Xobin's Top 50 Learning & Development Leaders 2026: The People Redefining How the World Learns
What does it take to lift mandatory learning completion from 65 to 75% to 99% across 22,000 employees? To build leadership programmes that return 10 to 15 times their cost? To see 95% of a leadership cohort promoted?
The answers sit with the leaders on Xobin's Top 50 Learning & Development Leaders 2026, a list recognizing 50 L&D leaders who are changing how organizations build skills, leaders, and learning cultures. From heads of L&D and CHROs to founders of learning firms, they show that learning can be measurable, practical, and human at the same time. Read on to see how they do it.
What is Xobin's Top 50 Learning & Development Leaders 2026 list?
Xobin's Top 50 Learning & Development Leaders recognizes the professionals who help organizations build skills, grow leaders, and make learning part of everyday work. Xobin is an AI-powered talent acquisition and talent management platform used by more than 5,000 paying customers across 55+ countries, and this list celebrates the people who lead learning in practice.
The 2026 edition is part of a wider series covering,
Top 50 Talent Acquisition Leaders
Top 50 Learning and Development Leaders
Top 50 I/O Psychologists
Between them, the lists honor the people behind how the world hires, develops, and assesses talent. Want to see who else was honored? Browse every list on the Xobin HR Awards 2026 page.
Why does Xobin honor learning and development leaders?
Xobin works every day with HR, talent acquisition, learning and development, and people teams. Along the way it has watched individuals reshape how organizations hire, develop, assess, and support their people, often without much public recognition. This initiative puts a spotlight on them, with five aims:
Celebrate outstanding work from across the HR community
Bring wider visibility to contributions that deserve it
Learn from the emerging practices shaping the future of work
Strengthen relationships with HR and talent professionals
Provide a platform for sharing knowledge
How were the L&D leaders selected?
Xobin's leadership team formed the evaluation panel. It reviewed every nomination against one consistent set of criteria, drawing on industry recommendations, open submissions, and in-house research. The timeline looked like this:
Nominations opened: peers, colleagues, and the leaders themselves could submit through the official form, and self-nominations were just as welcome.
Nominations closed on 24 October 2026: the window shut with no late entries.
Evaluation ran from 24 to 30 October: the panel read each nomination in full against the published criteria.
Results were announced on 31 October 2026: all three Top 50 lists went public.
Four criteria guided the panel:
Experience: the depth of professional expertise in the field
Achievement: accomplishments, innovations, or initiatives that show excellence
Workplace impact: programs and policies that changed outcomes, practices, or culture for employees
Community contribution: mentorship, thought leadership, research, or teaching that benefits the wider HR, talent, learning, or psychology community
Years of experience alone did not decide the outcome. The panel looked at each nominee's overall impact and contribution. Entry, application, and participation were free, and there was no paid or sponsored placement.
Who are the Top 50 Learning & Development Leaders in 2026?
These are the 50 leaders recognized this year.
Scan the quick list for the full lineup, then read each leader's profile below.
Note: Each profile has been compiled from the data filled during nominations, LinkedIn profiles, and other publicly available data. If there is anything you would like us to correct or update, please feel free to reach out to nikita.saini@xobin.com and we would be happy to update.
| Learning & Development Leader | Role and Company | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Dr. Michele Sagan | Founder & CEO, Optimal Insight | Malaysia |
| Venkatesh Theagarajan | Assistant General Manager – L&D, Classic Fashion Apparel Industry Ltd. Co. | Jordan |
| Brian Wall | LMHC-QS, LPC-S, LAC, WINGS Recovery Online, LLC | United States |
| Charles Godwin | HR Leader & Public Speaker, Zoho | India |
| Kard Pongsakorn Chanchaisrisakul | Head of Organization and Talent Development, Lazada | Thailand |
| Ron Thomas | Managing Director, Strategy Focused Group | UAE |
| Monisha Ravi | Director – Talent Management and Organization Design, Apparel Group | UAE |
| Alexandru Oprea | Senior Global Manager – Learning Excellence, Innovative Medicine – Johnson & Johnson | Czechia |
| Bhavita Bhatia | Regional Head of Learning & Development, JLL | India |
| Monica Divik Agarwal | CHRO, WorkForm | Singapore |
| Amy DuVernet | VP of Learning, Training Industry, Inc. | United States |
| Gigi Garcia | Founder & CEO, HR Couch | United States |
| Dr. Mostafa Ahmed Ghanima | Group OD Director, International Medical Center | Saudi Arabia |
| Arindam Mukherjee | Founder & CEO, Talent Intellect | Thailand |
| Ravinder Tulsiani | Principal, Interim Enterprise Capability & L&D Advisor, Catalyst Learning & Strategy | Canada |
| Reebu Kuruvilla | Group Manager – Learning & Development, Lulu International Holdings | UAE |
| Sudha Ramesh | HOD & General Manager – Employee Engagement, Dr. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre | India |
| Tarun Sharma | VP of Learning and Development, MUFTI | India |
| Nishant Bansal | Head of Operations, Training & Customer Success, Arihant Publications India Limited | India |
| Nchopia Nwokoma | Director, Leadership Consulting, The ExCo Group | United States |
| Katelyn Shannon | Director of Learning and Development, Bon Secours Mercy Health | United States |
| C. Brooke Davis | Director of Learning and Development, BioFire Defense | United States |
