Presents

WEB

WOMEN
EXCEL ON
BOARDS

An exclusive program to master board governance
Lessons from top board leadership

Duration: This is a one-year program starting October 23, 2026 to October 25, 2027

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Dates for in person session - October 23-25, 2026 |Mode: Blended (starting with mandatory 3 days in person session)
Venue: Shiv Nadar Foundation Headquarters, A9, Sector 3, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, 201303

Who this program is for

This program is aimed at women leaders in India. You could be a:

  • Corporate director seeking to elevate skill-sets in a changing world
  • C-level executive in a company or a professional services firm looking to fulfill board roles – whether currently serving, retiring or retired
  • Entrepreneur or a director or member of family-owned businesses
  • Manager, acting as director in multinational companies or it’s unlisted subsidiaries in India
  • Manager, acting as a nominee director representing an investor or a fund or a promoter in a listed or unlisted company

Did You Know

As of March 31, 2024, there are nearly 7,500 companies (out of which 5,326 are listed) that need women directors on their boards. In addition, in 2024 and thereafter every year, a significant number of women directors would be finishing their terms, which would present new opportunities for next-generation women leaders (Source: CMIE)

The Indian context

Even after a decade since the passage of the Companies Act 2013, which mandated at least one-woman director on company boards, in Nifty-500 companies an average of one in five board members is a woman (223 Nifty-500 companies have only one- woman director).

The Companies Act, 2013 mandated the following category of companies to appoint at least one-woman director:

  • Every listed company
  • Every other public company with either:

    - Paid-up share capital of INR 1 billion (approx. US$12 million) or more; or
    - Turnover of INR 3 billion (approx. US$36.02 million) or more

In addition, SEBI- LODR require that the top 1000 listed companies in India need an independent director, who is a woman.

The reform has the potential to create a sea of opportunities, both at individual and societal level. It opens a career path for qualified women who can take up board positions. The reform, implemented in its true spirit, has the potential to making Indian society more inclusive and breaking gender barriers when it comes to decision making in the top echelons of one of the world’s most dynamic economies.

For women aspiring to take up these opportunities, this program is the ideal intervention. With its comprehensive approach, it will equip participants with indispensable skills, insights and tools to master corporate governance and leadership complexities and help them navigate the demanding path to board positions with confidence and effectiveness.

Program Objectives

The program aims to provide women leaders with the skills and knowledge they need to successfully transition from executive positions to corporate board roles.

The program also offers women leaders on the Board a chance to enhance their skills and optimize their performance as directors , both for their own enterprises and for other companies.

Program Outline

The program will enable participants to

  • understand roles and responsibilities of corporate directors and board committees
  • match their skills and talents to the specific needs of the board
  • carry out board tasks and engage in collaborative decision making
  • add value to an organization as overseers of its leadership ,strategy and overseers of performances
  • navigate the challenges and put laws and perspectives into practice
  • manage personal reputation as a board director and mitigate their own risks
  • learn from global experts on how to read a corporate board and take decisions in a multi-cultural environment

Creating and delivering unparalleled impact

  • Practitioner powerhouse: The curriculum is developed and delivered by senior, renowned practitioners who are subject matter experts and serve on multiple boards. Additionally, a significant part of the course will be delivered by these board practitioners themselves, who bring in deep local and global insights
  • Anchored by Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR (SNU): Offered by India's premier multidisciplinary research university, the program meticulously combines theory and practice.
  • Mandatory, in-person, 3-full days program with close interaction with inspiring women leaders sharing their experiences and demystifying boardroom dynamics.
  • Women Excel on Boards (WEB) Bridge Portal: This service will be available to all participants for the duration of the program starting November 9, 2025 to November 6, 2026.

Board leadership and faculty

Roshni Nadar MalhotraChairperson, HCLTech& HCL GroupTrustee, Shiv Nadar Foundation
Founder, The Habitats Trust

Roshni Nadar Malhotra is the Chairperson of HCLTech, a leading global technology company with revenues of US$14.8 billion. She assumed this role in 2020, becoming the first woman to lead a listed Indian IT company. She has played a central role in shaping the company’s strategic direction, strengthening governance, and guiding its evolution with a steady focus on resilience, trust, and long-term value.

Under her leadership, HCLTech has deepened its capabilities across key areas of technology while expanding its global footprint. She has also steered the company’s shift toward IP-led growth, strengthening its Products & Platforms business and establishing HCLSoftware as a dedicated enterprise software arm. Having been associated with the company since 2009, she has helped shape its journey through multiple phases of transformation, building more consistent, recurring revenue streams in line with a broader industry shift toward integrating services with proprietary platforms.

