Mumbai : Avtar Career Creators Limited, India’s leading workplace culture and inclusion consulting firm, recognized seven outstanding leaders for their contributions to advancing workplace inclusion and creating equitable opportunities for diverse talent at the seventh edition of The Power of I, Avtar’s flagship annual platform celebrating inclusive leadership, held in Mumbai.
The awards honoured individuals who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to sponsoring talent, mentoring future leaders and building thriving employee resource groups that create meaningful impact across organizations.
Best Sponsor Awards were presented to Sarika Pradhan, APAC CHRO and HR Head, CGI, and Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Managing Director, Apraava Energy Private Limited. Sarika Pradhan was recognized for championing the advancement of women, LGBTQ+ professionals, and persons with disabilities through active sponsorship and inclusive leadership development initiatives, and Rajiv Ranjan Mishra was honoured for consistently transforming leadership influence into career opportunities for emerging talent.
Best Mentor Awards were presented to Mohua Chowdhury, Head – Operations & Process Excellence, Aditya Birla Capital, and Brijesh Singh Rathore, Vice President, Indian Subcontinent, Institutional Solutions and Asia Pacific Corporate Accounts Lead, Institutional Solutions, Solenis Chemical Pvt. Ltd.
The Best ERG Leader Awards recognized Minal Patel, Vice President, Platform Engineering, Mastercard; Hazel Gulati, VP/AB India Associate Program Manager, AllianceBernstein; and Suresh Krishnamurthy, Head – Nuveen Business, Tech & Ops, TIAA Global Capabilities.
The seventh edition of The Power of I brought together senior leaders, diversity practitioners, ERG champions and workplace culture experts to explore how influence can be exercised to create more equitable and inclusive organizations.
The 2026 edition, themed ‘Make Power Visible’, focused on the role of sponsorship, allyship, leadership, and inclusive systems in unlocking talent, driving innovation, and strengthening organizational resilience.
Reflecting on this year’s theme, ‘Make Power Visible’, Dr Saundarya Rajesh, Managing Director, Avtar Career Creators Limited, said, “Power is often associated with authority, but some of the most meaningful acts of leadership happen when leaders use their influence to bring out the best in others.
It is reflected in the ability to recognize potential that might otherwise go unnoticed and create environments where people from diverse backgrounds feel seen, heard and empowered to thrive. The leaders we honour today have done exactly that. Through The
Power of I, we celebrate such inclusion champions and hope to inspire more leaders to use their influence with intention and purpose.
Let’s remember that power achieves its highest purpose when it is used to elevate others, and not just to lead.”The seventh edition of The Power of I featured a series of powerful and thought-provoking discussions on building influence with conviction and embedding inclusion into organizational systems. The event also included an impactful Solutions Clinic on addressing bias at scale, exploring the intersection of AI adoption and inclusion.
The event concluded with a renewed commitment from leaders across industries to make inclusion visible, measurable and actionable. —————————- About Avtar:
Avtar Career Creators Limited, founded in 2000 by Dr Saundarya Rajesh, is one of India’s leading workplace culture consulting firms, supporting hundreds of companies in creating diverse and supportive workplaces.
Avtar is also the country’s largest provider of second career opportunities for women.An ISO 20700 certified firm, Avtar’s biggest research projects are its annual benchmarking studies – the Best Companies for Women in India (BCWI) and the Most Inclusive Companies Index (MICI).
Done in partnership with Seramount, BCWI and MICI, India’s largest workplace inclusion benchmarking studies have paved the way for the employment of more women and other underrepresented groups. Avtar also promotes inclusive hiring through MyAvtar, India’s first job portal for underrepresented professionals.
A snapshot of Avtar’s work in the last 25 years: Provided advisory services in inclusive practices to 800+ organizations Conducted 5000+ workshops and training programs in companies of different sizes, spanning industries and locations Facilitated the re-entry of 100,000 second-career women into the workforce through MyAvtar.com
Engaged with 200,000+ women through career enablement programs Offered unique skilling programs such as DigiPivot (a prestigious course in digital marketing, conducted in partnership with Google, HUL, and ISB) to hundreds of women Provided career intentionality training, employment guidance, and access to industry leaders every year to 10,000+ girls from underprivileged backgrounds through Project Puthri, an initiative of the Avtar Human Capital Trust (AHCT) Impacted 4000+ schoolboys through MITR (Men Impacting Trust and Respect), an initiative by AHCT that mentors boys to be advocates for women
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