| Meenu Gupta | Group HR Manager – Global, Hira Industries LLC | UAE |
| Regina Dunning | US VP, Global Head of Learning Delivery, SThree | United States |
| Buddy Steele, Ph.D. | Director of Learning, Gallup | United States |
| Meera Phatak | Associate VP HR, JV Ventures | India |
| Abhishek David | AVP – Head of Talent Management & Leadership Development, Dubai Islamic Bank | UAE |
| Mitali Guha | Deputy Director – Learning, PepsiCo | India |
| Archana Srinivasan | Founder & Director, Alchemy People Partners | Singapore |
| Marouane Ibnatik | Group HRIS Manager, Castel Afrique | Morocco |
| Shipra Sharma | Director – HR, OculusIT | India |
| Angelina Crosby-Pigott | Founder & CEO, Elevate Management, LLC | United States |
| Anindyo (Andy) Naskar | Associate Vice President – Head of Learning and Development, Landmark Group | UAE |
| Dr. David Carnegie | Global Head of L&D | United Kingdom |
| Dr. Ajit Kumar Kar | Practice Head – People & Culture, The MindMasters | India |
| Diya Asrani | Learning & Development Partner, Harness | India |
| Lan Tran | Founder & Principal, Wysora | United States |
| Binesh Menon | Director Learning & Organization Development Asia Pacific, Emerson | Singapore |
| Sayon Hem | Certified HR Expert, HCM Solutions | Cambodia |
| Rishikesh Padmanabhan, PhD | Assistant GM – Learning and Development, Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) | India |
| Maulidin Pamur Dhani | People Analytic and Enabler Management, PT. Telekomunikasi Selular | Indonesia |
| Dinesh Patil | Assistant General Manager – HR, Grauer & Weil (India) Limited | India |
| Betsy Thomas | Head of Business Growth & Talent, VivaLaVida | India |
| Jamaluddin | Senior Manager – Learning & Development, Delhivery | India |
| Averyl Dsa Saldanha | Strategic HR Leader | India |
| Raja M | Founder & CEO, COZÉA | India |
| Vandita Mathur | Manager HR – People Development, DSS Imagetech Pvt Ltd | India |
| Sathish G | Sr. Learning and Talent Development Specialist, Delta Electronics India | India |
| Yagneshkummar Patel | Regional Director, International Business Startup & Entrepreneurs Association (IBSEA) | India |
| Noble Thway Mon | Chief Human Learning Officer, UMG Groups of Companies | Myanmar |
Dr. Michele Sagan
Founder & CEO, Optimal Insight · Malaysia · LinkedIn
Dr Michele Sagan combines 25 years of leadership in finance and human capital with a PhD in the future of work. She is also a certified instructional designer, psychotherapist and strategist who advises boards across the UK and Malaysia.
Impact: She has led culture, change management and workforce transformation work for organisations including Petronas, Bank Negara, HSBC, AirAsia and the US Embassy. Her L&D programmes on leadership, AI and human integration, and the future of work have developed talent across leading global enterprises in finance, energy, transportation and construction. As a recognised voice on upskilling and reskilling, she has taken these conversations to national TV and radio.
Venkatesh Theagarajan
Assistant General Manager, L&D, Classic Fashion Apparel Industry Ltd. Co. · Jordan · LinkedIn
With 18+ years in global HR, Venkatesh Theagarajan leads Learning & Development for Classic Fashion's 38,000+ workforce across Jordan, the USA, China, and India. He stands out for turning business strategy into learning that builds leaders at scale.
Impact: He built a structured L&D and reskilling framework that ties employee development directly to business needs, spanning leadership development, functional upskilling, and career growth. This has strengthened the company's internal talent pipeline across manufacturing, design, and technology operations. As a recognized keynote speaker and coach, he also shapes the wider industry conversation on leadership and the future of work.
Brian Wall
LMHC-QS, LPC-S, LAC at WINGS Recovery Online, LLC · United States · LinkedIn
Brian Wall brings over two decades of leadership in behavioral health and addiction care. What sets him apart is his focus on the "why" behind behavioral patterns, pairing compassionate yet firm coaching with systematic influence to drive lasting change.
Impact: Brian has led the implementation of innovative clinical programs that address behavioral health and addiction holistically, guiding individuals and organizations across four countries. His relationship-driven approach consistently improves outcomes and optimizes performance, positioning clients for long-term success.
Charles Godwin
HR Leader & Public Speaker, Zoho · India · LinkedIn
Charles Godwin is a seasoned HR leader with 22 years of experience across the full spectrum of people programs in the IT industry. He stands out for steering organisations through mergers, acquisitions, and high-growth phases with sharp, well-timed HR interventions.
Impact: Beyond the boardroom, Charles has delivered over 3,000 guest lectures, shaping the next generation of professionals across student and industry forums. His unconventional reskilling initiative, Rural Revival, reflects a rare commitment to taking learning and opportunity beyond traditional talent pools.
Kard Pongsakorn Chanchaisrisakul
Head of Organization and Talent Development, Lazada · Thailand · LinkedIn
Kard stands out for building talent pipelines with commercial precision. He designs development programs around the roles that drive business outcomes, turning succession planning into a strategic lever across Lazada Group's six ventures.
Impact: Through IMPACT KAM, he strengthened succession readiness for critical Category Manager roles in Thailand. His PROPEL program prepares Category Managers for Cluster Director roles across all six Lazada ventures. He also built the Lazada Experts Forum, which brings internal commercial leaders together with external voices on tech and social trends and has earned an NPS above 80%.
