Ajay Soni — CEO

Dynamic, forward thinking leader with vast expertise in driving multibillion dollar enterprises in the Manufacturing, Chemicals and Consulting sectors. Consistently strived towards innovation and establishing industry benchmarks of excellence and innovation. Recipient of the Accomplished Leader Award for institutionalising Talent & Learning at Aditya Birla Group. Experience spanning HR, P&L, Operations and Sales across India, APAC and ME. Passionate about developing future leaders and sustaining a competitive edge built on integrity, authenticity and trust. Core skills encompass Business Acumen, HR Transformation, Learning & Development, Business Strategy, Organisation Design, Client Partnership Management, Leadership Development, Change Management, Business Analysis, Talent Management, Employee Engagement and Stakeholder Management. A marathoner having participated in over a dozen marathons in India and continue on the journey of fitness and well being. In other interests, involved in singing and writing.. Published extensive work on Leadership Development and Future of business leadership in the changing world. SPEAKER ENGAGEMENTS • Developing Leaders, insights from Top Company for Leaders – Conferences across Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta – 2012-2013 • Speaker Engagements on Leadership Development, Employee Value Preposition, Best Employer research – Conferences for NHRD, CII, AMCHAM, FICCI – 2005 - 2010

Stackforce AI infers this person is a strategic leader in Human Resources and Talent Development across diverse industries.

Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Experience: 35 yrs

Skills

Leadership Development
Hr Strategy
Hr Transformation
Business Development
Sales Management
Business Planning
Operations Management
Planning
Design Engineering
Project Management

Career Highlights

Established a USD 30 Mn learning center.
Led HR transformation for major conglomerates.
Recipient of the Accomplished Leader Award.

Work Experience

Aditya Birla Group

Chief Learning and Leadership Development Officer (11 yrs 7 mos)

Aon Hewitt

Asia Pacific Practice Leader and other roles (14 yrs 4 mos)

Unilever

Business Development Manager (5 yrs)

ICI India

Export Manager, Business Planning Manager (3 yrs)

HPCL

Planning Manager (1 yr)

Larson & Toubro Private Limited

Design Engineer (0 mo)

Education

Masters in Business Administration at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

Making Corporate Boards More Effective at Harvard Business School

Compensation Committees: New Challenges at Harvard Business School

Audit Committee in a new era of Governance at Harvard Business School

Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) at Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology

Ajay Soni

CEO

Mumbai, Maharashtra, India35 yrs experience

Most Likely To SwitchHighly Stable

Key Highlights

Established a USD 30 Mn learning center.
Led HR transformation for major conglomerates.
Recipient of the Accomplished Leader Award.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a strategic leader in Human Resources and Talent Development across diverse industries.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Leadership DevelopmentHr StrategyHr TransformationBusiness DevelopmentSales ManagementBusiness PlanningOperations ManagementPlanningDesign EngineeringProject Management

Other Skills

Account ManagementBusiness AcumenBusiness AnalysisBusiness StrategyCareer DevelopmentChange ManagementClient Partnership ManagementCoachingCompensation & BenefitsCustomer Relationship Management (CRM)Direct SalesEmployee EngagementEmployee Learning & DevelopmentExecutive DevelopmentExecutive Leadership

