Sandhiya Thiruvengadam

About Sandhiya Thiruvengadam

I sit at the intersection of people strategy, AI, and business transformation — building the systems and capabilities that make organizations move faster, retain better, and scale smarter. Across my career — Apexon, Walmart Global Tech, Cognizant, TCS — I\'ve operated across 20+ countries, led workforce transformations spanning thousands of employees, and consistently connected people decisions to business outcomes. Talent strategy, workforce analytics, organizational capability building, DEI, digital transformation — I\'ve owned these not as HR initiatives but as business priorities.Today, as an HR Leader at Apexon, I\'m shaping what the AI-native People Function looks like — from career architecture and role benchmarking to talent strategy for a scaling global organization. I designed AI Atlas, a fluency program that built AI capability across 140+ HR professionals, and evolved it into an AI operating system with 24+ live agents across hiring, development, and engagement in five countries.What drives my work: the belief that the People Function is the most underleveraged strategic advantage in most organizations. When your workforce analytics predict attrition before it happens, when your hiring velocity outpaces competitors, when your development pathways are personalized at scale — that\'s not HR delivering a service. That\'s HR driving the business.I build AI-native HR systems that actually get adopted. I teach what I build — AI-for-HR programs through Maven and Inc42.I write about how I do it on Substack and LinkedIn.I speak on AI in HR, people analytics, and design thinking at forums including HackingHR, IIM Trichy and IIT Madras. I judge what the industry builds — Stevie Awards, Brandon Hall, Women in AI Awards North America. I mentor young graduates and professionals navigating career transitions and immigration journeys through ADPList.And through Women Defining AI, I bring women together to share what they\'re building in this space — because the voices shaping AI need to reflect the people it impacts.2024 and 2025 Gold Stevie Award winner. Boston HR Council Best Speaker of the Year. Featured in Forbes and LinkedIn News.Started my career at 17 as a freelance anchor and voiceover artist. That taught me something I still use every day: if you can\'t make it clear and compelling in 60 seconds, you haven\'t thought hard enough.

Experience

1. Senior Human Resources Business Partner

   Apexon

   May 2023 — Present · Princeton, NJ, US

   Apexon is a digital-first technology services firm backed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Everstone Capital. We specialize in accelerating business transformation and delivering human-centric digital experiences. For over 26 years, Apexon has been meeting customers wherever they are in the digital lifecycle and helping them outperform their competition through speed and innovation.We enable #HumanFirstDigitalAt Apexon, we respect the diversity of ideas and encourage an atmosphere of trust, fairness, openness, and candor. We place a high value on a respectful and inclusive work environment that encourages employees to bring their authentic selves to workApexon is committed to being an equal opportunity employer and promoting diversity in the workplace. We take affirmative action to ensure equal employment opportunity for all qualified individuals. Apexon strictly prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind and provides equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to gender, race, color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other applicable characteristics protected by law.

Education

• Madras School of social work

  M.A, Human resources

  2010 — 2012

• Texas McCombs School of Business

  Postgraduate program, Data science and Business Analytics

  2020 — 2021

• Madras Christian College

  B.Sc, Physics

  2007 — 2010

• MIT Sloan School of Management

  Executive Program, Design Thinking

  2019 — 2019

Skills

• Powerpoint
• Microsoft Office
• Public Speaking
• Excel
• Word
• Digitization
• Talent Management
• Tableau