Leadership

Mr. Sumant Sinha is the founder of ReNew India, the first Indian renewable company to list on Nasdaq. He has been ReNew India’s Chairman and CEO since 2011. Prior to founding ReNew India, Mr. Sinha served as President, Finance at Aditya Birla Group and Founder CEO of Aditya Birla Retail. He also served as Chief Operating Officer of Suzlon Energy Ltd. from 2008 to 2010.Mr. Sinha has also held various roles in investment banking at global financial institutions including Citicorp Securities and ING Barings Services Limited. He is a Board member of the U.S. India Strategic Partnership Forum. Mr. Sinha chairs the Advisory Board of Global Wind Energy Council and is a Board Member of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). He is Co-chair of the World Economic Forum Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders India. During 2022-23, he served as the president of ASSOCHAM, one of the biggest industry chambers in India. In 2021, Mr. Sinha was recognized as an SDG Pioneer by the United Nations Global Compact. Mr. Sinha holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India, a post graduate diploma in business management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India and a master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University, United States. Mr. Sinha has served on the boards of IIT-Delhi and IIM Calcutta and has been conferred the distinguished alumnus by both the institutions. He was also conferred the first distinguished alumnus award by Columbia University’s SIPA. He is also a CFA Charterholder. He has won multiple international and Indian awards including S&P Global Platts ‘Trailblazer of the Year 2021’; ‘Chairman of the Year’ at the Stevie International Business Awards 2020; ‘ET Energy’s Chief Executive of the Year 2022, Global Leadership Award. He is the author of “Fossil Free: Reimagining Clean Energy in a Carbon-Constrained World”.

Ms. Vanitha Narayanan is a senior global executive and board leader with a track record spanning three decades in technology and telecommunications. In 2020, Ms. Narayanan retired after a career at IBM where she held multiple key roles leading large businesses in the United States, Asia-Pacific and India. These roles included serving as Managing Director & Chairman of IBM India, Vice President for the Communications Sector across Asia Pacific, Vice President for Global Telecommunications Solutions and finally Managing Director for a strategic telecoms client before her retirement. Ms. Narayanan serves on the boards of several global companies including HCL Technologies Ltd. and SLB Ltd. Ms. Narayanan was the first woman chairperson of AMCHAM India in 2016 and served as a member on its National Executive Board from 2014 to 2018. She was on the executive council of the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) from 2016 to 2018 and on the Catalyst India Advisory Board. She also served as Chairperson of the Board of Governors for National Institute of Technology, Surathkal, India and was a member of the National Council of the Confederation of Indian Industry and Co-Chair of its national committee for multinational companies. Ms. Narayanan earned a Degree of Doctor of Letters from the LNM Institute of Information Technology, India. She is a graduate in Public Relations & Communication from Stella Maris College, India and holds an MBA in Marketing and Advertising from the University of Madras, India. She also holds an MBA degree in MIS & Accounting from the University of Houston, United States.

Ms.Kavita Saha is the Head of Infrastructure & Sustainable Energies Group, India, for CPP Investments. This CPP Investments team focuses on evaluation and management of investments in core infrastructure and energy sectors such as transportation, renewable energy generation and utilities. Prior to joining CPP Investments in 2018, Ms. Saha was an MD at JP Morgan India Pvt. Ltd. and part of the India team advising JP Morgan Asian Infrastructure and Related Resources Opportunity Fund (AIRRO) with total assets under management of over US$1 billion. Ms. Saha was responsible for originating and managing Indian investments in sectors such as roads, renewable and conventional power and healthcare infrastructure. She worked previously with Barclays Capital, and with leading Indian financial institutions IL&FS and IDBI, where she was responsible for evaluation, financial structuring and arranging debt and equity finance for projects. Ms. Saha holds an MBA and BSc Physics (Hons) from the University of Delhi, India and is a CFA.

