Honeywell appoints Microsoft’s Anant Maheshwari to lead high growth region portfolio

Anant Maheshwari, the former president of Microsoft India, has been appointed as the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Honeywell's high growth region portfolio. Maheshwari is set to assume his new role on September 4 and will succeed Ben Driggs, who moves to another leadership position within the company. 

Prior to re-joining the technology and manufacturing company, Maheshwari held the position of Head of Microsoft India for seven years. The announcement also comes only days after, Puneet Chandok, former Head of Amazon Web Services (AWS) India was appointed Microsoft India's chief, succeeding Maheshwari. 

During his tenure at Microsoft, Maheshwari was responsible for the company's overall presence and business in India, leading the team that engaged with policy makers, customers, and business partners. His responsibilities also included overseeing all product, solution, service, and support offerings in India. 

Maheshwari has a long association with Honeywell as well. Before joining Microsoft, Maheshwari held critical leadership roles at Honeywell, where he started in 2004 with India growth strategy. His successful stint culminated in leading the Honeywell India portfolio. His return to Honeywell is expected to accelerate the company's growth trajectory, particularly in high-growth regions. 

In his new role, Maheshwari will lead business growth across Honeywell’s geographies in China, India, Southeast Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and Latin America. He will be reporting to Honeywell CEO Vimal Kapur and will be located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 

“Honeywell has a long-term track record of growth in this portfolio. Anant will help build on our demonstrated success, accelerating our ability to drive profitable development for the company,” Kapur said in a statement.  

“Anant’s experience over the last two decades proves that he has an ability to deliver impactful results for a diverse set of industries. He is the right person to continue to deliver our local-to-local presence and expand Honeywell’s business in controls and automation, software and digitalisation, and sustainability,” he added. 

In April, IT Industry body Nasscom announced Anant Maheshwari as the new Chairperson for the year 2023-24. He is also member of the India Advisory Committee of USIBC, and fellow of the Aspen Leadership Institute. He also served as the Chairman of the CII IT/ITeS committee. 

Maheshwari received his MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad in 1998 as an industry scholar. He also holds a Master of Science in Economics and a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Electronics from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani. 

According to the company's latest financial reports, Honeywell’s revenue rose to $9.15 billion in the second quarter of fiscal year 2023, up 2% from $9 billion YoY, as the company released its latest earnings results on July 27 for the period ending June 30, 2023. Honeywell’s net income rose 19% in the quarter to $1.5 billion, up from $1.3 billion YoY in that period.