LEADERSHIP

Board of Directors

  • Shiv Nadar

  • Roshni Nadar Malhotra

  • Kiran Nadar

  • Shikhar Malhotra

Business Executives

  • Pawan K. Danwar

  • Rita Gupta

  • Neelesh Agarwal

  • Sundar Mahalingam

Board of Directors

Shiv Nadar

Shiv Nadar

Shiv Nadar

Founder – HCL
Chairman Emeritus & Strategic Advisor to the Board – HCLTech
Founder & Chairman –Shiv Nadar Foundation

Shiv Nadar is the Founder of HCL Group and the Shiv Nadar Foundation. He is also the Chairman Emeritus & Strategic Advisor to the Board of HCLTech, a $13.1 billion global organization with 224,756 professionals operating from 60 countries. Nadar is credited with being one of the pioneers of the computing and IT industry in India. Under his guidance HCL has continued to ride the waves of the changing IT landscape for over 45 years and remain at the forefront of every technological revolution since 1976. While HCL started off as a hardware organization, manufacturing the country’s first indigenous computers and introducing them to the Indian consumer, it eventually evolved into a more comprehensive software services organization. HCL is in fact one of the few global IT companies founded in the 1970s that remains in existence to date.

Throughout his career, Nadar always acknowledged that successful institution building is dependent on forging result-oriented partnerships and creating new knowledge. He steered HCL to create several valuable joint ventures and alliances that aided the organization’s emergence as a global technology enterprise. His pioneering spirit and belief in engineering and research shaped the course of the organization and is the reason that today HCLTech boasts one of the largest IT Engineering and R&D divisions in the world.

Nadar started his career as part of the elite DCM management trainee system. It was at DCM that he met the people with whom he later started HCL in a Delhi Barsati “akin to a garage startup” with a compelling vision that the microprocessor would change the world.

Nadar credits his success to the education and scholarships that he received during his early years. He has always maintained that access to quality education is the most potent tool of transformation and therefore, in 1994, he established the philanthropic – Shiv Nadar Foundation. The Foundation draws heavily on Nadar’s experience of building a world-class organization like HCL. It endeavors to create institutions of transformational education that will continue to influence and nurture the country’s youth for decades to come. To this effect, the Shiv Nadar Foundation has established six institutions covering the entire spectrum of education, which aim to address the issue of quality in education, create lasting partnerships and have a strong research orientation.

As of March 2022, Nadar has invested US$1.2billion through the Foundation, impacting over 39,000 students directly. However, the Foundation’s ultimate aim is to nurture the next generation of leaders in the ideologies of symbiotic growth so that each of them may in turn aspire to affect a small change, creating a large multiplier effect. The impact of the Shiv Nadar Foundation institutions is today reflected in the aspirations of meritorious students who started their journeys from humble, geographically, remote backgrounds but are today pursuing their dreams in India as well as other countries.

In recognition of his pioneering role in business and philanthropy in India and across the globe, Nadar has received several honors and accolades, notable being the Padma Bhushan from the President of India in 2008.

Nadar is married to Kiran, an Asian Games medalist and internationally renowned bridge player. She is also one of the largest Indian Art collectors in the world.

Roshni Nadar Malhotra

Roshni Nadar Malhotra

Chairperson- HCLTech
Trustee- Shiv Nadar Foundation
Founder & Trustee- The Habitats Trust

Roshni Nadar Malhotra is the Chairperson of HCLTech, a leading global technology organization with a market capitalization of over $50billion, and the Chairperson of its CSR Board Committee.

Roshni is a Trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation. Since its inception, the Shiv Nadar Foundation has invested $1.2billion in nation building institutions and driving transformational leadership. Roshni is also the Chairperson and driving force behind VidyaGyan, a leadership academy for the economically underprivileged, meritorious, rural students of Uttar Pradesh, and has been working towards nurturing future leaders from rural India who can be catalysts of change for their communities, villages and the nation at large. In 2023, VidyaGyan was a recipient of the Children’s Champion Award from the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR)for identifying and nurturing students from underserved rural backgrounds into future leaders through high-quality education.

Passionate about wildlife and conservation, Roshni established The Habitats Trust in 2018. The Foundation aims to work towards protecting India’s natural habitats and its indigenous species with the core mission of creating and conserving sustainable ecosystems through strategic partnerships and collaborations with all stakeholders, at every level.

Roshni is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council at the MIT School of Engineering, USA and also a member of the Kellogg School of Management Executive Board for Asia. She serves on the board of directors of US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) and is an independent director on the board of HDFC Asset Management Company.

