Celebrating The Accomplishments Of Women HR Trailblazers

sugandh bahl Mar 07, 2023

Human Resources (HR) is an essential function of any organization, responsible for managing personnel and ensuring that the workforce operates smoothly.

Over the years, women have made significant contributions to the field of HR, paving the way for future generations of female HR leaders. These influential women have broken barriers, challenged norms, and left a lasting impact on the industry. From creating innovative HR policies to promoting diversity and inclusion, these trailblazers have transformed the workplace and helped organizations thrive.

BW People’s 2022-23 list will explore some of the most influential women in HR, their accomplishments, and the lasting impact they have had on the field.

In order to arrive at this year’s influential names, BW People and BW Businessworld had appointed an eminent advisory board, who’s experience and expertise helped us in our final list. The advisory for this year comprised the editorial boards of BW Businessworld, BW People and editors from BW’s sibling brands in addition to community representation from names such as Dr. Vipul Singh, Sr. VP and Head HR, ADP-GSS Intl, P. Dwarkanath, Former Chairman, GSK Consumer Healthcare; and B Thiagrajan, MD, Blue Star among others.

A list of over 50 women influencers in HR place was curated by BW People’s edit team and then the lists were shared with these dignitaries for them to ponder over whom to choose the best from the lot. We even kept the doors open to newer suggestions from them whom they felt weren’t mentioned in the list but their efforts were worth commendations. Basis their respective finalists, a list of top 20 women was finally made with editorial considerations as well.

This year’s trailblazer’s list comprises of:

