Shaping Workplaces, Elevating Potential
Transforming workplace cultures since 2000.
In The Spotlight
Our Vision
To be a global leader in workplace culture and inclusion solutions helping organizations attain sustainable business success through the power of people.
What we believe
A strong workplace culture is the foundation of an organization’s success. When individuals feel seen, heard, and aligned with their purpose, they bring their best selves to work—fueling innovation, collaboration, and growth.
A truly dynamic workplace isn’t just about policies—it’s about fostering an environment where people flourish, ideas thrive, and businesses achieve sustainable success.
Our mission
Transform 100,000 workplaces across India by 2027, enabling organizations to create high-performing, people-centric cultures.
Facilitate employment opportunities for 500,000 women across metros, Tier-I, Tier-II, and Tier-III cities—strengthening workforce participation and economic progress.
Influence 50,000 educational institutions to nurture future-ready talent equipped to build progressive, inclusive workplaces.
By reimagining workplace culture, we unlock potential—not just for individuals, but for businesses and the economy at large.
We drive you to make diversity your competitive advantage.
Dr. Saundarya Rajesh
Founder & President, Avtar Group
Meet the team
Karthik Ekambaram
Co-Founder & Head of Solutions
Karthik Ekambaram (He/Him/His)
Co-Founder & Head of Solutions
A Diversity and Inclusion specialist who has completed several seminal projects successfully for various organizations. An MBA, with over 19 years of experience in business analysis, talent strategy and workforce diversity consulting, Karthik has devised flexible working policies and created diversity-ready workplaces for several fortune 500 organizations. Karthik has also co-authored several papers that have been published in Journals of National and International repute. He has been conferred the DIVERSITY LEADERSHIP AWARD by World HRD Congress.
Umasanker Kandaswamy
Co Founder & Chief of Staff
Umasanker Kandaswamy (He/Him/His)
Co Founder & Chief of Staff
Umasanker Kandaswamy is a dynamic professional an Engineer with Master’s in Public Administration and has done an MDP from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and over 25 years of experience in recruitment, sales, and marketing.
As a Recruitment expert, Umasanker has an impeccable track record of identifying and recruiting top talent for some of the most prestigious organizations in the world. His ability to understand the unique requirements of each position and identify candidates that fit the culture and goals of the organization is unparalleled. Umasanker’s insights and expertise have helped his clients build highly effective teams and drive their business forward.
As a Co-founder of Avtar Group, Umasanker has played a key role in developing and implementing innovative programs that provide innovative Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) solutions to the India Inc. Through his leadership the social enterprise has grown into a highly respected organization that has positively impacted the lives of many.
In his role as Sales & Marketing Head, Umasanker has been instrumental in driving revenue growth and expanding Avtar’s visibility and relentlessly drive the efforts towards increasing women’s workforce participation at India Inc. His ability to understand customer needs, create effective marketing strategies, and build high-performing sales teams has been critical to the success of Avtar.
Overall, Umasanker is a highly accomplished and driven professional who has made significant contributions in the fields of recruitment, social entrepreneurship, and sales and marketing. His passion, vision, and expertise make him a powerful force for change and has been invited by many forums for speaking opportunities. He is also the Trustee of Avtar Human Capital Trust, which has some amazing initiatives like Project PUTHRI & MITR.
Umasanker’s personal goal is to train young generation in the path of Leadership. And he drives this through his talks at various colleges and educational institutions by addressing the youth.
Volunteering Experience:
Executive Committee Member – Indian Institute of Ahmedabad Chennai Chapter – since 2018
President – Rotary Club of Madras Vadapalani – 2018 - 2019
Convener – Executive Recruiters Association – 2014 - 2016
Priya Dayabaran
Senior Vice President - Organizational Development
Priya Dayabaran (She/Her/Hers)
Senior Vice President, Organizational Development
One of the founder members of Avtar, Priya heads the Organizational Development function. Since joining Avtar in 2000 she has handled multiple roles – Recruiter, Management Representative – ISO, Team Leader and Head of Practice. A true blue Avtarite, her multifarious experience has made Priya a very astute talent strategy consultant & a perfect culture ambassador. She also leads the Centralized Support Function of the Avtar Group.
Eswar Balasubramanian
Senior Vice President – Outreach and Impact
Eswar Balasubramanian (He/Him/His)
Senior Vice President, Outreach and Impact
Heading the Outreach Programs at AVTAR Human Capital Trust and project Puthri, Eswar is a Management Post Graduate in Finance & HR from Anna University, with over 17+ years of work experience. Having joined Avtar as a management trainee and now raised to leadership levels, he is a seasoned HR professional with well-honed expertise in handling large Clientele. He has completed a very specialised Leadership certification program from Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode. His indulgence in free coaching classes for the needy and community service has led him to handle his current role with a greater sense of purpose.
