Area of Expertise: OB, HR & Strategy
Naresh Rajendran is a senior Human Resources leader with 20+ years of cross-industry experience spanning industrial and power transmission, water solutions, renewable energy, engineering R&D, and IT. He has led HR functions at country, regional, and global levels, with extensive experience in driving large-scale HR transformation, organizational development, and business growth across geographies and the value chain.
He currently serves as Director – HR at Bonfiglioli India, where he leads the HR agenda in support of organizational growth. Previously, he spent eight years with Grundfos, including as HR Leader for the Europe & IMEA Region for the Water Utility Business and Country Head HR for India & Export Markets. He also spent over nine years with Vestas, progressing through senior HR roles and leading HR for the India business across manufacturing, sales, construction, service, R&D, global operations, and corporate functions.
Areas of Expertise
- Strategic Human Resource Management & HR Transformation
- Organization Development & People Strategy
- Performance Management, Compensation & Benefits
- Talent Acquisition & Talent Development
- HR Business Partnering & Leadership Development
- Global HR Operations & Shared Services
- GCC & GBS Build-out and Greenfield Factory Set-up
- HR Automation, Policy & Process Transformation
- Change Management & Business Growth Enablement
Career & Academic Highlights
- Currently serves as Director – HR, Bonfiglioli India, leading the HR function and supporting the organization’s growth agenda.
- Previously served as Director HR – Europe & IMEA Region, Water Utility Business at Grundfos, leading HR across a diverse international geography.
- Earlier served as Country Head HR – India & Exports Market at Grundfos, managing the HR agenda for India and export operations.
- Spent over nine years at Vestas, ultimately serving as Country Head HR – India and managing HR across the complete business value chain, including manufacturing, sales, construction, service, global technology R&D, global operations, and corporate functions.
- As Regional HR Business Partner – Asia Pacific & Head of Global HR Shared Services at Vestas, drove compensation and benefits strategy, HR operations, and the establishment of a global HR shared-services organization in India supporting APAC, Europe, and the US.
- Earlier led HR initiatives for the Vestas Global Technology Centre in India, including HR policy and process development, performance management, HR automation, compensation and benefits, and people and organization development.
- Began his HR career with HCL Technologies, where he served as Associate Manager – HR.
- Holds a Master of Social Work in HRM & OB from Madras School of Social Work, University of Madras, and a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Madras.
- Certified in Hogan Assessments, Master Person Analysis, and SHL Assessment, with core expertise in Performance Management, Compensation & Benefits, and Talent Acquisition.
- An active thought-leadership partner across HR and business forums, he also mentors startups on product, people, market scale-up strategy, and governance.