Professor Payal Kumar embodies a rare combination of expertise as both a real-time leader in the corporate sector, and as a scholar in the realm of leadership. She has worked as Registrar and Professor at a university in north India, and has also published widely on topics including mentoring, gender and diversity and leadership. She is involved as an Editorial Board member for some leading journals and is an Advisory Board member for multinational companies and consultancy firms based in India, England and USA.