Names	Designations	Organisations	Brief Intro
Deepti Gupta	EVP, CHRO	Jubilant FoodWorks Ltd.	An HR leader skilled in large scale organizational transformation and change management; Deepti Has worked across a variety of domains including internet and telecom. Have substantial experience in IT, ITES, pharmaceutical, energy etc. Experienced in building and leading large teams across all areas of HR like OD, talent management, performance management, learning, rewards and partnering.
Janaki Naik	CHRO	Tata Digital Limited	Janaki has over two decades of experience in Human resources in Information Technology and Manufacturing Industry. She is known to have been specialising in Tech Start Up , Policy / Process design, Employee Engagement , Talent Management , Integration and HR Business Partnering
Nupur Singh Mallick	Group CHRO	Tata Group	Nupur is currently working with TCS as HR Director in the United Kingdom. In fact, she is an old guard of TCS. She joined the software consultancy giant in mid 1990s and ever since working with it.
Anuradha Razdan	Exec. Dir.& CHRO	Hindustan Unilever	A business-focused HR leader who has had an international career with rich experiences in HUL and global leadership roles, partnering members of the Unilever Leadership Executive, Anuradha is a member of the Management Committee of Hindustan Unilever Limited as Executive Director, Human Resources (HR) and Vice President HR, Unilever South Asia.
Sumedha Pal	Sr. Dir. HR & Country HR Manager	Honeywell India	with over 18 Years of Experience in various Human Resources Generalist functions, sumedha's strengths include operating in a global environment in matrix and virtual setups, strategy formulation and execution, learnability and adaptability, etc
Priya Ramdev	CPO	Mckinsey & Co India	Having completed her BCom (H) from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Ramdev also acquired an MBA from the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi. Ramdev started her career with CitiBank in 2005, where she joined as assistant manager, handling credit risk management for over a year, before joining Accenture.
Swati Rustagi	Director Global Talent Strategy & Leadership Development World Wide Stores	Amazon India	Swati Rustagi is Director Talent Strategy and Development for Worldwide Amazon Stores. In this role she is chartered to re-imagine Amazon’s talent and career development mechanisms to drive meaningful work, growth and retention globally. She and her team are focused on delivering a multi-year talent development vision that will seamlessly connect talent development to talent management processes, with intentional focus on leadership development.
Shipra Jain	Head HR	Global Services	A business focused, progressive & result oriented HR Leader (with ~19 years’ experience) with a proven track record in leading the ‘People Strategy’ for large and distributed global teams (2000 + employees, 1-billion-dollar revenue), Shipra Jain has been adept at conceptualizing, developing and leading innovative initiatives and HR strategies in hyper growth markets and businesses. She has been extremely comfortable in setting up HR Function grounds up and led it to become a stable profit-making organization.
Mamta Vegunta	Executive Director	Head of HR - DBS Tech India	Mamata is a seasoned HR professional with 25 + years of multidisciplinary experience. She is known to have actively worked in key management and leadership roles in advancing business growth, fulfilling strategic objectives, managing change, shaping a high performing culture, and delivering the employee value proposition.
Rajita Singh	CPO	kyndryl India
Kiranmai Dutt Pendyala	Head HR & Board Member, United Way, Hyderabad (‘For Impact’ Organization)	Western Digital India	The XLRI graduate reminisces the time how she approaches her current work at Western Digital as India’s head of human resources. Onboarding in 2020 amidst a world adjusting to the coronavirus, Kiranmai had her work cut out for her. She’s met the pandemic with urgency and empathy, devoting a specialized COVID-19 Management Team to assist with employees’ medical needs at the first sign of illness.
Archana Bhaskar	CHRO	Dr Reddy’s Labs	An alumna of Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University, Archana Bhaskar has been playing a pivotal role in HR fraternity for over a decade now. Archana joined Dr. Reddy’s in June 2017 and has more than 31 years of people management experience across diverse industries, geographies and companies.
Ira Gupta,	Head HR	Microsoft India	Ira Gupta has been leading the HR function for Microsoft for over a decade now in India which has an employee footprint that spans sales and marketing, research and development and customer services and support, in 11 Indian cities in the country. She is focused on making Microsoft India an exceptional place to work for its 20,000+ employees and ensures that Microsoft India is creating a culture that attracts and inspires talent that is passionate about achieving Microsoft’s mission.
Pavitra Singh	CHRO	PepsiCo India	Bringing to the table a vastly rich experience in culture, capability building, organizational design, diversity and inclusion, talent acquisition and employer branding; the CHRO of PepsiCo India Pavitra Singh has adorned many hats in the field of HR.
Manu Wadhwa	CHRO	Sony Pictures Networks	With a career spanning over two decades, across various industries and countries, Manu has piloted the workplace and people agenda for dynamic global organizations. Presently she is responsible to create compelling employee experience while establishing leadership and promoting best talent practices.
Lakshmi C	MD & HR Lead	Accenture India	Possessing an unwavering passion for employees and being focussed on enabling ~200,000 people in India to be successful, professionally and personally, Lakshmi C is known to have played a pivotal role in shaping the success story of Accenture in India. An MD-Human Resources Lead at Accenture, India, Lakshmi has been responsible for leading the human capital strategy for Accenture in India.
Vishpala Reddy	CHRO	Philips Indian Subcontinent	An avid proponent to the cause of developing women leaders across walks of society, Vishpala Reddy, HR leader for Philips in India and Asian countries has been responsible for HR across Market Commercial Operations, Philips Innovation Campus, Healthcare Innovation Centre, Global Business Services and Factories located in India.
Amrita Padda	CHRO	Airtel	A dynamic HR leader with over 21 years of experience across the entire spectrum of HR roles, Amrita’s spirit of pioneering can be seen in the many business initiatives led by her – Laundromat business via a start-up, Service improvement via Agile methodology, setting up of the Omni-channel U-shop, and taking the lead in implementation of the Future of Work framework.
Neena Abraham	President HR	CES Group Of Companies	Neena is known to be thinking strategically and has a bigger picture grasp of any requirement and situation.Her peers having worked closed with her believe that in a rapidly ramping up a team at a very short notice within a constrained scope, she has done a splendid job and always comes out with flying colors in all challenging situations
Rajkamal Vempati	President & Head HR	Axis Bank	In a career spanning more than 22 years, Rajkamal has donned various hats successfully and carved a niche for herself in the industry.