Kantar appoints Rajani Athreya as its new Group Head of Human Resources
Following an extended process of integration, data and insights consulting firm Kantar has appointed a new Group Head for Human Resources (HR) at Kantar Insights in South Asia. Rajani Athreya will be based in the Mumbai office and will also act as the country HR services leader in India.
Athreya holds an MBA in HR from XLRI in Jamshedpur, and is a Certified Associate at the Indian Institute of bankers. Athreya is also a Certified Corporate Director at the Institute of Directors and has completed an Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence programme from Case Western Reserve University.
She began her professional career at ANZ Grindlays Bank, where she spent two years and ascended to the position of Associate Manager for HR. She then joined Standard Chartered Bank in 2001, where she remained for the next 11 years, holding a number of varying positions.
Her roles at Standard Chartered included Associate Manager for HR, Manager for Business Planning & Employee Engagement and Senior Manager for Resourcing, following which she ascended to the position of Country Lead for HR in the securities, client coverage and transaction banking departments alternately.
Since leaving Standard Chartered, Athreya has been the Head of human Resources at Thomson Reuters for more than two years, and the Chief Operation Officer for HR at DBS Bank. She joined Kantar in January this year, and has now been appointed the Group Head for HR in the Insights division.
At Kantar, Athreya will look to foster the talent within the organisation, at a time when HR policies are occupying prime spot in organisational priorities. Kantar unified its extensive range of practices into a single brand name in March this year, and Athreya will be an integral part of this new profile.
Commenting on her appointment, CEO of Kantar’s Insights division Preeti Reddy said, “Clients today expect fast, holistic, frugal and forward-looking solutions to their business issues. Our new single brand strategy is driven by this and aims to achieve simplicity, speed and impact for our clients. In a knowledge business like ours, this makes managing our talent an absolute imperative, particularly when the majority of talent in the industry lies with Kantar, the market leader. Rajani's vast experience in talent development, organizational culture and change management will ensure we have the right expertise in place to support our clients.”
Athreya herself added, “I'm thrilled to have joined Kantar at such an important time. We possess a diverse pool of extraordinary talent. I'm looking forward to helping our talent flourish, build capabilities for the future and unleash our collective potential to drive maximum value to our clients.”