Usha Pillai
Senior Vice President, Recruitment Solutions
Usha Pillai(She/Her)
Senior Vice President, Recruitment Solutions
Usha has over 30 years of experience spanning several industries--- IT Education, Telecom, Tech support BPO, Accounting KPO, Holidays & leisure and Consulting. She has acquired rich domain experience in HR Consulting and Telecom sectors, Education & Training and Contact Centre operations, by virtue of building the necessary infrastructure, capacity planning, streamlining operations through systems, processes and people to deliver client metrics and organization goals. She has played several roles from being a trainer, CRM specialist, profit centre head, regional head, head of service delivery to being a Chief Operating Officer. She believes in continuous learning, evident in the fact that she completed her MBA with XLRI after 15 years of working and has been certified in MBTI, Strong, and POSH Awareness.
Roy Vijaykumar
Vice President – Talent and Infra
Roy Vijayakumar (He/Him/His)
Vice President, Talent and Infra
Roy started his career at Avtar in system administration and moved on to head the IT Recruitment Practice handling a large team of 50+ recruiters. He has one and half decades of experience in Recruitment & managing the clients. He now managers IT infrastructure and Administration. His Primary areas of responsibility include providing technical expertise in networking technology and hardware, including switches, routers and firewalls. He takes care of the management of services and processes that support the core business of the organisation. He is involved in both strategic planning and day-to-day operations, particularly in relation to buildings and premises.
Dr. Nandini Murali, PhD
Vice President – Learning & Research
Dr. Nandini Murali, PhD
Vice President – Learning & Research
Nandini Murali, PhD is a certified life coach, a suicide prevention and mental health activist, author and a communications, and gender and diversity professional. She has a doctorate in Gender Studies, two postgraduate degrees each in English and Psychology, a diploma in journalism and advanced degrees in teaching English as a Foreign Language from the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad, India.
She has written five books, including fiction and nonfiction and is currently working on two other books. Her collection of poetry on love, loss and longing can be found at www.wildlfowerpoetry.com.
Veena Mukund
Vice President - Client Engagements
Veena Mukund (She/Her/Hers)
Vice President - Client Engagements
A veteran with over one and half decades of experience in Recruitment, Veena handles the BD & Client engagements for Avtar. In her stint here, she has closed senior positions for clients across industries. Veena now manages the Business development for the Southern & Eastern region of India. Apart from this she works closely with organizations in helping them craft suitable “Second Career Programs for Women” and help them successfully close positions. Veena’s vision in the professional front is to help maximum women get back to work through the various “Career come back programs for women” Avtar is partnering with various Corporate companies.
Anju G Parvathy
Vice President – Research & Solutions
Anju G Parvathy (She/Her/Hers)
Vice President – Research & Solutions, Avtar
A CBSE national topper and a Computer Science Engineer from BITS, Pilani, Anju leads Research based solutioning at Avtar. Working across the length and breadth of workplace culture and inclusion metrics for companies, Anju and her team produces several strategic insights for corporate India. She leads Corporate India’s largest workplace inclusion benchmarking exercises – Avtar & Seramount Best Companies for Women in India and Most Inclusive Companies Index. In her career spanning 17 years, she has co-authored several papers on workplace inclusion and women’s advancement that have been published in Journals of National and International repute.
Siddharth Srinivasan
Vice President - Marketing & Key Accounts
Siddharth Srinivasan
Vice President - Marketing & Key Accounts
Siddharth Srinivasan brings with him over two decades of marketing expertise across FMCG, IT and Advertising industries. He joins us from Wunderman Thompson South Asia, where he was head of India operations for their global IT services account. He is passionate about building brands and strives to inspire their growth with strategic thinking, data-driven solutions and doing the fundamentals well. Beyond work, Siddharth has a diverse tapestry of interests. He is a sports enthusiast at heart. He engages in Badminton and football, attributing self-discipline to the formative influence of sports during his upbringing. He is a knowledge chaser who finds solace in multi-genre topics - from cosmos to science to history to psychology to music.
S. Bhanu Kumar
Vice President, ESG & information Services
S. Bhanu Kumar (He/Him/His)
Head-Information Technology
A Technologist with close to 3 decades of hands on experience in Technology relating to Cloud Infrastructure, Automatic Identification & Data Capture (AIDC), Analytics, DevOps, Agile. An industry veteran currently focusing on Giving back to Society. Robust experience around identifying and implementing the right technical solution for any requirement with appropriate due diligence, risk assessment, solution design and implementation. Built multiple Technology Centers of excellence facilitating career progression for individuals and effective solutioning for the Organization. A passionate Trainer, Mentor & Coach with more than 5000 hours of training and still ticking. Bhanu handles anything and everything around Technology at Avtar.
