Poonam Sharma’s career journey from grassroots project coordination in the mid-1990s to her current role as Director of Global Citizenship and Sustainability at Abbott India is a compelling testament to dedication, strategic insight, and sustained impact in the social development and corporate sustainability sectors.

Over nearly three decades, Sharma has evolved through a variety of roles that blend human resources, government relations, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and sustainability, crafting a nuanced expertise that drives innovative, measurable change in communities across India.

Starting as a Project Coordinator at Birla Textile Mills in 2000 and moving through diverse roles in HR and external relations, she honed skills in stakeholder engagement, governance, and people systems management.

Her significant rise came with leadership positions at multinational corporations such as Colgate-Palmolive, where she headed CSR and sustainability drives, including pioneering India’s first integrated Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting frameworks.

Since August 2024, at Abbott India, Sharma is steering global citizenship initiatives focusing on equitable healthcare access and social inclusion, consolidating her legacy as a transformational leader.

Currently leading as Director of Global Citizenship and Sustainability at Abbott India, Poonam Sharma combines over 20 years of multifaceted experience in CSR, sustainability, and human resources to architect impactful programs that marry strategic foresight with community needs.

At the 2025 India CSR & ESG Summit, she emphatically advocated shifting CSR from regulatory compliance into collaborative, data-driven partnerships that enhance health outcomes for women and children.

Stating, Her plan is power, Sharma positioned women’s empowerment and technology-enabled healthcare access as key to sustainable social impact. Her trajectory, rooted in gradual but steady growth across sectors, embodies India’s evolving CSR landscape that demands accountability, inclusivity, and empathy.

Shaping Sustainable Healthcare Impact

In her recent public engagements, including the India CSR & ESG Summit 2025, Sharma articulated the profound link between CSR and community health. She added, True impact requires walking alongside communities, understanding their realities, and co-creating solutions.

Emphasising women’s empowerment through informed health decisions, Sharma called for deploying telemedicine and digital tools to reach under-served populations, particularly prioritising primary healthcare centres and frontline worker capacity-building.

She described CSR not as a “statutory checkbox” but as a genuine commitment to localised, culturally relevant programme design anchored in robust data.

Officials and peers at the summit echoed Sharma’s views, advocating for enhanced public-private-NGO collaborations to address systemic health inequities, addressing both service delivery and infrastructure gaps for long-term wellness.

A Career Dedicated to Integrated Impact

Sharma’s professional timeline reflects a blend of operational expertise and visionary leadership. Her tenure at Colgate-Palmolive from 2004 to 2023 marked significant advancements in ESG governance and CSR strategy, where she steered critical interventions that aligned social responsibility with business goals.

From 2015, she led CSR India and Asia-Pacific sustainability efforts, culminating in India’s maiden comprehensive ESG reporting and digital ESG communication strategies. Known for mentoring teams and institutionalising impactful programmes, she attributes her success to high result orientation and drive to get the best from teams.

In her current role at Abbott since August 2024, Sharma’s focus has sharpened on health equity, access affordability, and environmental sustainability, pushing a cohesive agenda that aligns corporate responsibility with holistic community benefit.

The Logical Indian’s Perspective

Poonam Sharma’s career journey and leadership embody the essential qualities of perseverance, strategic thinking, and empathy needed to navigate India’s complex social sector successfully.

The Logical Indian recognises the importance of her vision in transforming CSR from a compliance instrument into a force for compassionate, sustainable social change one that aligns with the values of kindness, dialogue, harmony, and coexistence.

As CSR continues to mature and demand more impactful, accountable actions, Sharma’s story invites reflection: How can India’s CSR ecosystem further nurture leaders and programmes that balance pragmatic outcomes with empathy and creativity?

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