Ananya Sanyal

Ananya, a Company Secretary and lawyer, has about 25 years of experience in corporate governance, legal risk mitigation, legal operations and strategy. At Counselect, she helps our clients establish, grow and consolidate their Global Legal Capability Centres in India. Ananya has experience navigating complex legal landscapes and taking on leadership roles in projects centred on profitability turnarounds, business restructuring, new business development and rapid growth.

In her previous role, Ananya was General Counsel of the India business of Herbalife International, the US-based multinational corporation that develops and markets dietary and nutrition supplements. At Herbalife, Ananya was a strategic partner to both the India-based Distribution Centre (DC), which manages sales and operations, and the Bengaluru operation of Global Business Services (GBS), the company’s shared service function. She was also the core executive committee leader responsible for setting up the India GBS and a Centre of Excellence for R&D in Bengaluru.

Ananya was a key member of the leadership team that grew the business to $1bn, which made India the best-performing market in the Herbalife group. One of the projects she spearheaded was a change management and restructuring initiative to comply with new legislation governing Direct Selling Business. She also played a central role in designing product positioning and risk mitigation strategies in the wake of fresh legislation governing nutraceutical food products.

Further, Ananya held leadership roles in company committees relating to prevention of sexual harassment, DEI, data privacy, ethics & compliance and anti-corruption & anti-bribery.

Over the course of her career, Ananya has held legal and compliance roles in businesses across a wide range of industries including food, manufacturing, HR services, IT services, financial services and Knowledge Process Outsourcing. She has worked in organisations of different sizes and structures, and at various points in their growth journey—these include MNCs, Indian MNCs, large groups, a group company of a US-listed public company and a mid-sized, VC-funded startup.