Neelam Dhawan

Independent Director

Ms Neelam Dhawan is an Independent Director on the Board of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL). She is the Chairperson of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee and a Member of the Audit Committee, Risk Management Committee and CSR-ESG Committee of HUL.

Ms Dhawan has vast experience in the information technology industry and, since 1982, has held various positions, including that of Managing Director, across HCL, IBM, Microsoft, and Hewlett Packard. Her last executive assignment was as Vice President of Asia Pacific and Japan for Hewlett Packard Enterprise until March 2018.

Over several years, leading business journals such as Fortune, Forbes and Business Today have recognised her as one of the Most Powerful Women in Business. Her main area of expertise is managing complex technology businesses in highly matrixed organisations. She has experience in IT transformation across multiple industries: banking and finance, telecommunications, manufacturing, health care and government.

Ms Dhawan has been a key participant in shaping the IT industry in India. She was on the NASSCOM Executive Council from 2009 to 2017 and significantly contributed to the industry strategy and public policy frameworks. She is passionate about encouraging Diversity at Work and Women in Technology. She has been working on various initiatives to encourage STEM education for girls.

She is currently a Non-Executive Independent Director at ICICI Bank Limited, Tech Mahindra Limited, Ather Energy Limited, Capita PLC and Fractal Analytics Limited. She is the Chairperson of a startup, Capillary Technologies India Limited. She was on the Supervisory Board of Royal Philips, Netherlands (2012 to 2022) and the Head of IBM India Advisory Board from December 2018 to August 2020.

Ms Dhawan is an Economics Graduate from St Stephen's College, Delhi University. She also has an MBA degree from the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, India.