Emrana Sheikh joins J&J, Indrajeet Sengupta moves to Coca-Cola

Sheikh has moved from Asian Paints, where she had been heading HR for over three years, while Sengupta was head-HR at J&J for eight years. 

Emrana Sheikh has joined Johnson & Johnson (J&J) as enterprise HR head for India and South Asia. She has moved from Asian Paints, where she was head-HR for the last three and a half years. Sheikh has over 25 years of rich experience in both the manufacturing and service industries, ranging from FMCG and automotive to farm equipment and express transportation.

Sheikh has spent almost half of her career with Fedex, where she was head of HR-L&D, MEIA region. From Fedex she moved to Mahindra, where she joined as senior general manager-HR and headed HR for the auto division and international operations. Later, she was elevated as VP-HR and went on to lead HR for the automotive division comprising seven plants and 18 sales offices across India. Additionally, she was also head-HR for international operations of the auto and farm businesses of Mahindra & Mahindra.

Sheikh told HRKatha, “Johnson & Johnson has a 130-year old history of helping people live healthier and happier lives. With this new role, I hope to contribute to the Company’s ongoing focus on innovation and building a diverse workforce, to address the healthcare needs of people today and in the future.”

Meanwhile, Indrajeet Sengupta who was CHRO, J&J, has moved to Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages (Coke India) as CHRO. Sengupta had led HR at J&J for eight years, guiding the transformation of the HR function to a progressive business partner. His role included delivering directly to 6000+ employees and associates and enhancing the employee experience. He also provided thought leadership with a focus on reputation, external outreach, innovation, talent, diversity & inclusion, employer branding, governance and business conduct.

At Coke India, the position of CHRO was lying vacant since Seema Nair’s sudden exit in less than a year.

Prior to J&J, Sengupta worked with the food & beverages company, Mars, which owns brands such as M&M, Pedigree, Snickers and Orbit.

Sengupta, who passed out of XISS Ranchi in 1995, has spent a large part of his career with GE India. As HR manager at GE, he worked across brands and functions–covering GE Plastics, GE Lighting and GE Medical Systems. He learnt about union relations, manufacturing, learning & development initiatives, 360-degree appraisal system, Six Sigma and human resource information systems implementation. During his 13-year long stint at GE, Sengupta got elevated at regular intervals, with his last designation being head of C&B, Asia Pacific.

Sengupta’s immediate mandate at Hindustan Coca Cola is to focus on transforming the HR and facilities management functions, and partnering with the business to evolve HCCB into a company of significant scale and size.

Christina Ruggiero, CEO, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages says, “HCCB is in the middle of a very interesting phase in its journey as it evolves into a company of significant scale and size. We aim to leverage his vast experience and expertise of many markets and multiple industries, in building the People capabilities at HCCB.”