Gautami Vinayan has joined Utsav Group of Companies as chief operating officer and HR, bringing experience across human resources, operations, recruitment, compliance and employee engagement.
In her new role, Vinayan will combine her HR and operational experience to support the group’s workforce priorities and business operations.
Prior to joining Utsav Group, Vinayan worked as a human resources consultant with Bennett Coleman & Co. (The Times of India), where she served from January to August 2026.
Before that, she was deputy manager at Food+ by Compass, where her experience included compliance management and employee engagement. She had earlier served as manager at Sodexo, with responsibilities spanning recruitment and onboarding.
Her earlier career includes a stint as senior executive – human resources at Compass Group, followed by a role as human resources executive at SILA. She also worked as a human resource associate at JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar, gaining experience in recruitment, compliance and employee-related processes.
Vinayan spent nearly three years with Salaam Bombay Foundation, initially as a human resource consultant and later as an executive assistant. She began her professional exposure to HR through an internship at Four Points by Sheraton in 2017.
She holds a BSc in Resource Management from Dr BMN College of Home Science.
Utsav Group of Companies is a diversified business group with interests across entertainment and productions, news and media, export-import and logistics, green energy, and management and marketing consultancy.
Her move to the COO & HR role brings together the two strands of her experience—people management and operational execution—within a diversified business group.
