Pearson hires Siddharth Parnerkar as International Sales Director for Workforce Skills in India

Pearson has announced the appointment of Siddharth Parnerkar as the new International Sales Director to lead the Workforce Skills Vocational Qualifications business across Europe (Outside UK), India Hub, MENAT, Greater China and APAC regions. With this appointment, Pearson has strengthened its leadership team in India, to significantly grow the Workforce Skills business, which provides vocational qualifications and services.  

Siddharth comes with a rich experience of over two decades in business development, sales, marketing, strategy, P&L management, product & brand management and digital transformation. Prior to joining Pearson, he had a long stint of 16 years at Vodafone, during which, he held key leadership roles to drive the growth of their B2B and Strategic Alliances business, managing JVCo and M&A opportunities, and launch of new businesses in the Mobile Commerce space. His most recent assignment was with Vodafone Oman with a 5G, Digital first start-up operation. Before Vodafone, he worked with Reliance Communications for 5 years where he was responsible for managing their fixed wireless business and leading sales & business initiatives in the prepaid business. Apart from these, he has worked with Bharti Airtel Limited, Eastman Kodak Company and Videocon International Limited.   

Jane Baker, Vice President, Workforce Skills at Pearson said, “Organizations across the world, are witnessing significant shift in attitude of the workforce towards upskilling. As per the latest Pearson Skills Outlook Report, 88% of Indian workers believe they need to keep relearning and training throughout their careers to remain relevant to their employers. Indian organizations have kept their priorities abreast with this trend and are working towards strengthening the learning and capabilities of their workforce. Siddharth’s experience and expertise will be instrumental in driving Pearson’s endeavour to address the upskilling requirements of the workforce and help organisations understand, maintain and enhance their most important asset, their people.”  

Siddharth Parnerkar, International Sales Director, Workforce Skills, Pearson India, said, “The present and future of work in India is changing rapidly, fuelled by the digital transformation of organizations, across different sectors. Understanding, nurturing and upskilling the workforce is of utmost importance for businesses with a future-ready outlook. With Pearson India, I will be focusing on building strategic synergies to create a lifelong learning environment for upskilling and reskilling, which can enhance education, employability, and global mobility of the Indian workforce.”  

Siddharth has the expertise of driving growth for large business portfolios in India as well as global markets. His educational credentials include a Postgraduate diploma in Business Management (PGDBM) from XLRI – Xavier School of Management, Jamshedpur and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Statistics from St Xavier’s college, Mumbai.