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Karim Akhavan
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Allianz Services
Karim brings extensive international leadership experience across operations, technology, and large‑scale transformation within the Allianz Group. He has held multiple senior leadership roles at Allianz SE, including Head of Group Technology & Data (CIO | CTO) and Head of COO Transformation, where he led major modernization and efficiency initiatives at Group level. In his current role, Karim is leading Allianz Services into its next chapter as a stand‑alone Operating Entity, with a focus on productivity, scalability, and end‑to‑end process ownership across the Allianz Group.
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Gillian Barton
Vice President, Global Delivery Operations, Otis Elevator Co.
Gillian is a strategic HR leader with a strong customer focus and people engagement ethos. She has built effective business partnerships at all levels. Her experience reflects a portfolio of strategic, operational, business partnering, transformational and shared services HR expertise. Specialties: Service Environments, Organizational Design, Shared Services HR delivery, Strategic Partnering, Strategy Development, Change Management, Business Culture Integration, Policy Formulation.
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Viral Chhaya
VP, Global Business Services, Diebold Nixdorf
Viral is a senior Global Business Services executive with more than 25 years of experience leading GBS, Shared Services, business process outsourcing, and digital transformation initiatives. He most recently led the Enterprise Business Services strategy at Kaiser Permanente and previously held leadership roles at General Motors, Bank of America, GE, and Genpact. Viral specializes in building and transforming global service organizations, is a Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt, serves on multiple GBS advisory boards, and is a passionate advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
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Jay Desai
VP, Head of IT Infrastructure & Operations at JTI
Jay is a Global Business Services and outsourcing executive with extensive experience building and transforming global operating models. At JTI, he led the design, launch, and management of a multi-function Global Business Services organization across Finance, HR, Procurement, Supply Chain, Marketing, Legal, and IT, including executing the implementation virtually during COVID-19. Today, he leads IT Infrastructure and Operations. Previously, Jay led Enterprise Outsourcing at AbbVie and Global Sourcing at Northern Trust.
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Vanessa Gleason
Global Head, Takeda Business Solutions, Takeda
Vanessa specializes in driving transformational change and creating efficient, scalable solutions for complex business challenges. In her current role, GBS is seen as a strategic asset for the company – delivering value in innovative ways. TBS is a purpose-driven organization, focused on Patients, with a customer-centric culture, leveraging advanced technologies. Her diverse experience spans multiple industries, giving her a unique perspective on problem-solving and results-oriented transformation. She is a passionate advocate for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, active in internal and external organizations, and an active mentor and coach.
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Kamila Grembowicz
SVP, Head of Astellas Global Business Solutions, Astellas
Kamila is a GBS and transformation executive with more than 20 years of experience leading global finance, shared services, and business transformation initiatives. Previously at JTI, Kamila played a key role in building the company's GBS organization, leading delivery excellence, process standardization, automation, continuous improvement, and the transition of approximately 1,500 roles across three global centers. She is passionate about customer value, operational excellence, and high-performing teams.
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Chris Gunning
Global Finance Operation, NielsenIQ
Chris is a Global Shared Services and GBS leader with extensive experience in finance transformation, service delivery, and operational excellence. Throughout his career with organizations including Unisys, VEON, Apollo Tyres, Heineken, and NielsenIQ, he has led global shared services organizations spanning finance, supply chain, HR, and commercial operations. A Chartered Accountant, Chris is a frequent industry speaker with a passion for delivering customer-focused, high-performing global service organizations.
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Dave Hughes
GBS Executive, Previously: Dubai Holding
Dave is a shared services and business transformation executive with more than 25 years of experience designing, transforming, and leading global business services organizations. His career includes leadership roles at Bidvest Noonan, OQ Oman, and ENGIE, where he managed large onshore and offshore operations. Earlier, he spent a decade in consulting, leading large-scale shared services and ERP transformation programs for organizations including Thames Water, Anglian Water, and British Gas.
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Sameer Jalundhwala
SVP, GBS Operations & Outsourcing, NTT Ltd.
