MUMBAI: Aditya Ghosh’s recent resignation is a rare top level exit at IndiGo, India’s top carrier by market share, which has held on to most of its key men since inception in an industry that sees frequent churns at the helm.Nevertheless, too many people close to the company are talking about a subtle shift in power in the boardroom, as new appointees — mostly expatriates — work sideby-side with the old guard, often making key decisions in the company.They are people mostly hand-picked by maverick co-founder Rakesh Gangwal, as is evident from their background with his previous employers. And they are the ones expected to play a key role as IndiGo steers into its next phase of expansion, primarily into the big, wide international skies of Europe and perhaps beyond. ET takes a look at the new men and woman at IndiGo:Gregory Taylor, imminent president & CEO: IndiGo’s chief-to-be has spent the biggest chunk of his career — three decades — at United Airlines, the world’s third largest carrier by revenue, and Gangwal’s first airline employer as well as US Airways where Gangwal was CEO. Taylor held leadership positions in flight operations, financial planning and analysis, and revenue management at United, and its senior vice-president of corporate planning. Taylor joined IndiGo in an advisory role in mid-2016 and left it earlier this month as executive vicepresident of network planning and revenue management. He will join as senior advisor, post which the board will consider his appointment as president and CEO.Willy Boulter, chief strategy officer: Boulter joined IndiGo earlier this month and is primarily in charge of its international sales and revenue management. Boulter was earlier board director and chief commercial officer at TAAG Angola Airlines between September 2015 and February 2018. His earlier stint was with Etihad Airways as vice president, network planning, between June 2012 and May 2015. Interestingly, Boulter then had ashort stint in India when he joined Jet Airways in an advisory role. Etihad owns 24% in Jet. He has also been regional vice-president, Asia Pacific at the International Air Transport Association.Michael Swiatek, chief planning officer: Swiatek’s Linkedin profile has the following interesting self-description. “I am a disabled (mostly blind) entrepreneur, executive leader, advisor, and disability advocate. This offers very unique perspectives on problem solving. I believe courage and character create credibility.” Swiatek joined IndiGo in February, before which, he was vice president, network planning, at Chile’s LATAM Airlines. He had been with the carrier since February 2015. He has been the chief planning officer at Qatar Airways and has held various senior leadership positions at Air New Zealand. He started his career with a six-year stint with United.Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, chief operating officer: Aveteran in Indian aviation with significant stints at Jet Airways and Go Air, Prock-Schauer joined IndiGo in Febuary. In his first job with Austrian Airlines, he oversaw its expansion from 20 planes to 100. During his six year-plus stint at Jet, he presided over its fleet expansion from 40 planes to more than a hundred, its first international flights to Colombo and later to London, its public listing and acquisition of Air Sahara. Since leaving Jet in 2009, he headed restructuring programmes at British Midlands and Air Berlin. And helmed two low-cost airlines — Bmibaby, a subsidiary of BMI (British Midlands) and Niki, a subsidiary of Air Berlin. Prock-Schauer’s exit from Go Air was a fairly tumultuous one, marked by disagreements with its promoters at the Wadia group.Jason Herter, vice president, operations control centre and dispatch: Herter joined IndiGo in October 2016. Sources have said his appointment was a rapid decision by the management when IndiGo began to falter in its on-time performance. Herter was regional head of network management centre at AirAsia. IndiGo’s website says that in the year 2000, he became one of the youngest operations control center managers in the United States at Amerijet International. He has also held senior positions at transportation tech company Navitaire and Saudi lowcost airline Sama.Rohit Philip, chief financial officer: Rumoured to be the first appointment that tilted the scale of power at IndiGo, Philip joined the airline in July 2016 as its chief financial officer. Sources close to the know have said Philip was a parallel power centre within the organisation with Ghosh, although others have insisted they worked well together and were most often on the same side of a decision. Like Taylor, IndiGo’s second in command, also has close to three decades with United, beginning in 1995 in various financial roles and moving on in 2012 as senior vice-president of corporate strategy and business development. He was the finance chief at Anand Group and the corporate vice-president and treasurer at Xerox.Cindy Szadokierski, vice president, airport operations and customer services: The first of the United Airlines veterans to join IndiGo in March 2016. Szadokierski joined United Airlines in 1985 after five years of teaching high school French. As a 28-year veteran of the airline industry she held various executive positions at United including vice president of international airport operations, vice president airport operations planning, Europe and AMEIA operations, vice president United Express, vice president O’Hare operations and vice president corporate real estate.