Ms. Upma Dada Chawdhry is a distinguished 1983-batch IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre with over 35 years of exemplary public service spanning grassroots administration, policy formulation, institutional leadership, and governance reforms at both the State and Central Government levels. Her career has been marked by leadership, innovation, institution-building, and public sector transformation across diverse domains including finance, rural development, education, industry, tourism, women's empowerment, human resource management, and crisis management.
A trailblazer in public administration, she was the first woman Director of Industries in Himachal Pradesh, the first woman Managing Director of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation, and in 2016 became the first woman Director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration.
She has represented India at several international forums, including the World Trade Organization, and has worked closely with various UN agencies. She also served as a member of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration from 2018 to 2021 and chaired the working group for the United Nations Public Service Awards.
Ms. Chawdhry has additionally served on the boards of several public and private institutions, contributing significantly to organizational turnaround and governance. She currently serves as Member Designate on the Board of Governors of Plan India, a leading non-profit organization dedicated to advancing children's rights and gender equality and as an Independent Director on the Board of JHS Svendgaard Laboratories Limited, one of India's largest oral healthcare manufacturers.