HR Achievement Awards Judging Committee

Chair: 
Caitlin MacGregor, CEO and Co-founder
Plum, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada

Caitlin MacGregor, CEO and Co-founder at Plum, is passionate about identifying people’s potential. After building two businesses for others, she founded Plum to quantify people’s potential and give organizations access to the critical talent data needed to match people to jobs in which they will flourish and thrive.  An award-winning business leader, Caitlin was named an Inspiring Leader by Inspiring Workplaces^TM, and recognized as one of TAtech’s 100 Most Influential Talent Acquisition Leaders. 

Setting the agenda for innovation and improving recruiting operations’ effectiveness and efficiency, Caitlin regularly speaks at global events, including CES, Human Resource Executive HR Technology Conference & Exposition, Americas’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG) Women Connect, HRCI Higher Standards Summit, Catalyst Empowerment Summit, and more. She also is a sought-after guest on podcasts, including Recruiting Daily, The Recruitment Flex Podcast, and 3Sixty Insights. In addition, she has been quoted in the NY Times, World Economic Forum, Financial Post, The Globe and Mail, The Record, Global News, Human Resource Executive, and Benefits Pro.

Moreover, under Caitlin’s leadership, Plum was listed on the first-ever global Top 100 Inspiring Workplaces and received the 2023 Gold Stevie Award for Great Employers Talent Acquisition & Retention Solution Provider of the Year.

Committee:

Debashish Acharya, ServiceNow HR Manager
Cummins, Mckinney, Texas, United States
Debashish is an accomplished technology professional with over 18 years of expertise in HR and IT. Specializing in digital transformation, advanced workflows, and process automation, he leverages cloud-native enterprise solutions such as ServiceNow. As the ServiceNow HR Manager at Cummins Inc., he combines technical expertise with strategic leadership to deliver impactful solutions.

Sourabh Bajaj, Co-founder & CTO
Uplimit, San Mateo, California, United States
Sourabh is the co-founder and CTO of Uplimit where he works at the intersection of the application of AI in education. Prior to that, he worked at Google brain working on Tensorflow and at Coursera and Neeva.

Heather Barton, Human Resources Consultant
Freelance, London, United Kingdom
Heather is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. After graduating from Oxford, she worked in education, and was a College Vice Principal. She qualified in Human Resources and held Director posts in the Probation Service, Housing and cultural exchange. She is now an HR Consultant.

Kevser Celik, Employee Experience Specialist
Architect Information Systems Inc, Istanbul, Turkey
Kevser graduated from the Department of Politics, then worked in different departments of an Islamic Bank for more than 10 years.  She has been working as an HR Employee Experience Specialist at a tech company for 6 months.  She also has a blog where she shares her thoughts through stories.

Divya Divakaran, Director of HR
EVS, Inc., Eden Prairie, Minnesota, United States
Divya is a Strategic HR Leader with over 18 years of progressive HR experience. She was honored with the MSPBJ Women in Business Award in 2023 for her outstanding contributions to the field. Known for her expertise in fostering inclusive and collaborative work environments, Divya has a proven track record of implementing strategies.

Parul Dubey, Managing Director & General Manager
Nasdaq Private Market, Mountain View, California, United States
Parul Dubey is a Managing Director and General Manager within the Capital Markets division at Nasdaq Private Market (NPM), a leading secondary market platform for trading private stock in venture-backed companies. She was a recipient of a 2023 Gold Stevie® Award for Business Services Woman of the Year.

Amira El-Deeb, Director
Career Development Department - American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt
Dr. Amira El-Deeb (El-Dib) is the director of the Career Development Department (CDD) at AUC's School of Continuing Education (SCE). She has +20 years of experience in training, instructional design, and education management. Dr. El-Deeb obtained her doctorate degree in business administration in the field of talent training and development. 

Dr. Ghada A. El-Kot, Professor in Human Resources & Organizational Behavior, College of Management and Technology and Deputy President for Strategic Affairs 
Arab Academy for Science & Technology & Maritime Transport, Alexandria, Egypt
Ghada El-Kot, Professor in HR & OB; Deputy President for Strategic Affairs at Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport, Egypt. Prof. El-Kot has over 35 years of experience in teaching, research, training, and consultation in the HR field. She is a reviewer and associate editor of many international journals. 
 

Tiffany Fell, City Manager
City of Clarksburg, Clarkburg, West Virginia, United States
Tiffany Fell is a seasoned professional with over 18 years of experience in economic and community development. Holding a Bachelor of Business Administration, an MBA in Global Leadership, and currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Communications, she leverages her expertise to drive positive change as a city manager.

Gunduz Guldamlasi, Learning, Culture and Employee Experience Designer
Augdemy, Maltepe, Istanbul, Turkey
Experienced executive manager specializing in corporate academy management, culture transformation, and learning design. Judge in prestigious learning and HR awards. Founder and Management Consultant at Augdemy, with a proven track record in implementing corporate academy processes and managing global employee experience and culture projects. Strong leadership skills with hands-on expertise in transformation projects.