Ms. Nicoletta Giadrossi is currently serving as Chair of Gruppo FS Spa, a mobility infrastructure holding company in Italy; Chair of MSX International Ltd, a global business services provider; and Sustainability & HSE Committee Chair in TKE, a German-based elevator company. She also is a member of the board of Royal Vopak N.V., a petrochemicals and new energies storage company listed on Euronext Amsterdam, where she is part of the audit committee and chairs the remuneration committee. Her past roles include being a member of the board of Brembo S.p.A., an automotive components manufacturer listed on the Italian MIB, where she chaired the Remuneration Committee and was a member of the Audit, Risk & Sustainability Committee. Ms. Giadrossi has been a Senior Advisor with Bain Capital Partners in Europe since 2015 and chair of Techouse AS, a cleantech engineering company in Norway, from 2018 to 2023. Ms. Giadrossi has served on the boards of Capricorn Energy Plc from 2017 to 2023; Falck Renewables S.p.A., now Renantis, a leading European renewable energy producer until 2022; IHS Markit Ltd, listed on the NYSE until 2022; Fincantieri SpA, listed on the Italian MIB , until April 2018; Bureau Veritas S.A. and Faiveley Transport S.A., both listed in France, until April 2017; and Aker Solutions Asa, listed in Norway, until 2013. Ms. Giadrossi has experience in leading and participating in audit, risk, sustainability, and remuneration committees. Ms. Giadrossi’s executive career has spanned 30 years in energy, engineering, and capital goods. From 2014 to 2016 she was President, Europe, Africa, India, for Technip, an engineering company, and from 2012 to 2014 she was EVP, Head of Operations, for Aker Solutions. Prior to that, she was VP and General Manager, EMEA, for Dresser Rand (now Siemens Energy). She spent 10 years with General Electric Company in several executive positions, notably General Manager for GE’s Oil and Gas, Refinery & Petrochemicals Division, a position she held until 2005. Ms. Giadrossi started her career at The Boston Consulting Group. She holds a BA in Economics and Mathematics from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Michael Bruun is the Europe, Middle East, and Africa Head of Corporate Equity and Head of India Corporate and Growth Investing. He is a member of the MBD Corporate Investment Committee, MBD Growth Investment Committee, Sustainable Investing Group Investment Committee, and the Asset Management Inclusion and Diversity Committee.

Mr. Bruun joined the Merchant Banking Division in 2010 and has worked in London and New York. Before that, he was a member of the Nordic Mergers & Acquisitions team in the Investment Banking Division. He joined Goldman Sachs as an analyst in the Fixed Income, Currency, and Commodities Division in 2004 and moved to IBD in 2005. He became a vice president in 2010 and was named managing director in 2013 and partner in 2016. Mr. Bruun serves on the boards of Advania, EcoOnline, HRA Pharma, Navico, Northvolt AB, Noveltech, and ReNew. He is a board member of the Human Practice Foundation. Mr. Bruun earned a BA in Economics from the University of Copenhagen and an MSc in Economics from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark and has also studied at Cornell University, United States.

Sir Sumantra Chakrabarti is a member of the Advisory Board of BeyondNetZero and the Chair of the Board of Trustees of ODI (global affairs think tank). He is also a member of the International Advisory Council of the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development and advises Emerging Market leaders on economic development and public administration reform. Sir Sumantra worked from 2016 to 2022 as a Global Commissioner of the New Climate Economy network and from 2020 to 2021 was a member of the WHO Pan-European Commission on Health and Sustainable Development, and of the Commission for Smart Government in the U.K. Sir Sumantra was until July 2020 the sixth President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. He served two full four-year terms, having won competitive elections in 2012 and in 2016, during his tenure at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Before becoming President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Sir Sumantra was a civil servant in the United Kingdom and was the Permanent Secretary successively at the Department for International Development and the Ministry of Justice. He has a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom and a master’s degree in Development Economics from the University of Sussex, United Kingdom. He is an honorary Fellow of New College, Oxford University, an honorary bencher at the Middle Temple, and also holds honorary doctorates from the Universities of Sussex, East Anglia, and the Bucharest University of Economic Sciences, as well as honors from Kosovo, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and Emerging Europe’s Professor Günter Verheugen Award, 2021.