Ron Thomas
Managing Director, Strategy Focused Group · UAE · LinkedIn
Ron Thomas is a global executive advisor and creator of the Workforce Architect Method™. A former CHRO, CEO, and Board Director, he uniquely blends boardroom governance with practitioner pragmatism, helping CEOs and Boards turn enterprise strategy into future-ready workforce systems.
Impact: His frameworks and advisory work have shaped workforce systems that influence more than 250,000 professionals across the Middle East, Africa, North America, and Asia. Through 100+ keynotes in 30+ countries, faculty roles at HCI and Howard University, and seats on the HBR Advisory Council and McKinsey Quarterly Executive Panel, he continues to shape how organizations build leadership pipelines and resilient workforces.
Monisha Ravi
Director, Talent Management and Organization Design, Apparel Group · UAE · LinkedIn
Monisha Ravi is a talent and organizational effectiveness leader who brings rare depth in psychology to HR strategy. Drawing on 14 years across industries and behavioural science, including REBT principles, she aligns talent, culture and organization design with business goals.
Impact: Her work spans organization design, succession planning, leadership development and performance transformation, helping organizations build future-ready workforces. By combining business context, data and human insight, she coaches leaders to strengthen self-awareness and resilience, creating workplaces where people and performance grow together.
Alexandru Oprea
Senior Global Manager, Learning Excellence, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine · Czechia · LinkedIn
Alexandru Oprea leads the shift from traditional training to global, skills-based workforce development across Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine's supply chain. His capability model gives employees and leaders a shared language for critical skills, tying learning to real work.
Impact: His model brings capability assessment, onboarding, personalized development, digital upskilling, and career readiness together across regions, combining global standards with local flexibility. By building data, analytics, AI, automation, and Copilot into role expectations instead of treating them as standalone courses, he measures L&D success by workforce capability and agility rather than course completion, helping build a future-ready healthcare supply chain.
Bhavita Bhatia
Regional Head of Learning & Development, JLL · India · LinkedIn
Bhavita Bhatia is a distinguished L&D and Organizational Development leader with 17+ years of experience, known for building learning functions from the ground up across four organizations and scaling enterprise talent ecosystems across 14 APAC countries.
Impact: In 2026, she led AI Fluency and leadership development programs for JLL's Google account, achieving 100% AI training completion and a 9.63/10 NPS for the Brilliant Leadership program. Her Kirkpatrick-based measurement approach and global AI Hackathon turned learning into measurable, on-the-ground results. She was named India's Most Influential L&D Leader of 2026 and serves on industry award juries and academic advisory boards.
Monica Divik Agarwal
CHRO, WorkForm · Singapore · LinkedIn
Monica Divik Agarwal builds people engines that carry fintech companies from high-growth chaos to IPO-ready discipline. With 20 years across highly regulated APAC markets, she pairs organisational design with commercial outcomes, showing that people strategy can drive profitability.
Impact: As Group Head of People and Talent at MoneyHero Group (NASDAQ: MNY), she helped turn the business from cash-burning to break-even in under 12 months by redesigning the organisation rather than cutting people. Her work raised eNPS by 318%, lifted the Glassdoor rating from 1.7 to 4.2, and kept 100% retention through four M&A integrations. She now guides clients in seven countries through the shift from digital-native to AI-native.
Amy DuVernet
VP of Learning, Training Industry, Inc. · United States · LinkedIn
Amy DuVernet brings rare scientific rigor to the L&D profession. An industrial-organizational psychologist by training, she pairs evidence-based research with commercial leadership, heading Training Industry's global learning products business from strategy and design through sales and delivery.
Impact: Amy leads Training Industry's courses for L&D professionals, including the Certified Professional in Training Management (CPTM) program, which has produced close to 3,000 graduates and helped raise professional standards in the field. Earlier, she designed and evaluated selection and training systems for Fortune 500 organizations in healthcare, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, law enforcement, and government. Her published research on training effectiveness and leadership development continues to inform L&D best practice.
Gigi Garcia
Founder & CEO, HR Couch · United States · LinkedIn
Gigi Garcia champions a human-centered approach to reskilling that prepares HR professionals and leaders for an AI-driven world of work. Through HR Couch, she builds judgment and resilience, guided by her belief that AI can redistribute work, but not accountability.
Impact: She has created an HR Burnout Certification curriculum, AI toolkits for HR teams, and frameworks for leadership readiness, psychological safety, and sustainable performance. Her work has earned honors including the 2026 OnCon Icon Award, a 2026 Ragan HR Awards Honorable Mention, and Rippling's 2025 HR Hero People Pioneer recognition.
Dr. Mostafa Ahmed Ghanima
Group OD Director, International Medical Center · Saudi Arabia · LinkedIn
Dr. Mostafa Ghanima is a PhD-qualified HR strategist who left a secure telecom career to pursue purpose in people leadership. A Certified Global CHRO (Cornell) and C-Suite leader (Wharton), he is KSA's only Maxwell-certified Coach, Trainer, and Speaker.
Impact: Over 20 years across MENA and the UK, he has led national-level HR transformation strategies for governments and enterprises, rebuilt HR systems from the ground up, and turned toxic cultures into high-trust, high-performance workplaces. Through his Leadership Coaching Academy, he coaches CEOs and C-suite executives and develops CHROs into board-level leaders. Colleagues call him "The Conductor" for bringing clarity and harmony to people and strategy.
