Skip to main content
Official Logo of Columbia Business School
Academics
  • Visit Academics
  • Degree Programs
  • Admissions
  • Tuition & Financial Aid
  • Campus Life
  • Career Management
Faculty & Research
  • Visit Faculty & Research
  • Academic Divisions
  • Search the Directory
  • Research
  • Research Resources
  • Teaching Excellence
Executive Education
  • Visit Executive Education
  • For Organizations
  • For Individuals
  • Program Finder
  • Online Programs
  • Certificates
About Us
  • Visit About Us
  • CBS Directory
  • Events Calendar
  • Leadership
  • Our History
  • The CBS Experience
  • Newsroom
Alumni
  • Visit Alumni
  • Update Your Information
  • Lifetime Network
  • Alumni Benefits
  • Alumni Career Management
  • Women's Circle
  • Alumni Clubs
Insights
  • Visit Insights
  • AI & Transformative Tech
  • Climate
  • Business & Society
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Finance & Investing
  • Magazine

Breadcrumb

  1. Directory
  2. Faculty
  3. Prabha Parameswaran

Prabha Parameswaran

Executive In Residence
Executives in Residence Program
Areas of Advising:
C-Suite Leadership, Corporate Business, Global Business
Prabha Parameswaran
Contact
E-mail: [email protected]

Prabha Parameswaran is a transformative global business leader with deep experience operating across five continents and stewarding multibillion-dollar P&Ls. She has a long track record of delivering growth in complex, competitive, and rapidly evolving markets—often tapped at pivotal moments where strategic clarity, disciplined execution, and organizational renewal are required. Her leadership approach blends analytical rigor with a strong people-centered philosophy, making her an influential voice on change leadership, innovation strategy, and building future-ready organizations.

Most recently, Prabha served as Vice Chair of Colgate-Palmolive, a $20.1B Fortune 200 global consumer products company. In this enterprise-wide leadership role, she advanced the company’s innovation agenda, embedded digital & AI across key functions, and led operating model transformation to position the company for long-term, top-tier performance.

Previously, as Group President, Growth & Strategy, Prabha helped architect and accelerate the execution of Colgate-Palmolive’s five-year strategic plan—driving sharper enterprise focus on core categories and geographies, digital transformation, breakthrough innovation, and operating model redesign resulting in the company delivering top-tier Total Shareholder Return relative to industry peers. Her remit spanned global functions including R&D, Supply Chain, Marketing, Sales, Digital, Data Analytics, Information Technology, ESG, and M&A, while also guiding the P&L for the company’s Skin Health business.

Before taking on her enterprise-wide roles, Prabha led several of Colgate-Palmolive’s most significant international businesses—including serving as President of Europe, President of Africa, Middle East & Eurasia, and Managing Director India a publicly listed business. Across these diverse markets, she built a reputation for navigating complexity, providing strategic clarity, inspiring teams, and engaging a wide range of stakeholders including boards, investors, and strategic partners.

Central to Prabha’s leadership success are her mindful listening skills, learning mindset, and collaborative style. She is widely respected for fostering trust, empowering teams, and building a culture of shared success. As a committed developer of talent, she has played an instrumental role in shaping the next generation of Colgate leaders through active mentorship and coaching.

Prabha holds an MBA from the University of Madras, India.

Education
MBA, University of Madras (Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India); BBA, Bhopal University (Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India).

All Activities

  • Research
  • Teaching
  • Achievements
  • Press
  • Authored Works
  • CaseWorks
  • Journal articles
  • Working papers
  • Articles
  • Books
  • Chapters
  • Courses
  • Case Studies
This faculty member has no associated courses currently. Please check back next semester.
  • Awards
  • Grants
  • In the Media
  • Articles
  • Articles
  • CaseWorks
This faculty member has no associated CaseWorks cases currently.
Official Logo of Columbia Business School

Columbia University in the City of New York
665 West 130th Street, New York, NY 10027
Tel. 212-854-1100

Maps and Directions
    • Centers & Programs
    • Current Students
    • Corporate
    • Directory
    • Support Us
    • Recruiters & Partners
    • Faculty & Staff
    • Newsroom
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
    • Accessibility
    • Privacy & Policy Statements
Back to Top Upward arrow
TOP

© Columbia University

  • X
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn

External CSS

Back to top

Accessibility Tools

English French German Italian Spanish Japanese Russian Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Arabic Bengali