Hotel Crowne Plaza, Gurgaon (NCR)
10 – 11 April 2026
A closed-door, residential retreat for founders, entrepreneurs, and CEOs to address one of the most critical yet often delayed decisions in leadership — succession.
Designed for thoughtful dialogue, practical frameworks, and long-term institutional continuity.
Every founder, entrepreneur, and CEO eventually faces a decision that defines the future of the enterprise:
What will happen to my business after me?
Succession planning is not merely about naming a successor.
It is about continuity of leadership, strength of governance, alignment within families, and institutional resilience.
Yet, in many Indian enterprises—especially founder-led and family-managed businesses—succession is often delayed, avoided, or addressed only when circumstances force it.
The CEO Succession Retreat is a closed-door, residential program curated for a small and carefully selected group of founders, entrepreneurs, promoters, business owners, and CEOs from across India.
The retreat focuses on:
The conversations are confidential, experience-led, and deeply practical.
Participation is strictly limited to ensure depth, trust, and quality of dialogue.
Designing the Succession Engine: From Founder Leadership to Institutional Continuity
Global authority on leadership, CEO succession, and institutional continuity. Trusted advisor to boards and CEOs of leading global and Indian enterprises.
Perspectives include:
Succession in Practice: Leadership Transition, Institution Building & Navigating Continuity in Evolving Organisations
D. Shivakumar — known simply as Shiv across India's boardrooms — is one of the most distinguished management thinkers and corporate leaders of his generation. He previously served as Group Executive President, Corporate Strategy at Aditya Birla Group — one of India's largest conglomerates with operations across 36 countries — and before that as Chairperson & CEO of PepsiCo India. Shiv's career is a masterclass in leadership continuity across industries and scale. He began as a management trainee at Hindustan Ciba Geigy before spending 19 formative years at Hindustan Unilever across sales, marketing and general management. He went on to serve as CEO of Philips India's consumer electronics division, before joining Nokia in 2006 — where he transformed the brand from No. 71 to the No. 1 most trusted brand in India.
Perspectives include:
Family, Ownership & Governance: Making Succession Work in Family-Managed Enterprises
Leading advisor on family business governance and succession alignment.
Perspectives include:
Stories That Shape Leadership: Communicating Transition, Trust & the Future
Leadership Coach | Author | Global Speaker. Sandeep Das is a leadership coach and best-selling author specialising in business storytelling, negotiation and strategic thinking. An alumnus of IIM Bangalore, he previously served as Director at PwC and Global Foresight Lead at Mars Wrigley, advising senior leaders on strategy and growth. He has coached 100+ leadership teams globally, working with organisations such as Unilever, Amazon, Mondelez, Novo Nordisk and Infosys. His bestseller How Business Storytelling Works is taught at IIM Bangalore and IIM Lucknow, and he regularly teaches executive education and speaks at global leadership forums.
Across two immersive days, the retreat will address the complete landscape of succession planning through the following core themes:
The retreat will commence at 12:00 noon on 10 April 2026 with a networking coffee session beginning at 11:30 AM.
The program will conclude by 4:30 PM on 11 April 2026.
Participants are kindly requested to plan their travel accordingly to ensure full participation in the retreat experience.
Succession planning is not about replacing leaders.
It is about preserving institutions, relationships, and responsibility.
Secure your place at The CEO Retreat. For registration details and payment information, get in touch with our team.
