Bharti Airtel has appointed Christian Defaria as executive chairman of its Africa operations. Defaria was previously managing director and chief operating officer (COO) at Airtel Africa. In his new role, Defaria will lead all legal and regulatory affairs as well as matters relating to shareholders, and mergers and acquisitions. Meanwhile, Raghunath Mandava, who is currently director, customer experience, India and South Asia, will take over as COO of Airtel Africa. He will be responsible for the company’s commercial operations. In the past, Mandava has worked as chief marketing officer (CMO) of the company’s India operations, chief executive officer (CEO), Rajasthan circle and COO, Tamil Nadu circle. Prior to joining Airtel, he worked with Unilever in several sales and marketing roles.