Advancing People Strategy, Leadership Development, Capability Building, and Organizational Transformation
PwC India has appointed Akshita Summan as Director, marking the latest milestone in a career spanning people advisory, organizational transformation, leadership development, capability building, performance management, inclusion, and workforce strategy.
Based in Gurugram, Haryana, Summan returns to PwC India in a senior leadership capacity after building extensive experience across consulting and corporate HR roles, including significant stints with PepsiCo and EY. Her career reflects a strong focus on helping organizations strengthen their people capabilities, develop future-ready leaders, improve performance, and navigate organizational change.
In her new role at PwC India, Summan is positioned to bring together her consulting expertise and corporate people-strategy experience to support organizations as they address evolving workforce expectations, leadership requirements, digital transformation, and capability needs.
Returning to PwC India in a Leadership Role
Summan’s appointment as Director at PwC India represents a natural progression in a career that has consistently combined strategic people advisory with business transformation.
During her earlier tenure at PwC India, she progressed from Senior Consultant to Manager, working across a broad portfolio of organizational and people-related priorities.
As Manager, she managed and converted business, handled a large portfolio, and led teams of consultants across multiple engagements. Her consulting experience included organization structuring, leadership development for CEO-1 and CEO-2 roles, culture building, performance management, and digital upskilling.
This experience gave her exposure to complex organizational challenges and enabled her to work closely with leadership teams on initiatives designed to align people capabilities with business objectives.
Her return to PwC India as Director builds on this foundation, adding several years of corporate experience in people strategy, capability development, inclusion, and performance management.
Shaping People Strategy and Capability at PepsiCo
Before returning to PwC India, Summan spent more than two years with PepsiCo, where she held increasingly strategic responsibilities within the people function.
As Lead – People Strategy, Capability and Performance Management, she focused on areas including leadership development, AI capability, people strategy, capability building, and performance management.
The role reflected the growing importance of connecting workforce capability with emerging business requirements. As organizations increasingly integrate artificial intelligence and digital technologies into their operating models, developing the right skills and leadership capabilities has become a critical component of sustainable growth.
Earlier, as Senior Manager – Capability Development and Inclusion, Summan worked on strengthening organizational capabilities while advancing inclusion-related priorities.
Her PepsiCo experience provided valuable corporate-side exposure to how large organizations design and implement people strategies at scale–experience that complements her earlier consulting background.
Building Organizational Transformation Expertise at PwC
Summan’s first major consulting chapter at PwC India began in 2021, when she joined as a Senior Consultant before progressing to Manager.
Her work involved advising organizations on a range of people and organizational priorities. She managed client portfolios, led consulting teams, and contributed to transformation initiatives designed to improve organizational effectiveness.
Among the key areas of her experience were:
- Organization restructuring
- Leadership development
- Culture building
- Performance management
- Digital upskilling
- People management
- Organizational transformation
Her ability to work across both strategic and implementation-oriented initiatives helped establish a strong foundation for her subsequent corporate leadership experience.
Advancing People Advisory at EY
Prior to joining PwC, Summan spent nearly four years with EY, where she developed extensive experience in People Advisory Services.
As Senior Consultant – People Advisory Services, she was responsible for end-to-end client engagement delivery, project management, and supporting business development initiatives.
Her consulting portfolio covered several critical areas of people and business transformation, including performance management system and KPI design, compensation and benefits restructuring, digital learning, EBITDA transformation, manpower planning, talent capability development, culture, and change management.
This combination of people strategy and business transformation enabled her to approach HR challenges from a broader organizational perspective–connecting workforce initiatives with financial, operational, and strategic outcomes.
Earlier at EY, she served as a Consultant in People Advisory Services, further strengthening her consulting capabilities and client-facing expertise.
An Early Focus on Inclusive Workforce Strategy
Summan’s professional journey also includes an early experience with GSK Consumer Healthcare India, where she worked as an intern on a project focused on building a pipeline for inclusive hiring at a manufacturing plant in Sonepat.
The project involved studying employment opportunities for women in shift operations, benchmarking practices among leading organizations, identifying suitable roles, developing talent pools, evaluating infrastructure requirements, and analyzing financial implications.
She also contributed to developing a five-year roadmap for the initiative.
This early exposure to inclusive workforce planning provided an important foundation for the broader themes that would continue through her career–including talent development, inclusion, organizational capability, and workforce transformation.
A Career Connecting People and Business Transformation
Across consulting and corporate environments, Summan has developed a multidisciplinary perspective on how organizations can build stronger and more adaptable workforces.
Her experience spans the full spectrum from performance and workforce planning to leadership development, organizational restructuring, capability building, digital learning, inclusion, and culture transformation.
This breadth is particularly relevant as organizations navigate a rapidly changing workplace shaped by artificial intelligence, evolving employee expectations, changing skill requirements, and increasingly complex business models.
Her journey also demonstrates the value of moving between advisory and corporate environments. Consulting provided exposure to diverse organizational challenges, while her experience at PepsiCo offered first-hand insight into implementing people strategies within a large global enterprise.
Leadership for the Future of Work
As organizations increasingly recognize that transformation depends as much on people and capabilities as it does on technology and processes, leaders with expertise across both people strategy and business transformation are becoming increasingly important.
Summan’s background positions her to contribute to this evolving landscape through a combination of consulting experience, corporate people leadership, and expertise in organizational capability.
Her work across leadership development, performance management, digital upskilling, inclusion, culture, and workforce strategy reflects a consistent objective: helping organizations create the capabilities required to perform today while preparing their people for tomorrow.
At PwC India, her appointment as Director marks the next phase of this journey. With experience spanning major professional-services organizations and a leading global consumer company, she brings a perspective that connects strategic advisory with practical organizational implementation.
As she takes on her new leadership mandate, Summan is well positioned to contribute to PwC India’s work in helping organizations strengthen their people strategies, build future-ready capabilities, develop leaders, and navigate transformation.
Her career reflects the evolution of modern people leadership–from traditional HR advisory toward a more integrated model where talent, capability, leadership, culture, technology, and business performance work together to create lasting organizational value.
CXO Gateway Perspective
CXO Gateway continues to spotlight leaders who are shaping the future of business through strategic leadership, innovation, and organizational transformation. Akshita Summan’s appointment as Director at PwC India highlights the growing importance of people strategy and capability building in an increasingly dynamic business environment.
Her career journey–from People Advisory roles at EY and PwC to strategic people leadership at PepsiCo and now back to PwC India–demonstrates how strong talent ecosystems, leadership development, digital capabilities, and organizational transformation can become powerful drivers of sustainable business growth.