Bharti Airtel has appointed Jinesh Hegde as chief executive officer (CEO) of its Sri Lanka operations. He will succeed Suren Goonewardene, who will take on the role of non-executive chairman at Airtel Lanka.

Hegde will report to Ajai Puri, director - market operations (India and South Asia), Bharti Airtel. Having spent 14 years in the telecom industry, Hegde has experience in the consumer and enterprise space covering mobile, fixedline and enterprise business. Apart from Airtel, he has also worked with Uninor.

Hegde is a mechanical engineer from the Karnataka University and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (Calcutta). He has also attended a Digital Marketing programme at INSEAD, and a Marketing Management programme at the London Business School.