Dipashree Khanna

HR leader with 20+ years across media, technology and telecom, experienced in the people side of mergers and integration: due diligence, role mapping, retention, communication and post-merger operating models. Four acquisitions at Believe, the GroupM acquisition of MediaCom and the insourcing of 108 employees at Vodafone. Built HR from scratch for India and South Asia and partnered on an India GCC from pilot to 250+ people, in dual-reporting, global matrix environments.

Fractional HR Leader at REVFIRST SYSTEMS PVT. LTD. (2026-03 – Present)

• Working with the founder of a ~15-person company to build HR foundations: governance, policies, performance and talent frameworks.
• Advising on employee relations, compliance and people risk, and aligning people decisions with growth, productivity and organisational priorities.

People Director – India & South Asia (dual reporting: India MD and Group CHRO) at BELIEVE DIGITAL PVT. LTD. (DIGITAL MUSIC) (2019-09 – 2026-03)

• Led the people workstream across four acquisitions (2019–21), from due diligence to integration; ~95% of critical talent retained across three of them. In one label acquisition, rationalised duplicated roles (14 of 28 acquired people over 12 months) after completing knowledge transfer.
• Built the HR function from scratch for India and South Asia as the business grew from ~30 to ~300 people through organic and acquisition-led growth.
• HR partner for the India GCC build (Q4 2020 – March 2026): from pilot roles to 250+ people across Operations and Finance. Worked with local and global leaders on structure, seniority bands, spans, hand-offs and compensation, and on the next layer of leaders and the talent pipeline.
• Built and led a team of seven across TA and HR business partnering, HR operations, L&D, CSR (shared with the region) and administration; HR-to-employee ratio of 1:34 against a 1:21 global average.
• Contributed to ~€2.4M of group-level recurring annual savings (figure from global teams) through deliberate GCC sizing, seniority and opex decisions with the local VP of Operations, avoiding a lift-and-shift hiring model.
• Partnered with regional and global leaders across Europe, the Americas and APAC; owned local HR decisions within delegated authority and challenged assumptions on hiring, seniority and career progression.
• India scored highest in the group's global eNPS survey (eNPS 8.6/10) with 99% survey participation, in partnership with the MD and business heads.
• Formalised the India compensation policy (with EY) and the statutory compliance framework; set up four greenfield offices with facilities and IT.

Talent Director – All India (dual reporting: Agency MD and GroupM CHRO) at MEDIACOM COMMUNICATION PVT. LTD. (GROUPM) (2015-11 – 2019-09)

• Owned all HR topics for an agency of ~200 people across Mumbai, Gurgaon and Bangalore, including hiring quality, organisation structure, development and leadership succession.
• Led the HR workstream on workforce optimisation and on the transition when GroupM acquired 100% of MediaCom from its joint venture with Madison.
• Managed budget submissions and headcount approvals, and worked with GroupM COEs on structure and delivery; partnered with agency leaders on capability and performance alignment.

Assistant Manager to Deputy Manager – HR at VODAFONE INDIA PVT. LTD. (2010-11 – 2015-10)

• Contributed to the insourcing of 108 employees from Nokia Siemens Networks into Vodafone: compensation, policy, structure and role alignment with HR COEs and business leaders.
• Managed HR operations and the employee lifecycle for ~1,200 corporate employees in Mumbai, and headcount and payroll budgeting for ~2,000 employees across corporate functions, Enterprise and Technology (including the Pune tech hub), partnering with HR COEs and senior leaders.
• Talent acquisition partner for the B2B / Enterprise business: closed ~60 mid-to-senior hires in ~15 months across technology, sales, customer service and finance, working with hiring managers and recruitment partners.
• Contributed workforce-planning input to a data-centre set-up.

HR Executive to Senior Associate – HR at CONVERGYS INDIA PVT. LTD. (2005-06 – 2010-11)

• Managed HR operations, employee lifecycle, HRIS, engagement and statutory compliance for a ~600-employee site (Malad) and then a ~1,200+ employee site (Thane), in a large-scale, high-volume environment.
• HR workstream lead on a site closure (500+ employees): redeployment, severance, communication and compliance, working with the Site Leader, HR Director, vendors and HR teams across locations.

MPMIR (Master of Personnel Management & Industrial Relations) – Jankidevi Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, SNDT Women's University (2003 – 2005)

B.A. in Psychology – University of Mumbai (2000 – 2003)