Ms. Paula Gold-Williams is the former President and CEO of CPS Energy, a fully integrated electric and natural gas municipal utility based in San Antonio, Texas. Ms. Gold-Williams served in positions of increasing responsibility at CPS Energy before becoming CEO in 2015. She held multiple other positions during her 17-year career at CPS Energy, including Group EVP – Financial & Administrative Services, CFO and Treasurer. Ms. Gold-Williams is a corporate director who serves on the board of Emera, Inc., a utility holding company headquartered in Nova Scotia, Canada, with operations across North America. Ms. Gold-Williams also serves as the Chair of the Keystone Policy Center, and has been a member of both the Policy Center and its Energy Board since 2016. She is a board member and Treasurer of EPIcenter, an innovation think tank; incubator and accelerator; and strategic advisory organization. She serves as an Energy Pillar Co-Chair of Dentons Global Smart Cities Communities Initiatives and Think Tank, as well as on the US Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board (SEAB). Previously, Ms. Gold-Williams held other board positions, including First Vice Chair of the Electric Power Resource Institute (EPRI); a member and designated Chair Pro Tem of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ San Antonio Branch; and a past-Chair of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Gold-Williams has an Associate Degree in Fine Arts from San Antonio College. She has a BBA in accounting from St. Mary’s University. She earned a Finance and Accounting MBA from Regis University in Denver, Colorado. She is a Certified Public Accountant and a Chartered Global Management Accountant.

Mr. Manoj Singh served as the Chief Operating Officer at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd (Deloitte Global) in a professional career spanning 36 years with the firm. Prior to his retirement in June 2015, Mr. Singh was based in Cleveland, Hong Kong and New York with Deloitte where he held various leadership positions. A consultant by background, Mr. Singh led Deloitte Consulting in the Americas, was the Asia Pacific Regional Managing Director and the COO in the final eight years with the firm. He also served on the Board of Directors of Deloitte firms in the US, China and Mexico. Mr. Singh has advised national and multinational companies on mergers and acquisitions, enterprise cost management and shareholder value growth with a specific focus on technology, manufacturing and the energy industry. He also has extensive business development experience in emerging and developed markets such as Germany, China, India, sub–Saharan Africa, and South East Asia. He is a member of several company boards including Pratham USA, the Putnam Funds and Abt Associates. Mr. Singh is also a Trustee at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States.

Mr. Yuzhi Wang is a Portfolio Manager in the Infrastructure Department at Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (“ADIA”), where he is responsible for sourcing, executing and managing investments across the transport, utilities, energy, and digital infrastructure sectors with a primary focus on Asia. He has over 10 years of infrastructure investing experience across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Mr. Wang is also a Director of Equis Development. Prior to joining ADIA in 2015, he worked at CPP Investments and State Street Corporation in Canada. He has a BSc in Human Biology from the University of Toronto, Canada and an MBA from Queen’s University, Canada.

Mr. Philip Graham New has served as a non-executive director of Norsk Hydro ASA since May 2022 and as a member of the audit committee since June 2023. He was an independent director of Fotowatio Renewable Ventures, S.L. from 2017 to 2019, became a Board advisor post its relocation to Spain and in June 2023 was appointed as a non-executive director of Fotowatio Renewable Ventures, S.L. He has also served as a non- executive director of Almar Water Solutions B.V. since March 2017. From November 2015 until May 2022, Mr. New served as CEO of Energy Systems Catapult Limited, an independent, not-for-profit company set up to accelerate the transformation of the U.K.’s energy system and ensure U.K. businesses and consumers capture the opportunities for clean growth on the way to net zero emissions. Before joining Energy Systems Catapult Limited, Mr. New worked for BP p.l.c. for over 30 years. He established and built BP p.l.c.’s bioenergy businesses and as chief executive officer of BP Alternative Energy was also responsible for BP’s wind, solar and technology venturing activities. Prior to his role as chief executive officer of BP Alternative Energy, Mr. New held a range of senior international general and commercial management roles in BP p.l.c.’s customer-facing businesses. Mr. New is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Network of Global Future Councils, a Fellow of the Energy Institute, and sits on various energy transition related advisory panels and committees, including the U.K. Automotive Council and the U.K. Research and Innovation’s Faraday Battery Challenge. Mr. New chaired for four years the U.K. Electric Vehicle Energy Taskforce and was recently commissioned by the U.K. Department for Transport to conduct an independent review of the potential for a U.K. sustainable aviation fuel sector. Mr. New holds a Master of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University.