Sameer is a global Shared Services and Global Business Services leader with deep expertise in operating model design, digital transformation, and emerging technologies including automation, AI, analytics, and blockchain. At NTT Ltd, he leads GBS operations across 40+ countries, driving operational excellence, cost savings, and digital transformation. Previously, he held leadership roles at IBM, where he delivered large-scale transformation programs, and at Orange Business Services, where he led finance transformation and shared services initiatives.
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Priyaranjan Jha
SVP & Head of Global Business Services, Iron Mountain
Priyaranjan is a Global Business Services leader with more than 27 years of experience spanning GBS, digital transformation, operations, analytics, and business leadership across multiple industries. He currently leads Global Business Services at Iron Mountain, where he is responsible for driving global operations and organizational capability. Known for building, scaling, and transforming global teams, he is recognized for his leadership in technology adoption, analytics, and change management.
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Manoj Kalra
Global Head of Convatec Business Services, Convatec
Manoj has helmed Global Capability Centers at some of the worlds most respected organizations for the past 25 years. As the Global Head of Convatec Business Services, he leads a next-generation shared services and business solutions function designed not just to support, but to accelerate – from enhancing agility through automation to streamlining enterprise-wide collaboration, he is focused on delivering business outcomes. Operations in Lisbon, Bogotá, and Kuala Lumpur.
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Deborah Kops
Managing Principal, Sourcing Change
Deborah is Managing Principal of Sourcing Change, specializing in shared services, outsourcing, and transformation strategy. With experience as a shared services executive, advisor, buyer, provider, and private equity adviser, she has helped leading organizations navigate globalization and operating model transformation. Her career includes leadership roles at FleetBoston Financial, Deutsche Bank, Arthur Andersen, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and a leading Indian outsourcing provider.
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Suzanne Leopoldi-Nichols
SVP, GBS Transformation NA at Manpower Group
Suzanne is a recognized Global Business Services leader with extensive experience driving enterprise transformation and operational excellence. Previously, she served as Chief GBS Officer at WPP, President of Global Business Services at UPS, and Global Head of Shared Services at ADM, where she led large-scale, multi-function global service organizations. Suzanne has also held leadership roles at American Greetings and H&R Block and is widely recognized for advancing innovation, automation, and excellence in shared services.
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Matthias Maschke
Senior Vice President, Shared Services Delivery at Deutsche Telekom
Matthias is a senior executive with extensive experience in digital transformation, operational excellence, and global shared services leadership. As Head of Deutsche Telekom's Shared Services Delivery, he leads a global organization spanning finance, procurement, HR, technology, and process management across multiple countries, with a focus on customer-centric transformation, operational excellence, and the adoption of innovative digital technologies
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Arindam Mukhopadhyay
Finance and Data Operations Expert; Previously: Citi
Arindam has 20+ years' experience in banking and management consulting with success in managing large, complex, global operations and driving digital transformation. Previously at Citi, he led global Financial Close, Regulatory and Liquidity Reporting function for all businesses and geographies – managing a team of over 2,600 highly-skilled financial analysts and senior leaders located in four major service centers / hubs as well as the Covid–19 response across Citi’s global service center network of 35 sites.
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Dr. Sumit Mitra
CEO, Tesco Business Solutions, Tesco; Chairman, The Omnisol
Sumit leads a 5,000+ strong global team spanning five countries. He focuses on creating a human-led, AI-powered, and value-driven organization, leveraging expertise in Finance, People Management, Property, Commercial Operations, Data Science, and Product Management. TBS enables Tesco's Retail, Wholesale, Mobile, and Banking businesses to drive productivity, stronger controls, enhanced experiences, and sustainable growth.
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Vishal Pathak
Director - People Operations VMO, Google
Vishak is an outsourcing executive specializing in vendor management, outsourcing governance, operations, and business transformation. He has managed more than 40 global IT and BPO service providers, leading cross-functional teams spanning vendor management, operations, quality, risk, compliance, IT, and transitions across industries including banking, financial services, insurance, healthcare, and technology.
