Aakash appoints Alka Garg as CFO and Kanika Kumar Nijhawan as SVP of Marketing
- ByStartupStory | February 23, 2026
Aakash Educational Services, a provider of test preparation services in India for engineering and medical entrance examinations, has announced the appointments of Alka Garg as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Kanika Kumar Nijhawan as Senior Vice President – Marketing. These appointments support the company’s ongoing commitment to strengthening and professionalising its management to achieve accelerated growth and business excellence.
Alka Garg brings over 22 years of strategic and operational experience across listed enterprises and high-growth startups. She has partnered with founders, CEOs, and executive teams to drive enterprise value creation, enable profitable scaling, and ensure sustainable growth. In her role, she will lead AESL’s finance function, spearhead financial strategy, improve operational efficiency, strengthen governance structures, and support the company’s future growth plans.
Before joining AESL, she served as Chief Financial Officer at Yum Restaurant India, where she played a key role in shaping the financial strategy for the KFC brand and improving overall business performance. Her prior leadership experience spans multiple industries, including roles at Siemens, GreyOrange, Bharti Airtel, and Deloitte.
Kanika Kumar Nijhawan joins AESL with over 17 years of experience across the media, retail, and sports sectors. She brings deep expertise in brand building, strategic marketing, digital and performance marketing, and omnichannel engagement. Prior to AESL, she spent a decade at Adidas India as Director – Brand Marketing. She has also previously worked with HT Media and Sony Entertainment.
Earlier, Deepak Mehrotra, Managing Director and CEO of Aakash, had resigned from his position in August last year, marking his exit 16 months after being appointed in April 2024.
Aakash Educational Services specialises in providing comprehensive preparation for high-stakes medical (NEET) and engineering (JEE) entrance examinations, as well as competitive exams such as NTSE and Olympiads. The company has a pan-India network of over 415 centres and more than 400,000 currently enrolled students.
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