up! SURGE Facilitators 2024
Aparna Ponnappa
Passionate about inspiring people to expand their capabilities and becoming their best selves through workshops and engaging interactions, Aparna is an alumnus of XLRI, with a formal education in Human Resource Management (PGDPMIR). She is a certified PCC-level coach. She has over 4,000 hours of coaching experience gathered over the last few years, along with 14 years of facilitation experience in the areas of leadership, performance management, women's workplace success and more. Post holding formal leadership positions in HR, Operations, Retail and Marketing across world-class organizations such as Saint-Gobain, The Titan Company, Levi Strauss, Himalaya Wellness and Reliance Retail, in 2010 she started her own consulting firm called REDD Network which provides consulting, training, design and workshops in the field of Leadership and Performance Management for corporates. She is also a senior facilitator with Development Dimensions International, Persol Kelly and Jombay and has worked with over a 200 companies touching over 2,00,00 participants through interventions including Novo Nordisk, IBM, Harman, Titan, Timex, Wildcraft, Vision Express, Reliance Jewels, Informatica, Bestseller, AtkinsRealis, Pine Labs, Walmart, Apollo Hospitals, TE Connectivity, Mahindra Retail, Trilegal, VMware, Flipkart, Lowe’s, Adidas, GSK, Collins Aerospace, Max Hyper, TallySolutions, Medtronic, CleanMax, The Practice and more. She has over 24 years of experience in Operations, Retail, HR, Coaching and Facilitating Workshops.
Gayathri Sivaraman
Gayathri has about 28 years of experience in HR across Industry, Consulting and Academics. She is a certified coach having obtained her ACC credentials from the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and is currently working towards a PCC. She has been associated with Vernalis, a boutique HRD and OD consulting firm for the past 12 years. She has rich experience in Assessment and Development centres, Executive Coaching Projects, Organization Diagnostics, Change and Transformation projects, 360 degree feedback programs with clients across industry sectors. She has been an assessor and coach in over 100 Assessment Development Centers (ADCs). She finds the process of facilitating the development journey for individuals and organizations very satisfying fraught though it may be with challenges! She is a part of the cohort of coaches who have coached the participants of the Post Graduate Management Program for Women (PGMPW) Program of SP Jain Institute of Management & Research for the last 5 years. She has been associated with SPJIMR where she has taught HR and OB in the Bhavan’s Center for Inter-disciplinary Studies (BCIDS). She has conducted and assisted in several Management Development Programs and has been a facilitator for Personal Growth Labs with the Family Managed Business Program. She has co-authored two teaching cases published with Ivey and Thunderbird. In SPJIMR, she has worked with the Center for Development of Corporate Citizenship (DOCC) where she gained exposure and developed an interest in CSR. As part of this engagement she coordinated a program on Women in Political Governance. This was a one of a kind program to equip and encourage women to be part of Political Governance. Many participants took to being part of active politics and engaged in working on important social and civic issues after the course. Gayathri has worked on several assignments as an independent consultant .Some work done in the past includes with Halcrow India, Marmagao Port Trust, Bank Muscat, Godrej Sara Lee and Ernst & Young. Her professional consulting experience includes stints with Price Waterhouse and Watson Wyatt early in her career. Gayathri is an alumnus of XLRI, 91 batch and holds a BSc (Hons) Physics degree from Delhi University. She has been based in Mumbai for much of her career. She is now based in Mysore, the city of culture and palaces!
Nirupama Subramanian
Nirupama is a leadership development facilitator, ICF certified coach, co-founder GLOW-Growing Leadership of Women and Founder-CEO of Powerfulife Solutions. She has trained and coached over 35,000 people across 75 organisations over the last 24 years. Her purpose is to live her power and full potential and enable others to do so. She enables personal growth along with business impact through customised interventions for organizations. She is a strong advocate of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion with a focus on gender balance. She is the author of 2 novels and a non-fiction book- Powerful - The Indian woman’s guide to unlock her full potential. She has also created then first and only psychometric assessment for women in south Asia - The Powerfulife Assessment. What she feels good about • Her study experience in Stella Maris, XLRI (Business Management) • Her work experience in Citibank, AchieveGlobal, Genpact • Her role as an empaneled advisor with McKinsey / Aberkyn • Certifications on Hogan, DISC, Leadership Circle, 7 Dimensions of Culture, CBT, Parts Work • Being the co-founder of a non- profit, “My Daughter is Precious”- to support the higher education of deserving girls • Her role as a Director on Board of OSBI and Advisory Board member of Vedica Scholars Program • Being a mentor for entrepreneurs with Cherie Blair Foundation • Publishing over 100 articles across multiple publications
Sangeetha Rajan
Dr. Sangeetha Rajan is a psychologist, leadership coach and facilitator with over two decades of experience in the domain. She brings a cross-disciplinary approach to enabling learning by harnessing academic research, techniques from the performing arts and management practice. She is a Co-founder of The Arts Quotient, a leadership development firm, and has academic and non-academic publications to her credit including several pieces in HBR Ascend. She is also a trained Odissi dancer and dance educator. Her current interests are learning, leadership, arts, theatre, culture, stories, psychology, and women leaders.
Shonali Gupta
Shonali is the Co-Founder of The People IQ and has consulted for high-growth technology capability centers for companies such as 3M, FedEx, DocuSign, Delta Airlines, Hilton Hotels and so on. She has led HR design for several companies as a consultant and enables change management, post-merger integration and policy design. Prior to this she was India HR Head and later Asia-pacific head of Training and DEI looking after Singapore, China, HongKong, Australia and India in an organization called ATKINS. Overall Shonalie has 20+ years of experience in Talent assessment, Succession Planning, Organizational Transformation & Change Management. She is passionate about DEI and early career mentoring programs. She resides physically in Bangalore and metaphorically within the pages of various books.
Bhavana Issar
Bhavana comes with 25+ years of experience in diverse global companies as a consultant, an HR leader, and a passionate person with diverse interests. She combines a track record of tangible achievements within organisations with extensive professional knowledge, which she continuously seeks to expand and refine. She is the Founder & CEO Sambhaavna, a business consulting firm that specializes in Organisation Development & HR, and Caregiver Saathi, a social enterprise that serves family caregivers and professional care workers, offering resources, education, and support to enhance their caregiving roles. She believes that the healthcare system needs to be reimagined with the perspective of the caregiver, in a way that there is systemic social change wherein technology can enable humanity. Additionally, she is • Fellow and Practicing Facilitator in Process Work & Organisation Development Practitioner with Sumedhas Academy for Human Context • Global Ambassador for Global Moto Adventures, a platform that supports women motorcyclists to achieve their dreams • Visiting faculty at Indian Institute for Management, Ahmedabad • Member of WomenLift Health Cohort 2024 Some roles held during the corporate tenure: • General Manager – HR at Castrol India with role of business partner for Marketing teams across Asia & Pacific for the BP / Castrol teams. • Head Training & Org Effectiveness at Texas Instruments India, Bangalore Academic credentials include: • Post-graduation in Human Resources from XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, Jamshedpur • Gestalt OD Practitioner, iGOLD International Gestalt Organization & Leadership Development (iGOLDTM) Program • Certified in various psychometric tools like MBTI, Thomas Profiling, McQuaig and Existential Universe Mapper (EUM) – I/O. Areas of interest include Change and Transitions, Innovation, Creative Expression, Group Dynamics, Transpersonal Psychology, Somatics, and Yoga. She has a trans-disciplinary approach and prefers to integrate eclectic disciplines and approaches. She is currently based in Mumbai with her husband and teenaged daughter and enjoys traveling. Her hobbies include poetry, painting, crocheting, cooking, gardening, motorcycle riding, and technology. Being a motorcycle rider has helped her discover herself by pushing the boundaries of mind, body, and soul and creating new possibilities, something she passionately believes in and wishes to live. While there are many ways of describing her – from a romantic poet to a relentless activist, what she relates to most is curious learner and adventurous explorer.
