Dr S Jaishankar
Minister of External Affairs, Government of India
Hon Dr S Jaishankar is the Minister of External Affairs in the Government of India. Earlier Dr S Jaishankar was President – Global Corporate Affairs at Tata Sons Private Limited from May 2018. He was Foreign Secretary from 2015-18, Ambassador to United States from 2013-15, Ambassador to China from 2009-2013, High Commissioner to Singapore from 2007-2009 and Ambassador to the Czech Republic from 2000-2004. He has also served in other diplomatic assignments in Embassies in Moscow, Colombo, Budapest and Tokyo, as well in the Ministry of External Affairs and the President’s Secretariat. Dr S Jaishankar is a graduate of St. Stephen’s College at the University of Delhi. He has an MA in Political Science and an M. Phil and PhD in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. He is a recipient of the Padma Shri award in 2019.
Ravi Shankar Prasad
Minister for Communications, Electronics & IT and Law & Justice, Government of India
Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad is the Cabinet Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice in the Government of India. He is an eminent Lawyer and a Senior Advocate in the Supreme Court of India. He is a Member of Parliament since the year 2000. As a senior Minister in Government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi he spearheaded Digital India program. His efforts have led to revival of India’s telecom sector which witnessed the highest ever investments in last five years. India’s largest telecom PSU, BSNL witnessed a turnaround under his leadership. He is also leading the task of developing India into a global electronics manufacturing hub. India Post has emerged as the leader in eCommerce logistics service providers as well as vehicle for financial inclusion under his leadership. As the Minister for Law & Justice he has been leading the reforms in the judiciary. He spearheaded the reform for appointments in higher judiciary which resulted into enactment of National Judicial Appointment Commission, which was pending for more than 20 years.
Piyush Goyal
Minister of Railways & Minister of Commerce & Industry, Government of India
Hon Piyush Goyal is the Minister of Railways and Minister of Commerce & Industry in the Government of India. He is a Member of the Upper House of the Parliament of India (Rajya Sabha) and the Deputy Leader of Rajya Sabha. He was earlier the Minister of Railways and Coal (2017-19). He has also held additional charge of Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs twice in 2018 and 2019. Earlier he was Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy (2014-2017), and Mines (2016-17). Mr Goyal’s tenure has seen Indian Railways achieve its best ever safety record in 2018-19 and also oversaw the launch of the first indigenous semi-high speed train Vande Bharat Express between Delhi and Varanasi. He also received the 4th Annual Carnot Prize in 2018 recognising the pathbreaking transformations in India’s energy sector. During his 35 year long political career, Mr Goyal has held several important positions at different levels in the world’s largest political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and is in its National Executive. He has been the National Treasurer of the Party. In the 2019 Indian General Elections, he was a member of the Manifesto and Publicity Committees. He also headed the BJP’s Information Communication Campaign Committee for the Indian General Elections 2014.
