CAII Annual Dinner & Awards 2024
1800 hrs – Midnight | 29th March 2024 | Silver Oak, India Habitat Centre
SALUTING PROFESSIONALS
Professionals from corporate sector who rise from the ranks and build India while building a career, making an honest living without becoming business Tycoons or political leaders, have brought about The New India.
India – the way it is today is taken for granted. Infrastructure – digital or physical both have taken several decades to come up.
The role of the state has reduced and contributions from the corporate sector have increased.
In the glamour and the glitz of celebrating businessmen and leaders, the role of professionals is forgotten. They do not make award lists or even national honours.
CEO’s Association for Inclusive India (CAII) and SKOCH Group present SKOCH CEO’s Choice Award. It is a vote of thanks – a token of gratitude from a nation to its professionals.
The award is decided through Peer Evaluation and Domain Expert Consultation.
CEO's Association for Inclusive India (CAII)
Lifetime Achievement
C P Gurnani
Managing Director & CEO, Tech Mahindra Ltd
Digital India has been forty years in the making and we are fortunate to have a ringside view of C P Gurnani’s numerous contributions to it.
India could not afford mainframes and it was his work with NIC that made HCL mini-computers, the first scale deployed multi-user systems ubiquitous in the government projects at the time. Even today, he continues to lead Digital India’s growth story from the forefront with strategic projects on various smart cities, GSTN and so on.
Besides his pioneering work in HCL, Gurnani led Tech Mahindra’s transformation journey into becoming a global digital powerhouse. He is also credited with one of the biggest turnarounds of Indian corporate history – the acquisition and merger of Satyam – and his passion for nurturing a digital future-ready talent pool.
Gurnani is known as a people person, who has significantly contributed towards realising the Digital India dream. He has contributed to society through various initiatives such as reskilling, child education and helping underprivileged children.
Sameer Kochhar
Secretary General, CAII and Chairman, SKOCH Group & SKOCH Foundation
Mr Sameer Kochhar is a social scientist, leading reforms historian in India and an acclaimed author. His domain expertise on socio-economic issues has been used by the government and private sector alike for consultancy on public policy and strategy. He has published 16 books including Defeating Poverty, ModiNomics and The Untold Story of Indian Reforms. He is privileged to have his books released by Dr Manmohan Singh, Mr Narendra Modi, Mr Arun Jaitley and Mr P. Chidambaram, among several other luminaries. His mantra is growth, livelihoods and equity.
He is an industry veteran with a multifaceted career spanning over 37 years with extensive experience in using action research to bring felt-needs to policy and strategy. He is credited with several well-performing public policy interventions in areas of digital, financial and social inclusion. Considered fearless, he is often seen standing up to be counted on issues of national importance, asking difficult questions and offering seasoned advice. He has assessed first-hand a large number of projects in India and has also created one of the biggest independent knowledge repositories on what works/ This also serves as perhaps the only institutional memory of reforms in India.
He has been a member of several expert groups and committees constituted by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India, advocating a case for a strengthening of local self-governance through use of technology; and, the Ministry of Communications and IT on the evaluation of National e-Governance Plan. He was on the advisory committee of College of Agricultural Banking of Reserve Bank of India for nearly 6 years. He has represented India in inter-governmental conferences.
Kulmeet Bawa
President, CAII and President & Managing Director, SAP India
Kulmeet Bawa is the chief architect of SAP’s growth and innovation strategies for the Indian Subcontinent. He is responsible for delivering bold transformations and exceptional SAP experiences to customers across the ecosystem, as well as guiding businesses in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to adopt a digital-first mindset.
Over his 25 years of cross functional experience, Kulmeet has orchestrated business revolution by providing proven business outcomes for organizations across various industries and portfolios. Kulmeet was previously the Chief Operating Officer for Resulticks where he led the growth strategy and execution of go-to-market for the organization.
While at Adobe as Managing Director for India and South Asia, Kulmeet was instrumental in accelerating the organization’s growth momentum by expanding the business footprint within the Enterprise, SMB and Consumer sectors. Prior to Adobe, he has held various leadership roles managing enterprise development and business processes for major tech companies such as Microsoft Corporation and Sun Microsystems.
With a relentless focus on driving customer experience Kulmeet believes in nurturing and mentoring team members, promoting design thinking, creativity and innovative culture. He also actively contributes towards social initiatives which focus on education and women empowerment.
Prior to his corporate avatar, Kulmeet Bawa spent 12 years with the Indian Armoured Corps as a Cavalry officer. During his tenure with the Indian army, Kulmeet was Aide de Camp to the Governor of an Indian State and taught Strategy at the prestigious Armoured Corps Centre and School.
Kulmeet is a graduate from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, and an alumnus of the prestigious National Defence Academy.
CEO of the Year - IT
CEO of the Year - IT
Shailender Kumar
Senior Vice President and Regional Managing Director, Oracle India
Shailender Kumar is Regional Vice President and Regional Managing Director for Oracle India and a committed leader with more than 30 years of executive experience building successful teams and running successful businesses.
