Anjali Raina Harvard India Center ED

Harvard Business School announced on Monday the appointment of Anjali Raina as executive director of its India Research Center in Mumbai.

Raina, who has spent the past 15 years at Citigroup (India), most recently as country training director, will officially assume duties in late April.

"We are delighted to have Anjali Raina take on this important leadership role at our India Research Center," said Krishna Palepu, Ross Graham Walker Professor of Business Administration and Senior Associate Dean for International Development at Harvard Business School.

"She will focus on building and maintaining relationships with senior business leaders in the region to facilitate the expanding work of the Center in research, educational programs, and alumni endeavors."

HBS faculty members have long been interested in the economy and the broad array of enterprises in India and the rest of South Asia for their research and course development agenda.

The India Research Center was established by Harvard Business School in 2006 to provide formal support for their efforts.

The facility is part of a global network of centers located in regions that play a vital role in the world economy, including Asia-Pacific, Europe, Japan, Latin America, and California's Silicon Valley.

Through these centers, HBS faculty work with leaders of industry, government, and academia worldwide and learn from business challenges and innovations around the globe.

As country training director, Raina was responsible for training, development, and change management for the consumer bank as well as for Citigroup's associates and affiliate companies in India.

She was also on the bank's management committee and provided training resources throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Her unit ran more than 1,500 programs in 26 locations for more than 67,000 participants yearly.

Among her many accomplishments was the creation of a corporate university with seven interlinked functional and business-specific training academies.

She earned a master's degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, in 1981, and a bachelor's degree in English Literature from Loreto College in the University of Calcutta in 1979.