Rashmi Ravindran (She/Her/Hers)
Assistant Vice President, Online Diversity Solutions
As part of the Solutions Team, Rashmi works on creating customised DEI strategies and solutions for clients. With over 20 years of expertise in Branding and Communications, she brings a unique blend of strategic insight and creative execution to every project. She has successfully led Avtar’s Marketing and Communications division, establishing its structure and driving impactful campaigns. Rashmi’s expertise extends to product development, having spearheaded initiatives such as the creation of Avtar Academy, a pioneering DEI e-learning platform. Her extensive experience and passion for inclusion make her a trusted partner in crafting transformative DEI solutions for organizations.
Rashmi Ravindran
Assistant Vice President, Online Diversity Solutions
Swetha Lakshmi narayanan (She/Her)
Assistant Vice President - Talent Acquisition
Swetha Lakshmi is a seasoned talent acquisition leader with 22 years of experience, specializing in leadership hiring, career transitions, and diversity recruitment. With 18 years in recruitment, she has successfully placed 500+ candidates across Business As Usual hiring, Second Career Hiring for women, and Leadership hiring in industries such as Consumer Goods, Retail, Manufacturing, Telecom, BPOs, KPOs, and IT. Passionate about leadership hiring, Swetha focuses on women in leadership and C-suite roles. Her contributions have earned her recognition among the Top 150 Recruiters by IIMJobs, underscoring her commitment to diversity and leadership excellence. She holds a Post Graduate degree in Management from Madras University.
Swetha Lakshmi Narayanan
Assistant Vice President - Talent Acquisition
Lakshmi Vijaykumar (She/Her/Hers)
Assistant Vice President, Events & Media Relations
With over 15 years of journalistic experiences in the print media, Lakshmi has worked in leading business dailies – Business Standard in Delhi and The Hindu Business Line in Chennai. At Avtar, she carefully curates the group’s media presence to align with the group’s over-arching vision on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and increasing women’s workforce participation. She spearheads the Events function to conceptualize, form strategies and operationalize the events and conferences at Avtar.
Lakshmi Vijaykumar
Assistant Vice President - Events & Media Relations
Shankari Nandi (She/Her/Hers)
Assistant Vice President - Client Solutions
A Post Graduate Diploma holder in Public Relations from Bhavan’s College, Mumbai, Shankari has over 20 years of work experience in diverse industries – Printing, Real Estate, etc. She is part of the Sales and BD team and has been working with Avtar for nearly a decade now. She handles Sales, Client Relationship Management and Business Development, managing the Western Region – Mumbai, Pune and NCR. She received the “Extra Miler Award” from Dr. Saundarya Rajesh during the 18th Avtar Anniversary Celebrations @ Chennai.
Shankari Nandi
Assistant Vice President - Client Solutions
Meet our Industry Experts
Bhavani Balasubramanian
Chief Strategist –
Diversity Evaluation
Bhavani Balasubramanian
Chief Strategist – Diversity Evaluation
Bhavani a Chartered Accountant by profession was formerly Partner and Head of Diversity & Inclusion at Deloitte. As the Inclusion Leader at Deloitte, she has lead various D&I initiatives for around 5000 professionals over four years. She has been the Chair Person of Company Law Committees of Assocham, Madras Chamber of Commerce, Hindustan Chamber of Commerce for two respective terms and member of the Audit and Assurance Board at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Kannan Hariharan
Chief Strategist (Culture and Belongingness), Avtar Group
Kannan Hariharan
Chief Strategist – Culture & Belongingness
Kannan is a seasoned HR leader and strategist with over 35 years of experience across diverse industries, geographies, and cultures. He is currently the Chief Strategist – Culture and Belongingness at Avtar Group, where he has been shaping workplace culture, diversity, and leadership strategies for over five years. Prior to Avtar, Kannan spent 21 years at PepsiCo International, holding senior HR leadership roles across India, Vietnam, and the broader APAC region. Before PepsiCo, he gained 12 years of experience in manufacturing, services, and Indian multinational companies, building deep expertise in talent management, leadership development, and organizational culture transformation. A recipient of multiple prestigious awards, Kannan was honoured with the PepsiCo Harvey C. Russell Diversity & Inclusion Award (2004, 2014), the Chairman’s Award for Corporate Social Responsibility (2006), and the Chairman’s Award for Business Performance in Vietnam (2014). At Avtar, Kannan has led culture and DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging) interventions for 70+ clients across industries, helping organizations foster inclusive workplaces, strengthen leadership, and drive systemic change. He is also on the Board of Advisors for Avtar. He is a Marshall Goldsmith & Hogan Certified Coach, having mentored and coached numerous executives throughout his career, both within PepsiCo and externally. Kannan holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from Madras Christian College and an Associate degree in Personnel Management from the Madras School of Social Work. He has also studied Advanced HRM at the University of Michigan – Ross Business School, USA. Passionate about culture-building, leadership effectiveness, and fostering inclusion, Kannan continues to help organizations create high-performing, people-centric workplaces where individuals thrive.
