Anshu Jain
General Manager, H&R Block Hyderabad
Along with our big, important, time-consuming day-jobs, Kim Iorns and I co-lead the Women’s Network here in the US for the multinational firm H&R Block Our mutual colleagues introduced us to Anshu, and we were totally blown away. Anshu Jain leads the Hyderabad, India office for Block as General Manager. She oversees 145 employees and has two advanced degrees, an MBA with a concentration in Finance and a CPA. Make no mistake, Anshu has worked hard to get to where she is.
Anshu grew up in a small town in India where girls typically didn’t study beyond a certain age. Marriage in their early 20s was the norm. Luckily for Anshu, her father had different ideas, pushing her to study for her MBA and encouraging her to take a job in another city where there were greater opportunities. Anshu excelled at her studies, making her family proud. She started her career in finance with trading and forex markets but quickly realized that her interests lie elsewhere.
In 2000, she launched an education portal with other colleagues that was ahead of its times. Some of the applications they developed back then are just now being adopted by colleges and universities in India aimed at online admissions and exams.
Anshu got married and moved to the US for her husband’s career with Microsoft, where visa restrictions halted her career. After having two kids, she became a full-fledged stay-at-home mom. But somehow, she knew she wanted more. After she completed her CPA, she worked for a couple of seasons with H&R Block as a tax preparer. Again, that came to a stop when she moved back to India with her family. Eventually, in 2013, Anshu got back into the workforce when she rejoined H&R Block.
She has worn many hats, from seasonal tax preparer to program manager, to Senior Manager, and now, General Manager of the Hyderabad office where she oversees 145 employees! Her teams range the gamut from IT to ex-pat tax to US bookkeeping and regulatory development. She also was deeply involved with implementing the changes for the US Tax Cut and Jobs Act, tripling her team in just two months to support the testing of all the new changes.
Anshu Jain credits part of her success to continuous self-improvement which has enabled her to handle her ever-increasing responsibilities. She feels the hardest transition came from being an individual contributor to becoming a leader. Anshu says, “Every day brings the opportunity to learn, grow, and become a better version of ourselves, including becoming better leaders.”
Like most of us, one of Anshu’s greatest challenges is the balance between work-life and motherhood. While she has a solid support system with her family and employer, there have still been many challenges. She is courageous enough to admit that she has been tempted to quit many times. She gains fortitude from those around her that encourage her to carry on.
Anshu is very involved with the Women’s Network at H&R Block. The Trivandrum office established the first India chapter and Anshu brought it into the Hyderabad office. She is excited to see the Women’s Network in India provide support to women that she felt she needed earlier in her career. She wants women to receive support around building a career through an active investment of time and planning. She also wants to ensure that having a family will not come in the way of achieving one’s career goals. She is committed to providing a platform where resources are available for leadership development and support to discuss these common issues.
Outside of work, Anshu is married to Naresh and is the mother of two children, a daughter named Isha who is heading off to college as a design major, and a son named Shreyans, who is in 8th grade and loves to build things. They all provide her with a tremendous amount of support in all she does.
What else is on Anshu’s bucket list? Her passion leads her to want to work with underprivileged kids and work toward saving the environment. We see more great things for her on the horizon!