The Leadership Imperative for AI-Native GCCs
Agenda & Session Flow
Friday, 31st July 2026
HICC, Novotel, Hyderabad
8:00 AM
Registrations & Networking over Tea/Coffee
9:00 AM
Unveiling GCC X…HYDERABAD 2026 - event showreel & day flow construct by Emcee
9:20 AM
Context Setting & Welcome Address
Sameer Dhanrajani
CEO
3AI
Bipin Pendyala
President
HYSEA
9:40 AM
Analyst Keynote
Lalit Ahuja
CEO
ANSR
10:00 AM
Fireside Session
The New GCC Playbook: 10 Predictions that will likely shape the future of GCCs
Rajesh Varrier
President - Global Operations and MD
Cognizant
Prashanth Nandella
President
HYSEA
10:20 AM
Leaders Exclusive Session
Building Nuanced & Robust Target Operating Models and Sustained Value Architecture for GCCs: The Leadership Imperative
Moderator
Rajesh Kumar Ojha
Partner & GIC/GCC Market Segment Leader
PwC India
Amit Kalra
MD and Head Global Business Solutions
Swiss Re
Ranga Pothula
MD India Sub-continent & SVP Global Delivery Services
Infor
Sangeetha Yanamandra
Vice President - Software Engineering, Site Leader - Hyderabad
OpenText
Jaideep Agarwal
India GBS Leader
Warner Bros
Kaushik Das
Managing Director
JCPenney India
GCCs are at an inflection point with the AI onslaught and the pace at which target operating models is changing every aspect of GCCs is nuanced and unprecedented. GCCs are contextually empowered with critical and strategic business capabilities. They are rapidly evolving as AI transformation hubs and are beginning to be in the center of strategic transformation wave. GCC’s ability to provide strategic AI capacity at scale and play a key role in future proofing enterprises equipped with sustained value architecture is proving out to be the secret sauce for the success of the GCCs.
Building novel yet robust target operating models for GCCs will be characterized by driving strategic planning, complex AI capability building, designing bespoke new age AI architecture, driving C level advocacy, AI Value & Transformation accentuation, inclusive talent building & intensive corporate development & much more …
What are the Novel yet nuanced target operating Models for GCCs look like? What does it take for a GCC leader to be build sustained value architecture and create value in the disruptive times? How does the right amalgamation of the operating models and value architecture looks like for GCC leaders?
The session brings together stellar GCC leaders with multifarious backgrounds as they unravel aspects on building nuanced target operating models for GCCs. A MUST ATTEND Leaders Exclusive Session .
11:00 AM
Special Address
From Burgers to Bytes, The role of Global Business Services in McDonalds Evolution.
Deshant Kaila
Head GBS Operations
McDonald's
11:20 AM
Spotlight Talk
Inspiring Growth, Delivering Results: Building Strong & Resilient GCCs for tomorrow
Sheenam Ohrie
Managing Director
Broadridge
11:30 AM
Networking Break over tea/coffee
11:50 PM
Spotlight Talk
The 5 Shifts Powering the Rise of AI-Native GCCs
Sailaja Josyula
SVP, Global Head - GCC Service Line
Cognizant
12:00 AM
PwC Report Launch
Impact Driven GCCs Enabled my Operational Excellence & Robust Capabilities
Prashanti Bodugum
Head of Evernorth India
Evernorth India
12:10 PM
Experts Panel
Employee ID or a Code- Blueprint for Scaling AI Agents: Strategic Approaches for Innovation
Moderator
Pragya Singh
Director - HR
McDonald's
Rekha Narendra
Vice President and HR Head India
RealPage
Dinesh Murugesan
VP GES HR and Head GCC
dsm-firmenich
Smriti Mathur
Vice President People India & Global Talent Advisory Partner
Pegasystems
Agentic AI is the new strategic capability for achieving business value and efficiency. It moves beyond basic automation by using intelligent systems that can independently plan and execute complex tasks with a level of autonomy, unlike traditional AI. Agentic AI leverages agentic systems to tackle problems by analysing data, optimizing processes, ultimately enabling enterprises to focus on more strategic and creative endeavours. Further, multimodal Agentic AI frameworks has emerged as transformative catalysts, enabling businesses to accelerate process automation at an unprecedented scale.
However, As agentic AI starts doing real work, what new roles appear — and how do humans and agents share a team, a mandate, and accountability? Do agents get onboarded and badged like employees, or governed like software? Alt: "When Your Newest Hire Is an Agent. ”The Experts Panel consisting of seasoned leaders will explore and navigate the conundrum.
Strategic Deliberations & Contrarian views assured!
12:50 PM
Lunch
1:50 PM
Keynote
The Cognitive Leap – ReImagining the future of GCCs in India, McDonalds View
Durga Prakash (DP)
Head Global Technology
McDonald's
2:00 PM
Unplugged Debate
Building AI-Native Global Capability Centers (GCCs): Separating Substance from Buzz – New Ruminations
Moderator
Jitendra Putcha
Chief Delivery Officer
Mastech Digital
Anant Anand
Director of Data Engineering
Evernorth
Pallavi Katiyar
Chief Information Officer
TechMahindra
Rajat Kapoor
Founder and CEO
Ascent Health
Naren Peri
Vice President, Data and Analytics Capability Lead
MetLife
I has awakened the senior leaders & the business lexicon has risen to be the epicentre of the boardroom & is the C-suite agenda. Pursuit for building AI-native GCCs is invoking massive shifts in the enterprise AI strategy and ensuing business value chain and is redefining what it takes for GCCs to build AI- Native GCCs and upping their value, capability and innovation quotient.