Gülfem Güvendir Temiz, Internal Communication and Employer Branding Group Manager
SOCAR Turkey, Istanbul, Turkey
Gülfem Güvendir Temiz is an Internal Communications and Employer Branding Manager for SOCAR Turkey. She is an experienced communications professional with nearly 15 years. She leads employee engagement projects, internal communications, and employer branding.  Güvendir graduated in 2010 from the department of Public Relations and Publicity at Maltepe University. 

Srinivasulu Harshavardhan Kendyala, Vice President of Software Engineering
JPMorgan Chase, Plano, Texas, United States
Kendyala is an exceptionally innovative and results-driven technical leader with a proven track record in Identity & Access Management within the financial services sector. He has a wealth of experience leading Customer Authentication Platform (CIAM) teams and possesses a diverse skill set encompassing Authentication, Orchestration, Single Sign-On (SSO), Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).

Anna Krusteva, People Business and Success Partner      
FusionPoint HR Consulting, Sofia, Bulgaria
A seasoned HR Business-focused Human Resources Executive with 20 years of diverse industry experience. Expert in launching and transforming HR departments, reducing costs, and negotiating vendor deals. Known for balancing compassion with objectivity, and inclusion with purpose, it creates trusted HR practices aligned with business goals.

Milana Lelovic, Head of HR
Mailbird, Novi Sad, Serbia, Serbia
With seven years in the software industry, Milana has honed her skills in HR, finance, and business management. Armed with degrees in political science and psychology and a Master's in Data Analytics and Management, she's committed to elevating HR to a central strategic role in organizations.

Münteha Mangan, Employer Branding Team Leader
Aselsan, Yenimahalle, Ankara, Turkey
After 16 years of communications and marketing experience, Munteha led Employer Brand Communications of the sector's fastest-growing company, Turkey (Turkish Aerospace), with a record-breaking and award-winning performance for 5 years. He is now leading the Employer Brand of the most attractive employer in the engineering sector in Turkiye (Aselsan).

Antony Michaeline Praveen Maria, Senior Manager Human Resources
Tata Consultancy Services, Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, United States
Antony is a seasoned HR leader with 12+ years in IT and services. His expertise spans talent acquisition, employee engagement, digital transformation, and project management. Known for strategic thinking and innovative solutions, Antony drives HR excellence through data-driven initiatives and a focus on employee experience. A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion.

Peyman Naderi, HR Director
Saman Bank, Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Peyman began his university studies in industrial management and then pursued a master's degree in executive management. He holds DBA degree from the University of Grenoble in France. He has worked in the fields of human resources management, strategic planning, and organizational excellence models and has given advice to various companies.

Gabriel Schaepman, Vice President | Human Resources
Swiss Re Management Ltd, Zurich, Switzerland
Gabriel is a seasoned Learning & Development Consultant at Swiss Re. With over 30 years' experience, he designs innovative learning solutions, pioneered MOOCs, and applies the 70/20/10 learning model. He holds three Master's degrees and mentors refugees and unemployed individuals. His work is recognized industry-wide for promoting lifelong learning.
 

Mark Spool, PhD, President
Management Development Solutions, West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States
Mark Spool, Ph.D. is a leadership development consultant with 40+ years’ experience. He coaches executives and high-potential employees, and specializes in 360-degree feedback, employee engagement surveys, and competency models. Mark has held management positions at ARCO Chemical Company, Payless ShoeSource, and Marathon Oil Company. His Ph.D. is in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.

Koushik Sundar, Vice President
Citibank NA, Jersey City, New Jersey, United States
Koushik, Vice President at Citibank, boasts 16+ years of IT experience as a Tech Architect and Lead Developer. He drives large-scale projects, generating multi-million dollar revenues. Koushik leads and mentors global teams, specializes in AI, ML, Microservice, and cloud development, is deeply committed to community mentoring, and has received numerous awards.

Dyugu Unal, Regional Learning and People Development Expert AMET   
ALPLA, Istanbul, Turkey
Experienced HR Professional with a proven track record in the packaging industry. Skilled in fostering positive company culture, effective communication, and building strong employee relations. Proficient in all aspects of the HR spectrum, including recruitment, training, organizational development, performance management, learning and development, change management, resilience, and people management.

Sarath Babu Yalavarthi, AVP
AT&T, Dallas, Texas, United States
Sarath Babu is a global IT leader with 20+ years of expertise. He led the end-to-end implementation of large-scale CRM's at GE, JPMC and AT&T. As a Salesforce Certified Technical Architect, he has largely worked on architecting and delivering complex solutions that are highly performant, stable, secure, scalable, and innovative.

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