Avanse Financial Services, an education-focused non-banking financial company (NBFC), has appointed Achal Goel as its new chief people officer ( CPO) effective November 2023. Goel will be based out of Avanse’s Mumbai head office.
With a career spanning over two decades, Goel’s expertise lies in talent acquisition, managing employee relations, business partnering, talent management, stakeholder management, performance management, employee engagement and grievance redressal.
In his new role, Goel will lead the human resources team in developing and implementing best practices, policies and procedures to support the organisation’s most important asset, its people, to not only grow professionally, but personally. Goel will also spearhead the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) framework by developing policies and initiatives in line with the organisation’s ethical, sustainable and environmental commitments.
Before joining Avanse, he was associated with Kotak Mahindra Bank for over a decade. He joined the company in October 2016 as its VP and regional HR, Consumer Bank. He was then elevated to the role of senior vice president and national lead HR, growth market (vertical HR ) in September 2020. As the SVP, he actively contributed to decisions related to prevention of sexual harassment (POSH) complaints, ensuring strict compliance with mandatory leave, staff rotation and effectively managing whistleblower investigations.
Additionally, he successfully maintained a 95 per cent plus staffing level and significantly reduced attrition to 31 per cent in branch banking. Two years into this role, he was elevated to the role of senior vice president and national lead HR (vertical HR RM-priority-NR-CEC-RLHO (analytics and digital), in May 2022.
Prior to Kotak, he worked with other global banks, including Citibank India. He has a wealth of experience across various verticals of a finance institution, enabling him to gain a holistic understanding of all the functionalities.
Commenting on Achal’s appointment, Amit Gainda, managing director & CEO, Avanse Financial Services, stated how Goel’s experience will help drive business transformation through the integration of people and technology.
“We are confident that Achal’s leadership will empower us to bring innovative perspectives and strategies to boost our HR function withh a focus on growth, diversity, equity and inclusion. This will further positively impact the progress and advancement of the organisation in the long run, making it a great place to work. We look forward to working with Achal and successfully implementing his comprehensive insights to strengthen our purpose of democratising education and education lending,” he added.
