UST named `Title Winner’ in 2022 Avtar DivERG Awards; wins two laurels

Kochi, May 23, 2022: UST, a leading digital transformation solutions company, has been named 'Title Winner' at the Avtar DivERG Awards for women-led Employee Resource Groups. The awards were presented to the company at the SEGUE Sessions, a flagship conference organized by India's first diversity advocate and workplace inclusion group, Avtar.

Avtar is renowned for its extensive work in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and, more specifically, women's workforce participation. The SEGUE Sessions featured success stories of women's leaders and organizations fostering gender diversity.
UST Bengaluru's NowU (Network of Women USsocciates) team, led by Sreedevi Sarath, is a platform for women employees to seek support, network, give and learn from one another. NowU is the Title Winner of the DivERG award, and it celebrates the outstanding contributions and achievements of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) for women. This recognition is a great reflection of its remarkable contributions to UST in 2021. In addition to this, Sreedevi Sarath, Akilandeswari Senthilnathan, and Dechamma Ponnappa also won the 'HackEquity-Cracking the Inclusion Code', making UST bag two prestigious awards at the SEGUE session.  

Sunil Balakrishnan, Chief Values Officer, Global Head-Development Center Operations, UST, accepted the award on behalf of UST and NowU Bangalore.  “We are extremely proud to receive these awards as a recognition of our efforts across the organisation to embrace gender diversity at UST across several levels, globally. Our unwavering commitment to inclusion and diversity over the last 22 years has helped us to create a culture where everyone feels they have equal opportunity. At UST, we are committed to helping mothers blend career and family. This is another milestone and affirmation of UST’s values to drive change at every level through humility, humanity, and integrity,” added Sunil Balakrishnan.

Manu Sivarajan, Center Head, UST Bengaluru and General Manager - India & Asia Business Unit, UST, said, "The awards have come as a major recognition for the efforts put in by UST to ensure that equitable opportunities are a norm. Congratulations to the NowU team that implemented a wide range of innovative ideas on fostering gender diversity and catalytically improving employee engagement."

Commenting on the occasion, Anu Koshy, Head - Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, UST said, “We are thrilled to be recognised for our work in gender inclusion, reflecting the team's resolute efforts. To make a mark among such a stellar list of peer organizations is a testament to UST’s commitment to create a culture of belonging, openness, and collaboration, where employee creativity is unleashed, generating boundless impact. This recognition inspires us to continue to forge ahead with high impact DEI programs driven by our people.”

Kavita Kurup, Global Head of Human Resources, UST, was among the speakers at the event. The UST participants at the event included Durga Padinjaraveettil, Deepa Pulimoottilkumar, Shilpa Menon, Sreedevi Sarath, Dhanya Sasidharan, Swathy Srinivasan, Dechamma Ponnappa, Neeta Kuriakose, Renu Ravindran, Neeraja Sobhana, Chithra Nair, Akilandeswari Senthilnathan, and Anu Koshy.