Sunita Reddy Cheruku

A natural leader with a deep belief in collaborative impact, Sunita brings with her a powerful blend of corporate experience, grassroots engagement and an unwavering commitment to social change.
Sunita joined SVP India in 2019, driven by her passion to work closely with women and children – and has since emerged as a driving force in the SVP network. She currently serves as the Chair of the Hyderabad chapter, one of SVP India’s most vibrant chapters, with over 100+ partners and 20+ NGO engagements across education, skilling, health, and agriculture.
Over the past five years, she has played a key role in strengthening the capacity and capability of high-impact NGOs such as Alokit (empowering district education leadership), Swasti (livelihoods for women in sex work), Blood Warriors (thalassemia awareness) and SAFEE Foundation (creating safer neighbourhoods in the Saidabad slums).
Before her journey in the development sector, Sunita spent over a decade at Novartis Pharma, where she led clinical research teams and was widely recognised for building high-performing, collaborative teams. As part of the Novartis Hyderabad Development site leadership, she fostered a culture of purpose, cohesion and motivation across teams.
Sunita holds a PhD in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Connecticut, USA and pursued a research fellowship at Rutgers University.
She lives in Hyderabad with her husband Venkat – also an SVP India partner – and their two wonderful sons, Shrujan and Arnav.