Arvind Kumar

Director

Pune, India
arvind@empoweredindia.com
+91 - 80072 23344

With over 30 years of rich and diversified corporate experience, Arvind Kumar brings unique insight in business going well outside the realm of textbooks.

Having worked in senior leadership positions in high performing family owned businesses and multinational corporations, in the Durables and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sectors, Arvind is able to visualise the global benchmark standards and methodologies to reach them. His core belief is that power of people is the quintessential factor for corporate success and he is passionate about gold standard achievements, business value extraction and achieving business results with ethics.

In his corporate career - as part of firms like Asian Paints, Marico, Dabur, Britannia, International Food Company and PepsiCo - he has worked in various business functions like sales, marketing, factory management, supply chain, corporate affairs, commodities purchases and international business.

His exposure has been to markets across the globe including the United States, UK, Japan, the Middle East, Russia, Africa and all over South Asia, besides India. His last assignment, prior to joining Empowered Learning Systems, was at Strategic Food International Company (a Britannia subsidiary), Dubai, as the Chief Executive Officer.

Arvind graduated from St. Stephens College, Delhi, with a BA (Hons.) in Economics and completed management studies at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

In his role as Director at Empowered Learning, besides supporting the current business practices in Strategy, Arvind will be building practice in International Business, Corporate Affairs and Corporate Governance and advising Emerging Large Companies.

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K. Jayshankar (Jay)

Managing Director

Pune, India
jay@empoweredindia.com
+91 - 98220 46468

Jay is the Managing Director of Empowered Learning Systems Pvt. Ltd. which focuses on Consulting, Training, Organisation Processes & Coaching. A Certified Management Consultant (CMC) with nearly 30 years’ experience in industry, he specializes in strategic planning, leadership development, change management, and empowering learning throughout organisations. Further, he has been an Executive Coach for senior business managers for many years.

Besides being a Faculty member at various management schools at Mumbai, Pune and at Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, Jay is a member of different professional bodies, including the Strategic Management Society (SMS), the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD), Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), International Coach Federation (ICF), the Institute of Management Consultants of India (IMCI), among others. He has been a speaker at a number of international conferences in Japan, USA, Panama, Netherlands, Egypt & South Africa.

His education was in different parts of India: a graduation from the Madras Christian College (majoring in economics, with mathematics and statistics as additional subjects), a post-graduation from the reputed Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai (specializing in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations), and a Law degree, saw Jay ready to make major contributions to organisations. In 1999, he was one of the chosen few to be selected for the prestigious Chevening Gurukul scholarship to the London School of Economics on Global Leadership & Excellence. Besides, he is also a certified Coach (ACC) & a Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR).

After a bright and rewarding stint in the corporate world with Tatas, he moved on to fully engage in wider organisational consultancy, setting up Empowered Learning Systems in 1992. His assignments have been for a wide range of companies, both nationally and internationally, in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman and Qatar), Sri Lanka, Nigeria and South East Asia (Singapore, Malaysia & Thailand). Participants for his workshops have been drawn from all levels of employees—front-line managers, supervisors, middle, senior managers and board members. Further, his assignments have also extended to the Public & Goverment Sector where he has been involved with Mumbai, Thane & Nagpur Police, apart from the Municipal Corporation of Mumbai.

He has been a regular faculty member at the Maharashtra Government’s Administrative Staff College (YASHADA) at Pune and the Tata Management Training Centre (TMTC). His articles have featured in many publications in India & overseas, including a book published by Pfeiffer. Besides, he has a regular column in the BusinessDay, Nigeria’s reputed Economic Daily.

He has also organized & facilitated India’s first Corporate Leadership Expedition Journey (‘Reach for the Sky’) when a team scaled Mount Kilimanjaro (Africa’s highest peak at over 19,340 feet) on August 15th, 2007, timing with India’s 60th Independence celebration.

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Meeta Lee

Consultant

Pune, India
meeta@empoweredindia.com
+91 - 90499 89754

Meeta has had a rich and fruitful experience in Sales & Marketing with the Oberoi Group of Hotels and in Operations & Learning and Development with HSBC. She is a graduate in BA - Sociology from Mumbai , a Diploma holder in Hotel Management from IHM, Mumbai and holds a diploma in Business Management from ICFAI.

As Vice President – Learning & Development at HSBC, Training Administration and Resource Management, Meeta was responsible for the project management of the Global Learning & Development Centre, putting administration processes in place for the smooth functioning of the Learning & Development certification processes and administration of Learning Management Systems across Global Resourcing.

Whilst with The Krishna Oberoi, in her Sales & Marketing role, she was responsible for creating loyalty programs, interacting with the media for promotions and generating business for the Oberoi Hotels.

Meeta is a certified Call Coach and also a licensed Kepner & Fourie trainer and consultant for Problem Solving and Free Zone Innovation.

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Prasad Deshpande

Director

Pune, India
prasad@empoweredindia.com
+91 - 98905 89898

Prasad Deshpande, an Engineer by qualification, brings along a solid background of more than 20 years experience in the areas of Business academics, Consultancy and Sales. He has contributed to a wide range of Industrial segments including FMCG, Industrial Consumables, Project Selling, Information Technology and Service sectors at all levels of management & staff personnel.

Prasad’s expertise lies in the areas of Leadership Development and Sales & Service Management. Apart from designing and facilitating workshops in each of these areas, he works closely with organisations to develop and implement best-in-class processes. An International Speaker and writer, Prasad regularly speaks at the ASTD and has contributed to various international publications, such as the International Journal of Industrial and Commercial Training.