In recognition of her outstanding work both in business and in philanthropy, Roshni has received several honors and accolades. Some of these include being featured for the seventh consecutive year in ‘The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women’ list, compiled and released by Forbes in 2023.In 2020, Forbes also featured her among the ‘25 Most Powerful Businesswomen in Asia’. Roshni was honored with the ‘Most Powerful Women in Business 2023’ by Business Today. Roshni was conferred with Lewis Institute Community Changemaker Award by Babson College in 2017 and was recognized by Horasis, an internationally renowned think tank, as the ‘Indian Business Leader of the Year 2019.She is an alumnus of the Forum of Young Global Leaders (YGL, 2014-19), a unique and diverse community of the world’s most outstanding, next-generation leaders, an initiative of the World Economic Forum.

Since 2019, she has been producing a TV series for the Animal Planet/Discovery based on the most endangered wildlife species in India – ‘On The Brink’. In 2022, On The Brink episode on Bats was the recipient of the Best Indian National Film Award in the category of science & technology. In 2018, Roshni also produced a children’s film, ‘Halkaa’, directed by the National Awardee Nila Madhab Panda. The movie is based on the unique journey of a slum child battling the issue of open defecation.

Roshni holds an undergraduate degree in Communications from Northwestern University and a MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. At Kellogg, she was awarded the Dean’s Distinguished Service Award. In 2023, Roshni was conferred with the Schaffner Award by Kellogg for her contribution to the society.

Kiran Nadar

 

Kiran Nadar

Chairperson – Kiran Nadar Museum of Art

Trustee –Shiv Nadar Foundation

Kiran Nadar is a trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation and Chairperson, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (www.KNMA.in). She is also an acclaimed international bridge player, a philanthropist and an avid art collector.
She is a key driver behind demystifying art to the common man through the KNMA, a philanthropic initiative in art. She has been acknowledged as a ‘hero of philanthropy’ by Forbes Asia Magazine in 2010 for launching India’s first philanthropic private museum.

Kiran is a Trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation, which among its transformational educational initiatives has established the SSN College of Engineering in Chennai, today among the top private engineering colleges in India, Shiv Nadar University, VidyaGyan schools, Shiv Nadar School and the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. Drawing from her diverse and rich experience in advertising and communications, Kiran plays a very important role in defining the architecture and the aesthetics of the Foundation’s initiatives.

Kiran is also member of the Rasaja Foundation, an educational, scientific and cultural institution created in 1984 by the late Jaya Appasamy, a renowned artist, art historian and art critic. As a representative of the Foundation, she has also been involved in a joint initiative with the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation to promote the education of the Dalit and Muslim girl child in some of the most backward districts in the State of Uttar Pradesh in India.

An advertising, communications and brand professional by background, Kiran started her career at MCM. Then came her stint at NIIT – a company that grew out of Shiv Nadar’s vision for computer education in India. Kiran was responsible for shaping the NIIT brand in its formative years with Rajendra Pawar and was closely involved in its brand building strategy. She is one of the top Indian players of competitive bridge as a member of the “Formidables” team, and has not only won many laurels at the National level but has also represented India several times in international competitive bridge events.

Kiran lives in Delhi, India with her husband Shiv Nadar, Founder, HCL and Chairman, Shiv Nadar Foundation.

Shikhar Malhotra

Shikhar Malhotra

Shikhar Malhotra

Director –HCL Corporation
Vice Chairman & CEO –HCL Healthcare
Trustee –Shiv Nadar Foundation
Chairman –Shiv Nadar School
Chancellor –Shiv Nadar Institution of Eminence
Trustee –The Habitats Trust

Shikhar Malhotra is the Director and Board Member of HCL Corporation, the holdco for HCL’s operating companies. HCL has a distinguished lineage as one of India’s original technology garage start-ups, founded by Shiv Nadar. He is also on the board of HCLTech, an $13.1 Billion global technology firm with 224,756 professionals operating from 60 countries.

Shikhar serves as the Vice Chairman & CEO of HCL Healthcare, one of India’s largest corporate health solutions firms, providing end-to-end healthcare solutions with a vision to make corporate India a healthier place. Today, HCL Healthcare is delivering personalized, sustainable and managed care health solutions to organizations across sectors. It has eight world-class corporate health centers across the country serving over 70,000 families.

As a Trustee, Shikhar plays multiple roles at the Shiv Nadar Foundation including shaping its vision of nation-building through transformational leadership. Shikhar is the Chairman of Shiv Nadar Schools (established in 2012), one of the most coveted schools in the National Capital Region of Delhi, and consistently recognized among the top schools in the country. The Shiv Nadar Schools are known to push the benchmarks in education to impart critical life lessons and making students future ready for a complex global environment. Under his leadership, the Shiv Nadar School is expanding its footprint to Chennai, with the first School being established in the city at the historic and serene campus of the Theosophical Society in Besant Garden.

Shikhar is also the Chancellor of Shiv Nadar Institute of Eminence (Shiv Nadar IoE), India’s youngest university chosen as an Institution of Eminence by the Government of India. Today, Shiv Nadar IoE is one of the only four private universities in the country acknowledged for being on an accelerated path to emerge as a world-class research-based, multidisciplinary institution.

