The year 2020 will always be remembered as the year of challenges, learning, pathbreaking initiatives and for some, it will be the year of opportunities. As we are all set to welcome the new year with we witnessed some major movements in multiple genres. People leaders across the country left their current organization and started their second innings with a new company. In this piece, we highlight some of the significant movements which took place in the year 2020. 

Alok Verma- Hindustan Aeronautics Limited appointed Alok Verma as Director (Human Resources) of HAL.  Prior to this, he was General Manager (HR) at the Corporate Office.  Verma joined HAL in 2006 after serving National Fertilizers Limited for 19 years. He has vast and diverse experience of over three decades in the HR function. Verma was instrumental in transforming the employee management relations at Hyderabad Division and played a key role in the settlement of the workmen’s wage revision and signing of the MoU.

Donna Morris- Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer of Adobe, Donna Morris stepped down from her role. Under her leadership, Adobe's workforce increased by 226% to more than 20,000 employees and its real estate/facilities presence has grown to more than 75 locations around the globe. She championed innovative workplace policies, including the introduction of expanded family leave, gender pay parity, and opportunity parity, all of which helped grow Adobe’s global diverse employee base.

Yogi Sriram- Yogi Sriram, Senior Vice President – Corporate Human Resources and Member of the Executive Committee, Larsen & Toubro Limited has superannuated from the services of the company effective from 1st April 2020, after an illustrious career of 43 years in HR. One of the senior-most HR persons in the country in service, Yogi headed the Group HR function in L&T for 8 years in his last role. 

Maneesh Menda- RBS India, the innovation and operations hub of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), elevated Maneesh Menda as Head of HR, RBS India. An HR veteran and a Chartered Accountant, Maneesh was earlier working with Standard Chartered Bank and held several roles with the company.

Vishpala Reddy - Philips has appointed Vishpala Reddy as its new human resources head for the Indian subcontinent, replacing Armaan Seth who had been associated with Philips for more than 8 years. Prior to this, Reddy was serving as the regional HR director for APAC with Uber. She had joined Uber in 2017 as the Chief People Officer for India and South Asia region. 

Rajesh Padmanabhan-  Rajesh Padmanabhan, Director, Group CHRO of Welspun Group stepped down after four years stint with the company.  The industry veteran took the entrepreneurial route after working with Welspun for more than four years. Padmanabhan started his career with the ICICI group handling systems on mainframes and later on became the corporate banker. In his long career, he has worked with companies such as Vedanta Resources, Capgemini and Oberoi Group. 

Santanu Banerjee- Santanu Banerjee joined Bajaj Allianz Life as Chief Human Resource Officer in May 2020. Prior to joining, he was working as Executive Vice President & CHRO at Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd.  In his entire career of more than 20 years, Banerjee has spent maximum time working with Aditya Birla Group. He was the engineering force behind the set-up of Aditya Birla Health Insurance (ABHI). He helped build a workforce of 1,700 employees, 12,000 distributors, 60 branches spanning 36 locations in one year's time frame.

Varun Bhatia- Reali, the real estate technology company transforming home buying and selling, announced the hiring of Varun Bhatia to join the leadership team as the company's first Chief People Officer. Bhatia, who will play a critical role in accelerating Reali's momentum, has more than 30 years of experience spearheading people strategies and leading entire HR organizations for publicly traded and high-growth, global companies.

Anne Lebel- Capgemini announced the appointment of Anne Lebel as Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) and Group Executive Board Member. Anne brought over two decades of experience in leadership development and talent management on a global scale. She took over from Hubert Giraud, who moved to a new role at Altran, part of the Capgemini Group. Anne reports to Aiman Ezzat, CEO of Capgemini.

Kameshwari Rao- Publicis Sapient announced the appointment of Kameshwari Rao as Global Chief People Officer.  Rao is entering her new role rich with experience, having served in multiple People Success leadership roles prior to this position. As part of the company’s global talent leadership team, she has been responsible for providing strategic leadership for its people agenda and building Publicis Sapient as an employer of choice.

Amanda Rajkumar - Amanda Rajkumar has been appointed to the Adidas Executive Board: Beginning of 2021, the British national and HR professional will join the then six-member Executive Board of the sporting goods company as Executive Board Member responsible for Global Human Resources. She joins Adidas from BNP Paribas, where over 11 years, she held a number of executive HR leadership positions for different business divisions based out of the UK and the U.S. 

S Rajesh Balaji -Leading consumer internet firm Matrimony.com announced the appointment of S Rajesh Balaji as Chief Human Resources Officer. In his new role, Balaji is spearheading all aspects of human resources strategy, talent management, building individual and organizational capabilities, organization design, and digitization amongst others. A seasoned HR professional and a dynamic leader, Balaji comes with more than two decades of experience in establishing and transforming human resources functions at global, high-tech companies across banking, financial services, and manufacturing sectors.