Karishma Manchanda

About Karishma Manchanda

With over 17 years of HR leadership across high-growth and global environments, I specialize in building people strategies that translate business ambition into scalable organizational capability, leadership readiness, and high-performance cultures.Currently serving as Assistant Vice President – Human Capital & Strategic Initiatives (Head -HR)) at Vertex Group, I work closely with the Founder and CXO leadership to drive Vertex 2.0 — the company’s next phase of hyper-growth and enterprise transformation. My role focuses on translating business strategy into enterprise capability frameworks, leadership pipelines, and future-ready people systems.I provide strategic leadership across People Success, People Experience, Learning & Organizational Development, Organizational Effectiveness, People Excellence, Talent Acquisition, Culture & Inclusion, Talent Management, and Quality & Audit, while strengthening corporate governance and people operating models for the Vertex Group of Companies. A key focus is building the capability required to scale the organization from to employees over the next three years, ensuring leadership, systems, and culture evolve alongside business growth.Previously at Newgen Software, I led Corporate HR, driving transformation across Talent Management, Inclusion & Belonging, and Employee Experience during a pivotal growth phase where revenue scaled 10X (₹168 Cr → ₹1400 Cr) and the workforce expanded 4X (1,100 → across 4 global subsidiaries and operations in 106+ countries.Business Impact Highlights +145% per capita productivity increase (₹11L → ₹27L) through performance-linked career frameworks Attrition controlled under 15% in high-turnover units through internal mobility & engagement design Glassdoor rating improved from 2.4 → 3.4, reflecting a measurable culture shift‍ +12% increase in women in leadership via mentorship and succession frameworks Engagement scores improved from 54% → 90.8% YoY through employee listening & trust-based people programs🧾 Zero audit non-compliances, ensuring governance maturity across CMMI, ISMS, ISO, BRSR, & ESG frameworksAt Expedia Group, I further strengthened culture and leadership capability through DEI, coaching & employee experience initiatives to shape India’s multi-year DEI roadmap and deliver leadership coaching programsEarlier in career, I worked with HCL Technologies as an HR Business Partner. I also served as Site HR with Serco Global Services, managing end-to-end employee lifecycle operations, employee relations, and engagement

Experience

1. Associate Vice President Human Capital Transformation & Strategic Initiatives (HR Head)

   Vertex Group

   Mar 2026 — Present · Gurugram, IN

   Partnering with the Founder and CXO leadership to build a scalable, compliant and future-ready people, leadership and culture architecture to drive Vertex 2.0 hyper-growth.Enterprise People Leadership • Lead the end-to-end people function across Talent Management, Talent Acquisition, L&D, HRBPs, Workforce Management, Employee Experience, Culture & Inclusion, and Quality & Audit • Drive workforce scaling strategy from to employees over three years • Build enterprise people operating models across group companies including acquisitions.Governance, Compliance & Process Excellence • Establish HR governance frameworks, standardized policies and risk-aware operating models • Strengthen statutory compliance, internal controls and audit readiness • Implement maker–checker frameworks, documentation standards and lifecycle process audits • Lead HR digital transformation through HRMS, automation and workforce analyticsOrganization & Talent Transformation • Translate business strategy into enterprise talent, leadership and culture initiatives • Lead organization design, workforce planning and operating model evolution • Build leadership pipelines, succession architecture and capability frameworks • Strengthen performance, productivity and accountability systems aligned to business outcomesLeadership Development & Capability Building • Design leadership journeys for first-line, mid-level and senior leaders • Build enterprise learning strategy aligned to future capability needs • Enable leadership readiness and internal mobility at scaleCulture, Experience & Engagement • Drive culture transformation aligned with Vertex 2.0 vision • Strengthen employee experience, engagement and retention frameworks • Use people analytics to enable strategic workforce decisions

Education

• The ICFAI University, Tripura

  PG Diploma

  2008 — 2010

• IMI Delhi

  Master of Business Administration - MBA, Business Administration and Management, General

• XLRI Delhi-NCR

  Postgraduate Degree, Human Resource Leadership

• Indian Institute of Planning and Management

  Master of Business Administration - MBA, Human Resources Management/Personnel Administration, General

  2007 — 2009

• Maharishi Dayanand University Rohtak

  Bachelor of Technology - BTech

  2004 — 2007

Skills

• Succession Planning
• Hris
• HR Policies
• Team Building
• Human Resources
• Coaching
• Performance Management
• Deferred Compensation
• Change Management
• Performance Appraisal
• Talent Management
• Employee Relations
• HR Consulting
• Employee Engagement