Anurag Harsh, Chief Data Officer, Holcim Group

Anurag Harsh, Chief Data Officer, Holcim Group

Anurag is the Group Chief Data Officer at Holcim. Prior to that, he was the Chief Marketing and Digital Officer at Amelia which is an IB Soft company and a leading company in the Artificial Intelligence space. 

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Today we have a multifaceted personality on the show today. He has not mastered one but many of his skills and has worked with some of the biggest companies in the world! 

The Brand Called You is pleased to welcome Anurag Harsh on the podcast today. 

About Anurag:

Anurag is the Group Chief Data Officer at Holcim. Prior to that, he was the Chief Marketing and Digital Officer at Amelia which is an IB Soft company and a leading company in the Artificial Intelligence space. 

He has held several leading roles as the Digital or Data Officer at companies like IDG, CBS, CNN and has spent several years as Senior Vice President at Zif Davis. He has got an MBA from MIT as well as a Masters from Wharton. Anurag also studied at the University of Sheffield for Computer Science.

With a career so vast and an addition of his varied passions and hobbies, Anurag is multifaceted and diversely individual in his own unique way. In this very gripping conversation with our host Sandeep Tyagi, Anurag takes us on his incredible journey of finding himself and his passion for AI, classical music and a lot more!

About Holcim:

A very well established venture, Holcim is the world’s largest building materials and infrastructure solutions company. They roughly have a turnover of 30 billion in net revenue!

Anurag explains,

“We have about 20,000 operating sites these are cement plants, concrete facilities, terminals etc And over 2200 of them are actual plants with a presence in over 70 countries including the largest building materials company here in the United States as well as in India where we are in the market as ACC and AMBUJA -wholly owned subsidiaries. 

We’re building greener cities from foundation to rooftop involved in green mobility we’re bringing wind energy down to earth. You know those kinds of things 3d printing and really are paving the way to truly circular concrete with recarbonation. So that’s what Holcimis!

Important discussions:

As Chief Data Officer, Anurag’s responsibilities are widespread and very vital. He throws light on his role of data analytics management and finding AI backed solutions to reduce the carbon footprint of the planet. In a world where almost everything is backed and measured by data, Anurag highlights the relevance of analytics and shares his journey working in the field. 

Further into the conversation, Anurag reminisces about his childhood and the many things that have contributed to the successful individual he is today. As a lover of classical music and a classical singer himself, Anurag explains the undeniable role of music in his journey. We also get to hear his angelic voice and vocal talent in the episode as he vocalizes to the national anthem! 

His favourite movie? The Shawshank Redemption! 

Concrete is the most used substance on earth after water. The building materials and construction industry generates approximately 8% of Earth’s Carbon emissions. As the Chief Data Officer of the $30 Billion Holcim Group, the world’s largest building materials and solutions company Anurag and his team are actively leading advanced analytics, AI and digital initiatives to drive significant impact in reducing the planet’s Carbon footprint. He works on the industry’s most challenging topics in industrial production and manufacturing, supply chain, logistics and distribution, and optimizing the company’s commercial operations across 2000+ plants in 70 countries. Anurag is a published author of 7 books and graduated with an MBA/MS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Wharton School. He was named LinkedIn’s #1 Voice in Technology (2016) and awarded the Top 50 Outstanding Asian Americans in Business by the AABDC roundtable. In 2021 Anurag was included in Constellation Research’s 2022 Business Transformation 150 list. In his spare time Anurag enjoys music, reading and tennis. He is a trained Indian Classical Musician and has performed two solo concerts at New York’s Carnegie Hall.