Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, February 2026 — Tata Projects has elevated Shirley Burla to the role of Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), marking a significant milestone in her leadership journey with one of India’s fastest-growing EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) companies.
Based in Mumbai, Shirley will lead the enterprise-wide people strategy, talent ecosystem, and organizational transformation agenda at Tata Projects. Her mandate includes strengthening leadership capability, enabling workforce agility, and aligning human capital strategy with the company’s ambitious growth trajectory across infrastructure, clean energy, and industrial development sectors.
Prior to this elevation, Shirley served as Vice President & Head – HR, Energy & Industrial Business at Tata Projects, where she drove human capital initiatives across critical infrastructure portfolios. Her leadership played a pivotal role in shaping talent strategy and supporting business expansion across complex industrial projects.
Before joining Tata Projects, Shirley spent nearly six years at Shapoorji Pallonji Group, where she held dual leadership mandates, including Head of L&OD and Corporate HR and Head – HR, SP EPC. In these roles, she oversaw leadership development frameworks, enterprise talent strategy, and corporate HR governance for the global conglomerate, strengthening organizational capability across multiple business verticals.
Her earlier career includes a distinguished 13-year tenure at Siemens Ltd., where she held several senior leadership roles, including Head HR BP – Building Technologies Division, Head – Talent Acquisition, South Asia, and Head – Press, Internal Communications and CSR, South Asia. Her unique combination of HR leadership and corporate communications expertise was further shaped by early-career experience at MSL (Global) and Genesis BCW, where she built strong foundations in strategic communications and stakeholder engagement.
Shirley holds an MSc in Physical Chemistry from Mithibai College and has completed the Strategic Leadership Development Program at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, equipping her with strong business and leadership acumen to steer large-scale organizational transformation.
With over two decades of cross-functional leadership spanning HR strategy, leadership development, communications, and corporate governance, Shirley Burla now takes the helm of the people mandate at Tata Projects at a time of accelerated growth and transformation.
About Tata Projects
Tata Projects is one of India’s most admired technology-led Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) companies. The company delivers sustainable solutions across large and complex urban and industrial infrastructure projects, including refineries, petrochemical plants, semiconductor facilities, giga factories, data centres, green fuels, transportation systems, power generation, and water & waste management projects.
Part of the Tata Group, Tata Projects offers end-to-end services from project conceptualization to operations and maintenance, leveraging innovative engineering solutions and a strong commitment to safety and quality. The Tata Group operates in more than 100 countries with a mission to improve the quality of life of the communities it serves globally.
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