of the Economic slowdown and learnt the ropes as the business resiliently grew despite the unfavorable business environment at the time.
He spent his initial years working across each Business Practice, getting trained under some of the best search professionals in the business.
At present, he heads Operations, Business Acquisition, Strategy, Internal Talent Acquisition and Marketing for Grassik. He spends a majority of his time meeting and networking with Clients, and sustaining relationships across stakeholders – ensuring a future ready organization at all times.
A sports aficionado, Sidharth follows most sports and enjoys catching them live. He enjoys reading and is passionate about water conservation. He is married with a daughter.
Sahil Thakur
Director, Business Head – Technology-enabled Businesses
Sahil brings over 10 years of diverse experience across Executive Search, E-commerce & Hospitality. Sahil started his career with ITC Hotels in Corporate Human Resources followed by a highly successful 3 year stint at Groupon, during its initial phase in India, where he scaled up their North & East Travel Business and made it one of their top performing verticals. Sahil joined Grassik in 2014 post completion of his MBA.
In 2015, he set up Grassik’s Tech-Enabled Business Practice and has scaled up the business exponentially in just 4 years, making Grassik the go-to search firm for all senior level tech & non-tech talent searches in the start-up ecosystem. With a deep understanding of the business dynamics, Sahil spends considerable time networking, shuttling between Delhi and Bangalore, and works closely with tech entrepreneurs.
He has forged strong associations with prominent Venture Capitalists to help build up their internal leadership teams as well as for their portfolio organisations. He has now begun mentoring upcoming entrepreneurs on their talent needs and strategies.
Sahil enjoys listening to varied genres of music and attending concerts of his favourite bands (Read: Coldplay). He also loves travelling & exploring new destinations.
Chandni Thakur
Chief Operating Officer
Chandni started her career with Grassik in 2010. She spent her initial years in Search operations and subsequently, was groomed across aspects of the business before taking charge of all Corporate functions including Human Resources & Administration, Employee Welfare & Finance.
Naturally efficient & result oriented, she now works closely with Rajeev Thakur in managing the day to day affairs of the company.
She has created & runs the company’s acculturation programme that defines the unique culture of our organisation
An active socialiser, Chandni is a foodie & outside of office remains busy in bringing up her baby daughter.
Jyoti Khitha
Business Head – Consumer & Retail
Jyoti began her career in the IT sector having spent over 5 years with Tata Infotech as Head of Corporate Sales & Marketing. Having spent close to a decade in Grassik, she was instrumental in setting up the Manufacturing Business vertical. Her unparalleled acumen in closing leadership mandates combined with impeccable search execution, helped forge strong associations which continue till date.
Jyoti joined Grassik in 2010 and at present, heads the Consumer & Retail Practice.
Jyoti loves to drive. She also enjoys reading and listening to music. She is married with a son and daughter.
Rakesh Popli
Business Head – Hospitality & Standalone F&B Service
Rakesh brings close to 20 years of rich experience across Hospitality and Executive Search. Post spending a decade in Hospitality Sales across India & South Asia, Rakesh forayed into executive search, joining Grassik in 2008.
One of the sharpest recruiters in the industry, he oversaw the Practice spread its wings across allied service sectors. He has been instrumental in registering record growth for Grassik’s Hospitality vertical in recent times and today, oversees a holistic Hospitality and F&B Service Practice.
Rakesh is an occasional chef dishing out his specialties at home and considers himself to be a mean bartender. He is married with a son and daughter.
Chitra Dewan
Business Head – Industrial & Infrastructure
Chitra comes with 2 decades of Corporate experience, a majority of which has been into Leadership Search. She has engaged with clients across multiple Industries including Manufacturing, Engineering, Real Estate and Consumer and had been instrumental in closing varied Senior mandates.
Chitra joined Grassik in 2010 and was instrumental in ideating and scaling up the Service Industries Practice. At present, she heads the Industrial & Infrastructure Practice.
Her unique understanding of an individual’s psyche makes her an extremely gifted search professional with an enviable record of negligible candidate back-outs.
Chitra enjoys reading autobiographies and writes on random topics hoping to compile them all in a book someday. She is married with a son.
Shikha Jain
Business Head – Media & Technology
Shikha is a veteran in the Media industry. She joined Grassik in 2006 as part of a flourishing Media vertical and helped take it to even greater heights of success. She eventually took over as the Practice Head and played a key role in the creation of an evolved Media & Entertainment vertical that she ran profitably for a decade.
Today, she is a Business Head in the Media and Tech-enabled Business Practice, working extensively with Media and Media-tech organisations.
Shikha enjoys dishing out new recipes once in a while if not catching up with friends. She is married with a daughter.