Amita Kasbekar
Principal Strategist – LGBTQ+ Practice
Amita Kasbekar
Principal Strategist – LGBTQ+ Practice
Amita has over 23 years of experience in the space of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. For the past 11 years, she has worked with Deloitte US India offices, where she led their DE&I efforts. Amita successfully positioned Deloitte among the top 10 Best Companies for Women in India. She has several years of experience leading and influencing all aspects of Inclusion and HR policies as they relate to talent acquisition, retention and advancement. Amita has rich experience contributing to Gender, Disability, cultural, generational, sexual orientation and holistic wellbeing.
Sriram P
Chief Strategist - DEI Transformation - Avtar Group
Sriram P
Chief Strategist, DEI Transformation, Avtar Group
A post graduate in Production Management, Sriram has around 39 years of corporate experience having worked in Senior Leadership Roles across large MNCs & reputed Indian organizations like Pernod Ricard, UB Group, Shaw Wallace and so on. Superannuated in June 2021 as Executive Vice President, Operations and he was also a former Director on the board of Pernod Ricard India. He was leading All-India Operations to drive Business Results, Formulating Strategy, Key Projects for future growth, driving Procurement efficiency, Capex, Quality Assurance, Consumer centricity, end to end Supply Security to achieve desired Growth both in Top & Bottom-line. He was instrumental in developing seamless cross-functional collaborative processes around operations, planning and delivery to ensure timely availability of quality product against forecasted demand in the most cost-effective manner.
Keshav Prasad,
Chief Strategist - ESG
Avtar Advisory Board
Akshey Rajesh
Product Lead – Google
Akshey Rajesh
Product Lead- Google
Akshey is a Product Lead at Google in the AdTech space. He has successfully launched multiple tools and product features, garnering an impressive user base. An accomplished Product Strategist and Technology Management Professional, he is passionate about creating great products and delivering outstanding customer experiences. He identifies as neurodiverse, providing him with a unique perspective that fosters a deep appreciation for workplace diversity and inclusion. He is passionate about demystifying neurodiversity in the workplace and mentoring neurodiverse individuals.
Bhavani Balasubramanian
Chief Strategist – Diversity Evaluation, Avtar Group
Bhavani Balasubramanian
Chief Strategist – Diversity Evaluation, Avtar Group
Bhavani is a Chartered Accountant and Company Secretary by profession. She worked as the Audit and Assurance Partner and Head of Diversity and inclusion at Deloitte, with four decades of experience. An independent director on the Boards of Public Companies, she is also the Chairperson of the Women’s Business Council of the Madras Chamber of Commerce and has been the Chairperson of the Company Law Committees of Assocham and Madras Chamber of Commerce. Bhavani has been a member of the Audit and Assurance Board at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India for 8 years, and has authored 10 publications on audit, curated and launched the audit e-learning project. She is recognized for her expertise in risk-based audits and was invited by the governments of India and Bhutan to train government auditors. She is currently an Academic Council Member of Shiv Nadar University.
Kannan Hariharan
Chief Strategist- Culture & Belongingness, Avtar Group
Kannan Hariharan
Chief Strategist- Culture & Belongingness, Avtar Group
Kannan was Senior Director of HR with PepsiCo International for over 21 years till March 2018. His wide range of experience includes sectors like manufacturing, service, and Indian MNC. He received the PepsiCo Harvey C Russell - Diversity and Inclusion Award in 2004 and 2014. He was also the recipient of the Chairman’s Award for Corporate Social Responsibility in 2006 and the Chairman's Award for Business Performance in Vietnam in 2014. He has conducted Diversity, Inclusion, and belongingness interventions for over 30 MNCs and large Indian organizations from various industry verticals, as part of the Avtar team. He has coached several executives and has undertaken commendable work, building a robust talent pipeline for Emerging Markets (Vietnam) and also for developed markets like India.
Dr Lalitha Balakrishnan
Member of General Council NAAC
Dr Lalitha Balakrishnan
Member of General Council NAAC
A member of the General Council NAAC for the last six years, Dr. Lalitha has been an educational administrator for over two decades, and Professor in Management and Commerce, with active teaching experience for about 34 years. As principal of MOP Vaishnav College for Women in Chennai for close to a decade 2014-2023, she has guided PhD candidates and is known for her pioneering role in taking the institution to greater heights. Authoring four books on management and publishing more than 100 research papers, she has also been the director of the MBA program at the institution. An invited member of the US Department of State for the prestigious International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) in 2011, she has visited some of the illustrious universities in the US, and the world. A Governor nominee to the Syndicate, University of Madras from 2019-2022, she is also a Member of Planning Board, Thiruvalluvar University.
