Meena Raghunathan

Meena is a governance, sustainability and social impact professional with over four decades in the development and responsible business space. Her work focuses on building both for-profit and not-for-profit institutions grounded in responsible business practices, strong organisational culture and systems, and meaningful community impact. After a brief corporate stint following her MBA, she realised her calling lay in mission-driven work. Her career since has spanned corporate leadership, public policy engagement and social sector institution building — with abiding commitments to responsible business, environmental stewardship, inclusive growth, and the role of institutions in advancing social good.

Meena began at Cadila Pharma in product management before joining the Centre for Environment Education, a national Centre of Excellence supported by the Government of India. Over nineteen years there she worked on major initiatives in environmental education, sustainable development and capacity building for educators, policy makers and civil society organisations. She was part of teams that contributed to India’s official submissions to the United Nations Conference

on Environment and Development and the World Summit on Sustainable Development, helping shape early thinking on education for sustainable development in India and the region.

In 2005 she moved to lead corporate social responsibility for the GMR Group. As Executive Director of the GMR Varalakshmi Foundation she built the Group’s CSR function from its early stages into a respected institution with operations across India, leading a multidisciplinary team of over 100 professionals across education, healthcare, sanitation, livelihoods and skill development. Several of the Foundation’s initiatives — particularly in skill development and community engagement — have influenced practice within the sector at a national level.

She brings significant governance experience through service on corporate and non-profit boards, including Amrutanjan Health Care and several GMR Group companies, and the Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation. She was part of the GMR senior leadership team and the Group Integration Council working closely with the holding board, and chaired the Group’s Committee Against Sexual Harassment for nearly a decade. She is passionate about influencing the corporate world towards responsible business practice, and the non-profit world towards better management practice — and sees the benefit of each influencing the other.

Today Meena is Adjunct Faculty at MYRA School of Business, teaching ethics, sustainability, governance and social entrepreneurship. She has written or edited more than forty publications — academic papers, textbooks, policy documents and children’s books — including Doing Good: Navigating the CSR Maze in India and To Every Parent, To Every School. Her forthcoming book is The Responsible Manager: Building Blocks of an ESG Perspective. She is an NISM-certified Social Auditor.