As Regional Managing Director, Shailender serves as leader, mentor and partner to Oracle’s vast community of more than 50000 employees, customers and partners in India. Shailender’s responsibilities encompass driving Oracle’s leadership in its core businesses like cloud, delivering on the company’s commitment toward customer and partner success and building and leading a team of dedicated professionals to serve the India ecosystem. Under Shailender’s leadership, Oracle has consistently witnessed year-on-year growth and has been adjudged the best performing region for consecutive years.
Previously, Shailender was Group Vice President – Key Accounts and led the business to become one of Oracle India’s most successful programs that continues to date. Before this, he served as Country Leader for Oracle’s middleware business joining Oracle after its acquisition of BEA Systems. Prior to Oracle, Shailender has held leadership positions at Quest Software, Microsoft India and IBM India.
Shailender is winner of many awards including best sales person globally at Microsoft, Best General Manager at BEA and Quest Software.
Shailender holds a post graduate degree in Business Management from the Institute of Management Technology and has received his engineering degree from the Institute of Engineers.
Contributions to Digital India
Contributions to Digital India
A K Gupta
Chief Information Officer, IFFCO
Mr. A.K. Gupta holds the position of Director (IT Services) and heads the IT & e-commerce division in IFFCO at its Corporate Office, New Delhi. An electrical engineering graduate from NIT, Kurukshetra, Mr.Gupta has been instrumental in leveraging Information Technology for improving the productivity & profitability of the organisation by optimizing the business processes. Widely travelled, he has addressed numerous prestigious IT Seminars across the globe also won many national and international IT awards for IFFCO.
CIO of the Year - Dairy
CIO of the Year - Dairy
Balaji Adivishnu
Chief Innovation Officer, Heritage Foods Limited
Balaji Adivishnu has over 20 years of work experience with 12+ years of working in the Digital Transformation space that includes Digital ID (Aadhaar), Fintech and e-governance. Have spent more than a decade in the Financial Sector ranging from Micro Finance, Credit Cards, Micro Insurance, Micro Pensions and Digital Payments - based on the platform of Unique ID - Aadhaar. Passionate to contribute to the Rural & Emerging Markets and make it a self-sustaining world.
CEO of the Year - Heavy Industry
CEO of the Year - Heavy Industry
Contributions to Digital India
Contribution to Digital India
Sreeji Gopinathan
Chief Information Officer, Lupin
Mr. Sreeji Gopinathan is the Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Lupin Limited and leads the end-to-end IT and Digital portfolio of the company. Sreeji brings to Lupin over 20 years of significant domain expertise and global experience. Prior to joining Lupin, he was with Reckitt Benckiser. He has also been associated with companies like Philips, Procter & Gamble, ISRO and Asea Brown Boveri.
#1 Performer
#1 Performer
CEO of the Year - Insurance
CEO of the Year - Insurance
Vibha Padalkar
Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, HDFC Life
Vibha Padalkar is the Managing Director & CEO of HDFC Life. Under her stewardship, the Company doubled its performance on all key metrics over the past four years, ending with an AUM of Rs 2.4 Tn. as on March 31, 2023. In FY23, she also spearheaded the first M&A in the Indian life insurance industry. Vibha joined the Company in 2008 and prior to assuming charge as the MD & CEO in 2018, Vibha was the ED & CFO and instrumental in the successful listing of HDFC Life in 2017. She is also a member of the Executive Committee (EC) of the Life Insurance Council.
Vibha qualified as a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales in 1992 and is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Over the years, Vibha has been the recipient of various awards which includes the 'CA Business Leader - For Large Corporates - BFSI' at the 15th ICAI Awards by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. She has also been felicitated with awards by ET Prime Women Leadership Awards and IMA India. She featured in the ‘Top 30 Most Powerful Women in Business’ list by Business Today for six consecutive years (2018 to 2023). In 2021, Fortune International recognised Vibha as one of the 'Most Powerful Women in Business'. Vibha has been featured in Fortune India's list of 'Most Powerful Women' for 2021, 2022 and 2023. She also has been featured in the ‘Most Valuable CEOs’ list by Business World for 2022 & 2023 and in their list of 'Most Influential Women in Business' for 2022.
CAII Annual Dinner & Awards
Programme: 1800 hrs – Midnight | 29th March 2024
- 1800 - 1830 — Coffee & Formal Photographs
- 1830 - 1900 — SKOCH India Involved Report
- 1900 - 1930 — Conferring of SKOCH Awards
- 1930 - 2000 — Panel Discussion: WHY CFO'S CARE ABOUT ESG?
- Moderator: Sameer Kochhar, Chairman, SKOCH Group
- Ritesh Tiwari, Chief Financial Officer, Hindustan Unilever Limited
- Vinod Bahety, Chief Financial Officer, Ambuja Cements Limited
- 2000 - 2030 — Conferring of SKOCH Awards
- 2030 - 2330 — Specially curated dinner in Honour of the Awardees - Silver Oak Lawns
- 2330 - Midnight — Collection of Packed Awards and Departure from Silver Oak Patio
Silver Oak
India Habitat Centre
Lodhi Road, New Delhi
1800 hrs – Midnight | 29th March 2024