About

Experience

Aditya birla group

Chief Learning and Leadership Development Officer

Aug 2014 – Present · 11 yrs 7 mos · Mumbai Area, India · On-site

Leading talent and succession management with strategic workforce planning for the group globally.
Established a contemporary new learning center in 2024 with an investment worth ~ USD 30 Mn.
Developing 300 senior leaders and 1300 strong talent pipeline across the group.
Working with Chairman on successions and maintaining an internal to external hiring ratio of 80:20. Succession Management impacting 300+ CXO roles across the group and achieved a ratio of 1.2.
Created & executed a 4 layered framework of ‘Talent Councils’ in 2017.
Executed a robust senior leadership transition support process, ‘Make your Mark’ for 120 senior leaders through coaching.
Established a 9-month “Foundation of Coaching Program” for 3000 managers.
Launched “My Development Plan” program along with a new Performance Management System, through which all ABG employees have a development plan.
Initiated E- learning & talent properties through AI enabled technology and achieved 10 times digital learning.
Led and on-boarded chairman for the ‘HR 2020 strategy’ to invest, sustain and retain top talent.
Co-led the Aditya Birla Group “Purpose” discovery, involving top 120 leaders, worked closely with chairman to finalise and then activate the ABG Purpose.
Led cultural change for largest group businesses to increase employee and business performance.
Overseeing HR function of one of group companies, Birla Estates.
Aditya Birla Group has won awards for leadership development practices from as GCCU (2017&19), ATD (2020), Brendon Hall (2022) and the Best Employer by Aon (2018).
Executed group wide 3 year hiring freeze (2016-18) for mid to senior mgt, enhancing intra-business movements by 40% and inter-business movement by 125%. Replacement hiring down by 65%.
Established Five Functional Academies for the group (2017): “Reimagine”, “HR & ER” " Finance, IT and Manufacturing".

Personnel ManagementStrategic Human Resources LeadershipStakeholder EngagementCoachingExecutive DevelopmentProgram Management+21

Aon hewitt

Asia Pacific Practice Leader and other roles

Apr 2000 – Aug 2014 · 14 yrs 4 mos · Mumbai · On-site

As Partner, led the P&L for Talent Consulting vertical in India & the Middle East. Business grew 10X in 10 years. Worked in/ lead/ directed approx. 200 client projects.
Delivered 15% CAGR across Japan, China, SEA, Australia and India from 2010-2014 in Leadership consulting. Drafted business strategy geared on product-based income and tech-enabled platform.
Undertook change management projects for business vision, BSC, leadership development across public-private clients.
Extensive consulting for: leadership development, talent pipeline, coaching, performance, rewards, vision, structuring, manpower optimisation & HR transformation.
Set up Hewitt Learning Center in 2007 to impart capability building in Human Resources.
Significant talent consulting projects:
HR transformation for an Indian conglomerate (USD 40 Billion topline) covering One HR Structure, performance incentives, EVP & leadership assessment impacting in its exponential growth.
Led a 7-year engagement for an oil major (USD 34 Billion Topline) for incentive design, perf mgt & leadership development.
Implementation of Balanced Scorecard (BSC) for an Engineering company (USD 600 Million Top-line) that turned its losses into profits.
Coached the Chairman and 4 direct reports of an Infrastructure Development company. The company showed significant improvement in its cash flow position.
Worked on a large 100-day M&A project involving a Telecom to Oil major. Reviewed business model, finalised the organisation structure, did manpower optimization and evolved the new competency model. This helped in finalizing the deal contours.
Worked with a conglomerate with 12 group companies on BSC and top team development journey. This helped the group develop a healthy top leadership as well as a strategic alignment of goals from top of the organisation to the last employee standing.

Personnel ManagementStrategic Human Resources LeadershipStakeholder EngagementCoachingExecutive DevelopmentProgram Management+25

Unilever

Business Development Manager

Jan 1995 – Jan 2000 · 5 yrs · Mumbai Area, India · On-site

• Business Manager in 1997 for a JV, Lever Gist Brocades. Conducted test marketing and based on success, attained board approval for Investment, subsequent marketing and its national launch resulted in a market share of 15% in just 2 years

Personnel ManagementStrategic Human Resources LeadershipStakeholder EngagementStakeholder ManagementSales OperationsEmployee Learning & Development+11

Ici india

Export Manager, Business Planning Manager

Jan 1992 – Jan 1995 · 3 yrs · Kolkata Area, India · On-site

Responsible for business planning, budgeting, monitoring sales/ production and WC.
Export Manager for Middle East & Southeast Asia for the Explosive sales business
Received Capexil Award for highest sales of Export Explosives (1993)

Personnel ManagementStakeholder EngagementStakeholder ManagementSales OperationsProject ManagementHR Strategy+8