Hema has over 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur and corporate
executive and over 12 years as an impact investor, board member and mentor. She has served as an independent director on the board of Ace Designers Ltd.and on publicly traded SKF India Ltd and Nelco Ltd. (a Tata group company).

She is currently on the board of Bangalore International Centre and Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship. She is an adjunct Professor and advisor to The Takshashila Institution, an independent centre for research and education in public policy. She has over 20 years of experience in advising non-profits in rural women’s livelihoods, community youth programmes, and training of youth in civic problem solving like Reap Benefit, Buzz Women Trust and others. She has co-authored ‘Lift Off- Transforming Conzerv’, on her journey of leading Conzerv with her husband Ashok Hattangady. Conzerv is a case study that was taught at the HBS Advanced Management Program and at the MBA in entrepreneurship at Babson College for 11 years.

Hema has played a leading role in the creation of Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE). It is an industry-led initiative created to foster collaboration among India’s energy efficiency industries and service providers. Hema created ‘Conserve My Campus’, a program for schools that created 1600 Green Ambassadors and taught children to reduce their home electricity bills by 15-50%.