Mr .Bill Rogers is the Global Head of Sustainable Energies Group of CPP Investments. He leads CPP Investments global Sustainable Energies activities. Bill has over 20 years of private equity investment experience, with the majority focused on the energy transition. Most recently he was part of the Leadership Team that built the Green Investment Group, Macquarie’s global renewables principal investment business. Bill started his career at Shell and McKinsey. Bill holds a BA and an MA in Engineering from Cambridge University.

Mr. Sumant Sinha is the founder of ReNew India, the first Indian renewable company to list on Nasdaq. He has been ReNew India’s Chairman and CEO since 2011. Prior to founding ReNew India, Mr. Sinha served as President, Finance at Aditya Birla Group and Founder CEO of Aditya Birla Retail. He also served as Chief Operating Officer of Suzlon Energy Ltd. from 2008 to 2010.Mr. Sinha has also held various roles in investment banking at global financial institutions including Citicorp Securities and ING Barings Services Limited. He is a Board member of the U.S. India Strategic Partnership Forum. Mr. Sinha chairs the Advisory Board of Global Wind Energy Council and is a Board Member of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). He is Co-chair of the World Economic Forum Alliance of CEO Climate Leaders India. During 2022-23, he served as the president of ASSOCHAM, one of the biggest industry chambers in India. In 2021, Mr. Sinha was recognized as an SDG Pioneer by the United Nations Global Compact. Mr. Sinha holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, India, a post graduate diploma in business management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, India and a master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University, United States. Mr. Sinha has served on the boards of IIT-Delhi and IIM Calcutta and has been conferred the distinguished alumnus by both the institutions. He was also conferred the first distinguished alumnus award by Columbia University’s SIPA. He is also a CFA Charterholder. He has won multiple international and Indian awards including S&P Global Platts ‘Trailblazer of the Year 2021’; ‘Chairman of the Year’ at the Stevie International Business Awards 2020; ‘ET Energy’s Chief Executive of the Year 2022, Global Leadership Award. He is the author of “Fossil Free: Reimagining Clean Energy in a Carbon-Constrained World”.

Kedar Upadhye is ReNew’s Group Chief Financial Officer. He comes with over 22 years of diverse and global experience. Prior to joining ReNew, he was President and Global CFO, Cipla, one of India’s largest publicly traded pharmaceutical companies, with a market cap of approximately US$ 9.8 billion. As CFO at Cipla, he headed the global finance and information technology functions and worked across multiple geographies, including the US. His leadership experience includes core financial reporting, business partnership, business model realignment and cost optimization, corporate finance, and global investor relations, apart from implementing several high-impact, cross-functional transformational projects. Before Cipla, he was VP and Head, Finance and Investor Relations for NYSE-listed Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories. Kedar has also held leadership roles at PepsiCo and Thermax. He holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, and is a qualified Company Secretary as well as a Cost Accountant.

Balram Mehta joined ReNew in 2011 and is the COO & Group President, ReNew Services Business. Mr. Mehta’s responsibilities include implementing strategies for Wind Energy projects and overseeing the entire asset management function and the digital transformation program at ReNew.

Mr. Mehta has over 25 years of experience across sectors including the renewable energy industry. Prior to joining ReNew, he worked with CLP Wind Farms (India) Private Limited, Enercon India Limited, and DCM Limited. Mr. Mehta holds a bachelor’s degree in technology from Himachal Pradesh University and an MBA in operations management from the Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi.

Mayank Bansal is ReNew’s Group President, India RE Business. His responsibilities include the overall addition of all generation capacity which includes project development and execution of wind and solar assets, driving bidding/PPAs, storage, B2B, carbon credits, transmission, and other related areas. Mr. Bansal has over 20 years of consulting experience, and before joining ReNew, he worked at Hindustan Lever, McKinsey and A T Kearney. He holds a bachelor’s degree in technology from Indian Institute Of Technology, Bombay, and an MBA from the Indian School Of Business, Hyderabad.