Arindam Mukherjee
Founder & CEO, Talent Intellect · Thailand · LinkedIn
Arindam Mukherjee is an HR leader who treats talent development as a strategic business lever, not a support function. His defining strength lies in building internal capability ahead of market demand, turning skills gaps into pathways for growth and mobility.
Impact: He spearheaded an organisation-wide re-skilling ecosystem built on role-aligned learning tracks, workflow-integrated micro-learning, and an internal talent marketplace, reducing dependence on external hiring. The initiative lifted employee engagement, created clear routes from skill acquisition to role transition, and established continuous learning as a core business priority.
Ravinder Tulsiani
Principal and Interim Enterprise Capability & L&D Advisor, Catalyst Learning & Strategy · Canada · LinkedIn
Ravinder Tulsiani brings more than two decades of enterprise learning and workforce transformation leadership across healthcare, financial services, and advisory work. What sets him apart is his operating-model lens on AI, turning technology investment into measurable business value through redesigned workflows, clear decision rights, and stronger workforce capability.
Impact: At SE Health, he helped scale the Corporate University and led a learning-platform migration supporting 60,000+ users, cutting recurring platform costs by about 65% (roughly $390,000 a year). He also led an AI-enabled learning program that lifted engagement by 25%. His guiding principle is that L&D earns its value by solving the right performance problem, not by producing more training.
Reebu Kuruvilla
Group Manager, Learning & Development, Lulu International Holdings · UAE · LinkedIn
Reebu Kuruvilla stands out for building Lulu International Holdings' Learning & Development ecosystem from the ground up. The signature initiative, Ma'rifah, the organization's first in-house learning platform, reflects a rare blend of strategic vision and hands-on execution.
Impact: Under Reebu's leadership, structured learning pathways now run from frontline employees through management, covering customer experience, service excellence, HSE, and leadership. Partnerships with DCT Abu Dhabi/VX Academy and MECSR, along with scalable digital and microlearning, have made learning more accessible and consistent. By connecting capability building with Voice of Customer insights, Reebu has tied employee development directly to business outcomes.
Sudha Ramesh
HOD & General Manager, Employee Engagement, Dr. Mohan's Diabetes Specialities Centre · India · LinkedIn
Sudha Ramesh is a senior People & Culture leader with over 20 years in healthcare HR. She stands out for treating engagement as a cultural foundation rather than a standalone initiative, pairing operational discipline with empathetic, people-first leadership.
Impact: Sudha leads enterprise-wide engagement and culture initiatives for a 1,500+ workforce across clinical, administrative, and support functions. Through large-scale programmes, leadership engagement, and group events built into L&D, she has strengthened team cohesion, retention, and organisational resilience, and tied people strategy directly to performance and patient outcomes.
Tarun Sharma
VP of Learning and Development, MUFTI · India · LinkedIn
Tarun Sharma is a Learning & Development and CX leader with 19 years of experience across multiple industries. He built the MUFTI Retail Academy and created WOWLOGY, a framework that turns service mindset into everyday shop-floor behaviour.
Impact: Under his leadership, WOWLOGY grew from a learning concept into a pan-India service protocol across 450+ stores and 2,000+ employees, giving teams a shared language for customer experience. Its adoption shows in more WOW Bills, more repeat customers and stronger employee engagement. The initiative also earned a Best Culture Transformation Award.
Nishant Bansal
Head of Operations, Training & Customer Success, Arihant Publications India Limited · India · LinkedIn
Nishant Bansal leads operations, training, and customer success for the K-8 segment at Koncept Global Books, Arihant Publications. He stands out for uniting curriculum, implementation, and people development into one execution ecosystem, increasingly powered by practical, AI-enabled workflows.
Impact: His learning ecosystem has reached 25,000+ teachers and 150,000+ students and built a stronger training culture across the organisation. It has also moved sales teams from product-led pitches to consultative conversations with schools. He is now scaling it through digital tools and AI-enabled learning, so development stays continuous, practical, and scalable.
Nchopia Nwokoma
Director, Leadership Consulting, The ExCo Group · United States · LinkedIn
Nchopia Nwokoma brings scientific precision to talent decisions, with expertise spanning executive assessment, succession planning, and board effectiveness. Her global perspective, shaped across the US, Africa, and Asia, and her instinct for building community set her apart.
Impact: She has designed learning experiences that help employees build future-ready skills and apply them immediately, making reskilling practical and tied to real business needs. Beyond the workplace, she has strengthened professional and civic communities through SIOP committee leadership, the Ellavate Charity Foundation board, and a mayoral appointment in Salt Lake City.
Katelyn Shannon
Director of Learning and Development, Bon Secours Mercy Health · United States · LinkedIn
Katelyn Shannon is a Learning and Development leader who brings a systems-level mindset to enterprise learning. Across healthcare, higher education, and technology, she designs human-centered learning structures that balance consistency with flexibility, turning learning into a lever for performance.
Impact: She has led scalable, strategy-aligned learning initiatives and distributed teams through large-scale organizational change. Her focus on developing emerging leaders and supporting adult and non-traditional learners has helped organizations remove barriers to growth and build learning cultures where people thrive.
C. Brooke Davis
Director of Learning and Development, BioFire Defense · United States · LinkedIn
C. Brooke Davis stands out for turning learning into a lever for business transformation. With 15+ years across financial services, fintech, and SaaS, Brooke builds AI-enabled learning ecosystems that blend operational rigor with human-centered innovation in highly regulated environments.