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Dr. Sanjeev Rastogi
Chief Executive Officer - Global Capability Center, Adani
Sanjeev is CEO of GCC at Adani Group, where he is leading the development of India's first multi-industry, multi-functional Global Capability Center. An internationally experienced Global Business Services and transformation executive, he has built and led global GBS organizations of up to 6,000 employees, driving large-scale business transformation, operational excellence, innovation, and technology-enabled change across diverse industries and geographies.
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Frank Schüler
Managing Director, Global Service Center, DHL Global Forwarding, Freight
Frank leads the Global Shared Services organization for DHL Global Forwarding, Freight, overseeing more than 4,400 employees across five global delivery centers, supported by a virtual workforce of automation bots. With a background spanning artificial intelligence, finance, IT, and business transformation, he combines deep technical expertise with extensive international leadership experience to drive global operational excellence.
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Alexander von Thielmann
Customer Relationship Management & Business Line Head, Global Business Services, Siemens AG
Alexander is Head of Opportunity-to-Cash Services and Customer Relationship Management at Siemens Global Business Services. He is an expert in customer relationship management, business transformation, value creation, and building customer-centric service organizations.
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AJ Wijesinghe
Chief AI Officer at EcoLab
AJ is a Visionary, Strategist, Thinker, Implementer, Operator and Mentor with 20+ years of experience. He has led Business transformation, Service Delivery, Outsourcing and Global Business Services – developing solutions and managing globally dispersed diverse teams to deliver with optimal growth, performance and profitability. Today, he leads the AI strategy at EcoLab, with GBS reporting to him.
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Mattijs Backx
Senior Vice President & Chief Transformation & Services Officer, McDonald's
Mattijs Backx has over two decades of experience transforming Fortune 500 enterprises across industries and geographies. He specializes in enterprise transformation, AI-powered digital solutions, global business services, and operational excellence at scale. At McDonald’s, he leads the company’s enterprise transformation, data, analytics & AI, and GBS organization to build world-class AI-powered capabilities to 37,000 restaurants in 100+ markets worldwide. He is a member of the Global Senior Leadership Team.
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Sandy Khanna
VP, Mars Global Services
Sandy is a passionate about re-imagining global enterprises through high-impact Global Business Services. Over a 30-year international career spanning mature and growth markets across six continents, he has partnered with Fortune 100 organizations to solve their most complex business challenges and deliver outcomes. As a trusted GBS practitioner, his experience bridges both the buy and supply sides - offering a unique and rare 360-degree perspective on how to envision, re-imagine, design, build, transform, execute, and scale world-class operations.
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Maciej Piwowarczyk
Global GBS Executive, ex-Discovery
Maciej is a successful GBS executive with 20+ years of Business Process Outsourcing / Shared Services experience working for global organizations across various Industries including IT, Media, Resources, Real Estate.
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Steve Rudderham
SVP GBS at EcoLab
Steve is a widely respected senior global operations executive with a proven track record of leading Global Business Services, Shared Services, GCC, and large-scale multi-site operations across regions and industries. He specializes in COO-level execution, translating enterprise and board-level strategy into scalable operating models that deliver sustained growth, cost optimization, productivity improvement, and customer excellence.
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Carla Sarti
VP, GBS, Masco Corporation
Carla has 25+ years of experience designing, building, and running high-performance enterprise operations for Fortune 500 and high-growth companies. Her career spans Finance, Procurement, Supply Chain, IT, and shared services, delivering measurable results through scalable operating models, digital enablement, and cross-functional alignment. In her new role, Carla is expending a GBS capability across Masco Corporation’s operations.
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Kim Skanson
Head of GBS, DePuy Synthes
Kim has built and scaled global business services organizations that drive enterprise transformation. Known for her ability to pioneer change and foster innovation, her strategic acumen and visionary approach have been instrumental in driving global transformations within shared services and the IT sector. Kim designs operating models on a global scale and builds shared services that streamline operations, drive growth, and foster continuous improvement.