Mahendra Nath Pandey
Union Minister of Skill Development and Enterpreneurship, Government of India
Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey, (born 15 October 1957) is an Indian politician and a member of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), world's largest political party. After serving as Union Minister of State for Ministry of Human Resource Development between 2016 and 2017 where he focused on making quality education accessible for all citizens, he was re-elected by the masses in the second term of Narendra Modi 2.0 government and was then appointed as Cabinet Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in May 2019. With Dr Pandey at the helm of affairs, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has put special emphasis on Convergence, increased Scale, meeting Aspiration and improved Quality to achieve Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a 'Skilled India'. Driven by a modern and progressive outlook towards nation building, his efforts in shaping unorganized sectors into an organized economy through the Recognition of Prior Learning program is an important achievement. Dr Pandey has been instrumental in re-energizing and re-invigorating the Industrial Training Institutes (ITI), country’s long-standing vocational education system. To put India’s talent at par and on the global skills map, he promulgated the idea of infrastructure upgradation, better pedagogy, use of new age machine tools and curriculum quality at these institutes to meet specific skill requirement of the industries and empower the nation’s youth with market relevant skills. As a result, close to 500 Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) have already been transformed into model training centres to impart employable skills training. Under his exemplary leadership, the Skill India program has been accelerated with the establishment of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKK), state-of-the-art centres in every district of India, to make vocational training aspirational for youth of India. He recently announced the launch of two India Institute of Skills in the country, which are institutes of repute benchmarking international standards of skilling focusing on new age vocational training in the areas of AI, Data Analytics and 3D printing. Dr Pandey is also aggressively driving skilling and upskilling initiatives to help India ready its talent to better capitalize on the job roles and opportunities emerging post COVID-19 pandemic. With constant co-ordination and dialogue with around 20 other ministries under Government of India, Dr Pandey has been instrumental in building an effective and sustainable industry partnership with corporate stakeholders for apprenticeship, training and capacity building to develop talent in line with global standards. Currently, under his guidance the skills ministry is driving a massive skill mapping exercise of migrant workers, both who have returned to their home state from the place of work and those from overseas. Through focus on decentralization of governance for skill building, he is also providing much needed impetus to skilling effort at
Dominic Raab
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, UK Government
Dominic Raab was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and First Secretary of State on 24 July 2019. He was first elected Conservative MP for Esher and Walton in May 2010. Dominic was Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union from July to November 2018. He was previously Minister of State for Housing at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government from 9 January 2018 to 9 July 2018. He was Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice from 12 June 2017 to 9 January 2018. Dominic served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Human Rights) at the Ministry of Justice from 2015 to 2016.
Priti Patel
Secretary of State for Home Department, UK Government
Appointed as the Secretary of State for the Home Department on 24th July 2019. Prior to this she was elected as the MP for Witham in May 2010, currently still holding this parliamentary constituency. She was previously Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury from July 2014 to May 2015. She then became Minister of State for Employment from May 2015 to July 2016. More recently from July 2016 to November 2017 she held the role of Secretary of state for International Development. Outside of Politics in 2013 the Prime Minister appointed her as the first ever UK Indian Diaspora Champion. After attending a comprehensive school in Watford, she went on to study economics at Keele University. She went on to gain a postgraduate degree at the University of Essex.
Liz Truss
Secretary of State for International Trade, UK Government
Liz Truss was appointed as Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade on 24th July 2019. She was also appointed as the Minister for Women and Equalities on 10th September 2019. Prior to this she was elected as the MP for South West Norfolk in 2010, currently still holding this parliamentary constituency. Elizabeth entered Parliament in 2010. She was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Education and Childcare in September 2012. Elizabeth served as the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs from July 2014 until July 2016. Elizabeth was Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice from July 2016 until June 2017. She was Chief Secretary to the Treasury from June 2017 until July 2019. Elizabeth was previously Deputy Director at Reform. She also worked in the energy and telecommunications industry for 10 years as a commercial manager and economics director and is a qualified management accountant.
