Venkatesh Shankar

Senior Executive, leader, pioneer & strategist with over 20 years of hands-on experience in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) R & D domain, having expertise in cost-effective product development, primarily in Personal and House Hold Care, including the Hygiene domain. I have been leading R & D for major Indian industries, in the above mentioned areas. This leadership role is truly cross-functional and multi-lingual, having direct reports from across Asia and Europe. Over the years, I have gained expertise in the areas of strategy, leadership, innovation, optimal resourcing, technology, manufacturing and laboratory management and diversified team management skills. My role has been pivotal in setting up R & D & Quality functions from scratch, with responsibilities covering building capable teams to drive strategic product innovation initiatives and ensuring alignment with Marketing and Sales objectives. People management at a 360-degrees level includes handling multi-location, multi-lingual, cross-cultural and diverse teams, engaging with vendors & customers, managing senior leadership and collaborating with cross-functional resources. Purpose driven, Result-oriented decisive leader and a persuasive communicator with exceptional relationship management skills with a flair for identifying market/industry/ consumer & customer needs while successfully ensuring these are catered to effectively. Multitasking ability to sketch the plan, prioritize the work and manage complex projects under aggressive timelines Adept at analyzing the organization requirements with a proven capability to thrive in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environments while staying focused and pragmatic.