In this role, Lakshmanan will lead the people’s agenda for GSK’s Malaysia operations as the company continues to focus on preventing and treating disease through specialty medicines, vaccines, and general medicines.
Before this appointment, Lakshmanan served as Regional HR Business Partner – Emerging Markets / International at GSK, based in Singapore. He worked closely with HR country heads and senior business leaders across 30+ markets spanning Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. His role included driving transformation initiatives, aligning people strategy with business goals, and supporting talent management, succession planning, leadership development, and cross-border mobility.
Earlier, as Senior HRBP – Vaccines Business at GSK in India, he led HR for pediatric and adult vaccines segments. He played a key role in setting up a new adult vaccines team, supporting growth plans, and enabling the hiring and onboarding of 200+ employees within a short period. He also partnered with business leaders on organisational design, incentive structures, budgets, and culture transformation initiatives.
Prior to that, as HR Business Partner at GSK, he supported the adult vaccines business and West Zone sales teams in India. His work included talent reviews, inclusion and diversity initiatives, performance management, and building compensation and employee dashboards for data-driven HR decisions.
Before joining GSK, Lakshmanan built his HR foundation at Mahindra Group (Mahindra Rise), where he held multiple roles across HR business partnering, organisational development, campus engagement, and talent development. He contributed to appraisal processes, talent strategy, organisational restructuring, and employee engagement initiatives, earning multiple recognitions.
Earlier in his career, Lakshmanan worked at Star India, supporting operations for Star Sports, including major events such as the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup and Pro Kabaddi Season 4. He began his professional journey at Ashok Leyland, where he worked as Deputy Manager and Graduate Engineer Trainee, gaining experience across sales, manufacturing, and process improvement.
Lakshmanan holds an MBA in HRM from XLRI Jamshedpur.
His appointment reflects a strong career progression across HR strategy, talent management, transformation, inclusion, and regional leadership. With experience across India, Singapore, and now Malaysia, he brings a well-rounded international perspective to his new role at GSK.
Also read: Viksit Workforce for a Viksit Bharat
Do Follow: The Mainstream LinkedIn | The Mainstream Facebook | The Mainstream Youtube | The Mainstream Twitter
About us:
The Mainstream is a premier platform delivering the latest updates and informed perspectives across the technology business and cyber landscape. Built on research-driven, thought leadership and original intellectual property, The Mainstream also curates summits & conferences that convene decision makers to explore how technology reshapes industries and leadership. With a growing presence in India and globally across the Middle East, Africa, ASEAN, the USA, the UK and Australia, The Mainstream carries a vision to bring the latest happenings and insights to 8.2 billion people and to place technology at the centre of conversation for leaders navigating the future.
