Pimpri Chinchwad | The role of HR in daily industrial and business operations is often challenging. Apart from ensuring skilled manpower, HR must also address various issues and make decisions accordingly. This helps maintain the smooth functioning of businesses, stated Padma Shri Dr. Leela Poonawalla, Chairperson of the Poonawalla Foundation.
The “HR Excellence Awards – 25” ceremony was organized on Saturday (14th) at Balewadi by Pimpri Chinchwad University (PCU) and Pune Business School (PBS), under the aegis of Pimpri Chinchwad Education Trust (PCET).
The event was graced by PCET trustee and PCU Chancellor Harshvardhan Patil, Firoz Poonawalla of Poonawalla Foundation, Edgar Lee—India representative of the Korean Association, Prasanna Rao from Nirantara Eco, Vice President of Maharashtra Economic Development Council Sachin Itkar, industrialists Narendra Landge and Ajinkya Kalbhor, PCET Executive Director Dr. Girish Desai, PCET Placement Dean Dr. Sheetalkumar Ravandale, PBS Director Dr. Ganesh Rao, Dean Dr. Meenakshi Tyagi, and Ashish Gakre.
Chancellor Harshvardhan Patil emphasized that HR is the soul of any industry. To grow a business, efficient HR professionals are essential. In today’s competitive world, HR plays a critical role in identifying and training skilled manpower. He added that HR professionals shape the future of the country.
Firoz Poonawalla highlighted that modern technology has changed the HR landscape. He stressed the need for using artificial intelligence in daily operations and encouraged knowledge sharing among team members.
Speeches were also delivered by Edgar Lee, Prasanna Rao, Sachin Itkar, Jaya Lakshmi, Pragya Kulkarni, and Pradeep Gandhi. More than 300 HR professionals from various companies participated in the award ceremony.
For the HR Excellence Awards, over 500 entries were invited from national and multinational companies. After preliminary screening, 140 entries were evaluated by the jury, and 60 individuals were finally selected. This is the third year of the award, as mentioned by Dr. Ganesh Rao in his introduction. The program was hosted and concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. Meenakshi Tyagi.
The esteemed jury included:
Amita Khardekar (MasterCard), Jaya Lakshmi (Google), Abhishek Kumar (NielsenIQ), Megha Jashnani (NASDAQ), Pragya Kulkarni (Telstra India), Praveen Gandhi (Tata Technologies), Sumitabh Roy (Owen Financial Solutions Pvt. Ltd.), Rajesh Kumar Singh (KPIT), Dr. Rajendra Hiremath (Bhau Institute Innovation), Hemant Sethiyaa (HR & TA Leader), Shobha Pandey (John Deere), Dr. Sadashiv Padhye (Kirloskar Pneumatic), Sukanya Patwardhan (Mind Beauty), Akanksha Sane (SG Analytics), Pooja Bansal (Senior HR Lead), and others from renowned national and international companies.
The award ceremony was organized under the guidance of PCET President Dnyaneshwar Landge, Vice President Padmatai Bhosale, Secretary Vitthal Kalbhor, Treasurer Shantaram Garade, and PCU Chancellor Harshvardhan Patil.
60 HR Leaders from Prominent Companies Honored with “HR Excellence Award – 25”
Award Categories & Recipients:
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Best in Talent Management:
Vikas Dubey (WNS Global), Shruti K. Bhalerao (WNS, Pune), Preeti Toshniwal (Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., Mumbai), George Cardoz (Forbes Marshall), Beena Guttikar (Tata Technologies), Ashish Banka (Cradlewise, Pune), Sheetal Nimbalkar (BOMAG India) -
Best HR Operations Award:
Sushil Naygar (Hilti Technology Solutions India), Neerajkumar Sharma (Cavista Technologies), Sharad Kumbhar (Finolex Cables Ltd.), Vijaykumar Yadav (Keller Ground Engineering India Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai), Dhiren Desai (Arise BPO) -
Best in Competency Development:
Jaya Gupta (IGW India Technologies Pvt. Ltd.), Kalpesh Thakkar (Tata Motors Ltd.), Dharmine Thakkar (Persistent Systems), Vidya Pathare (Sarloha Advanced Materials Pvt. Ltd.), Mrityunjay Dhasal (Avalara Technologies Pvt. Ltd.) -
Best in Diversity & Inclusion:
Padmaja Singh Arya (NSE Cogencis – Mumbai), Preeti Ahuja (Husk Power), Amit Tiwari (Motherson Automotive Technologies & Engineering), Amar Joshi (Infinite Uptime) -
Best in Talent Acquisition:
James George (ESAF Bank), Manishkumar Pipalva (Eaton), Mohan Samsher (Tech Mahindra), Yogesh Shah (Smith & Nephew), Girish Kanitkar (Ecolab GBS+ Pune), Alok Singh Srivastava (Compucom), Ankur Singh (CloudRock Partners India Pvt. Ltd.) -
HR Leadership Award:
Ravi Singh (PwC), Balliram Mutgekar (BNY Mellon), I.V.S. Ranganath (ShriRam Bioseed Genetics – DCM Shriram Ltd.), Ranjit Singh (Enpro Industries Pvt. Ltd.), Archana Sarda (Microlise Telematics Pvt. Ltd.), Captain Parth Samai (Reliance Jio), Aditi Alatekar (Godrej Industries Group) -
Young HR Leader:
Deepti Sharma (Axis Bank), Abhishek Gupta (Zebpay India), Rahul Dabi (Skoda Auto Volkswagen India Pvt. Ltd.), Piyush Pandey (Tata Motors Ltd., Pune), Shulbha Jain (Tata Technologies), Antariksh R. Sonawane (Yardi Software), Prathamesh (Nutrifresh Farm Tech India Pvt. Ltd., Pune) -
Best CHRO Award:
Sharad Verma (Iris Software), Manjula Rao (FirstCry), Vinod Bidwaik (Sakal Media Group), Mohan Patil (KSB India Ltd.), Vaibhav Deshmukh (Venky’s India Ltd., Pune), Majid Ali Khan (CMS IT Services) -
Unsung Hero Award:
Sadashiv Chavan, Rani Chaure (Aakansha Foundation), Mahesh Randive, Ravindra Metkar, Siddhesh Sakore -
Lifetime Achievement Award:
Sahil Nair (KPMG), Sudhir Mateti (Syntel Telecom) -
Cross Border Innovation & Leadership Award:
Edgar Lee (Hwaseong Solution, Pune India), Sudhir Kulkarni (Bridgestone India), Prasanna Rao (Nirantara Eco), Mark Anthony (HR Lead)