Jayanti Rajagopalan
Jayanti Rajagopalan aka Jonty graduated from XLRI in 1995 and joined Titan Industries in the HR Department at their Hosur Factory. After two years, she moved into the Sales & Marketing function and worked in various locations across the country. She was a part of the Sonata team during its launch as a separate brand and also did a stint in the Retail function as the head of The World of Titan chain of exclusive showrooms. In 2006, After 11 years with Titan, she moved to the Social Development Sector with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) as a part of Avahan, the HIV prevention program working with female sex workers and other vulnerable populations in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and parts of North East and Karnataka. Finally, in 2008, she decided to follow her passion of travel, food and history and started Detours India, a boutique tour company specialising in offbeat individual and small group tours in Hyderabad. The company also conducts an annual specialised itinerary called Khaanasutra, a twelve-day culinary tour across a few cities in India and The Deccan Discovery that brings to life the lesser-known history of the Deccan region. Apart from the individual and small group tours, they also design special interactive team building activities for corporate groups using history and culture as the theme. In July 2022, Jonty also completed her Accredited Coach Training Programme (ACTP) from Master My Life and is in the process of completing her required hours for accreditation. She is also a facilitator and trainer.
Patricia Mathias
Patricia Mathias has had 28 years of leadership and high impact experience across both the business and the non-profit sector. She worked at AVPN as the Head of the Gender Platform to launch the Asia Gender Network with the support of the Gates Foundation. The network is a growing group of female philanthropists committed to changing the future for Asian women- individually and through collaboration. Besides the Asia Gender Network, Patricia led AVPNs work in the gender equality space through the Gender platform. This included working with funders across the continuum of capital i.e. philanthropic capital (with a focus on women’s economic empowerment), investment capital (with a focus on gender lens in investing) as well as working with corporates as they drive their ‘women in leadership’ agenda. Some of this work influenced the gender agenda at the G20 in Indonesia and India. Prior to AVPN, Patricia served as the CEO South East Asia, for Magic Bus, a charity that helps lift children out of poverty. During her four year tenure, Patricia led strategic planning and fundraising for the region and established local operations for Magic Bus in Myanmar. Previously, Patricia spent 20 years with Procter and Gamble where she held marketing and leadership roles and was responsible for multiple brands across various consumer goods categories. Her last role was Vice President (Director) Beauty Care for Asia. She currently serves on the board of the P&G Alumni Women’s Leadership forum where she supports a program to help Female P&G alumni bring gender diversity to boards. Patricia has lived in India, Singapore, Malaysia and China. She holds an MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur and is a graduate from Mt Carmel College, Bangalore University. She currently lives in Singapore with her husband, her daughter (who is now away at university) and their pet dog Rafa!
Savitha Gaekwad
With over 20+ years in the People Development space, I'm Savitha Gaekwad, a seasoned Talent Advisor and Executive Coach, focusing on leadership development and organizational effectiveness through culture building. My career spans both multinational corporations and promoter-driven firms, where I've honed expertise in areas like leadership excellence, talent programs, culture and engagement and analytics. In my corporate journey, I've held roles like Senior GM & Corporate L&OD Lead at Sun Pharmaceuticals and Talent Delivery Leader at Deloitte Consulting India. These experiences allowed me to shape various large scale talent initiatives and people development strategies at the organizational level. Before that, I worked at HCL Technologies Ltd, gaining insights across various HR and business functions. My last cross functional assignment at HCL Technologies was as a Project lead and Functional consultant for a e-CRM product implemented at one of the largest Food and Retail business at their offices in Phoenix, Arizona Now, as the founder of Aquila Consulting, I continue to provide impactful consulting and advisory services to my clients all over India. Collaborating with firms like Aon (Now Kincentric) and Great Place to Work, I've contributed to various talent assessment and culture enhancement projects for large multi -business conglomerates as well as niche domain startups. Additionally, I've coached professionals globally with organizations like Cleo (HiCleo.com) and BetterUp Coaching. Professional Credentials of Savitha Gaekwad Education: MBA - XLRI Jamshedpur (PMIR Batch of 2003) Certifications: • MBTI (CPP Certified) Trainer for People/Senior Leadership Development Programs • ACC – Associate Certified Coach for Performance (Executive and Leadership levels), Accredited to ICF (USA) – Currently Pursuing PCC • Certified Assessment Expert (CAE) Certification with Aon Hewitt • Marshal Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching Certified for Leaders & Teams • Conscious Business Coach by Fred Kauffman Some of my recent advisory work includes : • An end-to-end competency framework development and talent management program for a large global NBFC • Revamp of the entire Performance Management system and Sales Incentive program of an Agribusiness Firm • Strategy design for the Corporate L&D University of a large Pharma Company • Working directly with the promoter and CEO of a Start-up in the Solar Energy space– defined the roles and helped them hire their CHRO and CFO incumbents. • Design of programs around Goal Setting, Crucial conversations, Performance management related case studies for the Management Training Team of a large conglomerate with a diversified portfolio of businesses • A Campus 30-60-90 days transition training program for a Chemicals business for their campus hires • Multiple online and offline Assessment Center evaluations for Indian and global clients. On the Personal Front: On a personal note, I'm based in Vadodara, Gujarat, and speak English, Hindi, Malayalam, and Gujarati fluently. Outside work, I cherish time with my two boys and enjoy being part of a lively joint family of ten across three generations. (Not to forget the 3 dogs who consider themselves the 3 musketeers and above and beyond the human race).
Shubha Kasi
Shubha is an HR and management professional who has been in various roles and industries across over 30 years. Her work in organisations in the HR function covered the gamut of setting up the function to transformation from promoter-led organisation to a professional setup. Within HR, she has experience in the entire employee lifecycle, including technology for HR and Analytics and data-driven systems in the HR function. After experience in consulting with large and small organisations, she now freelances in the HR and Management Consulting space, based in Chennai, India. Talent building, Learning systems, Building culture, Organisation structure reviews, transformation and advising leadership on talent and communication strategy are all areas she works in. She believes in solutioning holistically and her approach is from a business perspective, for the organisation and employees.
