Neelesh is a Senior Partner with Kearney and leads the Leadership, Change & Organization Practice for India and the Fashion & Luxury Practice for Asia. Neelesh has completed his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and has over 31 years of Consulting and Industry experience.

Experience

Neelesh has advised clients across industries on operating model design for growth, productivity and agility, change management and leadership development. He has deeply studied topics such as organization readiness for growth, manager productivity and agility. He has been trained in Change Management, Strategic Thinking and Executive Presence and trains consultants and clients as part of large scale transformations. Neelesh has written many white papers on manager productivity, agility and also published articles in refereed journals on organization design.

In his industry role, Neelesh has advised many large fashion and lifestyle retailers across multiple geographies – India, Far East, US, EU, Japan and Middle East. His work covers all aspects of fashion and luxury – apparel, textiles, watches and accessories, diamonds and jewellery and has advised clients on growth and entry strategy, format and value proposition design, product strategy, manufacturing and supply strategy and operating model. He has authored comprehensive studies of the luxury market in India and South East Asia in partnership with CII and Economic Times.

Before consulting he worked as Senior Human Resources professional in various transformational roles with a leading Apparel and Textiles player where he actively drove change and transformation. As such he also understands the fashion industry from machinery to mannequins.

He is currently a member of the CII Textiles & Apparel Committee. In the past he has served on the CII MNC Committee, CII Textiles Committee, CII Committee on Luxury and Lifestyle and FICCI Lifestyle Committee.

Neelesh works actively on social impact. He has served on the Board of Bombay International School and as the Chairman of the Board led the school through a critical transformation. He serves on the Advisory Board of Creative Dignity, a collective of all the crafts organizations in India and on the Social Impact Governing Board of Kearney. He has worked with Ashoka Foundation on sustainability in the textile value chain through an initiative called Fabric of Change. He and his wife Vishpala run an Ekibeki, a Not for Profit Social Enterprise which focuses on reviving dying crafts.

Neelesh loves Hindustani Classical Music and has been learning singing for the last 10 years. He is an avid audiophile and cherishes the quality of the music as much as the music itself. He loves to cook the famous Saoji cuisine of Nagpur. He lives in South Mumbai with his three children, mother and German Shepherd dog.