Former global president – HR of Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Sameer Nagarajan, has been appointed global chief people officer at Erba Mannheim, the the in vitro diagnostics (IVD) solutions provider.
Armed with an MBA in HR from XLRI, Jamshedpur, Nagarajan began his HR journey with Novartis in 1988, when he joined as an executive – HR, based out of Mumbai. Two years later, he moved to Microland as HR manager, based out of Bangalore.
In November 1991, he joined AF Ferguson & Co. as senior consultant. The next four years saw him offering consulting services to private and public-sector clients— in East and South India and the Middle East — in the areas of reward and remuneration, organisation resourcing, systems, HR policy management and job evaluation.
His next stop was Hindustan Unilever, where he spent over seven years, with his last held position being that of head – HR.
The year 2003 found him helping set up a new business in Malaysia for BPB India Gypsum. As HR manager, Asia, he supported the Company’s growth challenges in Thailand and China for the next three years.
His next stint, with AstraZeneca Pharma India, lasted less than a year. As VP-HR, he led employee engagement and performance management for the Company, based out of Bangalore.
In April 2007, Nagarajan was back with Unilever, in Mumbai. From 2007 to 2011, he headed employee relations for 9500+ workmen and 2000+ officers/ supervisors across 39 manufacturing/ sales/ research sites. He was then elevated to HR director, global supply chain. This role saw him working out of Switzerland for over three and a half years. By 2015, he was director – human resources and corporate relations, Unilever Srilanka, based out of Colombo.
After a successful stint of over nine and a half years with Unilever, it was time for Nagarajan to move to Cadila Pharmaceuticals. He served as global president – human resources, from 2020 to 2022, working out of Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Known for his professionalism, Nagarajan has been a mentor to many during his career. Now, at Erba Mannheim, which focusses on delivering innovative, affordable and sustainable healthcare solutions in the developing nations of the world, Nagarajan will ensure that the HR contributes significantly to the Company’s growth and transformation journey.