Impact: Brooke has led global L&D and enablement teams across the U.S., EMEA, and APAC, designing leadership programs for high-growth organizations, including within Vista Equity Partners, that strengthen succession readiness. Brooke's work builds compliance into enablement and ties learning directly to productivity, quality, and business KPIs.
Meenu Gupta
Group HR Manager, Global, Hira Industries LLC · UAE · LinkedIn
Meenu Gupta brings a rare blend of engineering rigour and people leadership to Group-level global HR. With 18+ years leading across 20+ nationalities, she bridges people, process, and technology to build cultures that are future-ready, digitally enabled, and deeply human.
Impact: Meenu has led end-to-end HR transformation across talent strategy, workforce planning, performance, and leadership development, using SAP HCM, SuccessFactors, and HR analytics to drive data-led decisions. Her HIPO framework and AI train-the-trainer initiative are building the next generation of leaders and preparing teams for an AI-shaped workplace.
Regina Dunning
US VP, Global Head of Learning Delivery, SThree · United States · LinkedIn
Regina Dunning is a CPTD-certified Learning and Development leader with over 12 years of experience building leadership pipelines and succession strategies. She stands out for aligning talent development directly with organizational transformation and measurable business outcomes.
Impact: At SThree, she partners with senior executives to set strategic learning priorities, leading initiatives such as a Global Induction Program and high-potential leadership development. Earlier at Medix, she founded the Professional Development department and launched programs that drove organizational growth and staff promotions.
Buddy Steele, Ph.D.
Director of Learning, Gallup · United States · LinkedIn
Buddy Steele leads initiatives at Gallup that unite AI, analytics, and storytelling to reshape how people and organizations develop and lead. Drawing on corporate learning strategy, consulting, creative leadership, and academic research, he turns behavioral science into measurable business outcomes.
Impact: His teams design and deliver scalable in-person, virtual, and digital learning experiences that measurably improve engagement, retention, and performance across industries and regions. By tying behavioral insights directly to performance, he helps leaders and managers do what they do best and strengthen workplace culture from within.
Meera Phatak
Associate VP HR, JV Ventures · India · LinkedIn
Meera Phatak is a dynamic HR leader whose 16+ years across multicultural, multinational organisations give her rare range. A certified POSH Trainer, Coach, and Diversity Champion, she blends deep HR expertise with a genuine commitment to building safe, inclusive workplaces.
Impact: Her work spans Rewards, Change Management, Performance and Talent Management, and HR Business Partnering, aligning people strategy closely with business goals. Through HR integration projects, she has helped organisations unite teams through transition, while her diversity and POSH advocacy strengthens respectful, inclusive cultures across geographies.
Abhishek David
AVP, Head of Talent Management & Leadership Development, Dubai Islamic Bank · UAE · LinkedIn
Abhishek David pairs organizational science with hands-on HR strategy. A published Future of Work researcher, he leads transformation across Emiratisation, ESG, diversity and inclusion, and AI-enabled HR, grounding each initiative in empathy, trust, and transparency.
Impact: At Dubai Islamic Bank, he leads the Talent Management Suite from design through implementation. He has driven strategic initiatives across Emiratisation, ESG, HR digitization and AI integration, and succession management. His advocacy for women in leadership and for cultures built on trust and transparency continues to influence how organizations across the region develop future leaders.
Mitali Guha
Deputy Director, Learning, PepsiCo · India · LinkedIn
Mitali Guha is an L&D leader who starts with the business, not the programme. Across 16 years, she has turned learning into a lever for productivity, leadership capability, and organisational transformation, always anchored to measurable outcomes.
Impact: She identified skill decay as a hidden threat to performance and responded with sticky, on-the-go learning that links directly to daily work and can be repurposed at scale. By translating business needs into scalable strategies across functions and geographies, she has positioned L&D as a strategic business partner rather than a support function.
Archana Srinivasan
Founder & Director, Alchemy People Partners · Singapore · LinkedIn
Archana Srinivasan brings over two decades of Asia Pacific HR leadership to a rare intersection: learning architecture and human-centred AI. As Founder of Alchemy People Partners and a certified AI Singapore trainer, she pairs AI capability-building with employee wellbeing.
Impact: At AtkinsRéalis, she designed a career-stage learning pyramid that drew over 30% of employees into programmes at launch, and later led learning for around 1,200 employees across five markets. She co-led The Coca-Cola Company's first regional Culture Summit, contributed to Singapore's Skills Framework for HR and Engineering, and served on the programme sub-committee of the 19th World HR Congress.
Marouane Ibnatik
Group HRIS Manager, Castel Afrique · Morocco · LinkedIn
Marouane Ibnatik is a Senior HR Transformation and Strategy Leader with 16+ years of international experience. He combines hands-on HR technology expertise with thought leadership and has written four books on HR transformation and employee experience.
Impact: As Group HRIS Manager across 21 African countries, he has led integrated SAP SuccessFactors talent capabilities spanning learning, performance, career development, and succession. Across 40+ transformation initiatives in 15 countries, he has helped organizations move from isolated HR systems to connected, scalable talent ecosystems.
Shipra Sharma
Director, HR, OculusIT · India · LinkedIn
Shipra Sharma is an L&D leader who treats learning as a business lever, not a compliance exercise. She stands out for weaving development goals directly into OKRs and talent reviews, making skill growth a shared accountability between managers and employees.
