After a long and successful tenure of over 11 years at IKEA India, Parineeta Cecil Lakra has taken up the role of vice president, HR leader at Albertsons Companies India, the American retailer.
An alumna of XLRI Jamshedpur from where she completed an MBA in HR, Parineeta Cecil Lakra began her professional journey as a summer trainee with Standard Chartered Bank in 2004.
She then joined Genpact in 2005 as a manager. Three years later, she moved to Carrefour India as senior manager, training and development. Less than three years into this role, she was elevated to division head-human resources. After almost six years with Carrefour, Lakra joined IKEA.
Her journey with IKEA began as an HR operations manager, in July of 2014, based out of Gurgaon. Over four years into this role, she was elevated to country transformation hub manager. This role required her to move to Bengaluru. The next promotion in 2020 made her country people and culture manager. Another elevation in September of 2025 made her programme manager: transformation & culture.
In her latest assignment at Albertsons Companies India, Lakra will be leading the HR function partnering with AC India and US leaders to facilitate growth, strengthen culture and ensure a high level of employee engagement.
Known to be a thorough professional, Lakra’s excellent people-management skills will definitely prove to be an asset to Albertsons Companies India.
Parineeta Cecil Lakra says in her social-media post that she is “deeply committed to focusing on building a strong, inclusive, and purpose-led culture, where our people are empowered to do their best work and grow”.
HRKatha wishes her all the best in this endeavour!