Deepa Bhat
Deepa has around 30 years of experience in HR consulting and leadership development. She works with organisations to build organizational and leadership capability through consulting, facilitation, and coaching. She is also an executive assessor, facilitator and coach. Deepa brings her experience in leadership behaviour and talent management to her coaching engagements. As a coach, she has worked with senior executives from large global organisations as a part of their leadership journey. Her assessment experience is spans across mid and senior level executives, and industries and geographies. Deepa’s consulting and faciliatation experience includes organizations across automotive, Financial, Education, IT and FMCG sectors. Her engagements range from setting up performance management systems, competency modelling and organization change. Prior to her consulting experience, she has worked with Wipro, A.F.Ferguson, Mercer, PWC, SAP and ANZ-IT in various roles Education; She holds a postgraduate degree in Personnel Management from XLRI Jamshedpur. (1993) Certifications: Hogan Assessments (Advanced), Korn Ferry Assessment of Leadership Potential, TAM EMCC- Senior Practitioner, ICF – ACC, Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching. Trained in LSIP (Large Scale Interactive Process) Co – Creator of CORAL assessment – Coaching Readiness Assessment for Leaders
Jayashree Braganza
Jayashree Marakini Braganza is an Executive Coach (ICF - PCC), Seasoned Facilitator, and Counsellor, enabling transformation globally for individuals, groups, teams and organisations. As an agent of change, Jayashree is committed to developing a more equitable and inclusive environment for every individual, regardless of gender, sexuality or ability. Jayashree wields the right blend of nurturing support and strategic nudges that drive powerful insights and a clear growth path. Her background in psychotherapy and psychodrama informs her work as a Facilitator and Coach in enabling clients to deepen their self-awareness and thus unlock their transformative opportunities. Her unique cross functional corporate experience enables her to appreciate varying business contexts. She has been empanelled by large global enterprises, homegrown organisations, start-ups and the social sector, from across the globe A post graduate from XLRI Jamshedpur, Jayashree brings with her, a vast experience across Sales, Marketing, Operations, OD Consulting & L&D, in Titan Company, Marico Limited, Dairy Farm International, Imagin8ors, amongst others Jayashree brings an ability to blend multiple modalities. She combines corporate experience across multiple departments with expertise in human transformation. ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS Post Graduate Degree in Human Resources from XLRI (1997-99) Graduate degree in Psychology, Bangalore University Professional Certified Coach (PCC), from International Coach Federation, USA. Lumina Spark Practitioner Certificate Belbin Team Role Accreditation Diploma in Transactional Analysis (SAATA) and on to certifying as a CTA from ITAA NLP Basic Practitioners Course, by Richard McHugh Redecision Therapy Psychodrama Practitioner PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS & AFFILIATIONS Vice President, Board of Directors at ICF Bengaluru Charter Chapter Co-Lead, Team & Group Coaching Community of Practice, International Coaching Federation, Global International Association of Facilitators Member, South Asian Association of Transactional Analysts
Sangeetha Rajalakshmi
Sangeetha Rajalakshmi is a global HR leader, currently the HR Head for Tyson Foods Asia. She was earlier Head of HR Asia for Whirlpool Corp. based out of Hong Kong. Prior to that she worked with Unilever (13 years, India & UK), HSBC Bank (2 years, India), ABN AMRO Bank (2 years, India) and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer healthcare limited (5 years, India). She has experience in HR partnering , Capability and Leadership development, change management and transformation. Her passions are in helping people understand themselves - being aware of and loving their real selves as well as helping businesses grow. She is curious about the nature of kindness and emotional vulnerability and channeling this for growth. An alumnus of XLRI (batch of 99) PMIR, she has a bachelor's degree in English and Journalism. In her spare time, when she has some she can be found with her nose in a book with a cup of tea alongside her. She and her banker husband manage a long distance family spread across 5 countries, including a daughter studying to be a Materials engineer and a 12 years old son who is her investment adviser.
Shabari Madappa
Shabari’s expertise in Leadership and Team development spans 30 years. She works extensively with leaders across continents, to help them enhance human interactions and unlock potential in individuals and teams. As a coach to senior leaders, she enables deepening of both business intelligence & human connection. She is also passionate about women’s participation in the workforce, and sensitising leaders to the benefits of a gender diverse workforce. She designs & facilitates development journeys for women in the corporate and social sectors. She was Lead Faculty for a CCL-WomenLift Health program for 45 women from the civil services at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy in July 2022. As VP-XL4W (XLRI’s international alumni association), she is a key contributor to the mission of increasing the participation of women in the workforce in India. Prior to her consulting career, she held senior leadership roles with Indian and multinational firms. She worked with Texas Instruments and Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd for several years in Bangalore. She also worked with the Maharaja Group of Companies (Colombo, Sri Lanka) heading their Training function. Her first corporate role was with the HR function at Titan Industries in the early 90’s. Her experience as an entrepreneur includes running a successful chain of restaurants for over 5 years between 2009 and 2013. Educational Background Master’s Degree in Human Resources from XLRI, Jamshedpur, India (1992) Fellow with Sumedhas Academy for Human Context Certified in the use of 10 different psychometric assessments (MBTI, Hogan, FIRO-B, Belbin, SDI, McQuaig, EUM, TAM, Enneagram, WB5) Trained in group dynamics and facilitation skills including the Technology of Participation Certified in Systemic Team Coaching by Peter Hawkins Psychodrama director by Vedadrama and PIB, Germany Professional Affiliations Professional Certified Coach, International Coach Federation since 2015 Associate Coach & Faculty, Center for Creative Leadership, Singapore since 2012
Subha C
Subha brings over 24 years of business experience with 15 years at Citibank NA. Her last role was as Senior Vice President heading India Cash Operations and South branches for the corporate bank, managing a diverse team across cities while delivering on critical processes and innovative client solutions. As an Operations leader across roles and geographies, Subha has thrived in managing large teams (within the bank and outsourced), guiding and mentoring them to achieve operational excellence and client delight. Subha excels in running a business as well as stepping up to challenges, being the steady leader who can get things done for the team and the clients. She knows what it takes to enjoy the daily adrenaline rush, drive teams to cross the finish line, and also meet roadblocks and deterrents head-on. Since 2015 she runs RainKraft Creative Solutions, enabling individual and business growth through coaching and learning and development solutions. Subha firmly believes that ‘The goal is not to be perfect by the end. The goal is to be better today.” Each day is an opportunity to be curious, explore new ideas, and be a little bit better than yesterday. She approaches all interactions with a positive mindset and brings a calming influence to the occasion. Subha enjoys working with individuals and does so with a lot of empathy. She is able to truly bring out areas of joy, areas of conflict, and areas of concern, gently creating the awareness and capability for people and teams to move forward. Her style of coaching is largely guided conversations and reflective inquiry, using tools and frameworks with mutual consent.
Sunita Sinha
Over 25 years of Diverse, multi-industry experience as an Internal Consultant, Researcher, Facilitator…. A Talent Leader, HR Transformation Project Leader, Organization Effectiveness COE head, Wellness Project Head, Engagement Lead, Change/Program Management Lead, Program Director… an HR Leader… Worked mostly in large Indian Conglomerates with Global Footprints (Aditya Birla Group; Oracle Financials, Essar Oil, Ultratech Cement, Gyanodaya – Aditya Birla’s Global center for Leadership Learning). Expertise in Designing agile and integrated Future Solutions-Organization Structure, Learning and Development Design, Listening & Engagement Architecture, Building High Performing Organization design, Spotting Talent and Succession plan, Linking Strategy to People design and more. Sunita is a Gestalt Leadership trainer and has expertise in designing large scale interventions. Is a member of IAF ( International Association of Facilitators) and ICF ( international Coaching Federation)
up! SURGE Facilitators September 2022!
Shabari Madappa
Leadership Facilitator & Executive Coach
Shabari is a trained Facilitator, Executive Coach and OD consultant with nearly 30 years of experience in the corporate world.
Shabari works extensively with leaders and teams across different cultures - Asia, EMEA, Australia, USA. Her work aims to help leaders enhance their human sensitivity, potential and learning agility in middle & senior leadership roles to better support their result and business orientation.
Between 1992 and 2008: Shabari held senior leadership roles with Indian and multinational firms in the telecommunications and semiconductor industry; with Texas Instruments and Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd in Bangalore. She has also worked with the Maharaja Group of Companies (Colombo, Sri Lanka) heading their Training function. She began her career in 1992 with the HR function at Titan Industries, a TATA group company.
Since 2008, Shabari's experience as an entrepreneur includes running a successful chain of restaurants for over 5 years.
As a Leadership Consultant :
- Design and facilitation of learning experiences (virtual and in-person sessions) for mid to senior level leaders. Several learning journeys are a blend of training and 1:1 coaching
- Facilitate team conversations around road mapping, collaboration, institution building
- Design and delivery of Assessment and Development centres
- Executive Coach for leaders in 1:1, group & team coaching environments
Clients are from the technology industry, consumer goods, healthcare, energy & petro-chemicals industry and financial sectors.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Shabari works with clients to help create a more gender balanced workforce primarily through
- workshops for leadership teams
- design and delivery of learning experiences for women leaders
- inclusion diagnostics and surveys
She holds a leadership role as Vice-President of XL4W (XLRI for Women, an alumni chapter) which has a singular focus of improving the participation of women in the workforce in India.