As Head of the Business Thinking Practice, he works with organisations to apply the principles of Whole Brain Thinking (WBT) across the organisation to coach mangers, increase employee and team performance and in building superior customer relationships. WBT is the organizing principle behind the development of Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument® (HBDI®), a widely used and most researched diagnostic tool that measures our preferences in thinking styles and communication. Prasad is a certified practitioner of HBDI®, now being offered in India through Empowered Learning Systems.

He has been a faculty member at the Maharashtra Goverment's Administrative Staff College (YASHADA) at Pune.

Prasad is also a licensed KEPNERandFOURIE Program Leader in Problem Solving, Decision Making and FreeZone Innovation Thinking.

At various points of his distinguished career, Prasad has worked with:

• Indian School of Business (ISB), Center for Executive Education, Hyderabad as Director - Open Programs, responsible for setting up the highly successful Open Enrollment Programs division.
• Mercuri International - Europe's largest training and consultancy company as Principal Consultant and Project Leader.
• Tata Management Training Centre (TMTC) - as a faculty member.
• Sandvik Asia & Phillips - in the Sales & Industrial Engineering divisions.

In his constant endeavor to disseminate knowledge about WBT® and HBDI®, Prasad has presented white papers, written articles and given interviews. Click here to read them online or for downloading for offline access.

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Rohan Shahane

Principal Consultant

Pune, India
rohan@empoweredindia.com
+91 - 95525 98909

Rohan is a Principal Consultant at ELS.

He brings with him over 16 years of diverse experience in Organisational Development, Performance Consulting, Human Resource Management and Coaching.

Through his varied assignments over the years, he has gained deep insights into leadership behaviour, teaming culture and organisational effectiveness. His current work focuses on facilitating learning, enhancing performance and developing leadership at organisational, team and individual levels.

He has been credentialed as an Associate Certified Coach (ACC) by the International Coach Federation (ICF) and a Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR) by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

A graduate in Economics and Law, he also holds a Master’s in Personnel Management from the University of Pune. He has a Diploma in Training & Development from the Indian Society for Training & Development.

A distance runner, Rohan also enjoys field & adventure sports, travelling and learning about different cultures.

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Vijayan Pankajakshan

Principal Consultant

Mumbai, India
vijayan@empoweredindia.com
+91 - 98334 77278

Vijayan Pankajakshan is a Gold Medalist from the Human Resources Management & Labour Relations School of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai and he has a number of success stories that have marked his 25 years plus career life in the realm of Personnel Management, Employee Relations, Organisational Development, Total Quality Management and Manufacturing Management. Undoubtedly, Vijayan has a deep understanding of business. He has conceptualised and executed innovative HR practices and processes resulting in organisation building based on Vision and Values platform.

He has a track record of having worked in diverse organisation settings ranging from MNC to Indian and from single business units to conglomerates. He has been associated with enterprises of excellence starting with ICI, and going onto Novartis, Marico, Unilever Best Foods, IFFCO Group (UAE), AC Nielsen (UAE), Mahindra & Mahindra and finally, CHEP India (a Brambles company) where he was Director - Human Resources. Effective December 1, 2009, he has been attached to WE Business School (earlier known as Welingkar B School), Mumbai (ranked amongst the top 20 business schools in India) as Dean.

Vijayan's work is aptly exemplified by the organisation building and growth story of Marico, a company he was closely associated with for a decade between 1990 and 1999. During his tenure with the company, many innovations and best people practices were implemented resulting in, for one, the Palakkad factory being a union free location for over 9 years and even thereafter not having experienced any breakdown in management - employee relations. For another, the company witnessed the successful implementation of a job-rotation scheme, a practice that saw Vijayan, himself, taking on the mantle of General Manager - Manufacturing, Palakkad. National recognition of these efforts was not lagging behind. Marico won the National Human Resources Development Network (NHRDN) award for Best HR practices in 1994. Vijayan's responsibilities have been diverse - from HR & OD to quality - He was the Chief Company-wide TQM Facilitator between 1994 and 1996 - to manufacturing, but in none has he not delivered through commitment and innovative practice.

Knowledge, especially in his vocational domain, is held very dear by Vijayan. He is ever ready to imbibe and impart. He holds certification in Competency Development & Management and in Managing the Learning Function conducted by the American Society of Training & Development (ASTD) at Atlanta, USA, as well. Acclaim has come his way on account of the numerous papers presented across national and international fora to his credit. He was invited to speak at the 13th Global Leadership Forum, at Istanbul, Turkey, in September 2009. He has also got recognition amongst his peers from the HR professional fraternity for his important contributions. He is currently the Executive Committee member of the Mumbai chapter of NHRDN. Vijayan works extensively with students, academia and institutions (including teaching at TISS, Mumbai, and Sadhana Centre for Management & Leadership Development (SCMLD), Pune) to enhance effectiveness and collaboration of institutions. He has mentored many a youngster who have gone on to occupy senior and top management positions in India and outside. He actively contributes to a monthly Business HR Quiz column in NHRDN's monthly newsletter.

And now....as PRINCIPAL CONSULTANT with ELS, Vijayan brings into play his various facets for the benefit of clients. Vijayan is also a licensed KEPNERandFOURIE Program Leader in Problem Solving, Decision Making and FreeZone Innovation Thinking.

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