Further, AI practices in GCCs are evolving from being mere POC driven exercises to pure play AI capability hubs and becoming value drivers of transformation, innovation & business impact. This no holds barred unplugged debate consisting of senior GCC leaders will dwell upon the strategic narrative of building AI-Native GCCs intertwined with enterprise AI strategy.
Intense Ruminations & Deliberations guaranteed!
2:35 PM
Rapid Pace Masterclass
Global Workforce Strategy in the age of Tech Transformation and AI@McDonalds
Sharma Sonti
Global Resource Optimization Leader
McDonald's
2:50 PM
Lounge Special
Redefining the Archetypes, Personas and Attributes of AI-Native GCC Leaders: Strategic Perspectives
Moderator
Namita Seth
VP, Strategic Growth
Cognizant
Kishore Reddy
CTO and Cofounder
ProHance
Madhuri Duggirala
Vice President, Ads Solutions
Ashutosh Khare
AI CoE (India) Leader
Evernorth
Karthik Ragunathan
Data Science Practice Lead
Tiger Analytics
Megha Chawla
Senior Partner
Bain & Company
A significant number of tenured GCCs have been early adopters of mainstream & exponential technologies and have been deploying best practices at scale for the parent organizations. Previously, several GCCs across industry segments have evolved to scale up significantly and created massive workforce in GCCs; however, with the advent of Agentic AI and the ensuing profound transformation are the GCCs best equipped to identify and seize opportunities to create sustained impact?
What new adoption scenarios are emerging in GCCs w.r.t scale & impact? Are GCCs following a guided approach to Agentic AI adoption? What new transformative use cases and adoption scenarios will emerge in the GCCs for scale & impact? The journey of GCCs Evolution: Scale & Impact – Before & Tomorrow.
Hear it from the GCC Leaders & Experts in a riveting & enthralling leadership roundtable format.
3:25 PM
Keynote
Unlocking full potential of AI in GCCs
Saurabh Sharmaa
Chief Operating Officer
ProHance
3:35 PM
CXO Fireside Session
Redefining the new code of Innovation & Transformation in GCCs with AI: Strategic Perspectives to build External Ecosystem
Moderator
Lalitha Indrakanti
CEO
Jaguar Land Rover - TBSI
P J Narayanan
Professor & Director
IIIT-Hyderabad
Kavikrut
CEO
T-Hub
Nitin Sharma
Technology Counsel (Sr. Director, Technology/Patent Counsel)
Qualcomm
Ram Chandnani
Managing Director - Leasing
CBRE
Kavikrut
CEO
T-Hub
GCCs are reflections of strategic components to parent organization’s business imperatives. The rapid transformation and innovation of GCCs today is driven largely by ability for them to leverage external ecosystem – startups, academia, provider firms and act as strategic imperative for their parent organizations. Optimizing external ecosystem is s seen to the Trojan horse to catapult GCCs to the next level on innovation & transformation. In recent times; GCC story is in a changing era of value and transformative arbitrage. Most of the GCCs are aiming towards deploying capabilities & offerings derived from external ecosystem to position themselves as the model template of Innovation & Transformation. It is widely predicted that GCCs will up the ante in the coming year on penetrating deeply in the external ecosystem.
How have the Innovation strategies of GCCs transformed with reference to external ecosystem? how are startup , academia and provider firms delivering tangible business outcomes, innovation & transformation for GCCs ? How are Global Capability Centers looking at addressing Innovation & transformation through academia , startups & provider firms and how the new code will evolve?
The Lounge Specials consisting of seasoned and eclectic leaders will revolve around multifarious dimensions on redefining the new code of Innovation & Transformation through External Ecosystem.
4:10 PM
Rapid Pace Masterclass
Advancements in AI: Opportunities and Threats for GCC's
Amiteshwar Seth
SVP & Global Delivery Head of AI and Data
Cognizant
4:10 PM
Special Address
Rajesh Dhuddu
Partner & Emerging Tech Leader
PwC India
Dr. Vishalli Dongrie
Partner And Head Workforce Consulting
PwC India
4:35 PM
GCC ONE AWARDS 2026 - Felicitation Ceremony
Guest of Honor
Jayesh Ranjan, IAS
Special Chief Secretary for SPEED & Investment Cell CMO
Government Of Telangana
5:15 PM
Closing Remarks & Conclusion of GCC X…Hyderabad 2026
Bipin Pendyala
General Manager - India
APPEN
Hari Bharadwaj
Country Head
Clovertex
5:25 PM
High Tea, Networking & Day Event Delegates Departure
11:30 AM
GCC X…Hyderabad Innovation Zone: Context Setting
Sitaram Tadepalli
Senior Vice President, Machine Learning Engineering
DBS Tech India
Vivek Mahendra
Managing Partner
Vivikta Advisory & Creatives
11:45 AM
Deep Dive Presentation – Enterprise Command Centres in Practice: Operating Blueprints for Global P&L, Product Mandates & Decision Rights
Modern Data Architectures: The Competitive Moat for Your AI-Led Enterprises
Vinay Simha
Director | Principal Enterprise Architect | Enterprise Data Architecture & Data Governance Leader
Philips
This session focuses on the foundational data capabilities required for AI adoption, emphasizing strategic positioning and practical frameworks for modern data architectures. It will outline the data architecture and governance approaches and touch upon interoperability, privacy and security by design.
