Vineet Nayar

VINEET NAYAR is the founder and chairman of Sampark Foundation and former CEO of HCL Technologies (HCLT), where he led one of the Information Technology (IT) industry’s most celebrated transformations, scaling the company from a $0.7 billion enterprise to a $4.7 billion global organization with over 85,000 employees across thirty-two countries.

At the core of this transformation was his groundbreaking philosophy, Employees First, Customers Second, which challenged conventional management thinking by positioning employees as the primary drivers of value creation. The approach reshaped HCL’s culture and earned global recognition, with Fortune describing HCL as one of the ‘world’s most modern management’ companies.

A globally respected management thinker, Vineet has been featured on the Thinkers50 list and named to Fortune’s ‘Executive Dream Team’. His ideas and leadership practices have been studied at institutions, including Harvard Business School and London Business School, reinforcing his reputation as a visionary who combines bold thinking with real-world execution.

Beyond corporate leadership, Vineet is deeply committed to large-scale social impact. At Sampark Foundation, he is leading one of the world’s largest primary education transformation initiatives, impacting over 7 million children across India through frugal innovation and technology-enabled education.