The 9^th Machinist Super
Shopfloor Awards 2023

Mr. Babu has over 25 years of experience in mobility and joined Switch from Mahindra Electric where he was Managing Director and CEO. Under his leadership, Mahindra Electric launched six new electric vehicles including 3-wheeler, 4-wheeler and commercial vehicles. He holds two joint patents and has won the Mahindra Group Innovation Award twice. He has actively contributed to various EV committees of both central and state governments, CII (The Confederation of Indian Industry) and FICCI. Prior to joining Switch, Mr. Babu served as Chairman of the Electric Mobility Group at SIAM, the APEX Automotive Association of India and, before joining Mahindra, he worked at Ashok Leyland. Mr. Babu has featured in LinkedIn power profiles for 2018 in India and has received the India’s Greatest CEO award for 2017-18 from Asia One. He is a Fulbright Scholar and has completed his Leadership in Management from Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, and holds a postgraduate degree in Engineering from BITS, Pilani. He is also an Alumni of IMD, Switzerland and Yale, USA as part of the Executive leadership program

Preeti Bajaj is the newly appointed CEO & MD at Luminous Power Technologies and is responsible for all company operations. Founded in 1988, Luminous has over the last 33 years, grown into one of India’s most trusted brands in the power back-up, and residential solar space. 

With experience of nearly two decades in the Australian and global business environments, she holds expertise in developing and executing strategies to set the pace for sustainable growth across a range of enterprises (multinationals, ASX listed corporates and startups). Over the years, Preeti has built a career at the intersection of technology and transformation. 

In her last stint, Preeti headed the Adecco Group as the Australia & New Zealand CEO and MD for Modis Australia. She was the startup CEO of Clipsal Solar (a venture by Schneider Electric), with the sole mission of using renewable technologies to enable customers to achieve purposeful living. With nearly two decades of experience, Preeti has worked for various firms, including Brookfield Multiplex, Metcash (Top 100 ASX), Intuit Real Estate Solutions, Vision Software, and Schneider Electric, in business development, general management, operations, strategy, and transformation. Driven to stay relevant in a fast-changing world, Preeti has forged a path in commercial leadership through tenacity, raw drive, and a highly strategic mindset that is comfortable and confident in defining future business vision.

In 2011, Preeti won the AFR's Young Executive of the Year award. Never afraid to push a boundary, Preeti has also championed many firsts during her career as a young and successful professional. She was also awarded the Scholarship for the Authentic Leadership Program at Harvard by Chief Executive Women in 2017. 

Preeti completed her MBA from Swinburne University and her Master’s in Applied Finance from Macquarie University, Australia. She is passionate about diversity and actively supports emerging leaders through her contribution as an advisory member of Chief Executive Women.