Shekhar contributes more than 25 years of deep experience in numerous global leadership roles as a Procter & Gamble executive to Orabrush’s Board of Directors. A renowned global innovation leader, Shekhar has a proven track record of creating breakthrough consumer product innovations and global capabilities in the health, hygiene, beauty and grooming industries. Prior to joining Orabrush, Inc., Shekhar served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Research & Development, Global Salon Professional and Global Prestige for P&G. He was also a member of P&G’s Global Leadership Council and a part of a 17-member Top Innovation Team for the company to create renewed innovation strategies and a pipeline of ideas for new business development.
Throughout Shekhar’s career he has led the creation and development of technology platforms and innovation strategies that have resulted in well-known consumer products like Crest Whitestrips, Crest China, Crest Prohealth, Aleve Analgesic, Prilosec, Gillette and Old Spice Clinical Strength, and Metamucil (cholesterol lowering) to name a few. Several of these, including Crest Whitening Expressions, Whitestrips, Olay Regenerist, Prilosec, and Secret Clinical Strength, were named among the top ten consumer product innovations in the year in which they were released. Shekhar has led the global innovation capability growth for P&G over the last decade with the start-up of Beijing, Bangalore, Rio and Africa innovation hubs. He has been awarded over 50 patents to date with 15 more on file in various fields and is an invited speaker on topics ranging from game-changing innovation approaches and organization development. In 2010, he was awarded the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor recognized by the U.S. Congress and listed in the Congressional Record for his contributions to improving lives via innovation leadership and community service.
Before joining P&G in 1984 as a staff scientist, Shekhar received his undergraduate degree in Biophysical Chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology; his MS and Ph.D. degrees in Life Sciences from Columbia University in New York; and was a Jane Coffin Research Fellow at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Shekhar also currently serves as Premium Consulting Partner at YourEncore, Inc. and President of Innopreneur LLC. He also is a member of the Advisory Board for Vyome Biosciences and Phoenix Biometrics.