P Sriram
Chief Strategist- DEI Transformation, Avtar Group
P Sriram
Chief Strategist- DEI Transformation, Avtar Group
Sriram has around 39 years of corporate experience having worked in Senior Leadership Roles across large MNCs and reputed Indian organizations like Pernod Ricard, UB Group, and Shaw Wallace. During his stint at Pernod Ricard India, he was instrumental in enabling women’s employment at the Nashik factory. From organizing bootcamp trainings for the recruited women to building awareness and sensitivity for fellow male employees, the plant moved from a few women on the shopfloor to several hundred women including those at supervisory roles and engineering roles. As a Chief Strategist – DEI Transformation--- Sriram has mentored and conducted DEI Programs for companies like ITC, JSW Group, ICICI Lombard, and TIAA.
Tammy Redpath
Global Executive Leader
Tammy Redpath
Global Executive Leader
Tammy was a global executive leader with Target Corporation for over three decades. From 2017-2020, she led Target’s extended headquarters in Bengaluru, India, where 3500+ team members are advancing Target’s business across all retail functions. During this time, she played a pivotal role in shaping Target in India’s global strategy, with an unwavering emphasis on championing and accelerating diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Tammy was the driving force behind the creation of Target Elevate, an innovative platform in India designed to unite women in technology to unlock their full potential and grow as leaders. She is known for her ability to inspire and galvanize high-performing teams and cultivating connections across organizational and global boundaries, driving growth throughout her career.
Our Journey
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2000
On 3rd Dec 2000, Saundarya Rajesh set up a talent strategy consulting firm, Avtar.
The founding team comprised Umasanker Kandaswamy, Priya Dayabaran and others who offered recruitment services to India Inc.
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2001
- A few months old Avtar screened, interviewed, and shortlisted thousands of professionals for a major Recruitment Processing Outsourcing project for the multinational bank, HSBC. It was possibly one of India's first few RPO offerings.
- Avtar won the privatization of the Chennai Container Terminal project against more established players. We closed 224 openings despite India’s struggle with the dot-com bust. The first woman in CCT's engineering department was placed as a part of this drive.
- Avtar hosted its first conference – 'Triple-Eye', an Industry Institute Interface event.
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2002
- Avtar started its first-ever Organisational Development project with Mahaveer Glass Industries.
- We began hiring from Tier-II and Tier-III cities like Vellore, Trichy, and Coimbatore under an RPO for Bharti Telecom.
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2003
- Avtar became a knowledge partner for CII’s Managemantra – a two-day job creation conference. We hosted two editions of the event where over 2000 MBA graduates competed and won jobs as prizes.
- Our reputation grew and created 100% YOY growth. We engaged ICICI Bank and hired hundreds of personal bankers across Tamil Nadu.
- We became one of the first recruitment services firms to receive an ISO certification.
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2004
- Avtar worked on a special turn-key IT hiring project with Polaris.
- We hosted three more editions of Managemantra for CII where graduates from Tier-II and Tier-III B-Schools participated.
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2005
- Avtar released its first primary research report ‘Viewport’ with a breakthrough finding that 18% of attrition in India comprises women who step off the career track and never return to work. We started efforts towards ‘second-career women’ (a term coined by Dr Saundarya) with socio-economic and business benefits.
2005
- We made a landmark move by launching Avtar I-WIN, a national registry for ‘second-career women’ professionals seeking part-time/flexi-time assignments (now: avtarwomen.com – India’s first diversity recruitment portal for businesses to engage ‘Second Career Women’).
- We were covered on the first page of The Hindu in a four-column article as the nation’s first Career Service Provider for Women.
2005
- IVLP program by US Consulate: Saundarya Rajesh is selected for the International Visitors Leadership Program by the American Consulate and visits the USA as part of a team of women leaders across South Asia.
- Chevening Scholarship: Shortly after, the same year, Saundarya is selected for the Chevening Women in Leadership program by the UK’s British Foreign Office. She completed the 3 month course at Bradford University.
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2006
- Avtar enabled the very first recorded instance of a ‘Second Career Women’ program in India, for the Standard Chartered Bank. The program saw hundreds of women getting hired.
- We kick-started research on Diversity and Inclusion by conducting Focused Group Discussions about women’s career breaks.
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2007
- Avtar collaborated with the Future Group to hire over 1800 women returnees in flexi-work across India.
- We published a ‘Viewport’ report on the flexi work and its impact on women’s careers.