Matt Hancock
Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, UK Government
Matt Hancock was appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 9 July 2018. He was Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 8 January 2018 to 9 July 2018. He was previously Minister of State for Digital from July 2016 to January 2018. Matt was elected Conservative MP for West Suffolk in May 2010. From 2010 Matt served as a backbencher on the Public Accounts Committee and the Standards & Privileges Committee. Matt entered government in September 2012 and has served in a number of Ministerial Roles, including for skills and business, and as Paymaster General. He oversaw the expansion of apprenticeships and championed the digital transformation of government. Before entering politics, Matt worked for his family business, as an economist at the Bank of England, and as Chief of Staff to the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Gen David Petraeus
Partner at KKR, Chairman of the KKR Global Institute
General David Petraeus is a Partner with the global investment firm KKR and Chairman of the KKR Global Institute, which he established in June 2013. He is also a personal venture capitalist and serves on the boards of KKR companies OneStream and Optiv. Before joining KKR, he served in government for 38-1/2 years, culminating his 37-year military career with six consecutive commands as a general officer, five of which were in combat – including the Surge in Iraq, US Central Command, and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan – and then serving as Director of the CIA, following Senate confirmation by a vote of 94-0. He graduated with distinction from the US Military Academy in 1974 and later earned a Ph.D. at Princeton University. He subsequently held academic appointments at West Point, the City University of New York’s Macaulay Honors College, Harvard, the University of Southern California, and Yale. His many awards include four Defense Distinguished Service Medals, the Secretary of State Distinguished Service Medal, the Bronze Star Medal for Valor, two NATO Meritorious Service Medals, the Combat Action Badge, the Ranger tab, and master parachutist wings. He has also been decorated by 13 foreign countries.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has spent his life building programmes for the reduction of stress and violence. In 1981 he set up the Art of Living [www.artofliving.org] and in 1997 the International Association for Human Values [www.iahv.org], both of which are active in more than 150 countries. Sri Sri’s organisations operate at several levels: • Global. Sri Sri has personally played a prominent role in promoting peace in a number of conflict zones, including Colombia, Iraq, Cameroon and India. • National. Through a network of volunteers, Sri Sri’s organisations have brought disaster relief to countries like Iraq and Syria and also to the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the US in 2005. • Individual. His followers have introduced Sri Sri’s self-development programmes – meditation, yoga and breathing techniques – in numerous prisons and refugee camps, helping to reduce stress and assist people to recover from trauma. Independent medical research has documented the impact of these programmes in alleviating depression, reducing cortisol (a stress hormone) and strengthening the immune system. Underlying all these activities is Sri Sri’s central belief – that different cultures and religions are all rooted in shared human values. To demonstrate this, in 2016 his organisations convened the World Culture Festival in Delhi. The three-day event was the closest the world has yet got to a “cultural Olympics”, with spectacular performances by 45,000 dancers and musicians from around the world. Sri Sri’s work has already been recognised by a number of countries. He has received the highest civilian award in Colombia, Guatemala, Mongolia and Paraguay; the same has happened in India – the Padma Vibhushan award for exceptional and distinguished service. He has received 15 honorary doctorates from universities in a number of countries.
Sadhguru
Founder, Isha Foundation
Ranked amongst the fifty most influential people in India, Sadhguru is a Yogi, mystic and visionary. He has been conferred the Padma Vibhushan, India’s highest annual civilian award, accorded for exceptional and distinguished service. Sadhguru is a speaker and opinion-maker of international renown. He has spoken at various forums across the world, including the UN World Headquarters, UNESCO Headquarters, World Economic Forum, the World Bank, the House of Lords, TED, Microsoft and Google Headquarters. He has also been invited to speak at leading educational institutions: Oxford, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Wharton and MIT among others.Over the years, Sadhguru has launched mega ecological initiatives. The movements Rally for Rivers and Cauvery Calling address the urgent need to revitalize Indian Rivers and issues related to Soil, Water and Climate Change. Recognized globally for their wide reach and impact, these initiatives have become game-changers by establishing a global blueprint for economic development that is ecologically sustainable. Sadhguru has been invited by the UN, UNE (United Nations Environment) and UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) to discuss global solutions to the world’s ecological issues.Sadhguru’s celebratory engagement with life includes an active involvement in fields as diverse as architecture, visual design, poetry, painting, sports, music, aviation and motorcycling.Three decades ago, Sadhguru founded Isha Foundation, a non-profit human-service organization, with human wellbeing as its core commitment. The Foundation has initiated powerful yoga programs for human transformation and wellbeing, and path-breaking outreach projects to uplift rural communities. Isha is supported by over 11 million volunteers in more than 300 centers worldwide.