Impact: Shipra has moved L&D from tick-box training toward continuous learning and practical skill application. By championing AI readiness and negotiating platforms such as Pluralsight and Percipio, she made technical upskilling more accessible and cost-effective, helping prepare her workforce for changing business and technology needs.
Angelina Crosby-Pigott
Founder & CEO, Elevate Management, LLC · United States · LinkedIn
Angelina Crosby-Pigott stands apart for turning 26 years of project controls, cost engineering, and organizational leadership into The Surrendered CEO™, a strategic-resilience methodology that brings operational discipline to how leaders think, decide, and respond under pressure.
Impact: Through her Assess, Stabilize, Build framework, she helps leaders navigate disruption, restore trust and performance, and build the capabilities that changing conditions demand. Her evidence-led approach, grounded in behavioral baselines, realistic scenario testing, and measurable change, strengthens decision quality, delegation, accountability, and organizational effectiveness.
Anindyo (Andy) Naskar
Associate Vice President, Head of Learning and Development, Landmark Group · UAE · LinkedIn
Anindyo (Andy) Naskar is a globally awarded L&D and HR leader who stands out for tying leadership development to business strategy. He architects enterprise-wide learning across the Middle East and South Asia, blending executive coaching, digital innovation and talent mobility into a cohesive vision.
Impact: Across the Middle East and South Asia, Andy has strengthened leadership and succession pipelines, championed digital learning innovation, and expanded executive education and coaching. Working closely with CXOs and HR leaders, he has built a culture of continuous learning that future-proofs capability and drives sustainable growth.
Dr. David Carnegie
Global Head of L&D · United Kingdom · LinkedIn
Dr. David Carnegie combines academic rigour with commercial execution. With a PhD in Leadership and nearly 30 years in financial services, he closes a gap most organisations overlook by tying leadership and talent investment directly to growth, retention, and ROI.
Impact: He has delivered leadership programmes generating 10 to 15x ROI and cut L&D costs by 50% through innovative learning models. His work also includes high-impact female leadership initiatives and the transformation of leadership and talent frameworks across global organisations.
Dr. Ajit Kumar Kar
Practice Head, People & Culture, The MindMasters · India · LinkedIn
Dr. Ajit Kumar Kar is an L&D leader who has redefined learning as a business-aligned, experiential ecosystem. By blending coaching, Design Thinking, NLP and digital platforms, he turns training from a one-time event into measurable capability and lasting behavioural change.
Impact: His structured learning journeys have reskilled cohorts from shopfloor teams to senior executives, and his digitalisation of L&D through HRMS, PMIS and LMS platforms has scaled capability building across the organisation. He is a winner of the Global Corporate Mentoring Excellence Award, a jury member for SHRM and Brandon Hall, and was among the Top 200 at the India Leaders People Awards 2026. Through this work, he continues to shape how organisations develop talent, leadership and culture.
Diya Asrani
Learning & Development Partner, Harness · India · LinkedIn
Diya Asrani is an L&D leader who connects people strategy with business strategy. With 15+ years across technology, retail, and high-growth organisations, she treats learning as a catalyst for adaptability and performance, building capability that lasts beyond the classroom.
Impact: Through manager development programmes, leadership journeys, and capability strategies, she has helped business leaders build the confidence to navigate change and lead high-performing teams. Her work in AI-enabled learning and learning culture is preparing organisations to stay resilient as the future of work evolves.
Lan Tran
Founder & Principal, Wysora · United States · LinkedIn
Lan Tran is an L&D leader who bridges business strategy, workforce performance, and employee engagement. What sets her apart is her people-first philosophy: building cultures where employees feel heard, included, and invested in, unlocking potential they didn't know they had.
Impact: By aligning leadership, culture, and technology, Lan has reshaped how organizations approach learning and has built a strong bench of team members and coachees who consistently go beyond their potential. Her thought leadership has been featured in Forbes, Chief Learning Officer Magazine, and LinkedIn's Talent Velocity Advantage Report. She has been named an OnCon Top 50 L&D Professional three years running and one of Profile Magazine's Code Breakers: Women in Technology, and has received multiple Brandon Hall and CLO Magazine awards for advancing learning innovation.
Binesh Menon
Director, Learning & Organization Development Asia Pacific, Emerson · Singapore · LinkedIn
Binesh Menon brings over 22 years of Learning and Organization Development expertise, uniquely blending traditional learning strategy with depth psychology, drawing on Jungian thought and dream analysis. A certified NLP practitioner, he approaches growth by unlocking both personal and professional potential.
Impact: He has facilitated learning experiences for more than 25,000 professionals across five continents, shaping how organizations develop talent at scale. His work has earned recognition from the World HRD Congress, the National Training and Development Congress, and CHRO Asia, and he continues to champion learning that is more human, inclusive, and impactful across Emerson's Asia Pacific operations.
Sayon Hem
Certified HR Expert, HCM Solutions · Cambodia · LinkedIn
Sayon Hem is a strategic HR Business Partner and corporate trainer with over 15 years of experience across international organizations, employer federations, retail, construction, property development, FMCG, and food and beverage. What sets Sayon apart is a rare blend of coaching expertise and business acumen, backed by professional coaching training from Transcend International and Harvard Business School Online certifications in Strategy Execution and Organizational Leadership.
