Aparna ChandraChief Human Resources Officer
Portrait of Aparna Chandra

The journey so far

Aparna Chandra

Chief Human Resources Officer · India · Global perspective

Building the leadership, culture and capability to thrive.

I build the leadership, organisation and people capabilities that allow strategy to become sustained performance.

Open to
  • Board appointments
  • Advisory roles
  • Speaking invitations
  1. 85%

    Senior roles filled internally

    Through a rebuilt succession pipeline

  2. +31 pts

    Engagement improvement

    During a three-year transformation

  3. 52,000

    Colleagues served

    In 30 countries

  4. 40%

    Women in leadership

    Up from 18% in five years

The compass

People strategy must explain how the organisation will build the capability its ambitions require. I connect succession, organisation design and everyday leadership practice, with attention to fairness, privacy and the experience of employees.

The route

Waypoints of a career.

  1. Waypoint 01 · 2006 — 2012

    HR Business Partner, Operations

    Calder Logistics

    Partnered frontline leaders through a network redesign, and learned that culture is what happens on the night shift.

  2. Waypoint 02 · 2012 — 2017

    Global Head of Talent

    Meridian Consolidated

    Designed the leadership pipeline that produced the group's next three business-unit presidents.

  3. Waypoint 03 · 2016 — 2020

    Vice President, Talent & Organisation

    Fairhaven Holdings

    Built talent and organisation programmes with operating leaders, connecting development activity to business capability.

  4. Waypoint 04 · 2020 — Present

    Chief Human Resources Officer

    Aldermoor Group

    Leading enterprise people strategy, executive succession and organisation capability.

Expeditions

Into difficult terrain, and back with results.

01

Leadership succession

Succession discussions relied too heavily on individual nominations. I worked with the board and executive team to define the capabilities required by future roles, assess readiness in context and agree meaningful development experiences. The process made succession a continuing leadership responsibility and connected talent decisions with the direction of the business.

02

Culture transformation

A major change programme needed different behaviours across functions. We translated the desired culture into practical leadership expectations, reviewed the systems that reinforced existing behaviour and created opportunities for teams to discuss difficult trade-offs. The work connected the culture ambition with management practices people could recognise in their daily experience.

03

Workforce strategy

The business strategy was evolving faster than its workforce planning. I brought operating leaders and people teams together to examine capability demand, role design and options for building or accessing expertise. We created a more explicit connection between the strategy, the organisation model and the investments required in people.

Terrain

Where I know the ground.

  • Leadership succession
  • Organisation design
  • People strategy
  • Culture transformation

Languages

Spoken along the way.

  • English
  • Hindi
  • Marathi

Harbours

Boards I serve and have served.

  • Calder Logistics

    Independent Director

    Nomination & Remuneration (Chair)

    2022 — Present

  • The Skills Forward Foundation

    Trustee

    Programmes · Governance

    2018 — Present

Fellow travellers

In their words.

Our succession conversations became evidence-based and calm. That is a gift to any board.
Margaret OseiChair, Calder Logistics
A people leader the whole executive team trusted with its hardest decisions.
Thomas ReyesChief Executive, Meridian Consolidated

Dispatches

Notes from the road.

Recognition

Honours

  • CHRO of the YearThe People Leaders Awards2024
  • Best Workplace TransformationThe Boardroom Review2022

Coverage

Travelling notes

  • The People Leaders Journal · 2025

    “Building a succession bench the board can trust”

  • The Boardroom Review · 2024

    “What remuneration committees miss about culture”

  • The Leadership Ledger podcast · 2023

    “Episode 117 — Culture on the night shift”

An invitation

Let us chart the next course together.

For board, advisory and leadership conversations where leadership succession matters.

Open to
  • Board appointments
  • Advisory roles
  • Speaking invitations

office@aparnachandra.example