GC Murmu
Lt. Governor, Government of Jammu & Kashmir
Ranked amongst the fifty most influential people in India, Sadhguru is a Yogi, mystic and visionary. He has been conferred the Padma Vibhushan, India’s highest annual civilian award, accorded for exceptional and distinguished service. Sadhguru is a speaker and opinion-maker of international renown. He has spoken at various forums across the world, including the UN World Headquarters, UNESCO Headquarters, World Economic Forum, the World Bank, the House of Lords, TED, Microsoft and Google Headquarters. He has also been invited to speak at leading educational institutions: Oxford, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Wharton and MIT among others.Over the years, Sadhguru has launched mega ecological initiatives. The movements Rally for Rivers and Cauvery Calling address the urgent need to revitalize Indian Rivers and issues related to Soil, Water and Climate Change. Recognized globally for their wide reach and impact, these initiatives have become game-changers by establishing a global blueprint for economic development that is ecologically sustainable. Sadhguru has been invited by the UN, UNE (United Nations Environment) and UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) to discuss global solutions to the world’s ecological issues.Sadhguru’s celebratory engagement with life includes an active involvement in fields as diverse as architecture, visual design, poetry, painting, sports, music, aviation and motorcycling.Three decades ago, Sadhguru founded Isha Foundation, a non-profit human-service organization, with human wellbeing as its core commitment. The Foundation has initiated powerful yoga programs for human transformation and wellbeing, and path-breaking outreach projects to uplift rural communities. Isha is supported by over 11 million volunteers in more than 300 centers worldwide.
Shashi Tharoor
Member of Parliament, Parliament of India
Dr Shashi Tharoor, a third-term Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram, is the bestselling author of twenty books, both fiction and non-fiction, besides being a former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations and a former Minister of State for Human Resource Development and for External Affairs in the Government of India. He has won numerous awards, including the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the Crossword Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2019, Dr. Tharoor was also awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in the category of ‘English Non-Fiction’ for his book An Era of Darkness. He chairs Parliament’s Standing Committee on Information Technology.
Piyush Gupta
CEO & Director, DBS Group
Piyush Gupta has been Chief Executive Officer and Director of DBS Group since 2009. DBS is a leading financial services group in Asia, headquartered in Singapore. Recognised for its global leadership, DBS has been named ""World’s Best Bank"" by several global publications like Euromoney and Global Finance. The bank is at the forefront of leveraging digital technology to shape the future of banking, and was also named “World’s Best Digital Bank” by Euromoney. In addition, in 2019, DBS was listed among the top ten most transformative organisations of the decade by Harvard Business Review. Prior to joining DBS, Piyush had a 27 year career at Citigroup, where his last position was Chief Executive Officer for South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Piyush is Vice-Chairman of the Institute of International Finance, Washington. In addition, he is a member of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Task Force on Digital Financing of the Sustainable Development Goals, Singapore’s Advisory Council on the Ethical Use of AI and Data, the McKinsey Advisory Council, and the Sim Kee Boon Institute for Financial Economics Advisory Board. He also sits on the boards of Enterprise Singapore, Singapore’s National Research Foundation, and the Singapore’s Council for Board Diversity. Piyush is a term trustee of the Singapore Indian Development Association (SINDA). Piyush has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree in Economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi University, India and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM, Ahmedabad. Piyush was named one of the world’s top 100 best-performing chief executives in Harvard Business Review - 2019 edition of ""The CEO 100"". He was named Singapore Business Awards' Outstanding Chief Executive of the Year in 2016. In 2014, he was named as the Singapore Business Leader of the Year by CNBC and in 2013, he was accorded the CEO Leadership Achievement Award for Singapore and Asia Pacific by The Asian Banker.
