Celebrating Shiv Shivakumar: A legacy of leadership, transformation and learning

As corporate leader, management thinker and author Shiv Shivakumar celebrates his birthday today, the occasion offers an opportunity to look back at a career that has influenced some of India’s most recognisable companies and brands.

Popularly known as Shiv, Shivakumar has built his professional journey across consumer goods, technology, food and beverages, corporate strategy and private equity. He currently serves as Operating Partner at Advent International, which he joined in April 2023.

His career began as a management trainee in the consumer products division of Hindustan Ciba-Geigy. He subsequently joined Hindustan Unilever, where he spent 19 years working across sales, marketing and general management. Those formative years helped establish his reputation as a leader with a strong understanding of consumers, brands and organisational culture.

In 2003, Shivakumar moved to Philips India as Chief Executive Officer of its consumer electronics division. He later joined Nokia as Managing Director for India in 2006, during a defining phase in the country’s mobile revolution.

At Nokia, Shivakumar helped strengthen the company’s market leadership and expand its relevance beyond urban India. He supported the introduction of affordable devices and services such as Nokia Life Tools, which sought to make mobile technology useful to consumers across rural and emerging markets. He was later elevated to lead Nokia’s emerging-markets business spanning India, the Middle East and Africa.

His work at Nokia became an important part of his leadership legacy. It demonstrated how a global brand could combine scale, accessibility, local insight and technological innovation to become deeply embedded in the lives of Indian consumers.

In 2013, Shivakumar took over as Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo Holdings India. At the company, he oversaw portfolios across beverages, snacks and nutrition while also managing franchise operations across Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

His tenure was marked by an emphasis on portfolio transformation, consumer engagement and the growing importance of nutrition. He worked with some of the country’s most visible food and beverage brands while navigating a marketplace in which consumer expectations were beginning to change rapidly.

Shivakumar subsequently joined the Aditya Birla Group as Group Executive President for Corporate Strategy. The role allowed him to apply his experience across the diversified conglomerate’s businesses and participate in strategic thinking at a group level.

His current role at Advent International represents another significant evolution in his career—from directly managing businesses and brands to supporting companies through investment, growth and transformation.

Beyond the boardroom, Shivakumar has emerged as a widely respected voice on management, careers and leadership. His books include The Right Choice, The Art of Management and The CEO Mindset. Through them, he has examined career dilemmas, managerial decision-making, time management, adaptability and the qualities required to lead organisations in an increasingly complex world.

He has also maintained a strong association with academia, teaching and mentoring. Over the years, he has addressed students at several leading management institutions and has served on the boards of prominent business schools. His engagement with young professionals reflects his belief that leadership experience becomes more valuable when it is shared.

An alumnus of IIT Madras, IIM Calcutta and the Wharton School, Shivakumar’s journey combines academic rigour with decades of practical experience. He has been recognised for his contributions to leadership, brand building, business transformation and management.

What distinguishes his career is not merely the list of organisations he has led, but his ability to remain relevant across industries and economic cycles. From traditional consumer goods and electronics to mobile technology, beverages, conglomerate strategy and private equity, he has repeatedly adapted to new business realities.

His leadership philosophy has consistently placed emphasis on curiosity, continuous learning, intellectual honesty and the disciplined use of time. These ideas have made him not only a corporate leader but also a mentor to executives, entrepreneurs and students.