LEAD School takes on Rohit Thakur as CHRO

LEAD, the edtech and education institute, has hired Rohit Thakur as its new CHRO. Thakur comes with more than two decades of experience in human resources and has worked with some renowned brands, such as Accenture and Microsoft in the past.

Prior to this assignment, Thakur was the CHRO at Paytm. In his new role, Thakur will be responsible for spearheading employee engagement, talent management and development, stakeholder engagement, internal communication, compliance and health and safety environment.

Thakur will succeed Nirav Jagad, who had recently joined LEAD as the CHRO, but exited after a short stint of eight months.

Having passed out from XLRI, Thakur started his corporate journey with Eicher Goodearth, where he used to handle industrial relations and collective bargaining for the Company’s Ballabgarh plant.

Thakur has experience in various sectors, such as manufacturing, information technology, BFSI and energy.

His longest stint was with GE, where he first joined as the lead for organisation and staffing. He served in various verticals of the Company — GE Aircarft Engines, GE Capital and GE Energy— in different leadership positions. The role he last essayed there was that of HR director, GE Energy before moving on to Microsoft India as the head of human resources.

Thakur, who admits to being “passionate about building a thriving company culture at LEAD, is “thrilled to join LEAD, which has been at the forefront of transforming conventional schooling in India” and is looking forward to “contributing to the Company’s growth journey.”

A graduate from the Shri Ram College of Commerce, Thakur has worked with the computer software company, Cadence, India, as the compensation and benefits manager. During the early years of his career, he also served as a senior HR manager at Bausch and Lomb, India, which manufactures eye- care products.

Commenting on Thakur’s appointment, Sumeet Mehta, co-founder and CEO, LEAD, acknowledges that Thakur “is a well-respected and principled leader who has built teams and organisation culture in both large multinationals and startups”. He is equally thrilled “to have Rohit partner with us in making LEAD a great place to be in.”