Varun Bhatia

Varun Bhatia is Chief People and Culture Officer at AirAsia. In this role, he is responsible for AirAsia Group's people and culture function, working with about 25,000 allstars and transforming the airline to become one of the world's best travel tech companies.

He is passionate about growth, transformation and change. He loves to experiment, innovate and work on new challenges, with new people, in new places! He has worked in global businesses and blue chip MNCs in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, across diverse cultures, countries and industries such as Gillette, Proctor & Gamble, Kraft Foods, Levi Strauss & Co. Prior to that, in his own startup consulting company, he’s also been closely associated with early/mid stage technology companies in Silicon Valley and Asia as a board member, advisor and investor. He thrives on partnering with all levels in the organisation from the board/CEO/senior leaders to folks in day to day operations.

He has lived in Delhi, London, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Boston, San Francisco and more recently in Thailand Bangkok and had responsibilities extending across more than 40 countries in North and South America, Africa, Eastern and Western Europe and Asia Pacific. 

Varun has an undergraduate Degree in Economics and a Masters in Human Resources. He also studied Organizational Behavior at Harvard University and Corporate Finance at the London Business School and Entrepreneurship and startup board's effectiveness at Stanford Continuing Studies. 

Apart from his work, he has interests in music, golf, cricket and travel.