Impact: Sayon has delivered sustainable gains in business performance by aligning leadership, talent, and culture with organizational goals. Through strategic talent acquisition, performance management, and leadership development programs, Sayon has built stronger management capabilities across industries, and has used technology to transform HR processes and support senior leadership through periods of integration and change.
Rishikesh Padmanabhan, PhD
Assistant GM, Learning and Development, Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) · India · LinkedIn
Rishikesh Padmanabhan brings 20 years of building learning ecosystems that drive performance, not just compliance, across Axis Bank, NSE Academy, and Fincare. A published author fluent in five languages, he brings together learning strategy, organisation development, and technology.
Impact: At Axis Bank, he raised mandatory learning and ACP completion from 65 to 75% to 99% across about 22,000 employees. That was the highest of any region nationally, and his region was also the first in India to reach 100% completion of "Xpert Writing Well." His in-house content strategy saved about ₹1.8 crore a year, and the learning ecosystems he has built have reached 40,000+ learners across 15+ institutional partners.
Maulidin Pamur Dhani
People Analytic and Enabler Management, PT. Telekomunikasi Selular · Indonesia · LinkedIn
Maulidin Pamur Dhani is a strategic HR leader who translates business goals into people strategy through people analytics, workforce planning, and digital HR transformation. A change agent, he aligns values, leadership behavior, and people practices to drive lasting culture transformation.
Impact: He reimagined learning and development as a seamless, AI-enabled experience that goes beyond formal training (10%) to fully activate social (20%) and experiential (70%) learning. Combined with his work on performance management systems, competency models, and collective labor agreements (PKB), this has built a people function where talent grows continuously through everyday work.
Dinesh Patil
Assistant General Manager, HR, Grauer & Weil (India) Limited · India · LinkedIn
Dinesh Patil is an L&D leader who turns workplace conduct from policy into everyday practice. A GoSkills-certified Train-the-Trainer, he built Grauer & Weil's "Acceptable Behaviour at Workplace" initiative, covering POSH, respectful communication, safety, and digital etiquette.
Impact: In 2025-26, he delivered 25 training sessions to 350 employees across 10 departments at the Dadra Unit, totalling around 375 training hours, with about 175 participants covered through POSH and behavioural awareness programs. His Employee Guidebook is set to become part of new joiners' onboarding kits, building respectful conduct into the employee experience from day one.
Betsy Thomas
Head of Business Growth & Talent, VivaLaVida · India · LinkedIn
Betsy Thomas is an L&D leader who champions building capability from within. At VivaLaVida, she chose to close AI skills gaps by investing in her existing team rather than hiring, backing short, practical courses that delivered immediately usable skills.
Impact: Her people-first approach to AI upskilling proved faster and more cost-effective than external hiring, while strengthening team confidence and retention. It positions her as a forward-thinking voice in workforce development.
Jamaluddin
Senior Manager, Learning & Development, Delhivery · India · LinkedIn
Jamaluddin brings 15+ years of L&D expertise and a rare ability to turn business needs into scalable, digital-first learning ecosystems. His blend of AI-enabled content development and multilingual design makes learning accessible to large, diverse frontline workforces.
Impact: At Delhivery, he built structured onboarding journeys across verticals, delivered a POSH program for 30,000+ employees, and created learning programs generating ₹50 lakh+ in revenue. Earlier, at Samsung, he led 144 multilingual modules across seven languages, keeping service engineer training going through COVID. His work has earned three Delhivery honours, including Value Star 2025.
Averyl Dsa Saldanha
Strategic HR Leader · India · LinkedIn
Averyl Dsa Saldanha is a strategic People and Culture leader with over two decades of experience spanning HR operations, business partnering, and Centers of Expertise. She stands out for weaving performance, talent development, D&I, and learning into an integrated people-development agenda.
Impact: Her P.A.C.E. mid-level leadership program saw 95% of its 25-member cohort promoted to higher roles. She also drove 98.6% upskilling and reskilling coverage across India by making learning part of the culture. Through flagship programs for 50 Branch Managers and a Train-the-Trainer initiative reaching 95% of Field Service Engineers, she has built leadership capability at every level of the organization.
Raja M
Founder & CEO, COZÉA · India · LinkedIn
Raja M is a builder at heart, a leader who has taken three businesses, Bizzy Tra, Pink Rose, and Zippy, from zero to profitability. His rare strength lies in pairing entrepreneurial vision with a deep commitment to people development.
Impact: By championing continuous learning, reskilling, and innovation, Raja has built teams that grow alongside the business. His leadership spans operations, sales, and customer experience, turning bold ideas into sustainable, profitable ventures.
Vandita Mathur
Manager HR, People Development, DSS Imagetech Pvt Ltd · India · LinkedIn
Vandita Mathur is an HR Business Partner and Learning & Talent Development leader with 12+ years across healthcare, life sciences, hospitality and more. She stands out for turning capability gaps into business-linked learning journeys, not one-off training events.
Impact: She has led learning and talent initiatives for more than 25,000 employees, including LMS implementation, leadership development and measurable performance gains. At DSS Group, she built one capability development system across five entities, with programmes such as Speak to Influence and Service Excellence Beyond Technology, reinforced through Zing Learn. She also spoke on "Skilling the Upskiller" at Inventicon Conference 2026.
Sathish G
Senior Learning and Talent Development Specialist, Delta Electronics India · India · LinkedIn
Sathish G is an L&D leader who treats learning as a business lever rather than a training calendar. His signature "Learning through Competition" model follows every program with real-world projects and challenges, so capability shows up as measurable workplace outcomes.
