HR Leadership Congress India 2011

Lancelot Cutinha

Head of Human Resources

Mahindra Lifespaces

Squadron Leader Lancelot Cutinha is an ex Air Force fighter pilot and a Qualified Flying Instructor who has trained ab initio cadets at the Air Force Academy, Hyderabad and budding flying instructors at the Flying Instructors’ School, Chennai. He is a Graduate of the Defence Services Staff College in Wellington. An eye disability put paid to his Air Force career and he switched to a career in Human Resources. He is also a Graduate of the Symbiosis Institute of Business Management.

He started his civilian career in Jet Airways initially, in Flight Operations and subsequently, in Human Resources. He, then, did a short stint with Royal Airways in the start-up team before joining JW Marriott Hotel Mumbai as Director of Human Resources in the pre-opening team. He played a significant role in the hotel’s expansion and was instrumental in employing mentally challenged associates, which earned the hotel the NCPEDP Shell Helen Keller Award 2004. The hotel was also rated No. 6th in the “Great Places to Work” survey done in 2005 by the Great Places to Work Institute, USA and Grow Talent Company. In 2006, he joined BIG 92.7 FM in the start-up team, which was a challenging and exciting assignment which kept him in ‘overdrive’. He recently joined Mahindra Lifespaces as Head of Human Resources.

His areas of expertise lie in leadership development, culture transformation and setting up HR infrastructure in start-up companies.

He is married with three daughters. He loves to read, swim and keep himself physically fit.