- We completed our cutting-edge research project on Diversity and Inclusion for Sathyam Computers (presently, Tech Mahindra).
2007
- SCOPE Woman Exemplar Award: Saundarya received the Woman Exemplar award from Standard Chartered Bank’s SCOPE.
- Session at Asian HRD Society at Beijing: Saundarya was invited to speak at AHRD Society at Beijing on flexible careers for increasing women’s workforce participation – Avtar’s first international forum.
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2008
- Avtar works on Accenture’s, and possibly the nation’s first instance of a structured flexi-work-centred method – Project Santulan.
- We instituted Avtar Human Capital Trust – our CSR arm – to empower underprivileged women and children.
2008
- We hired 364 first-generation women graduates from small villages near cities like Madurai, Trichy, Erode, Thanjavur, Tirunelveli, Villupuram, and Salem as mentors for self-help groups for Madura Micro Finance.
- Diversity and Inclusion in ASIA 2008: Saundarya was invited to speak on Generational Diversity at Community Business’s conference in Hong Kong.
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2009
- Avtar undertook research on the business case for gender diversity, in the aftermath of the global recession. More companies sign up for Avtar’s D&I consulting.
- We developed tools to assess organisational readiness and commitment to gender diversity and the advancement of women.
- We laid the foundation for our new multi-storey premises at Neelankarai, Chennai.
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2010
- Avtar partnered with Outlook Business to conduct seminal research on work-life balance, moving to call it ‘work-life integration’, and appeared on the cover. More companies started working on work-life integration.
- We were engaged by Standard Chartered Bank again to conduct research-based diversity town halls at all its regional offices.
2010
- Vital Voices: Saundarya spoke on Women Entrepreneurship at the plenary session of Hillary Clinton’s Vital Voices in New Delhi.
- SHRM Annual Conference, San Diego: Saundarya spoke at SHRM’s Annual Conference at SanDiego, California on “Flexible Working Methods to Promote Organizational Diversity – the India story”.
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2011
- Avtar moved into its own premises – Udyog Gruhaa.
- We launched Flexi Careers India to accelerate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with a special focus on gender diversity.
- We partnered with The Hindu to host India’s first career fair for women professionals, with special focus on second career women. Over 25,000 women professionals attend the fair creating a record of sorts.
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2012
- Avtar conducted 14 editions of ‘Segue Sessions’ (2011-2018), a skill-building and career creation conference, in partnership with 40 corporations (PepsiCo, Unilever, Capgemini, Deutsche Bank, Vodafone, Accenture, Genpact, and Deloitte, to name a few), benefitting over 5,000 women. These corporations went on to create their own talent track for returning women and now hire over 10,000 second-career women each year.
- We began conducting Diversity and Inclusion audits and workplace audits to take DEI forward.
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2013
- Avtar conducted the Global Advancement of Women Conference (GAWC) in partnership with The Working Mother Media company.
- Dissertation defence: Saundarya successfully defended her PhD thesis dissertation on the topic “Flexible Working Methods to increase women’s workforce participation”
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2014
- Avtar’s research on the top enablers for women’s careers became a must-have research report for India’s preferred employers.
- Doctorate in Women’s Workforce Participation: Dr. Saundarya received her PhD degree from Shri. Narendra Modi, Gujarat’s Chief Minister, at SRM University’s convocation
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2015
- #100 Women Achiever Award: Dr. Saundarya is awarded with a scroll from the Ministry of Women and Child Development for her work in bringing back thousands of women into the workplace. She lunched with the President of India (Late) Shri Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
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2016
- Avtar launched Project Puthri under Avtar Human Capital Trust (AHCT) to 10,000 underprivileged school girls ‘career intentional’ and pursue white-collar jobs upon graduation.
- We partnered with The Working Mother Group again to launch India’s first and largest gender-analytics exercise – the Best Companies for Women in India (BCWI). The BCWI undertakes over 450 metrics to assess gender inclusion and more than 3000 companies participate annually in this exercise.
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2017
- Avtar conducted the first Best of the Best (BOB) conference – India’s most exhaustive and cutting-edge conference featuring the best DE&I practices of the Best 100 companies according to the Best Companies for Women in India (BCWI) study.
- We started Udyog Utsav – our annual career guidance platform for underprivileged girls in Chennai. We counselled over 1,000 Puthris from 100+ corporate and government schools about various career paths.
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2018
- Avtar launched BRUHAT Insights Global, our AIHR (Artificial Intelligence in Human Resources) branch to reduce bias and enable in-depth insights for businesses.
- We took the Udyog Utsave to Coimbatore.
- The 99 Day Diversity Challenge: Dr Saundarya debuted as a non-fiction writer for Sage via “The 99 Day Diversity Challenge”
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2019
- Avtar launched MITR (Men Impacting Trust & Respect), a training program to inculcate gender empathy among adolescent male students.