Anuradha Rai
Founding Director, People Worth Pte Ltd,
Anuradha Rai has twenty years of senior corporate experience spanning leadership roles in New York, Singapore and London. Her skill sets cross a unique intersection of People, Strategy & Transformation disciplines across diverse industries. Today, Anuradha is the Founding Director of People Worth Pte Ltd, a Leadership and Organizational Transformation practice based out of Singapore. Her clients are largely Fortune 500 firms with engagements on coaching leadership teams through organizational transformations, Leadership Developmentand Cultural Change. Anuradha also acts as a retained advisor to Singapore based investor platforms for
market ready start-ups.
In her corporate career, Anuradha was most recently with Credit Suisse with eleven years in global/ regional leadership roles based out of New York & Singapore. As head of People & Change, she led the organizational restructure, leadership transformation and skills shift for a +7000 Division’s transformation from Production to Service orientation. While at Credit Suisse, Anuradha also led workforce strategy for +12000 employee division.This included assessing talent markets in EMEA/ AM and APAC to define a location strategy for the bank, optimising workforce composition and preparing the workforce to be future ready through strategic skill investments. In this role, Anuradha also led a multiyear and award-winning Cultural Change Transformation to shift culture and behaviours, running culture assessments, coaching leaders and aligning organizational reward mechanisms to drive behavioural change. Prior to her global roles, Anuradha led regional talent development for APAC for +3000 division with the bank. She also headed the regional Diversity & Inclusion Council with an ambitious agenda to move the needle on D&I by removing institutionalised biases and an increased investment infemale talent. In addition to her time in financial services Anuradha has also had a successful four-year stint with Pfizer in the UK, and at Nestle, India where she started her career.
Anuradha holds a post graduate degree in Human Resources from XLRI (India) and a Bachelors (Honours) degree in Psychology from Lady Shri Ram College. She is a certified facilitator with accreditation in a number of organizational inventories, psychometric and Cultural Change tools. She has won several awards for Strategy Development and research papers. Anuradha is an active Diversity & Inclusion champion holding significant leadership positions in D&I forums and sponsor to women across industries. Anuradha lives in Singapore, where she relocated to from New York in 2020.
Jayashree Braganza (Marakini)
Executive Coach, Psychotherapist, Facilitator, Mentor
Jayashree Marakini Braganza is an Executive Coach (ICF - PCC), Psychotherapist, Seasoned Facilitator and Mentor. She co-founded Chrysalyst with the aim to support people be their best version. Chrysalyst offers the right balance of nurture and nudge to empower and transform individuals and organizations. Jayashree straddles several domains with ease and works with clients across the globe.
Jayashree is a strong mental health advocate and has an active psychotherapy practice. Her mission is to destigmatise therapy. She believes that seeking therapy should be as convenient as a visit to a GP.
In her roles as a Coach and Mentor Jayashree combines her corporate experience across multiple departments with her expertise in human transformation. She enjoys partnering with individuals eager to do the inner work required to be a transformational leader. She is also empanelled with several incubators as a Coach, Counsellor and Facilitator for their cohorts.
Jayashree is an advocate for the transformational power of Coaching and volunteers her time in leadership roles at International Coaching Federation (ICF). She is the Vice President of the Board of Directors at ICF Bengaluru and the Ambassador at ICF’s Global Community of Practice for Group and Team Coaching. She endeavours to demystify coaching for individuals and support Coaches in their learning and practice.
Jayashree is passionate about championing and enabling Equity and Inclusion for all – across all genders & sexualities and across physical & neurological diversities. She carves out time to support three distinct groups – Women, Queer communities and families of neuro-diverse children.
Jayashree is an Alumnus of XLRI (batch of 1999) and has a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She brings with her 20 years of experience across sales, marketing, operations, consulting & L&D, in Titan Company, Marico Limited, Dairy Farm International and Imagin8ors, amongst others.
Patricia Mathais
Head - Gender Platform, AVPN
Patricia joined AVPN in April 2020 as Head of the Gender Platform to launch the Asia Gender Network and improve the lives of women and girls across Asia. With support from the Gates Foundation, the Asia Gender Network is a growing group of female philanthropists committed to changing the future for Asian women and girls individually and through collaboration. Members of AGN commit time and capital to causes which improve outcomes for women and girls, are rooted in regional expertise, and offer locally relevant solutions.
Patricia has experience in both for profit and not for profit organizations, most recently serving as the CEO for Magic Bus Singapore and SouthEast Asia, a charity that helps lift children out of poverty. During her four year tenure, Patricia led strategy planning and fundraising for the region, and established local operations for Magic Bus in Myanmar.
Previously, Patricia spent 20 years with Procter & Gamble where she held marketing and leadership roles and was responsible for multiple brands across various consumer goods categories. She has lived in India, Singapore, Malaysia and China.
Patricia holds her MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur, and is a graduate from Mt Carmel College, Bangalore/ Bangalore University.
Sangeetha Rajalakshmi
Head Human Resources, Tyson Foods International
Sangeetha Rajalakshmi is a global HR leader, currently the HR Head for Tyson Foods Asia. She was earlier Head of HR Asia for Whirlpool Corp. based out of Hong Kong. Prior to that she worked with Unilever (13 years, India & UK), HSBC Bank (2 years, India), ABN AMRO Bank (2 years, India) and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer healthcare limited (5 years, India). She has experience in HR partnering , Capability and Leadership development, change management and transformation.
Her passions are in helping people understand themselves - being aware of and loving their real selves as well as helping businesses grow. She is curious about the nature of kindness and emotional vulnerability and channeling this for growth. An alumnus of XLRI (batch of 99) PMIR, she has a bachelor's degree in English and Journalism.
In her spare time, when she has some she can be found with her nose in a book with a cup of tea alongside her. She and her banker husband manage a long distance family spread across 5 countries, including a daughter studying to be a Materials engineer and a 12 years old son who is her investment adviser.
Shubha Kasi
Freelance - Leadership Development
Shubha’s journey in HR has been one of unlearning, as much as it has been of learning. Like many before and after her, she chose to work in HR because she enjoyed being with and helping people. Two years at XLRI (PMIR, 1992) quickly disabused her of the notion that HR people need only to “like people”. The depth and range of the science behind the HR function fascinated her and reaffirmed her interest in the discipline.
Her experience in the line HR function started with Gulf Oil in Mumbai in 1992 where she was a part of the team that set up the Personnel function, the plant at Silvassa, and processes across the organisation. Dealing with the hard rules, and difficult conversations with employees and managers opened her eyes to the fact that not much about HR is “nice”! Crossing the floor to consulting, she had worked on her own, and with Cerebrus Consulting. Her biggest learning in this stint was the ability to encapsulate her work in terms of value to another person and to the organisation – a key skill for HR!
A graduate degree in Statistics (St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, 1989) helped in her role in setting up and building the Research & Development function at Mercer over a 7-year period. This role, combining the domain expertise of compensation and benefits, with analytics and research skills, and the need to sell one’s product through a network of consultants, was unlike any other HR role, and gave her a unique perspective on working across various countries in the Asia-Pacific region. A key takeaway here was that a consulting solution must be in the language of the team needing the solution, not the consultant providing it. This insight drove her to seek senior roles to walk the talk in line HR.
Next was a stint of five years, managing multiple roles across India and Tunisia at SunGard, based in Bangalore. This role encompassed Performance, Compensation & Rewards, and HR Operations. For personal health reasons she then moved to Chennai and joined TNQ Technology to head HR, in Chennai, where she brought together her business skills with HR depth to help drive the organisation through a period of intense growth and change. The rationalisation of roles across business and HR to ensure each plays to their strengths, the professionalisation of the HR function, creating platforms and channels for employee voices, the identification and establishing another centre in a new location were all interesting steps along her journey at TNQ. Two highlights external to the HR function were building the Language Editing Training function and creating an online learning framework at TNQ. The Integrated Learning Framework is still a work in progress.
