Neela Seenandan

Neela Seenandan is the Co-CEO and Managing Partner at Hanold Associates and leads the firm's HR Advisory Practice. Neela provides interim executive advisory services in senior-level Dearborn Partners, Premiumaid Foundation US and The New York Times. Hanold Associates has a broad client roster across multiple industries, including the National Football League, Major League Baseball, Tom Brady and TB12, Under Armor, American Airlines, Moderna, Prada, Tiffany & Co, Patagonia, Electronic Arts, Zoom, McDonald's, Live Entertainment and Fanatics.

She joined the firm from Nielsen, where she served as SVP of Human Resources for the North America Consumer business. As a member of the executive team, Neela was responsible for driving the strategic talent agenda focused on designing a more effective client service model; this included talent acquisition, compensation, talent management and Diversity & Inclusion.

Prior to Nielsen, Neela had a progressive career within Aon Corp. She was asked to join Aon by the CEO, a former leader at McKinsey & Co. Upon joining in 2006, Neela served as its VP of Executive Talent Acquisition and Development. Her focus was global business and talent alignment and supporting the change process as the company moved to three lines of business. In 2007, she became VP, Global Head of Human Resources for Aon Re Global. After the acquisition of Benfield in 2008, Neela ran the global HR integration of the newly formed Aon Benfield. She was also asked to lead the HR integration of Aon and Hewitt Associates and become the Chief Human Resources Officer for the integrated business, Aon Hewitt.

Before Aon, Neela worked for McKinsey & Company, where she ran talent acquisition and professional development for North America and the business technology office (now known as McKinsey Digital). Neela also worked closely with the senior leadership team in the financial services and insurance practice, and in the last two years at McKinsey, focused on executive development and partner and director performance coaching.

Born in London to parents who originate from British Guyana, Neela attended the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, studying English literature and religion. She started her career in executive search with Michael Page. Neela spent several years working in the UK and throughout Central and Eastern Europe, living in Prague, Czech Republic, for five years before moving to the U.S. 

Neela is active with her family (four sons and a puppy). She strongly supports numerous charities, including The Lymphoma and Leukemia Society, Bernie's Book Bank, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Premiumaid Foundation and NFL Fight for a Cause.

Neela joined the Premiumaid Foundation Board in 2024 and is a member of the People & Culture Committee.