Roshni is also a Trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation, which has invested over US$1.85 billion in building institutions focused on academic excellence and leadership development. She has played a key role in shaping flagship initiatives such as VidyaGyan, a leadership academy for meritorious students from economically underprivileged backgrounds in rural Uttar Pradesh, and Shiksha, a technology-enabled programme focused on strengthening foundational literacy and early learning in India. She is also the Founder of The Habitats Trust, which supports conservation efforts across India through partnerships and on-ground initiatives, guided by the belief that economic progress and environmental responsibility must advance together.

Her broader institutional engagement includes board memberships with the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, The Nature Conservancy, and HDFC Asset Management Company. She serves on the Executive Board for Asia at the Kellogg School of Management and previously served on the Dean’s Advisory Council at the MIT School of Engineering. Her leadership has been widely recognised — she has featured on Forbes’ World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list and, in 2025, was conferred the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur by France.

She holds a degree in Communications from Northwestern University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, where she received the Dean’s Distinguished Service Award. Her other recognitions include Babson College’s Community Changemaker Award (2017) and Kellogg’s Schaffner Award (2023).

Kaushik DuttaFounder of Thought Arbitrage Research Institute

  • Co-founder and Director of Thought Arbitrage Research Institute
  • Independent Chairman, Zomato Ltd
  • Independent director in PolicyBazaar (PB Fintech), BharatPe, HCL Infosystems, Newgen Software Technologies and InfoEdge Ventures
  • Former Senior Partner at PriceWaterHouseCoopers
  • Fellow Member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
  • Nominated on Government Committees related to corporate governance and corporate fraud mitigation, amongst others
  • Authored or co-authored 6 books on corporate governance, business history and company law in India

Robin Abrams

  • Veteran independent board member currently serving on three public company boards: HCLTech, Factset Research, and Lattice Semiconductor.
  • Currently serving on the board of Natcast, the non-profit created as part of the CHIPS Act in 2023.
  • Has served on the boards of Sierra Wireless, BEA, Openwave, and Zilog.
  • Led CEO and board transitions.
  • Held executive roles at Unisys, Apple Pacific, Apple Asia.
  • Served as CEO of several companies including VeriFone, Palm Computing, and Zilog.

Vijay GunturChief Technology Officer and Head of Ecosystems, HCLTech

  • Spearheads HCLTech's Cloud, Business and Service transformation strategy.
  • Responsible for the establishment and adoption of global centralized practices such as Data & AI, GenAI, IT/OT, e-commerce and centers of excellence (CoEs) encompassing Software and Platform Engineering, Quality Engineering and Testing.
  • Drives CloudSMART, HCLTech's comprehensive cloud offering as well as the HCLTech ecosystem units fostering collaboration and innovation with cloud Hyperscalers, tech OEMs and semiconductor chip companies.
  • Led HCLTech's Engineering and R&D Services (ERS), a $2B global business.
  • Played a pivotal role in creating an equitable and neuro-diverse workspace.

Rahul ChattopadhyayPartner and Leader, Capital Markets and Accounting Advisory (CMAAS), Price Waterhouse Chartered Accountants LLP

  • Partner with the firm’s Assurance Practice and leads the CMAAS practice in India
  • Extensive experience on IFRS transition and technical issues
  • Specialises on issues relating to business combinations and consolidation under Ind AS, IFRS and Indian GAAP
  • Worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers, London
  • Special Invitee to the Accounting Standards Board (ASB) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI)

Program Convenor

Professor Ananya MukherjeeVice-Chancellor, Shiv Nadar University, Delhi NCR

  • Professor of Economics
  • One of the 15 Most Influential Women in Education by Business World in 2022; 2024
  • Amongst Canada’s 100 Most Powerful Women in 2021
  • Former Provost and Vice-President Academic, University of British Columbia, Okanagan, Canada
  • Former Dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, York University, Toronto, Canada
  • Holds a PhD in Economics and Public Policy from the University of Southern California, USA
  • Recognized for transformational higher education leadership, Cambridge Research, Education and Training Enterprise (CREATE), UK
  • Listed amongst Top 200 LinkedIn Voices in Education Worldwide

Curriculum

This one year program begins with a 3-day intensive, in-person component that is designed to inform, inspire, and help you navigate the intricacies of the board room and excel as a director.

