Vinita Bali (born 1955) is an Indian businesswoman who was formerly the managing director of

Britannia Industries Britannia Industries Limited is an Indian Multinational corporation, multinational food products company, which sells biscuits, breads and dairy products. Founded in 1892, it is one of India's oldest existing companies and currently part of t ...

Limited.

Education

In 1975, she received a bachelor's degree in economics from

Lady Shri Ram College for Women Lady Shri Ram College (LSR) is a constituent women's college, affiliated with the University of Delhi. History Established in 1956 in New Delhi by the late Lala Shri Ram in memory of his wife Phoolan Devi (Lady Shri Ram), the college began ...

at the

University of Delhi The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

. Then she earned an MBA from

Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (commonly referred to as JBIMS) is the Department of Management Studies of the University of Mumbai, situated in Churchgate, Mumbai. The institute is named after noted industrialist and freedom f ...

. She received a scholarship to

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

in the United States and served as an intern at

United Nations Headquarters The headquarters of the United Nations (UN) is on of grounds in the Turtle Bay, Manhattan, Turtle Bay neighborhood of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It borders First Avenue (Manhattan), First Avenue to the west, 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd ...

Career

Her first job was at

Voltas Voltas Limited is an Indian multinational home appliances company, headquartered in Mumbai. It designs, develops, manufactures and sells products including air conditioners, air coolers, refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, micro ...

, where she worked on the launch of the

soft drink A soft drink (see #Terminology, § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) Carbonated water, carbonated, and typically including added Sweetness, sweetener. Flavors used to be Natural flav ...

brand Rasna. She worked for the Indian division of

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company owned by Mondelez International (spun off from Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second-largest confectionery brand in the world, after Mars. ...

for 14 years, expanding the company's markets in India and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. In 1994,

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

hired her as its marketing director and she was later appointed Vice President of Marketing for Latin America. During her nine years at Coke, Bali also worked as Vice President of Corporate Strategy. She left Coca-Cola in 2003 to work at the Zyman Group. She was Managing Principal and Head of the Business Strategy at the group's

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

location. She left in 2005 to take up the position of CEO at Indian food company

, where she was eventually appointed managing director in 2006. Under her direction, Britannia's revenue tripled to $841 million. Bali was awarded the "Business Woman of the Year" Award at the 2009

Economic Times Awards The Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence (also referred as ET Awards) are the awards conferred by ''The Economic Times'' in the field of business, corporate and government policies, economies in India. It is an annual awards, conferred ...

."ET Awards 2009 winners"
'' Economic Times'', 25 August 2009. In 2009, she founded the Britannia Nutrition Foundation which combats child malnutrition through the distribution of fortified biscuits to Indian schoolchildren. She won a Corporate Social Responsibility Award for her work with the foundation. In 2011, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' named her on its list of "Asia's 50 Power Businesswomen". Vinita is chair of the Board of the Directors of the

Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a non-profit foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland. GAIN was developed during the UN 2002 Special Session of the General Assembly on Children. GAIN's activities include improving the consum ...

(GAIN).

Cognizant Technology Solutions Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational information technology consulting and outsourcing company originally founded in India. It is headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey, United States. Co ...

, a US-based IT company with a large presence in India, appointed Vinita Bali as an independent director effective 24 February 2020. "We are delighted that Vinita Bali has joined the Cognizant Board," said Michael Patsalos-Fox, Cognizant's chairman of the board. "We believe Vinita's extensive and successful experience at large companies, both India-based and multinational, will make a significant contribution to Cognizant."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bali, Vinita Businesspeople from Bengaluru Living people Lady Shri Ram College alumni Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies alumni Michigan State University alumni Businesswomen from Karnataka 1955 births Indian women chief executives Indian chief executives 20th-century Indian businesspeople 21st-century Indian businesspeople 20th-century Indian businesswomen 21st-century Indian businesswomen