Impact: Sathish has built a self-sustaining learning culture, developing 105+ internal trainers through structured Train-the-Trainer programs and delivering 250+ training programs. He led the move from classroom sessions to LMS-driven e-learning and microlearning across multiple locations. His competition-led approach has also produced tangible gains in productivity, quality, and cost savings.
Yagneshkummar Patel
Regional Director, International Business Startup & Entrepreneurs Association (IBSEA) · India · LinkedIn
Yagneshkumar Patel brings a rare blend of Vedic intelligence and psychology-informed coaching to leadership development. Drawing on 15+ years spanning clinical research, organisational psychology, and executive coaching, he helps founders and C-suite leaders reshape the belief systems behind their decisions.
Impact: He has guided 50+ founders, C-suite executives, and senior leaders across fintech, manufacturing, and professional services toward sustainable performance without compromising well-being. As Regional Director at IBSEA, he also contributes to leadership forums, policy advocacy, and organisational development initiatives.
Noble Thway Mon
Chief Human Learning Officer, UMG Groups of Companies · Myanmar · LinkedIn
Noble Thway Mon is an HR and organizational development leader with 25+ years across corporate, healthcare, UN, NGO, and consulting sectors. Having served as Executive Officer, General Manager, and Head of HR, Noble uniquely blends business and people leadership.
Impact: Noble has led HR transformation and organizational effectiveness initiatives that align people strategy with business goals. The training programs Noble introduced strengthened employee skills, confidence, and job performance. Recognized internationally for leadership excellence, Noble continues to build high-performing teams and sustainable, people-centric organizations.
What do these leaders reveal about learning and development in 2026?
Five patterns stand out across the 50 profiles.
AI is reshaping how learning is built and measured.
More than a dozen leaders on this list put AI at the center of their L&D work. Bhavita Bhatia led AI Fluency programs for JLL's Google account that reached 100% AI training completion. Alexandru Oprea builds data, analytics, AI, automation, and Copilot skills into role expectations at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine instead of teaching them as standalone courses. Ravinder Tulsiani led an AI-enabled learning program that lifted engagement by 25%, and Betsy Thomas closed AI skills gaps at VivaLaVida by investing in her existing team rather than hiring.
Learning is judged by capability and business results, not course completion.
Alexandru Oprea measures L&D success by workforce capability and agility rather than course completion. Dr. David Carnegie's leadership programmes have generated 10 to 15x ROI, and he cut L&D costs by 50%. Bhavita Bhatia uses a Kirkpatrick-based measurement approach, and Sathish G's competition-led model has produced gains in productivity, quality, and cost savings at Delta Electronics India.
Reskilling is becoming an internal talent strategy.
Arindam Mukherjee built a re-skilling ecosystem with role-aligned learning tracks, micro-learning, and an internal talent marketplace that reduces dependence on external hiring. Averyl Dsa Saldanha drove 98.6% upskilling and reskilling coverage across India, and her P.A.C.E. The program saw 95% of a 25-member cohort promoted. Charles Godwin's Rural Revival initiative takes reskilling beyond traditional talent pools.
Leadership pipelines are built around the roles that drive the business.
Kard Pongsakorn Chanchaisrisakul's IMPACT KAM strengthened succession readiness for Category Manager roles in Thailand, and his PROPEL program prepares Category Managers for Cluster Director roles across all six Lazada ventures. Regina Dunning leads high-potential leadership development at SThree, and Venkatesh Theagarajan ties leadership development and reskilling directly to business needs for a 38,000+ workforce.
Great learning reaches the frontline at scale.
Tarun Sharma's WOWLOGY framework runs across 450+ stores and 2,000+ employees at MUFTI. Reebu Kuruvilla built Ma'rifah, Lulu International Holdings' first in-house learning platform, with pathways from frontline employees through management. Jamaluddin delivered a POSH program for 30,000+ employees at Delhivery and led 144 multilingual modules across seven languages at Samsung.
Who was on the evaluation panel?
A panel from the Xobin leadership team evaluated this year's nominations:
Guru Prakash Sivabalan, Xobin
Amrit, Xobin
Shriram Iyer
What do the recognized leaders receive?
Recognition only matters when the story reaches people. Each leader on the list receives:
Their own certificate page: a dedicated Xobin page showing name, role, category, and citation, ready to download, link from LinkedIn, or embed in a portfolio. It never expires.
A LinkedIn shout-out: Xobin announces honorees on its LinkedIn page and tags them, so peers notice and honorees can reshare in a tap.
A place in this round-up: each leader is introduced with their role and the story behind the recognition.
A Xobin Talks invitation: selected leaders can join the podcast to share their experience and ideas with other HR professionals.
How can you be featured next year?
Xobin runs the HR Awards every year, and the 2026 edition. Nominations are free, with no fee at any stage, and self-nominations are welcome. To see how past editions unfolded, explore the Xobin HR Awards hub or read the earlier lists:
To be considered next year, nominate yourself or a peer when nominations reopen. Follow Xobin on LinkedIn and subscribe to the Xobin newsletter so you hear first.
Join the Xobin HR community
The 50 leaders on this list are part of a much larger conversation about the future of learning and work. Join the Xobin HR community to connect with talent acquisition, learning and development, and I/O psychology professionals, hear conversations with leaders on Xobin Talks, and be the first to know when nominations open for the next list.