From Jan 2022, she has been on her own, working on select assignments in transformation and talent optimisation. She advises on how organisations can help individuals achieve and expand their potential and impact within professional environments.
Aparna Ponappa
Founder - REDD Network
Passionate about inspiring people to expand their capabilities and becoming their best selves through workshops and engaging interactions, Aparna is an alumnus of XLRI, with a formal education in Human Resource Management (PGDPMIR). Other than subjects in HRM she majored in Business Communication and Strategy.
A key project that she led, was the provision of staples for those most effected by the Covid 19 lockdown in Bangalore and has been instrumental in getting across food ration kits that impacted over 11,00,000 individuals and counting, under the name of Covid Relief Bangalore, TN and Karnataka. This led to the creation of an organization called Mission Vishwas that looks at livelihood creation, she is a director with the foundation. She also spearheaded the creation and management of a Covid Care Isolation Facility for the poor of Bangalore and is associated with numerous initiatives as an advisor and coach.
She has also conducted over a 100 successful online sessions with audience sizes ranging from 10 to 650, covering learning journeys, competency building workshops and thematic learning sessions.
She started her career in HR and was heading the training function for the South Based Operationsof Grindwell Norton – Saint Gobain and quickly moved to heading all of the HR functions for 7 businesses of the Company’s South-Based Operations.
Post that she made a career switch and joined the Retail team of Titan Industries Limited. Here she headed the training and customer experience function for the Watches – Retail Business pioneering many retail training practices and also creating and conducting a unique and innovative retail frontline assessment centre called Face of Titan. From Titan she moved to Himalaya Drug Company where she headed the retail business and was instrumental in bringing a positive impact on the bottom-line of the division by leading a team-restructuring initiative, renegotiating terms of trade with all the franchisees of the company and introducing new below-the-line marketing initiatives for the Company. She then moved to Levi’s and introduced many customer delight initiatives for the new concept of Levi Flagship Stores and managed what was then one of the most successful End-of-Season sales. Her last employment was with Reliance Retail when the formats for Reliance Retail were still on the drawing board. She was part of the team working on the launch of the first Hyper Store and managed marketing for the categories – Books, Music, Movies, Toys, Stationery, Sporting Goods and Fitness Equipment - across all formats of Reliance Retail. She worked on the launch of the first Reliance Jewels store and finally went on to lead marketing for Reliance TimeOut and led the function for 20 stores.
In 2010 she started her own consulting firm called REDD Network which provides consulting, training, design and workshops in the field of Leadership and Performance Management for corporate. The mission of REDD Network is to be the premier provider of sales and service- focused consulting & COMPETENCY BUILDING SERVICES.
On the personal front, she is married and has one son and splits her time between Bangalore and Coorg, when she is not travelling on work. She actively pursues her interest in painting and NLP. She is one of the key members of Beautiful Bengaluru (now called Beautiful Bharat) – a citizen’s movement with a clean, green, safe city agenda. She is the president of the Bangalore Alumni Chapter of XLRI (term ending in 2021), the oldest business school in India. She is the founding member of XL4W and CGEIL – working towards increasing the participation of Indian women in the workforce. She is currently also working with DDI and Interweave on a host of management and leadership programs as a senior consultant and works with Prajna Wisdom Foundation on bringing innovative workshops to a larger audience. She is also a Trustee with Diya Ghar that brings pre-primary education to the children of some of the poorest migrant families in Bangalore.
Jayanti 'Jonty' Rajagopalan
Managing Partner, Detours India
Jayanti Rajagopalan aka Jonty graduated from XLRI in 1995 and joined Titan Industries in the HR Department at their Hosur Factory. After two years, she moved into the Sales & Marketing function and worked in various locations across the country. She was a part of the Sonata team during its launch as a separate brand and also did a stint in the Retail function as the head of The World of Titan chain of exclusive showrooms. In 2006, After 11 years with Titan, she moved to the Social Development Sector with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) as a part of Avahan, the HIV prevention program working with female sex workers and other vulnerable populations in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and parts of North East and Karnataka.
Finally, in 2008, she decided to follow her passion of travel, food and history and started Detours India, a boutique tour company specialising in offbeat individual and small group tours in Hyderabad. The company also conducts an annual specialised itinerary called Khaanasutra, a twelve-day culinary tour across a few cities in India and The Deccan Discovery that brings to life the lesser-known history of the Deccan region. Apart from the individual and small group tours, they also design special interactive team building activities for corporate groups using history and culture as the theme. During the pandemic, they modified these offerings to an online version and have worked with organisations like Novartis, ICICI etc to provide interesting employee engagement activities.
In July 2022, Jonty also completed her Accredited Coach Training Programme (ACTP) from Master My Life and is in the process of completing her required hours for accreditation.
Sunita Sinha
Owner & Consultant - Gestalt Alt Consulting
Sunita works on the people side of change as an Interventionist / Facilitator / Coach / System Designer / OD Consultant. She is a Gestalt Psychologist and Researcher. During Covid 19, with 25+ years of corporate experience, she decided to consult on her own and she has established her consulting firm, Gestalt Alt Consulting!
Her mission is to support leaders to build a High Performing Organization focussed on sustained growth of the business.
Alt stands for “Alternate” consulting with a focus on understanding the context of clients and co-creating solutions to business strategy and design. Where the organization is focussed on operational efficiency Sunita helps in design support in building capability of individuals and capacity within, unique to the business strategy. She has developed her own Human centred design for Organizations to build agility & adaptation in mid-size organizations, her own consulting model.
Sunita has experience in Diversified business and industries as an Internal OD Consultant working in India, across Asia. As a Talent Integrator, HR Transformation Lead, Organization Effectiveness Head, Wellness Project Head, Engagement Lead, Change/Program Management Lead, Program Director - Learning and an HR Leader, Sunita has donned multiple hats and aced myriad roles and positions, bringing in change and transformation.
Sunita has exposure in working for Large Indian Conglomerates with a global footprint (Aditya Birla Group; Oracle Financials, Essar Oil, Ultratech Cement, Gyanodaya – Aditya Birla Learning Center) so designing for large complex systems, building for scale has been her core competence and unique strength.
Sumita Datta
Professor (adjunct) of Organization Behavior,
Leadership & HRM and Advisor - Women Leadership Programs at S.P. Jain Institute of
Management & Research, Mumbai.
Sumita Datta (PhD) is a behavioral scientist with expertise in curating learning innovations & leadership development processes along with a passion for creating inclusive workplaces. She has more than 15 years of teaching experience in management education and prior 15 years of corporate experience serving in HR leadership as well as consulting roles in large organizations viz. Eveready Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., Siemens - South Asia and Great Place to Work, India. Currently Dr. Datta is a Professor of Organization Behavior, Leadership & HRM and Advisor - Women Leadership Programs at S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai, in adjunct capacity.
She lives in Lisbon, Portugal with her family for most part of the year and is engaged in impact-driven research, teaching, training, and coaching for leadership development globally and in India. With special interest in promoting diversity & inclusion, Dr Datta championed a management program for women in family managed business/ entrepreneurship for five years since 2012 in SPJIMR. In 2016, she started a first of its kind fulltime MBA program for qualified and experienced women who have taken a break to help them return to their corporate careers. In 2017, this program got global recognition as ‘Innovations That Inspire’ under the category 'Engaging a Diverse Community.’ Concurrently, over the years, she has curated women leadership development programs in large corporates and coached more than 200 women entrepreneurs and corporate leaders.
A Post-Graduate in Organization Behavior & HRM from XLRI Jamshedpur, India (1992), she received her PhD. from IIT Bombay in 2010. She is a certified MBTI, Saville, EQi 2.0 & NLP practitioner, a certified Integral Coach from New Ventures West, USA and ICF accredited Professional Certified Coach. Dr. Datta has published several scholarly articles in international refereed journals and conference proceedings.