Vaishali Nigam Sinha is the Co-founder, ReNew, and Chairperson, Sustainability. A keen advocate of climate action and gender equality, Vaishali is deeply engaged with leading industry bodies, think tanks and educational institutions. She is a member of the Governing Council of the UN Global Compact Network India (GCNI) and Chairperson of their Gender Committee, Chairperson of South Asian Women In Energy (SAWIE), Chair, CII’s Indian Women Network and Woman Empowerment Committee and a member of the Columbia Global Centre’s Advisory Board.

In 2020, Vaishali was recognized among Asia’s Most Influential Women in Renewable Energy and as an Influential Women Business Leader by the SolarQuarter magazine. In 2019, CEO Today magazine conferred the Businesswoman of the Year Award on her for her achievements as a woman professional.

Prior to ReNew, Vaishali had worked as an investment banker for over 15 years in the US, UK and India.

Vikram Kapur is the Group President, Growth business (Green Hydrogen, Carbon Credits, Digital) and International at ReNew. With over two decades of professional experience, he joins in the newly created Chief Growth Officer role to help build new businesses such as Green Hydrogen and Carbon Markets, as well as international partnerships to enable the core and nascent businesses. Prior to joining ReNew, he spent 17 years at McKinsey & Company, where he was a senior partner leading the energy and material practice. He also was at Unilever for over four years. Vikram holds an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, and a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi.

Ajay Tripathi is the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) at ReNew. Until recently, Ajay was the Global HR Head and CHRO for L&T Infotech. He has over 27 years of leadership experience across HR and business roles. He started his career on the shop floor at SAIL after graduating from IIT Kanpur in 1993, where he was Production Manager for 6 years before joining XLRI Jamshedpur for an MBA in HR & Personnel Management.

Since then he has spent 20 years in progressively senior leadership roles in HR with organizations like EY, Mercer, Dell, Atos, and most recently, at L&T Infotech. He has worked in both HR consulting, and HR leadership roles in the industry, and has experience across multiple industries including Banking, Pharma, Infrastructure, Metals, Technology and Software Services. He has been in HR leadership roles since 2012, and has tremendous experience around leadership development, performance management, HR process redesign, succession planning and organization engagement. He has worked seamlessly with Business and HR stakeholders in global companies and managed teams spread across more than 30 countries.

Kailash Vaswani is the Chief Financial Officer at ReNew. He has worked in financial markets since 2001 and started his career as a Research Analyst at CRISIL (owned by S&P and India’s leading ratings provider) before moving to Morgan Stanley into a fixed income research role, covering the US and European bond markets. He worked in Aditya Birla Group and Saffron Asset Advisors in various corporate finance and investment roles and helped them with investment decisions in excess of $6.5 Bn. in India and US.

In 2011, Kailash joined ReNew as a founding team member to help put the business plan in place and enable ReNew with the first round of raising capital from Goldman Sachs. Over the last 10 years he has successfully led all capital raise for ReNew on the debt and equity side and has raised cumulative capital of more than $10 Bn for the company. As part of the senior management, he has significantly contributed to the growth of the company by being involved in strategic decisions, and organization building and growth of the portfolio of assets through organic and inorganic additions.

Sanjay Varghese is President, ReNew Projects. Mr.Varghese has been with ReNew since October, 2017 and his responsibilities include overseeing development and execution of ReNew’s renewable power projects. He has over 15 years of experience in the renewable energy sector. Prior to joining ReNew, Mr. Varghese worked with Lanco Group for over nine years where he held various leadership positions, including as their Chief Operating Officer. Before that, he worked in the field of investment banking. Mr. Varghese holds a bachelor’s degree in technology in the field of metallurgy from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and a post graduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Vikash Jain is ReNew’s Group President, Legal and CS. He comes with rich and varied international experience of over 26 years in compliance, governance, and litigation. In his last role, he was Group General Counsel for Vedanta Resources Limited, which included being General Counsel for Cairn Oil & Gas. Vikash has also held leadership roles at Transocean, Jubilant Energy, and Hindustan Oil Exploration company. He is an MBA from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, holds an LLB from VSSD College, Kanpur, and is a qualified Company Secretary, as well as a Cost And Works Accountant.