Cipla will now have a new global chief people officer, as Arun Kakatkar has been chosen for the role, effective 17 March. Kakatkar moves to the multinational pharmaceutical firm from Microsoft where he joined as human resources leader in February 2024.
Before Microsoft, Kakatkar was associated with Kalyani Group, as president and chief of strategy and organisation.
Kakatkar, who holds an MBA in Operations Management and Human Resources from Savitribai Phule Pune University, served as HR manager at Black & Decker, from 1996 to 1999. He then moved to Foseco in a similar capacity, in January of 1999. Over two years later, he moved to Ingersoll Rand, as head of talent management and organisation development. In this role, his responsibilities included talent management, building organisation capability, emerging talent/university hiring programme, leadership development and mergers/acquisition/integration-related projects.
May of 2007 saw him taking up the role of senior HR manager Asia Pacific, at Flextronics. For the next nine months he reported to the Asia Region HR VP and to the VP of services business in Asia.
Kakatkar’s next stop was Microsoft where he joined as people and organisation capability lead in January of 2008. Just over two years into this role, he was elevated to director of people and organisation capability. After almost four years with Microsoft, Kakatkar moved to TE Connectivity in 2011. He joined as director of human resources and was promoted to senior director-human resources, APAC and India, in less than two years. This role saw him leading a geographically-dispersed team of HR professionals to deliver on the strategic change management, development, implementation, and integration of HR programmes required to meet business objectives. By June of 2014 he had reached the position of managing director, India and vice president-human resources, Asia Pacific.
He spent over a decade with TE Connectivity before switching to Kalyani Group/Bharat Forge, where he served as president and chief of strategy and organisation. At Kalyani Group, Kakatkar led major changes, from revamping corporate strategy to restructuring the organisation. He built a culture focused on growth, good governance, and following the rules, while also strengthening the company’s leadership team.
He was back with Microsoft for a second stint in February 2024, shaping an inclusive and high-performance culture, and connecting organisation and talent strategies with business strategy, among other responsibilities.
Now, in his new assignment at Cipla, Arun Kakatkar will continue to empower and mentor, qualities he is known for.
HRKatha wishes him all the best!