Jacob Jacob

Group Chief Human Resources Officer at Aster DM Healthcare

Speaker

Jacob Jacob has over 3 decades of rich HR experience spanning the Middle East, Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. Throughout his career, he has developed a comprehensive understanding of cultural and leadership nuances, innovating the delivery of HR products and services to drive enterprise growth. He is highly pragmatic and hands-on in his approach, specialising in providing customised, pedigree HR solutions.

Jacob's expertise encompasses HR Consulting, International HR, Start-Up HR, and large-scale Change Management. His domain knowledge includes deploying organisational HR strategies, organisation development, talent management, leadership development, employee engagement, learning and development, compensation and benefits, mergers and acquisitions, and organisational transformation. He has held leadership roles in prominent organisations such as Malabar Group, Columbia Asia, Apollo Hospitals, Emirates Airline, Feedback Ventures, and Oberoi Realty. During his tenure at Apollo Hospitals, the organisation was recognised by Gallup as one of the top 30 workplaces worldwide.

At Emirates, Jacob contributed to the HR change management initiative during the terminal transition. At Columbia Asia, he established HR as a Center of Excellence, connecting people and performance to drive enterprise growth. Prior to joining Aster, Jacob worked with the Malabar Group. He was instrumental in a transformation project that changed the façade of HR from a traditional family run Organisation to a structure and system-based Organisation. He was responsible for the complete due diligence on all people parameters that aided in rapid expansion of the Organisation globally. Currently, as Group Chief Human Resources Officer at Aster DM Healthcare, Jacob oversees strategic HR functions across operations in the GCC, including talent acquisition, performance management, succession planning, and leadership development. Jacob is leading all HR transformation initiatives for Aster’s 15,000+ employees, focusing on fostering a highperformance culture and enhancing employee experience.