Umashanka,VP, Customer Service Operations, Ford

Ford India has announced the appointment of P.K. Umashankar as vice president, customer service operations, to a newly created executive position that will involve focusing on Ford India's growing strategic emphasis on customer satisfaction as it gears up to live its commitment to the market and customers. In his new role, Uma will lead the customer service and satisfaction initiatives across the company's ever-expanding sales and service network in India and growing customer base and report directly to Nigel Wark, executive director, marketing, Sales & Service, Ford India. “Customer satisfaction is at the core of Ford’s commitment and we are delighted to have Uma lead our efforts on this front. Given his strong experience in ensuring quality, leadership skills and deep understanding of Indian customers, we are sure that in this strategic role Uma will lead in bolstering our efforts to achieve and grow more and more happy customers for Ford.” said Wark. “This appointment also signals Ford’s focus on ensuring new levels of engagements and delighting customers through their complete ownership experience in India.” Uma is passionate about quality enhancement and is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt and a certified Six Sigma trainer. He was responsible for all Six Sigma projects in Distribution areas spanning Quality, Sales, Finance and Service at Ford India. In his over decade and a half long career with Ford India, Uma has served different roles that include heading Regional Sales & Service Operations, North & East , Service Engineering, Service Marketing and Parts Operations. Uma steps up to the new role from being the General Manager, Product Marketing driving the product growth plans for India. Prior to that, he was General Manager, Customer Service Operations, where he looked after customer satisfaction and Parts & Service business at Ford India. Before joining Ford India, Uma served in the Indian Air Force as an aeronautical engineering officer for six years. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Madras University and has specialised in Aeronautical Engineering at the Air Force Technical College. He also holds an Executive MBA in Finance from LIBA, Chennai where he was a topper and a Gold medalist.