Indonesia-listed tech giant PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk (GoTo) on Wednesday announced a series of changes to its leadership structure as it seeks to enhance focus on corporate governance and drive the business towards profitability.
As part of the proposed changes to the GoTo board of commissioners and board of directors, which are subject to the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders approval, the tech giant has roped in former finance minister and central bank governor Agus Martowardojo and NorthStar Group co-founder and managing partner Patrick Walujo as commissioners.
The group is scheduled to hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on March 2, 2023.
GoTo CEO Andre Soelistyo said, in a press briefing, “He [Pak Agus] is no stranger to the business, having been appointed President Commissioner of Tokopedia prior to the formation of GoTo. His extensive knowledge and experience as a respected business leader as well as his solid track record in leading Indonesia’s Finance Ministry and the Central Bank will be invaluable in providing sound stewardship and guidance in the next phase of GoTo’s journey as we focus on making our company profitable.”
Meanwhile, Walujo’s Northstar Group was among Gojek’s early investors back in 2016. The firm joined the ride-hailing company’s $550 million Series D funding round led by Warburg Pincus and KKR.
GoTo’s board of commissioners will also include Winato Kartono, a founding partner at Provident Capital Indonesia.
Marjorie Lao will be appointed as independent commissioner. Lao brings with her deep experiencein corporate finance, having been CFO at LEGO Group and held leadership roles at Cisco Systems,Inc, McKinsey & Company and The Procter & Gamble Company.
“The new commissioners are meant to become a bridge for us, to help GoTo to become a better company in the future,” Soelistyo said in a press briefing.
As part of the changes, Kevin Aluwi will step down from the Board of Commissioners while remaining a holder of multiple voting shares of the company. Anthony Wijaya will step down from the board of directors to focus more on GoTo’s e-commerce strategy as Tokopedia’s chief operating officer.
At the same time, William Tanuwijaya will transition from his day-to-day executive responsibilities atTokopedia to focus on GoTo’s Group business. He will continue in his role as GoTo Commissioner, as co-Chairman together with Garibaldi Thohir, and play a more active role in supporting GoTo management in the implementation of long-term company strategy.
GoTo Group President Patrick Cao will transition to a new role to lead the GoTo Future Fund, anendowment fund, which will focus on sustainable investing.
The company will also appoint two additional members to the board of directors. Pablo Malay, director and chief corporate officer, will oversee corporate development, partnerships and legal functions while Nila Marita, director and head of external affairs, will oversee corporate affairs as well as public policy and government relations.
Incidentally, last week, Grab appointed a Singapore member of parliament, Tin Pei Ling, as its director of public affairs and policy.
GoTo has also introduced major changes to the group management structure by appointing Presidents to lead each of its three business units.
Melissa Siska Juminto, currently GoTo’s chief human resources officer, and Tokopedia’s chief operating officer, will be appointed President of the e-commerce business while Catherine Hindra Sutjahyo, currently Head of Food and Indonesia Sales & Ops, Gojek, will be appointed President, on-demand services.
Meanwhile, Hans Patuwo, currently head of payments and financial services at GoTo Financial will be appointed President, Financial Technology.
All three Presidents are highly experienced within their respective businesses and will reportdirectly to the GoTo Group CEO, Andre Soelistyo, while working closely together to leverage synergiesbetween the business units.
Soelistyo added, “appointing Presidents to support the Group is a key and unifying step for us as we aim to drive the ecosystem forward as one GoTo.”
“Melissa, Catherine and Hans are highly experienced leaders with proven track records and we are able to elevate the homegrown talent of this caliber into these bigger roles,” he added.
GoTo has also rejigged some more functions to smoothen decision-making and execution.
The Group has set up a new technology office to build common engineering platform tools that can integrate functions while reducing costs. The technology office will be led by Severan Rault, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Gojek who will take on a new role as GoTo CTO.
With a similar objective, GoTo has also set up a shared consumer platform office led by Tokopedia’s chief product officer, Ramesh Gururaja.
Kevin Widlansky, CEO of Swift Fulfillment and Logistics, a subsidiary of GoTo, will lead GoTo Logistics while investor relations will be re-aligned under Group CFO Jacky Lo.
