Grab’s latest lineup of top executives (update)

Org Chart maps out the people at the top of Asia’s most prominent tech companies. Who are the key decision-makers? How are the teams organized? What does it tell us about the company’s priorities? We continue this series with Southeast Asian super app Grab.

This is an updated version of our Grab org chart that was published on February 21, 2023.

After narrowing its losses by 74% in the latest quarter, super app Grab has advanced its break even target one quarter earlier.

In June, the company decided to cut 1,000 jobs, or 11% of its workforce, though CEO Anthony Tan said the retrenchment wasn’t “a shortcut to profitability.”

At the higher end of the corporate ladder, two notable developments have occurred since Tech in Asia published our Grab org chart six months ago.

Co-founder and director Tan Hooi Ling is set to leave at the end of this year. She oversees the company’s corporate strategy, technology, user experience, and people operations.

Her direct reports include Suthen Thomas, who is Grab’s group CTO, and chief product officer Philipp Kandal. It’s unclear when and whether the nominating committee of Grab’s board will announce a replacement. We understand that both Thomas and Kandal will likely report directly to CEO Anthony Tan during the period of transition.

Meanwhile, Singapore politician Tin Pei Ling, Grab’s director of corporate development, announced last week her departure from the super app after only being with the firm for seven months. In February, she was originally hired to lead public affairs and policy for Grab in the city-state, causing a public backlash over potential conflicts of interest.

See also: Does combining Grab with asset-heavy Trans-cab make sense?

Here are a few more observations:

• Grab Indonesia president Ridzki Kramadibrata stepped down from his post in July. Kramadibrata joined Grab Indonesia in January 2016, serving as country managing director before being promoted to president in January 2019. Indonesia used to be the only Grab market with its own president.
• Most of the regional executives report to COO Alex Hungate, while Russell Cohen oversees country-level managing directors. The exception is Indonesia managing director Neneng Goenadi, who reports directly to Hungate.
• Within the past 12 months, Alejandro Osorio, Worachat Luxkanalode, and Adelene Foo were appointed to lead Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia, respectively.
• Singapore’s competition watchdog, CCCS, is reviewing the Grab and Trans-cab merger, including seeking for public comments. In July, Grab confirmed its plan to acquire Trans-cab through its private-hire car rental arm GrabRentals. We understand that such deals generally fall under the purview of Grab president Ming Maa.
• In 2022, the super app restructured Grab Financial Group to include GrabFin, GrabPay, and GrabRewards, paving the way for its digital bank to operate independently. Before this restructure, Chris Yeo and Jeffrey Goh, two senior executives from the fintech arm, left. Reuben Lai, who led the firm’s digital bank efforts, also departed in November 2022.
• Grab appointed Muthukrishnan Ramaswami as group CEO for its digibank GXS late last year. Ramaswami, who spent 12 years as president of the Singapore Exchange, answers directly to the GXS board since the digibank is an independent entity.
• Kell Jay Lim, who has been with Grab for about a decade, is the regional head of GrabFin. He used to be the head of Grab Financial Group for Singapore. GrabFin acts as the single entry point for users to access digital payments, insurance, lending, and wealth management offerings on the Grab app. Each country has its own head of GrabFin who reports to Lim.

Tech in Asia invited Grab to participate in this story, but the company declined. We have verified the chart with our sources as well as via the latest publicly available information.

You can also check out our coverage of Grab here. If you find any missing or inaccurate data, do reach out to editors@techinasia.com to help us fill in the gaps.