Sudheesh Venkatesh

Areas of Interest & Expertise

  • Education
  • Environment
  • Human Resource Development (HRD)
  • Vedic Recitation

Biography

Sudheesh Venkatesh is the Chief Communications Officer and Managing Editor at the Azim Premji Foundation.

Powered by a $30 billion endowment from Mr Azim Premji, the Foundation works towards a just, equitable, humane, and sustainable society. Its efforts focus primarily on improving the quality and equity of school education, while supporting over 1,800 not-for-profit organisations working with disadvantaged communities. It also runs three campuses of a unique philanthropic university, works to strengthen public healthcare through a planned network of 30 hospitals, and supports school nutrition, rural childcare, girls’ higher education, youth engagement, and livelihoods through grassroots and systemic interventions. 

After two decades with Asian Paints and Tesco, Sudheesh joined the Foundation in 2010 and served as its Chief People Officer for 11 years. Sudheesh currently oversees a few functions: communications, publications, and the Azim Premji Scholarship.

He has served as the Regional President of the National HRD Network (NHRD) and on its National Board for several years. He regularly writes on education and people-related issues for the mainstream media. He co-edited the NHRD journal on Education, Employability & Employment – the Triple Challenge for India. In 2023, he delivered the 63rd Foundation Day Lecture at IIM Calcutta and has served on the jury of the FICCI Higher Education Awards for many years.

Sudheesh oversees the Indian Heritage Academy and is a trustee of the Bangalore Little Theatre. He is an alumnus of IIM Calcutta. His professional interests include organisation and leadership development, communications, media and public engagement. His personal interests include fitness and Vedic recitation.

Publications

Journal articles

Chapter in edited book
 

Newspaper articles

Magazine articles

Online articles