Hema Viswanathan

Director – Barometer Research

Hema is a veteran in the field of social and development research with over two and half decade of experience. She is also an author and entrepreneur. She earned a postgraduate diploma in business administration from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from the St. Xavier’s College, Gujarat University.

Over the course of a rich career, she has led a wide range of social and rural research projects across the length and breadth of India, and in countries in all corners of the world.

Besides serving as the Director of Barometer Research,Hema also serves as an Independent Director at micro-finance company Swadhaar, and as the Global Market Research Director at Baird’s CMC, UK.

Before founding Barometer Research, Hema worked for over twenty years at the Indian Market Research Bureau. During her tenure, she set up and led the Social and Rural Research Institute there, and was the country manager and senior VP for a unit called the Probe Qualitative Research that offers clients insight into consumer perceptions and behaviour.

She also served as a member of the Lok Seva Sanchar Samiti, an advisory group to the government of India on public service communication during 1992-1997, and on various other committees such as HP Labs Advisory Committee, and International Steering Committee for the study on ‘Safe and effective use of Crop Protection Products’ for the Novartis Foundation for Developing Countries.