Mahalakshmi R has been elevated as chief people officer, South East Asia, Mondelez International and Shilpa Vaid has stepped into her shoes head of HR for India region, sources close to the development confirm to HRKatha.
Backed by over two decades of experience in the HR domain, Mahalakshmi R started her career as a consultant in the initial phase of her career working with EY and AON. She joined Mondelez in 2015 as head of HR for the India region, leading the people strategy agenda and transformation.
In her career Mahalakshmi has worked with brands like Ranbaxy, Ballarpur Industries and Airtel. Before joining Mondelez, Mahalakshmi was working Airtel where she spent seven years. She joined as VP – head of group organisational development. In her seven years with Airtel, she saw two promotions and served her last role with the company as SVP and global head of talent.
Vaid will now lead the HR function for the India region, for Mondelez.
Having begun her professional career in 1999, as an executive at EY, she moved to Arthur Andersen a year later, to work as a consultant for two years, before joining Aviva India Life Insurance as manager-HR in 2003. At Aviva, she led the HR operations team and was responsible for policies and processes, compensation and benefits, payroll and reimbursement processing, employee database management and statutory compliances.
In 2004, Vaid joined another insurance major, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance as AVP-HR.
There, she was part of the regional HR team for southern and western India. At ICICI, her responsibilities comprised end-to-end HR support, including talent acquisition for managerial positions, processes and systems, as well as performance and talent management.
After three years with ICICI, Vaid moved on to ABN AMRO bank for a short stint in 2007, where she was AVP-HR for five months. Shortly after, she joined MetLife the same year as the head-HR and led the HR function for India, comprising a team of over 60 HR professionals that supported 7,500 employees spread across 200 locations.
She spent her longest stint, of six years, at MetLife, where she went on to lead the talent management function for Asia.
After serving as the Asia talent management lead for a year, she moved to Bharti AXA General Insurance in 2013 as the chief human resources and corporate responsibility officer. For the next two years, she led the HR, internal communications and CSR functions at Bharti.
In the beginning of 2016, she joined Arvind Fashions as the CHRO, leading the HR and administrative functions for more than three years.
Vaid holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Delhi and an MBA in HR from the International Management Institute (IMI).