- We partnered with The Working Mother Group, USA to devise MICI (Most Inclusive Companies Index) to deliver frameworks for organizations to adopt the best of practices for comprehensive inclusion.
- As a Knowledge Partner to Working Mother, we worked to organize the maiden edition of the Global Advancement for Women Conference in Dubai.
2019
- Future of Women: Dr Saundarya was invited to keynote at the Future of Women Conference at Colombo, Sri Lanka.
- Twitter’s “WebWonderWomen”: Dr. Saundarya received the WebWonder Woman award from the Ministry of Women and Child Development in collaboration with Twitter India for spreading positivity on the web.
2019
- Global Changemakers: Dr. Saundarya is recognized as one of the 35 Global Changemakers by Chevening to celebrate 35 years of the UK Government’s Chevening Scholarships program by featuring specially-commissioned portraits of the leaders from across the globe.
- Winds of Change Award: Dr. Saundarya received the Winds of Change award conferred by The Forum on Workplace Inclusion becoming the first International Awardee.
2019
- Dr Saundarya Rajesh delivered the keynote at the Top Women Conference in, Johannesburg, South Africa, speaking about social entrepreneurship and her journey
- World AI show: Dr. Saundarya was invited to address the World AI Show at Dubai, speaking about the impact of AI in HR, its impact and the future of the workforce.
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2020
- Avtar joined hands with Google and the Indian School of Business to build DigiPivot, a digital marketing capability workshop for women in India.
- We released Flexcurity — a set of assessment and algorithms for remote workforce management in the wake of COVID-19.
- We launched Flexing Success, a unique workshop for first-time WFH professionals during COVID.
2020
- We hosted D&I Reboot to emphasise the usage of the research-based AHEAD framework during the pandemic.
- We hosted India’s first virtual D&I conference, The Power of I, to discuss how personal transformation paves the way for organisational transformation.
- We built myAvtar.com – India’s first and exclusive job portal for underrepresented talent pools.
- We celebrated two decades of Avtar on 03 December 2020!
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2021
- Avtar launched DEI Primer – our foundational certification training program for fostering inclusion in the workplace.
- We inaugurated ‘Belongingness at the Workplace’ campaigns for International Women’s Day 2021 to embrace the purpose of a harmonised culture.
- We conducted myAvtar’s first virtual job fair exclusively for women. We discussed women’s career enablement & empowerment via panel discussions and keynotes to help them excel in their roles and overcome hurdles.
2021
- We held our first webinar on ‘Family Acceptance of LGBTQ+ youth’ to celebrate Pride.
- We reinvented our blog, Diversity Digest, to feature everything DE&I. It comprises a plethora of articles, podcasts, eBooks, and videos.
- We conducted ‘From Acknowledgments to Acceptance – Supporting Gender Expression’ – a panel discussion on how accepting various expressions of gender can improve the workplace.
2021
- We celebrated DEI with a month-long festival ‘Diversity Mahotsav’.
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2022
- We kicked off 2022 by collaborating with NHRD to institute the ‘Diversity Champions Award 2022’ – a celebration of individual leaders accelerating diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. Leaders were nominated from three strands — PwD, LGBTQIA+, and Gender.
- myAvtar conducted its 2nd flagship job fair themed #OpportunitiesAreBack featuring newer and more opportunities for women.
2022
- The 99-Day Diversity Challenge: Creating an Inclusive Workplace by Dr Saundarya Rajesh received the Book of the Year Award 2021 from the Indian Society for Training and Development.
- We partnered with Seramount (formerly, The Working Mother Media) to conduct a series of webinars for its 7th year of partnership. Webinars around Best Companies for Women and Most Inclusive Companies witnessed esteemed leaders from the DEI space.
2022
- We hosted 14th edition of Segue Session themed #HackingTheHybrid sharing stories of women-led ERGs with skills to dynamize work and life.
- We conducted a pride month webinar on, “What will it take for India Inc. to fully embrace LGBTQ individuals?” with a panel of leaders sharing personal experiences of overcoming challenges at the workplace.
2022
- myAvtar conducted a pride month dialogue session around ‘Mental Health Challenges in the Queer Community’ addressing mental and identity-related challenges and how to overcome them.
- We partnered with Accenture to conduct an exclusive leadership program for women called ‘Vaahini Women’. The sessions featured expert-led panels to sharpen and upskill experienced women into leadership roles.
2022
- myAvtar conducted its 3rd job fair themed #EnergizeYourCareer to motivate freshers, experienced, and returning women to take charge of their careers.
- We initiated #BusinessIsGood featuring CEOs, CHROs, and leaders discussing diversity and its impact in today’s workplace. This initiative came after the realisation that DEI wasn’t a choice anymore!
