Chandrasekhar Poduri

I have about 23 years of cross industry experience across different functions and domains. For the last 12 years I have been in Human Resources, wherein during the last 8 years, I have delivered some big projects in the Micro-finance and Development Sector across Asia and Africa, in recruitment and training, along with other International HR Consulting projects on Performance Management and Human Resources Development. I like working with people and I continue to be fascinated by the various forces that drive human endeavour. I am motivated by opportunities to make significant contributions to the achievement of challenging tasks and assignments and also to work as a part of a team.
My professional experience comprises of cross-functional exposure through diverse industries. My 11 year stint in sales operations in the pharmaceutical industry gave me deep insights into marketing, business development, supply chain management, recruitment, training and development, and team building. Subsequently, I shifted to the education sector, and then onto the training and recruitment industry, wherein I delved deep into HR functions. Here, while recruiting for retail Insurance and finance majors such as Fullerton India, Future Money, ICICI Prudential etc, I also got ample opportunity to study the retail finance industry in India.
In my latest assignment I was working as Vice President Operations Risk Management and Training with Spandana Sphoorty Financial Limited- a Micro Finance organization based at Hyderabad, I was the Chief Compliance Officer of the Company and was the Principal officer to RBI. In my assignment before that, I was Associate Vice President HR & CSR at Future Financial Services Ltd at Bangalore, and before that I was Vice President HR & OD- HR Head at K12 Techno Services Pvt Ltd- Hyderabad, an Education Management Company with an employee strength of about 4500 across more than 100 branches. Prior to that, from 2008 until 2012 while working with the BASIX Group in Corporate HR as Associate Vice President-Corporate HR, handling different responsibilities in the Strategic HRM Domain, I have had the opportunity to study the Micro Finance and the Social & Rural Development sector in India, and Abroad in Bhutan and Ethiopia, and developed an understanding of its Human resource (among others as well) challenges and opportunities.
My abiding commitment to learning and my ability to grasp knowledge across diverse learning environments has always helped me to succeed. There have been times when I did not succeed, however I continued to learn from my mistakes. I attended Management Development Programs in Advanced Human Resources Management at IIM Ahmedabad, and HR Internal Audit at XLRI Jamshedpur,which have helped me to benefit from the perspective of these premier Institutes and the peer groups that usually attend such programs. I have recently completed the 6-month long 'Advanced Program on Strategic Management' at IIM Calcutta with overall 'Excellent Grading' in July 2015. My project thesis was liked by IIM Calcutta, and it has now been extended to writing two Teaching Case studies followed by the publishing of a research paper on Strategic Management. It is an ongoing project now.
My leadership skills have been acquired through experience. I built the Training vertical at TMI first ( a division of TMI Network) from scratch to about Rs 20,000,000 in nine months in 2008. My effective leadership gained me a promotion within six months of joining, to Deputy General Manager. Earlier, at Princeton Review, I was certified a Master Trainer within just two months. Over the years, have also acquired some International Consulting Experience in HRM.
In the month of May 2012, I returned from a 37-day short-term consulting assignment at Ethiopia- Africa for the UNCDF (United Nations Capital Development Fund)- Microlead program where I provided HR Consulting services to three mid-sized Micro Finance Institutions on behalf of BASIX Consulting. Earlier in July 2010, I had been to Bhutan on a similar International HR Consulting assignment with the Bhutan Development Finance Corporation, which is fully owned by the Royal Government of Bhutan.
With my wide and varied experience, I can contribute creative insights to discussions and peer group learning through sharing of experiences and wisdom.