Bhavana Issar
Founder CEO, Caregiver Saathi
Bhavana now the Founder & CEO of a social venture Caregiver Saathi (http://caregiversaathi.co.in) which enables the well-being of family caregivers through a variety of support services.
She is a passionate person with diverse interests. After her corporate stint in HR, she is an Organisation consultant in the area of Change, Leadership Development and Organisation Building. She is a Fellow and facilitator in Process Work with Sumedhas Academy for Human Context, Gestalt OD Practitioner. She's been visiting faculty at IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Udaipur, TISS, School of Planning and Architecture.
Her story was included in the book by bestselling author Rashmi Bansal - "Touch the Sky: Stories of women across India who are changing their destiny".
She is a motorcyclist and believes motorcycling has helped her push the boundaries of the body and mind. She supports women motorcyclists to realise their dreams.
Meenakshi Krishnan
Research Officer, Institute of Development Studies, UK
Meenakshi brings 20 years of experience in organisation development and leadership consulting. She has worked in both corporate and not-for-profit spaces on designing and facilitating interventions for women’s leadership development, creating gender inclusive workplaces, articulating organizational vision and culture, deploying strategic HR processes, and coaching for personal effectiveness.
She has independently designed and delivered workshops for audiences in Bahrain, Canada, India, Nigeria, Singapore and the UAE.
Meenakshi holds double Masters degrees in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations from XLRI, Jamshedpur as well as in Women and Gender Studies from IGNOU, New Delhi. She is currently pursuing Doctoral research at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), a world leading research think tank based at the University of Sussex in the UK. Her research interests focus on gender equality, women’s economic empowerment, care work, and public policy.
Shreya Bhagwanth
Asia Total Rewards and Services Leader, Inclusion Champion
Shreya Bhagwanth currently works with 3M as the Asia Total Rewards and Services Leader and Inclusion Champion. Prior to this role, she led the Human Resources function in 3M India.
Shreya holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts (Economics) from University of Mumbai and an MBA in HR from XLRI Jamshedpur. With 20 + years of work experience in various HR roles, Shreya is an experienced HR leader with expertise in areas of HR Strategy Formulation, Strategic Business Partnering, Leadership Development, Talent Management, Compensation and Benefits, Diversity and Inclusion, Development Frameworks, Compensation and Benefits, Employer Brand Management and Workforce Planning.
Shreya began her career with Hindustan Unilever Limited. She had an entrepreneurial stint in leadership development and talent development. Subsequently she worked with leading organizations such as Aditya Birla Group and Siemens.
Shreya’s hobbies include Music, Baking and Travelling with her family. She is a Star Wars Fangirl and believes that Yoda offers great Management Insight. On the personal front, Shreya is married to Mahesh and they have two teenage children, Akriti and Dhruv.
Shreya is passionate about the difference and impact that HR makes in an organization and enabling / mentoring women with their Career Intentionality.
Deepika Zingade
HR Vice President APAC, Swiss Re International
Deepika is a senior HR practitioner, executive coach and DEI champion who has over two decades of experience as an HR business partner and advisor in the APAC Region. She has particularly enjoyed leading HR transformation projects and change management efforts in organizations, driving value-based business outcomes through learning and development, talent management and mentoring diverse talent pools across the world. She has experience working across Technology, Consulting, Banking, Insurance and FMCG sectors with large multinational organisations.
She is certified in several psychometric instruments and is an ACTA certified trainer under the WSQ framework in Singapore.
She completed her Masters in PM&IR from XLRI Jamshedpur in 1999 and graduated in Human Development with a major in Early Childhood Education from Mumbai University.
up! SURGE Facilitators April 2022!
Shabari Madappa
Leadership Facilitator & Executive Coach
Shabari is a trained Facilitator, Executive Coach and OD consultant with nearly 30 years of experience in the corporate world.
Shabari works extensively with leaders and teams across different cultures - Asia, EMEA, Australia, USA. Her work aims to help leaders enhance their human sensitivity, potential and learning agility in middle & senior leadership roles to better support their result and business orientation.
Between 1992 and 2008: Shabari held senior leadership roles with Indian and multinational firms in the telecommunications and semiconductor industry; with Texas Instruments and Sasken Communication Technologies Ltd in Bangalore. I’ve also worked with the Maharaja Group of Companies (Colombo, Sri Lanka) heading their Training function. She began her career in 1992 with the HR function at Titan Industries, a TATA group company.
Since 2008:Shabari's experience as an entrepreneur includes running a successful chain of restaurants for over 5 years.
As a Leadership Consultant :
- Design and facilitation of learning experiences (virtual and in-person sessions) for mid to senior level leaders. Several learning journeys are a blend of training and 1:1 coaching
- Facilitate team conversations around road mapping, collaboration, institution building
- Design and delivery of Assessment and Development centres
- Executive Coach for leaders in 1:1, group & team coaching environments
Clients are from the technology industry, consumer goods, healthcare, energy & petro-chemicals industry and financial sectors.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Shabari works with clients to help create a more gender balanced workforce primarily through
- workshops for leadership teams
- design and delivery of learning experiences for women leaders
- inclusion diagnostics and surveys
She holds a leadership role as Vice-President of XL4W (XLRI for Women, an alumni chapter) which has a singular focus of improving the participation of women in the workforce in India.
Anuradha Rai
Founding Director, People Worth Pte Ltd,
Anuradha Rai has twenty years of senior corporate experience spanning leadership roles in New York, Singapore and London. Her skill sets cross a unique intersection of People, Strategy & Transformation disciplines across diverse industries. Today, Anuradha is the Founding Director of People Worth Pte Ltd, a Leadership and Organizational Transformation practice based out of Singapore. Her clients are largely Fortune 500 firms with engagements on coaching leadership teams through organizational transformations, Leadership Developmentand Cultural Change. Anuradha also acts as a retained advisor to Singapore based investor platforms for
market ready start-ups.
In her corporate career, Anuradha was most recently with Credit Suisse with eleven years in global/ regional leadership roles based out of New York & Singapore. As head of People & Change, she led the organizational restructure, leadership transformation and skills shift for a +7000 Division’s transformation from Production to Service orientation. While at Credit Suisse, Anuradha also led workforce strategy for +12000 employee division.This included assessing talent markets in EMEA/ AM and APAC to define a location strategy for the bank, optimising workforce composition and preparing the workforce to be future ready through strategic skill investments. In this role, Anuradha also led a multiyear and award-winning Cultural Change Transformation to shift culture and behaviours, running culture assessments, coaching leaders and aligning organizational reward mechanisms to drive behavioural change. Prior to her global roles, Anuradha led regional talent development for APAC for +3000 division with the bank. She also headed the regional Diversity & Inclusion Council with an ambitious agenda to move the needle on D&I by removing institutionalised biases and an increased investment infemale talent. In addition to her time in financial services Anuradha has also had a successful four-year stint with Pfizer in the UK, and at Nestle, India where she started her career.
Anuradha holds a post graduate degree in Human Resources from XLRI (India) and a Bachelors (Honours) degree in Psychology from Lady Shri Ram College. She is a certified facilitator with accreditation in a number of organizational inventories, psychometric and Cultural Change tools. Shehas won several awards for Strategy Development and research papers. Anuradha is an active Diversity & Inclusion champion holding significant leadership positions in D&I forums and sponsor to women across industries. Anuradha lives in Singapore where she relocated from New York in 2020.