2022
- We proudly conducted its maiden webinar to unveil the ‘Gold Standard in DEI Certification’, Avtar Certified Diversity Auditor. This webinar was to understand the nuances of ISO 30415 and create frameworks and protocols for DEI implementation conforming to ISO standards in the workplace.
- We launched the Avtar Certified Diversity Auditor program to help champions of DEI administer diversity, equity, and inclusion. The sessions are designed to be interactive with workshops, polls, best practices sharing, Q&A, and subject discussions.
2022
- We presented the 3rd edition of ‘Power of I’ on the theme #BuildingConnectedness, witnessing how connectedness is not about fitting every individual into a mould but an experience that involved learning about one another’s projects and day-to-day goals – through thoughts, intentions, actions, and communication.
- We conducted two consecutive webinars on the topic ‘Second Careers Programs - Stepping stone to gender inclusion’.
2022
- We conducted an insightful fireside chat on ‘Assessing Culture for DEI Alignment’, wherein leaders of inclusive organizations discussed their best practices while designing culture assessment frameworks.
- We hosted the 6th Annual Best of the Best conference in partnership with Seramount. This year’s theme was #BusinessIsGood, our bid to turn the spotlight on the business benefit of goodness.
2022
- We conducted the second edition of our DEI festival ‘Diversity Mahotsav’.
- A proud moment for Avtar! Dr. Saundarya Rajesh’s book ‘The 99-day Diversity Challenge’, published by SAGE in 2018, won the first prize for the Book of the Year Award 2021 from the Indian Society for Training and Development.
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2023
- Avtar kicked off 2023 by initiating the maiden edition of the 'Top Cities for Women in India', having the vision to increase women's workforce participation in the Indian Corporate, which we believe will be the biggest contributor to India's growth
- In February, Avtar started with the 8th edition of BCWI/MICI 2023 using 3 consecutive panel discussions till May 2023, featuring DEI experts and industry practitioners talking about the best practices of diversity and inclusion, to foster a positive culture at work.
2023
- myAvtar, India's First Diversity Portal came back with the fourth successive edition of its flagship virtual event; myAvtar Job Fair for Women, on the theme #SteerYourCareer, committed to increasing women's workforce participation in Corporate India.
- In March, we commemorated the 15th edition of Segue Sessions, Avtar's most impactful, successful confluence of women professionals which has created thousands of careers. This year, Segue was back with a unique set of skills for today's women professionals to #MapTheInvisible.
2023
- Avtar celebrated IWD 2023 by showcasing the best practices in fostering DEI at workplaces on the theme #EmbraceEquity.
- myAvtar celebrated IWD 2023 by showcasing women in various roles, depicting their dynamic functions professionally ranging from corporate to arts.
2023
- In April, Avtar came back with its 3rd cohort for the one-of-a-kind individual program, Avtar Certified Diversity Auditor (ACDA). This gold standard certification will help corporate champions and practitioners of DEI adopt the most appropriate approach to strategizing and implementing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the workplace. The sessions are designed to be interactive with workshops, polls, best practices sharing, Q&A, and subject matter discussions.
- Weaving the how and why of it, Avtar, a pioneer in DEI solutions, presented The Power of I, a cutting-edge virtual conference, featuring DEI experts, HR professionals, and leaders. Aptly titled Diversity @ Dispersed, Digital, and Dynamic Workplace, the 4th successive edition decoded the Ds as they came together in the VUCA world in June.
2023
- Avtar highlighted its products and services via branding elements for the B2B audience for sponsorship and partnership opportunities.
- In June, Avtar, being the pioneer in formulating policies and programs for women's career advancement, inaugurated Pathways to Power (P2P)- a transformative leadership program empowering visionary women leaders.
2023
- Avtar proudly presented Best Companies for Women in Gulf (BCWG) which enable companies in GCC to gain recognition for their efforts towards creating a more equitable and inclusive workplace. This study highlights the exemplary work of companies that go beyond to ensure women are provided with equal opportunities and support for professional growth.
- DigiPivot, empowered by Google India, comes back with a bang to enroll its 4th cohort. This is a platform that builds digital marketing skill sets for women professionals working or on a break.
2023
- Avtar conducted a Pride Month webinar on the topic 'Inclusive conversations - Intricacies of Profiling'. The session witnessed exploring the fine lines of profiling, delving into multifaceted aspects, and discovering the importance of inclusive conversations and empathetic communication while interacting with prospective hires from different diversity strands.
- myAvtar hosted a webinar on the theme 'Ready to embrace your Identity?'. The session set the path for self-reflection, self-acceptance, and personal growth, which will enable you to navigate the complexities of your identity, confidently.
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