Passionate about wildlife and conservation, Shikhar co-founded The Habitats Trust in 2018 with his wife Roshni Nadar Malhotra. He is the Trustee of the Habitats Trust which is empowering on-ground conservationists to achieve its vision of securing India’s natural habitats and their indigenous species.

Shikhar comes from an entrepreneurial family, raised in Kuwait. His early lessons as an entrepreneur were learnt at his family business and were later sharpened at Babson College in the US, with a specialization in entrepreneurship.

Shikhar is passionate about sports and football in particular. He is married to Roshni Nadar Malhotra and they have two sons.

Business Executives

Pawan K. Danwar

Pawan K.
Danwar

President and CFO – HCL Corporation

After working with two big corporates in North India for six years,Pawan joined HCL in May 1996.

He is a finance professional and serves as the CFO of HCL Corporation (holding company of HCL). His association with the HCL group spans over 20 years and during this time he has served in several different finance profiles including Business Finance, Corporate Restructuring, Acquisition & Business Integration, Treasury (fund raising, investment & forex management), Planning & Strategy, Commercial, Business Development, Secretarial, Legal & Corporate Compliance and Investor Relationship. He has structured and negotiated some big business contracts for HCL over the past decade. Pawan has not only been instrumental in shaping different financial strategies for HCL but has also been associated with various new business initiatives and is credited with turning them into big-scale ventures.

Pawan has a thorough understanding of various industries including the IT, Healthcare, Education, Skill & Talent; Insurance, and Chemical. Besides serving the businesses / operations for HCL, he is also a member on the Board of HCL Infosystems and HCL Healthcare.

He has ample exposure in the international business environment and has travelled extensively while executing various deals and discussions. Pawan is also associated with the Shiv Nadar Foundation, one of India’s largest private philanthropic institutions. He supports/serves the Foundations in various capacities and is deeply connected with various social revolutionary projects in the field of education and rural development. He also liaisons with various government departments, institutions and industry bodies.

Pawan is a qualified Chartered Accountant & Company Secretary.

Rita Gupta

Rita Gupta

President – Treasury

HCL Corporation

Rita Gupta, is a finance professional with over 30 years of experience. Her expertise spans the entire gamut of finance, including Business Finance, Controllership, Treasury, Risk Management and Strategic Initiatives. She has been associated with HCL for almost the whole of her professional career. Rita has been instrumental in developing the existing and new businesses of HCL and has been involved across various functions, including financial planning, fund raising, investment management, forex, and business finance. Apart from HCL, Rita has also been associated with several Shiv Nadar Foundation initiatives, handling the initial phase of investment planning and strategy. She is a qualified Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and a Graduate in Law and has attended various programs for Quality, Treasury and Finance. Rita enjoys traveling and swimming.

Neelesh Agarwal

 

Neelesh Agarwal

President – Taxation

HCL Corporation

Neelesh Agarwal is a senior financial advisor and has been associated with HCL for close to three decades now. He is responsible for handling all taxation and finance related details for both HCL and the educational initiatives under the aegis of the Shiv Nadar Foundation. Neelesh’s contributions in shaping the financial strategy of HCL is invaluable. For the past decade he has worked closely with Shiv Nadar, Founder – HCL and Shiv Nadar Foundation. Neelesh hails from Uttar Pradesh and after finishing his schooling from Meerut, he pursued his undergraduate studies from the Agra University. Later, he cleared his Chartered Accountancy exam from Delhi and practiced independently for two years before finally joining HCL as an Accounts Executive. His personal hobbies and interests include sports, listening to music and reading.

Sundar Mahalingam

 

Sundar
Mahalingam

President – Strategy

HCL Corporation and Shiv Nadar Foundation

Sundar is the President – Strategy at HCL Corporation and the Shiv Nadar Foundation. He has been responsible for building the HCL brand over the last decade in its journey to becoming a $13.1 billion, 224,756 people strong enterprise.

He is a core member of the Shiv Nadar Foundation Team and has worked from inception on many of its diverse initiatives, including VidyaGyan, a leadership academy for the rural underprivileged, meritorious students; the Shiv Nadar University, a comprehensive multi-disciplinary university with strong research orientation, and the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, India’s largest private philanthropic museum with the vision to take art to the common public.

His professional experience spans over 25 years in various roles in technology marketing, advertising and strategy planning. Prior to joining HCL, he led the strategic marketing and communication initiatives at various technology organizations like Microsoft and Hexaware Technologies. He also worked with J. Walter Thompson in communication strategy development for several years.

Sundar earned his B. Tech degree in Chemical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, and a PGDM from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Sundar is married with two children and resides in Noida. His interests include sports and fitness.