Nirupama Subramanian
Facilitator, Consultant, Motivational Speaker, Executive Coach
Nirupama Subramanian is a Consultant, Facilitator and Coach( P.C.C accreditation) in the area of Leadership Development, Change Management and Personal Transformation with over 25 years of work experience. She is committed to helping people discover their potential and lead their lives with passion and purpose. She focuses on ensuring personal growth along with business impact through customized interventions for organizations through her firm Powerfulife Solutions.
Nirupama is a keen advocate for the development and representation of women in leadership positions. She is the cofounder of GLOW- Growing Leadership of Women that supports women to lead with their whole being and helps to create inclusive workspaces.
Nirupama holds a Masters degree in Management from XLRI Jamshedpur and an undergraduate degree in commerce. She has worked with Citibank in the area of Corporate Banking. She was then the General manager and Director for AchieveGlobal India. Nirupama has also worked as a Senior Training Consultant with Genpact( then GE Capital Financial Services)
Nirupama has been working as a leadership coach and facilitator with Mckinsey/Aberkyn since 2010. During this time, she has engaged on a variety on interventions on long term transformation engagements, top team alignment and Personal Transformation interventions across several countries.
Nirupama has worked with over 75 top tier organizations like Tata Motors, Sap Labs, Sanofi India, Uber, Godrej, GE, SoftwareOne, EXL, Amazon among others to design and deliver over 800 leadership development interventions to over 20,000 employees.
Other Interests:
Nirupama is a published author of two bestselling novels- Keep The Change and Intermission.She has written on a variety of subjects for several publications including national papers like The Times of India and Hindustan Times. She currently blogs at www.shethepeople.tv on the theme of Women at work . Her third book, Powerful- The Indian Woman’s Guide to Unlocking her full potential been published in July 2021.
Nirupama loves to travel and visited 48 countries across Asia, Europe and America. She still has a long list of places to go. She combines her love of writing and travel and often contributes travel articles to National Geographic Traveler.
Nirupama is the co-founder of My Daughter is Precious, a not-for- profit initiative which funds and mentors underprivileged girls to complete higher education and become job ready. www.mydaughterisprecious.com
She is a regular yoga practitioner and is currently also focusing on strength training. Nirupama lives in Gurgaon.
Jayashree Braganza (Marakini)
Executive Coach, Psychotherapist, Facilitator, Mentor
Jayashree Marakini Braganza is an Executive Coach (ICF - PCC), Psychotherapist, Seasoned Facilitator and Mentor. She co-founded Chrysalyst with the aim to support people be their best version. Chrysalyst offers the right balance of nurture and nudge to empower and transform individuals and organizations. Jayashree straddles several domains with ease and works with clients across the globe.
Jayashree is a strong mental health advocate and has an active psychotherapy practice. Her mission is to destigmatise therapy. She believes that seeking therapy should be as convenient as a visit to a GP.
In her roles as a Coach and Mentor Jayashree combines her corporate experience across multiple departments with her expertise in human transformation. She enjoys partnering with individuals eager to do the inner work required to be a transformational leader. She is also empanelled with several incubators as a Coach, Counsellor and Facilitator for their cohorts.
Jayashree is an advocate for the transformational power of Coaching and volunteers her time in leadership roles at International Coaching Federation (ICF). She is the Vice President of the Board of Directors at ICF Bengaluru and the Ambassador at ICF’s Global Community of Practice for Group and Team Coaching. She endeavours to demystify coaching for individuals and support Coaches in their learning and practice.
Jayashree is passionate about championing and enabling Equity and Inclusion for all – across all genders & sexualities and across physical & neurological diversities. She carves out time to support three distinct groups – Women, Queer communities and families of neuro-diverse children.
Jayashree is an Alumnus of XLRI (batch of 1999) and has a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She brings with her 20 years of experience across sales, marketing, operations, consulting & L&D, in Titan Company, Marico Limited, Dairy Farm International and Imagin8ors, amongst others.
Devika Dharmaraj
Mental Health &
HR Consultant
Devika Dharmaraj has been working in the field of Human Resources since 1992 and has worked in different capacities, as a senior manager and as an independent consultant. Devika has worked across manufacturing, IT and ITES, social enterprise and the not-for-profit sectors. Her professional experience includes extensive work with companies based across the UK and US. She has trained in non-violent communication and is a certified HR competency assessor as well as an Accredited Instructor in Standard Mental Health First Aid. She completed her post-graduation in management from XLRI, Jamshedpur and is a certified executive coach.
In her first job with Eicher Ltd, Devika was part of the team that orchestrated the
integration of Royal Enfield with Eicher. Devika went on to handle independent
consulting assignments with companies like Pepsico and Chennai-based
manufacturing organizations.
She was part of the senior management team at Tranquilmoney, a healthcare
receivables management company. Devika has worked in the non-profit sector and
in 2009 was part of the founding team of the Joy of Giving Week, now called
DaanUtsav, a national movement that has gained momentum and a life of
its own over the years.
As a co-founder and director at Kelsa Solutions until late 2020, Devika’s
experience with people processes,organization design and leadership
development has helped to build a sound reputation for the company in these
areas. Her particular strength in the area of competency frameworks is further
leveraged by a certification in HR competency assessment with XLRI, CII and
the National NHRD Network.
Devika’s increasing concern for the impact of health on individual and corporate
performance has led her to begin a journey to explore corporate India’s response to
increasing issues of mental health at the workplace. She was a core team member of
NHRD’s MindMatters campaign to raise awareness on mental health with over 110
participant companies. She has trained as an Instructor in Standard Mental Health
First Aid with the globally acclaimed MHFA protocols, and supports MHFA India in
providing ongoing support to trained First Aiders in select organizations.
Patricia Mathais
Head - Gender Platform, AVPN
Patricia joined AVPN in April 2020 as Head of the Gender Platform to launch the Asia Gender Network and improve the lives of women and girls across Asia. With support from the Gates Foundation, the Asia Gender Network is a growing group of female philanthropists committed to changing the future for Asian women and girls- individually and through collaboration. Members of AGN commit time and capital to causes which improve outcomes for women and girls, are rooted in regional expertise, and offer locally relevant solutions.
Patricia has experience in both for profit and not for profit organizations, most recently serving as the CEO for Magic Bus Singapore and SouthEast Asia, a charity that helps lift children out of poverty. During her four year tenure, Patricia led strategy planning and fundraising for the region, and established local operations for Magic Bus in Myanmar.
Previously, Patricia spent 20 years with Procter & Gamble where she held marketing and leadership roles and was responsible for multiple brands across various consumer goods categories. She has lived in India, Singapore, Malaysia and China.
Patricia holds her MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur, and is a graduate from Mt Carmel College, Bangalore/ Bangalore University.
Sangeetha Rajalakshmi
Head Human Resources, Tyson Foods International
Sangeetha Rajalakshmi is a global HR leader, currently the HR Head for Tyson Foods Asia. She was earlier Head of HR Asia for Whirlpool Corp. based out of Hong Kong. Prior to that she worked with Unilever (13 years, India & UK), HSBC Bank (2 years, India), ABN AMRO Bank (2 years, India) and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer healthcare limited (5 years, India). She has experience in HR partnering , Capability and Leadership development, change management and transformation.
Her passions are in helping people understand themselves - being aware of and loving their real selves as well as helping businesses grow. She is curious about the nature of kindness and emotional vulnerability and channeling this for growth. An alumnus of XLRI (batch of 99) PMIR, she has a bachelor's degree in English and Journalism.
In her spare time, when she has some she can be found with her nose in a book with a cup of tea alongside her. She and her banker husband manage a long distance family spread across 5 countries, including a daughter studying to be a Materials engineer and a 12 years old son who is her investment adviser.
Shubha Kasi
Freelance - Leadership Development
Shubha’s journey in HR has been one of unlearning, as much as it has been of learning. Like many before and after her, she chose to work in HR because she enjoyed being with and helping people. Two years at XLRI (PMIR, 1992) quickly disabused her of the notion that HR people need only to “like people”. The depth and range of the science behind the HR function fascinated her and reaffirmed her interest in the discipline.
