Hema Hattangady

Hema Hattangady is a B Com from Karnataka University Dharwad and an MBA from IIM Kolkata.  She joined the business established by her late father-in-law, Shri H. Vasanth Rao, a renowned innovator and entrepreneur. 

The venture capital firm that invested in Conzerv appointed her as CEO after Vasanth Rao retired from active operations. Hema’s husband Ashok was in charge of R&D. Together they grew the company into India’s largest energy management company. In 2009 they exit to Schneider Electric. Conzerv had become a highly profitable market leader, and was known for its innovative products, people practices, focus on systems and processes and, above all, for sticking to ethical principles against all odds. 

Hema has written about her journey in her book (with co-author Ashish Sen) Lift Off- Transforming Conzerv.

Hema has served as an independent director on the boards of SKF India Ltd and NELCO Ltd (a TATA enterprise) and continues on the board of India’s leading machine tool manufacturing company Ace Designers Ltd.  She was on the Advisory Board of Schneider Electric India for four years until October 2012.  Hema also mentors and coaches young entrepreneurs & students and is an advisor to Takshashila Institution an independent think tank and India’s foremost public policy school.

She co-founded Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE), an industry-led initiative to bring industries and service providers in energy efficiency together. She also created Conserve My Campus, a program to teach school children to save energy at home and in school. Schneider has scaled this program beyond India under the name Conserve My Planet.