12:00 PM
Startup Showcase Session 1
Haren Chelle
Co-founder and CEO
Pulsegen
12:15 PM
Startup Showcase Session 2
Kiran Pasavedala
Co-founder and CEO
Wexa AI
12:30 PM
Startup Showcase Session 3
Rakesh Vaddadi
Co-founder and CEO
Beacon
12:45 PM
Solution Showcase – Agentic AI Platforms Live: Autonomous Workflows, Multi-Agent Orchestration & Intelligence as Infrastructure
AI at Warp Speed: Are We Sacrificing Privacy in the Race?
Chandana Nandimandalam
Co-Founder and CEO
GeneInsight
This session addresses the privacy risks associated with rapid AI adoption and proposes governance frameworks to ensure ethical AI deployment. Focus is to make attendees leave with awareness of red flags, solutions like privacy-preserving AI techniques, and a roadmap for ethical AI deployment in sensitive sectors.
1:00 PM
Deep Dive Presentation – Signals to Strategy: Turning AI-Native GCC Signals into a 12-Month Boardroom Roadmap
Leveraging India Capabilities for Global Tax Compliances and Evolving Indian Tax Considerations
Utpal Sen
Subject Matter Expert
Partner, Price Waterhouse & Co LLP
Vikram Doshi
India Tax & Regulatory Partner; GCC Tax Leader
PwC India
An insights-rich session decoding as how India capabilities can be leveraged for global tax compliances which is emerging as one of the activities/ function being performed by Indian GCC. Sharing recent experience on the recent key tax considerations right from key issues being delved into during tax audit and obtaining certainty from tax perspective.
1:15 PM
Lunch
2:00 PM
Solution Showcase – The Future Operating Model, Live: AI-Native GCC Platforms, Enterprise Data & Intelligent Decision Systems
Sreekant Lanka
Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) - IT E&C Ministry
Government of Telangana
2:15 PM
Frontrunner Talk 3
Talent Lattice 2.0: Poly-Skilling Pathways for AI Native Teams
Anees Merchant
Global Head of Innovation, IP & Analytics Consulting
C5i
This session introduces a poly-skilling framework for AI-first organizations, focusing on skill adjacencies and micro-credential pathways. Expect a two-minute quick-start checklist and a visual lattice that one can replicate with HR tomorrow.
2:30 PM
Hands-on Workshop – Build Your First Agentic Workflow: From Use Case to Working Agent in 45 Minutes
Designing Controllable AI Reasoning Systems: A Strategic Opportunity for GCCs
Kiran B R
VP, Product & Engineering
Rakuten India
This session introduces a platform-led architecture for reasoning observability, ensuring AI decisions are transparent and auditable.
2:45 PM
Frontrunner Talk 5
Elevating Developer Experience (DX) to Drive an Innovative Future
Vijay Morampudi
SVP, AI CoE Leader
Marsh McLennan
This session explores enhancing developer experience through AI, automation, and intelligent tooling to drive innovation. This talk offers actionable insights into refining the engineering culture and building an environment where future-ready innovation can thrive.
3:00 PM
Frontrunner Talk 6
MLOps: Industrializing Machine Learning Models Efficiently
Kapil Daga
VP, Advanced Analytics
ValueMomentum
This session covers the operationalization of machine learning models, focusing on efficiency, scalability, and sustained impact through MLOps. Attendees will gain actionable, real-world insights into building MLOps as a strategic enabler for AI at scale.
3:15 PM
Masterclass – Designing AI-Human Teams: Talent Architecture & the GCC CXO Leadership Pipeline
How Agentic AI Enables Real-Time Decisioning in Complex Healthcare Scenarios
Amrish Kumar
Chief Product and Technology Officer | Chief Digital, AI, Data & Innovation Officer | GCC Leader
Ascent Health
This session explores the real-time decision-making capabilities of Agentic AI in complex healthcare scenarios. The focus is on compliance led implementations. Showcases the impact of Agentic AI in specific industries, such as healthcare, to demonstrate its potential and inspire adoption, and discuss the compliance scenarios for Agentic AI in healthcare
3:30 PM
Solution Showcase Session 4
Kishore Uppalapati
Founder
Qylis
3:45 PM
Hands-on Workshop – Resilience Drill: Cyber, Responsible AI & Governance Playbooks for AI-First GCCs
Rukesh Reddy
Founder
DeccanAI
4:00 PM
Solution Showcase Session 6
