Paints and coatings maker AkzoNobel India has announced the appointment of Neelima Kataria as the country HR manager for India sub-continent and Vandana Krishnia as the new marketing head for AkzoNobel India’s paints business. 

As the country HR manager, Kataria will work closely with the India leadership team and Board of Akzo Nobel India towards crafting a meaningful employee experience that augments its business growth ambitions for India. Among her key priorities will be to drive AkzoNobel’s HR strategic plan to attract the right talent, develop high performance teams in a fast-evolving business landscape, helm people-centric policies, oversee rewards and recognitions, embrace employee wellbeing, diversity and inclusion to strengthen AkzoNobel as an employer of choice.

Kataria brings with her over two decades of HR expertise and best practices across geographies and industries. Before joining AkzoNobel, she was the head of human resources at Apollo Tyres for Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. Previously, she has worked in HR leadership and expertise roles at HT Medias, Fullerton Securities, Bharti Walmart, IBM Daksh and TNT Express.

As the new marketing head for AkzoNobel’s paint business in India, Krishnia will spearhead the strategising and execution of a long-term marketing roadmap aligned with the company’s profitable growth ambitions for India. Her key priorities will be to bolsters the relationship between consumers and Dulux by strengthening the brand and shaping consumer-centric innovations.

Krishnia joins AkzoNobel after most recently served as chief marketing and passenger experience officer at DIAL, GMR group. In her professional journey spanning 18 years, Krishnia has driven marketing management, consumer products, pricing strategy, consumer research for organizations including Hindustan Times Media Ltd. and State Bank of India (SBI) among others.

“At AkzoNobel, we know that to achieve our ambitions, we need a leadership of high performers that is as diverse and inclusive as our customer base. To this end, I am delighted to welcome Neelima and Vandana – two very strong leaders who enrich the organization with their sheer breadth of domain expertise, entrepreneurial passion to innovate, cross-sectoral experience and people-centric approach,” said Rajiv Rajgopal, managing director, AkzoNobel India, on the two appointments.