Her experience in the line HR function started with Gulf Oil in Mumbai in 1992 where she was a part of the team that set up the Personnel function, the plant at Silvassa, and processes across the organisation. Dealing with the hard rules, and difficult conversations with employees and managers opened her eyes to the fact that not much about HR is “nice”! Crossing the floor to consulting, she had worked on her own, and with Cerebrus Consulting. Her biggest learning in this stint was the ability to encapsulate her work in terms of value to another person and to the organisation – a key skill for HR!
A graduate degree in Statistics (St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, 1989) helped in her role in setting up and building the Research & Development function at Mercer over a 7-year period. This role, combining the domain expertise of compensation and benefits, with analytics and research skills, and the need to sell one’s product through a network of consultants, was unlike any other HR role, and gave her a unique perspective on working across various countries in the Asia-Pacific region. A key takeaway here was that a consulting solution must be in the language of the team needing the solution, not the consultant providing it. This insight drove her to seek senior roles to walk the talk in line HR.
Next was a stint of five years, managing multiple roles across India and Tunisia at SunGard, based in Bangalore. This role encompassed Performance, Compensation & Rewards, and HR Operations. For personal health reasons she then moved to Chennai and joined TNQ Technology to head HR, in Chennai, where she brought together her business skills with HR depth to help drive the organisation through a period of intense growth and change. The rationalisation of roles across business and HR to ensure each plays to their strengths, the professionalisation of the HR function, creating platforms and channels for employee voices, the identification and establishing another centre in a new location were all interesting steps along her journey at TNQ. Two highlights external to the HR function were building the Language Editing Training function and creating an online learning framework at TNQ. The Integrated Learning Framework is still a work in progress.
From Jan 2022, she has been on her own, working on select assignments in transformation and talent optimisation. She advises on how organisations can help individuals achieve and expand their potential and impact within professional environments.
Aparna Ponappa
Founder - REDD Network
Passionate about inspiring people to expand their capabilities and becoming
their best selves through workshops and engaging interactions, Aparna is an
alumnus of XLRI, with a formal education in Human Resource Management
(PGDPMIR). Other than subjects in HRM she majored in Business
Communication and Strategy.
A key project that she led, was the provision of staples for those most effected
by the Covid 19 lockdown in Bangalore and has been instrumental in getting
across food ration kits that impacted over 11,00,000 individuals and counting,
under the name of Covid Relief Bangalore, TN and Karnataka. This led to the creation of an organization called Mission Vishwas that looks at livelihood creation, she is a director with the foundation. She also spearheaded the creation and management of a Covid Care Isolation Facility for the poor of Bangalore and is associated with numerous initiatives as an advisor and coach.
She has also conducted over a 100 successful online sessions with audience sizes ranging from 10 to 650, covering learning journeys, competency building workshops and thematic learning sessions.
She started her career in HR and was heading the training function for the South Based Operationsof Grindwell Norton – Saint Gobain and quickly moved to heading all of the HR functions for 7 businesses of the Company’s South-Based Operations.
Post that she made a career switch and joined the Retail team of Titan Industries Limited. Here she headed the training and customer experience function for the Watches – Retail Business pioneering many retail training practices and also creating and conducting a unique and innovative retail frontline assessment centre called Face of Titan. From Titan she moved to Himalaya Drug Company where she headed the retail business and was instrumental in bringing a positive impact on the bottom-line of the division by leading a team-restructuring initiative, renegotiating terms of trade with all the franchisees of the company and introducing new below-the-line marketing initiatives for the Company. She then moved to Levi’s and introduced many customer delight initiatives for the new concept of Levi Flagship Stores and managed what was then one of the most successful End-of-Season sales. Her last employment was with Reliance Retail when the formats for Reliance Retail were still on the drawing board. She was part of the team working on the launch of the first Hyper Store and managed marketing for the categories – Books, Music, Movies, Toys, Stationery, Sporting Goods and Fitness Equipment - across all formats of Reliance Retail. She worked on the launch of the first Reliance Jewels store and finally went on to lead marketing for Reliance TimeOut and led the function for 20 stores.
In 2010 she started her own consulting firm called REDD Network which provides consulting, training, design and workshops in the field of Leadership and Performance Management for corporate. The mission of REDD Network is to be the premier provider of sales and service- focused consulting & COMPETENCY BUILDING SERVICES.
On the personal front, she is married and has one son and splits her time between Bangalore and Coorg, when she is not travelling on work. She actively pursues her interest in painting and NLP. She is one of the key members of Beautiful Bengaluru (now called Beautiful Bharat) – a citizen’s movement with a clean, green, safe city agenda. She is the president of the Bangalore Alumni Chapter of XLRI (term ending in 2021), the oldest business school in India. She is the founding member of XL4W and CGEIL – working towards increasing the participation of Indian women in
the workforce. She is currently also working with DDI and Interweave on a host of management and leadership programs as a senior consultant and works with Prajna Wisdom Foundation on bringing innovative workshops to a larger audience. She is also a Trustee with Diya Ghar that brings pre-primary education to the children of some of the poorest migrant families in Bangalore.
Sangeetha Rajan
Co-Founder - The Arts Quotient (TAQ)
A powerhouse of talent, skills and experience, Sangeetha combines her expertise as a qualified psychologist, a people development professional and an Indian classical dancer to bring rich, multi-disciplinary insights into TAQ. She holds a Masters in Psychology, an LLB, a PGD in PM&IR from XLRI and a PhD from TISS.Her experience in people development began with roles at Maruti and ICICI Bank and spans nearly two decades in learning and psychometrics.
She is certified to use Hogan Assessments, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and SHL’s OPQ and ability tests. Sangeetha is the recipient of the Shringar Mani title for excellence in Odissi dance, was nominated to the International Council for Dance (CID-UNESCO) in 2013, was nominated for Best Choreography at the Mahindra Excellence in Theatre Awards 2018, and is leading a new generation of dancers at the Urban Temple Dance Repertory.
Along with co-founder Swati Apte, she draws on principles, practices, skills and perspectives from the arts to create transformative art-based learning experiences at TAQ.
Aparna Verma
Free lancer - Leadership Development
Aparna, post qualification , pursued full time work for 15 years in the country. In the course of her active career, she held leadership positions in functional HR as well as HR consulting. Her workplaces include Asian Paints, ICICI group, Marico, Mercer India and SHL India.
A family relocation to Singapore in 2015 and an unanticipated career pause, encouraged her to reassess and pivot her professional pathway.
She believes that individual potential is fully realised, only ever through positive adjustments and determined resilience in life and its choices . She is now training to be a mental health counsellor, and pursuing a Master's degree in Counselling from Monash University (Australia). This stands to enrich her HR expertise, with a deeper and a more empathetic understanding of a person's pinnacles and pitfalls, beyond performance at work.
Deepa Bhat
Organisational change, Leadership development, Consultant, Coach
Deepa's work is centered around building organizational and leadership capability through consulting, facilitation and coaching. She has over 25 years of experience, in HR consulting, training, competency development and assessment centers and performance management. Deepa offers bespoke and customized solutions for clients, that are focused on their needs.
Deepa is a certified Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coach, certified in Hogan Psychometrics, LSIP(large scale interactive process) and an ICF and EMCC certified coach. Her consulting experience includes designing and facilitating interventions for leadership development, training and facilitation, team effectiveness, competency development, assessment centers.
She blends her coach training with her extensive experience in leadership development and human behaviour to create a coaching experience that enables clients to make the shift from where they are to where they want to be.
up! SURGE Facilitators 2021!
up! SURGE Facilitators 2021!
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XL4W, an international chapter of the XLRI Alumni Association is made up of passionate and accomplished alumni - men and women and several of our allies and partners.