AkzoNobel India strengthens leadership diversity with appointment of two talented women leaders

AkzoNobel India announced the appointment of two high-performers in its Indian management team. Neelima Kataria has been appointed as the Country HR Manager for the India sub-continent. Also, assuming charge is Vandana Krishnia, the new Marketing Head for AkzoNobel India’s paints business.

Elaborating on the two appointments, Rajiv Rajgopal, Managing Director, AkzoNobel India said, “At AkzoNobel, we know that to achieve our ambitions, we need a leadership of high performers that is as diverse and inclusive as our customer base. To this end, I am delighted to welcome Neelima and Vandana – two very strong leaders who enrich the organisation with their sheer breadth of domain expertise, entrepreneurial passion for innovating, cross-sectoral experience and people-centric approach.”

Neelima Kataria as the Country HR Manager, Neelima will work closely with the India Leadership Team and Board of Akzo Nobel India towards crafting a meaningful employee experience that augments its business growth ambitions for India. Her key priorities will be to drive AkzoNobel’s HR strategic plan to attract the right talent, develop high performance teams in a fast-evolving business landscape, helm people-centric policies, oversee rewards & recognitions, embrace employee wellbeing, diversity and inclusion to strengthen AkzoNobel as an employer of choice. Neelima brings over two decades of HR expertise and best practices across geographies and industries.

Vandana Krishnia joins as Head Marketing – Paints, AkzoNobel India. As the new Marketing Head for AkzoNobel’s paint business in India, Vandana Krishnia will spearhead the strategising and execution of a long-term marketing roadmap aligned with the company’s profitable growth ambitions for India. Her key priorities will be to bolster the relationship between consumers and Dulux by strengthening the brand and shaping consumer-centric innovations.

Vandana joins AkzoNobel after most recently serving as Chief Marketing & Passenger Experience officer at DIAL, GMR group. In her professional journey spanning 18 years, Vandana has driven marketing management, consumer products, pricing strategy, and consumer research for organisations including Hindustan Times Media Ltd. and State Bank of India (SBI).