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DA ASSOCIATES

Effective consulting in the areas of Business Strategy, Marketing, Brand Identity, Advertising and Digital Strategies, for Product & Services companies of all sizes.

PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT: DAVID APPASAMY.

David is currently advisor to a leading IT products and services company and its subsidiary.

EXPERIENCE  &  EXPERTISE:  David brings with him a wide range of experience over 35 years covering General Management, Business Strategy, Brand & Marketing Management, Advertising, Sales, Digital Marketing and Audience Engagement. His experience includes extensive travel and networking overseas for marketing and investor relations.

RAIS ING IBROWS: Until recently, David was Chairman of Raising iBrows, a company specializing in audience engagement. Raising iBrows develops responsive websites, mobile apps, does search engine optimisation, social media marketing and search engine marketing for clients in India and overseas. www.raisingibrows.com    

MADURA MICROFINANCE: Before this he was Executive Director of Madura Microfinance, a company serving rural women in India’s Southern states. He was involved in transforming the company into a dynamic organization providing microfinance along with training and development.  www.maduramicrofinance.com

SIFY TECHNOLOGIES : Earlier, David was Executive Vice President at Sify Technologies and was responsible for marketing, corporate communications and investor relations. As Sify is listed on NASDAQ, New York, his work involved dealing with investors, analysts and financial institutions in the US. www.sifycorp.com

MUDRA: Preceding this, he was General Manager of Mudra, a part of the DDB network globally, and contributed to strategy, brand management, creative development and advertising of brands across product categories. www.ddbmudragroup.com  

I TC HOTELS : David began his career in Sales and Marketing in ITC Hotels, joining the company as a Management Trainee, then growing to become Sales Manager of the Searock Sheraton, Mumbai. www.itchotels.in  

: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-appasamy-93ab9530

GLOBAL  CONTRIBUTIONS:    § David has served on the Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group (MAG)

advising the UN Secretary General on Internet Governance in 2010 and 2011. www.intgovforum.org

: @davaps : https://www.facebook.com/david.appasamy : http://davidappasamy.blogspot.in/

§ He has been a member of Business Action in Support of the Information Society (BASIS) of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) head quartered in Paris, and has worked to advocate business priorities to governments, the Internet Governance Forum, inter-governmental and international organizations, the Internet technical community, as well as civil society.

§ He was Co-Chair of the ICC’s Task Force on Internet & Telecoms Infrastructure & Services of the Commission on the Digital Economy of the ICC from 2006 to 2011. As Co-Chair, he was leading the development of global business positions and practical policy tools for governments. www.iccwbo.org

§ David has been involved with the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) from the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis in 2005 when the UN Secretary General started the Internet Governance process. He has been a speaker in the main sessions and workshops at subsequent Internet Governance Forums in Athens (2006), Rio de Janeiro (2007) and Hyderabad (2008).

§ David is also recognized for his expertise with Internet Policy and as a speaker at Internet Governance Forums or conferences: he has spoken at these events in Tokyo (2012) and Manila (2013). He was also invited to speak at the Internet Society’s Global INET conference in Geneva in April 2012. More recently, he was one of the key note speakers at the Asia Internet Symposium in December 2014 at Chennai.

CONTRIBUTION  TO  SOCIETY:  APPASAMY TRUST : David is the Managing Trustee of the Appasamy Trust whose mission is to work for the uplift of disadvantaged sections of society in the rural areas around Tirunelveli, and to empower them socially, educationally and culturally through education and social mobilization.

ROOFS FOR THE ROOFLESS : He is the Secretary of Roofs for the Roofless, started by Dr Chandran Devanesen, the first Indian Principal of Madras Christian College. Mrs Savithri Devanesen was the Director until her death in mid-2015. Roofs runs a Community College in Karanai village near Navalur and imparts skills to local youth to make them employable. Roofs has transformed the lives of many families in the area.

ASHA NIKETAN: Served Asha Niketan, a home for the mentally handicapped, which is part of L’Arche, a global organization with such homes worldwide, for fourteen years. For seven of which he was the Chairman of the Governing Council managing the home.

QUALIFICATIONS  AND  INTERESTS:  David initially qualified in hotel management, and then business management from the IIM, Ahmedabad. He is an avid photographer, traveller, reader, blogger and social media enthusiast. He lives in Chennai with his wife Abha. They have two children, Chitra and Siddarth.