Achal Khanna is the CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) in India and the Asia Pacific and MENA region. As a women leader, Achal is enthusiastic about women's empowerment, work culture, and leadership. In her current role, Achal Khanna is focused on strengthening the SHRM brand, growing its business, and building strategic relationships with government bodies and regional HR and business associations. She brings a strong track record of building and leading successful businesses across multinational and Indian organisations.

Harit Nagpal is the Managing Director and CEO of Tata Play, with nearly four decades of leadership experience across media, telecom, and consumer businesses. Since joining the company in January 2011, he has helped steer its growth and position it as a leading player in India's content and entertainment distribution space. Prior to Tata Play, he held senior leadership roles at Vodafone, Shoppers Stop, Pepsi, Marico, and Lakmé, and is widely recognized for his strong understanding of consumers, brands, and business transformation.

Sunita Rebecca Cherian, ex-Chief Culture Officer and Senior Vice President, Corporate Human Resources, is a global HR and culture leader with three decades of experience shaping people strategy, culture, and inclusion across complex multinational organisations. She served at Wipro Limited, where she was also a member of the Executive Committee. She now serves in board and advisory roles across HR, governance, and technology, including Medi Assist Healthcare Services Limited, SB Constantia, Vantage Circle, Salary Se, and TAPMI.

Pushp Kumar Nayar is Executive Director, Human Resource Development at Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), with over three decades of experience across operations, sales, marketing, supply chain, and human resources. Over the course of his career, he has held a range of leadership roles within BPCL, bringing a well-rounded understanding of both business and people. He is known for his strong focus on leadership development, organisational growth, and building high-performing teams.

Pavitra Singh heads HR for PepsiCo India and has been with the organisation since 2006. With over 20 years of experience, she has held leadership roles across talent management, learning and development, culture, diversity and inclusion, talent acquisition, and HR business partnering in India and other markets. Before PepsiCo, she worked with American Express and Fair Isaac. She is passionate about building institutional capability, nurturing young talent, and creating inclusive workplaces, and has been recognized by several leading platforms for her contribution to HR and DE&I.

Dr. Atul Hegde is the Founder & Chairman of YAAP Digital , with over two decades of experience at the intersection of media, marketing, technology, and entrepreneurship. Through his work as an investor, founder, and business leader, he has played an influential role in shaping India's digital and startup ecosystem. An advocate of Happiness at work. He is known for building and scaling forward-looking businesses, he brings a strong understanding of innovation, brand-building, and the evolving dynamics of the digital economy.

Nitu Bhushan is the Head of Human Resources at Nestlé India, bringing over two decades of experience in people strategy, leadership development, and organisational transformation across global organisations. Prior to joining Nestlé India in 2026, she served as Chief Human Resources Officer for South Asia at Pernod Ricard, where she played a key role in shaping talent strategy and building high-performing teams. Over the course of her career, Nitu has held senior HR leadership roles at Abbott, Mondelēz, HSBC, Asian Paints, and Accenture, building cross-sector experience across FMCG, pharma, banking, and technology.

Dr Prajjal Saha is the founder and editor of HRKatha.With nearly three decades of experience since 1997, he writes on the realities of work, leadership and organisational dynamics, focusing on how companies translate intent into action and where the gap lies. He founded HRKatha in 2015 as a platform for clear, insight-driven analysis of the evolving workplace, which today reaches over 500,000 HR professionals. Prior to this, he led editorial at afaqs! for over a decade, shaping one of India’s leading advertising and marketing media platforms.

Raj Nayak is a happiness evangelist and Founder & Managing Director of House of Cheer, dedicated to redefining how organizations value their people by fostering more humane work experiences. He believes happiness drives productivity and consistently champions the creation of more conscious, people-centric workplaces.