More than 100 industry leaders representing different sectors participated in the two-day SOA Proxima-2024, a HR Conference organised by the Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan Deemed to be University (SOA), here on April 26 and 27.

The mega event, which served as a vital connect between industry pioneers and emerging tech talent, looked upon as an unparalleled platform facilitating knowledge exchange, providing insights and enabling a peep into the emerging trends within the technology sphere.

Over 100 HR Leaders, distinguished speakers and industry experts drawn from various sectors including IT, IT Enabled Services, manufacturing and core industries interacted with 4500 plus aspiring tech talents .

The 5th edition of SOA Proxima-2024 is the largest such conference ever held in the eastern region which marked a significant milestone for Odisha. Dr. Sandipan Chakravorty, former Managing Director of Tata International and Mr. Satish Kumar Pradhan, Centre Head of Cognizant graced the first day of the conference as the chief guest and the guest of honour.

On the second day of the conference Prof. (Dr.) T.G.Sitharam, Chairman of All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) graced the occasion as the chief guest. On the valedictory session Mr. Bijay Sahoo, Pesident,HR of Reliance Industries, Mumbai addressed HR professionals and students.

Leading multinational companies including HCLTech, Cognizant, Synopsys, PwC India, Mastercard, Deloitte India, EY India, JP Morgan, Maruti Suzuki, Continental Automotive, British Petroleum, Lenovo, Mahindra Comviva, Emami Paper Mills and Grasim participated in the event.

The conclave being attended by HR professionals from around 100 industries from across the country and students of the university.“

Prof. (Dr.) Sitharam complimented SOA for organizing an event like ‘Proxima-2024’, a platform for intellectual thinking, innovative ideas and experiential learning, which would harness the potential of the students.

Prof. Pradipta Kumar Nanda, Vice-Chancellor of SOA, who presided over the meeting said that the Deemed to be University was initiating steps to connect the institutes with the industry as emphasized in the New Education Policy (NEP). The inaugural session of the conclave on Friday was addressed by Dr.

The inaugural session was also addressed by Prof. Jyoti Ranjan Das, Dean (Students’ Welfare), Mr. Ripti Ranjan Dash, Director, Corporate Relations and Industry Engagement and Prof. Renu Sharma, Additional Dean (Student Affairs) of SOA’s faculty of engineering.

On the valedictory session Mr. Dash gave vote of thanks.

The eminent speakers who addressed different sessions included Mr. Ashis Bhalla, Director (HR), HCL Tech, Ms. Aswathy Venugopal, Senior Director, Cognizant, Mr. Sudeep Mondal, Senior Director (R and D), Synopsys, Mr. Stephen Rosario, Associate Director (Talent Acquisition), NielsenIQ, Mr. Dileep Narayan, Director (People Programs), EPAM Systems, Ms. Ritu Sharma, Head (Operational Excellence and University Relations), Brillio, Mr. Sougata Sen, General Manager (Early Career Hiring Head), Hexaware, Mr. Biswajit Chatterjee, All India Head, (Supply, Distribution and Logistics), Reliance BP Mobility Ltd, Mr. Shakir Iqbal, Senior Director (Human Capital), PwC India, Mr. Siddharth Koul, Director (Campus Recruitment), Fidelity, Mr. Urvish Pandey, India Head ((University Relations), Mastercard, Ms. Rupa Deshmukh, Head, University Programs and Academia-Industry Relationships, Ericsson, Mr. Joshua David, India Campus Lead, Mphasis, Mr. Abhishek Chandra, Director (Human Capital), Deloitte and Mr. Kamlesh K. Jagdale, India Lead (University Recruiting), Nutanix.