DAY 1
9:30 hrs TO 17:30 hrs

  • Understanding the corporation, its stakeholders and themes of governance
  • Nuances of role, responsibilities, and risks of directors
  • Translating laws into practice for directors
  • Experiential insights from the journey of a women leader
  • Understanding board processes for better governance

DAY 2
9:30 hrs TO 17:30 hrs

  • Understanding fundamentals of finance in a board environment
  • Audit committee and oversight of financial matters
  • Behavioural insights on decision-making in boards
  • Other board committees and their oversight
  • Setting the strategy roadmap and its execution

DAY 3
9:30 hrs TO 17:30 hrs

  • Cultural Insights in a diverse business ecosystem
  • Staying ahead of the curve - Prepping for a board position
  • Concluding session - Journey as the destination
  • Reflections and interactions

Testimonials

  • I was initially apprehensive as to how much learning can actually take place in a matter of 3 days on making people Board ready, particularly since I was already a Board member and had hence a fair idea of what was required of such members.

    The program coverage ranged from company law, the SEBI LODR, auditing and finance to several other current topics such as AI, ESG, & Cyber Security. All these topics were contextualized and covered at length. Each session was designed and delivered by professionals with considerable thought and intensity.

    Stalwarts such as Kaushik Datta, Atul Dhawan and his associates from Deloitte as well as the excellent faculty from Shiv Nadar University including Professor Ananya Mukherjee, Vice Chancellor, ensured that the lectures were of a very high standard. Further, bringing in Ms. Renuka Ramnath of Multiples PE as one of the faculty members, was a coup of sorts as she is at the forefront of women achievers in India and leads by example.

    An extremely important aspect of the program was the presence of Ms. Roshni Nadar Malhotra herself, who was present at all the sessions and also was good enough to interact extensively with the participants, particularly with regard to her personal journey in the Board leading up to her present position as Chairperson of HCL Technologies and HCL Corporation.

    As is now well known, legislation has now made it mandatory for Boards in India to induct women members. However, the number of women who are making it to corporate Boards is still relatively small and nowhere near what is required both by law as well as from a gender diversity standpoint. This program is a response to this need. A very well thought through program to ensure that more women are ready to come on to Boards-Kudos to the University and all the faculty. It was an absolute privilege to interact, learn and get inspired by the Women Excel on Boards program.

    Kausalya Madhavan, Independent Director

  • A well thought program, intensive 3 days in person session but helped in building up our expectations of what to expect in the role we are looking forward too. Good efforts by the organizing team and faculty.

    Ishani Duttagupta, Consultant at Times Internet

  • WEB Bridge – Each and every session, activity in the WEB bridge program is helping me take back practical knowledge for board discussions around key eval metrics. The knowledge I am gaining I don’t think I could find anywhere else and couldn’t get from academic literature I have either.

    Thank the entire faculty and organizing team for being a stakeholder in my journey. I will be writing my Independent Director exam soon and the program will surely help me in gradually shaping my profile for fitting Independent Director roles.

    Ruchika Gupta

SNU WEB Bridge Platform

This unique portal will support your journey to your first board seat or improve your effectiveness in your current board role. It offers:

  • A library of materials relevant to Board practices and continuous updates on legal/policy developments.
  • Tools to prepare for the Independent Director's examination conducted by the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA). You will be able to learn at your own pace. A test preparedness quiz is provided with which you can test yourself to align your preparation strategy appropriately.
  • An Ask the Expert feature that allows you to pose questions to our experts which they will answer through the portal. All your questions will be dealt with while always maintaining the highest levels of confidentiality.
  • Masterclasses
  • Learning clinics: Virtual one-on-one sessions with our experts (in finance, governance and similar areas) scheduled according to your convenience.
  • Well-being sessions: Virtual, one-on-one sessions with experts; these sessions will be customized to your well-being concerns and needs … and much more.

To Access the WEB Bridge Portal Click Here

Autumn 2025 Cohort

Summer 2024 Cohort

Autumn 2024 Cohort

Autumn 2025 - In person session valediction

Summer 2024

Autumn 2024 Closing Ceremony - Valediction

For queries / further information, please contact

Program Office
Ms. Anuradha Manjul
Program Manager
[email protected], [email protected]
Ph: 0120 2662002 | extn. 6606

Presented by

Shiv Nadar University, Delhi-NCR
India's premier multidisciplinary research university, an Institution of Eminence