Gaitri Kumar
High Commissioner of India to United Kingdom, Government of India
DGaitri Issar Kumar, of the 1986 batch of the Indian Foreign Service has served in various capacities at the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi and its Missions abroad to promote India's political, trade and economic as well as cultural cooperation with friends and partners - bilateral and in multilateral fora. Before taking over as High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom, she was serving as Ambassador of India to the European Union, Belgium, and Luxembourg, Overseas, she has also served as Deputy Chief of Mission in the Embassy of India, Paris, Counsellor in the Permanent Mission of India in Geneva, First Secretary in the Embassy of India, Kathmandu and Second Secretary in the Embassy of India, Lisbon. At Headquarters she was as Additional Secretary to the Hon'ble President of India, Head of the Americas Division, Establishment Division, Finance Division, Director, Northern Division in charge of Nepal and Bhutan and before that, Under Secretary for Maldives and Myanmar. In Bangalore, she served as Regional Passport Officer, Karnataka. Gaitri Issar Kumar, with family origins in Punjab, was born in Bangalore, Karnataka and completed her early education at Sophia High School, Bangalore before graduating from Bangalore University - where she pursued history, economics and political science She has studied German and Portuguese languages and has a working knowledge of Nepali and French. She is fluent in Hindi and Punjabi. She is married to Sachit Kumar. They have two daughters.
Weijian Shan
Chairman & CEO, PAG
Weijian Shan is chairman and CEO of PAG, a Hong Kong based private equity firm with $38 billion in capital under management. His firm invests throughout Asia and beyond. Prior to PAG, he was a partner of TPG, and co-managing partner of TPG Asia (formerly known as Newbridge Capital). Previously, Shan was a managing director of JP Morgan, and an assistant professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.B.A. from the University of San Francisco. He studied at Beijing University of International Business and Economics where he also taught as a faculty member. Shan is the author of: Out of the Gobi: My Story of China and America (2019), Money Games (forthcoming) and of many commentaries published in the Financial Times, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs and others.
Bhavish Aggarwal
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Ola
Bhavish Aggarwal is the Co-Founder & CEO of Ola, one of the world’s largest ride-hailing platforms and India’s most popular mobility platform. With the mission of building mobility for a billion people, he started Ola in 2010 with Ankit Bhati, a fellow alumnus from the Indian Institute of Technology in Mumbai, the country’s premier institution for technology and science. Before Ola, Bhavish worked with Microsoft Research for two years, filing two patents alongside having three papers published in international academic journals. Ola is now one of India’s most valuable and respected new economy organizations with over 2.5 million driver partners in over 250 cities across India, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom with significant presence in key global markets like London and Sydney. The Ola Group includes various business units including its ride-hailing arm, Ola Mobility, Ola Electric, Olafoods and Ola Financial Services. Through its mobility business, the company offers a wide range of ride-hailing services from economy and shared cab rides to business-class vehicles and auto rickshaws, taxis and two wheelers on yet another spectrum! These offerings are further customized to suit the local consumer needs across the globe. With over a billion rides annually, Ola serves over 250 million users globally as well as the millions of drivers and their families, positively impacting the social and economic fabric of the country and global markets it operates in. Ola has a strong focus on building cutting-edge technology for safety and industry leading innovations that range from AI based ride-monitoring, elevated connected vehicle experiences and unique category and format innovations, paving the way for the future of mobility. Ola Electric aims to build a first of its kind ecosystem to make electric mobility convenient, dependable, and affordable at scale. Through its Mission: Electric program, the company aims to enable over a million electric vehicles on Indian roads in the coming years. Ola Electric has also pioneered multi-modal electric mobility in the city of Nagpur with thousands of EVs now deployed across its various pilots. Through Olafoods and Ola Financial Services, the company aims to expand the range of offerings for consumers with food brands that are loved and financial products and services that are transparent and accessible for all.
Vani Kola
Managing Director, Kalaari Capital
Vani Kola is the Managing Director at Kalaari Capital, an early stage venture capital firm based in Bangalore. She is a renowned investor and a visionary known for identifying emerging markets. Her leadership at Kalaari centers around her commitment to the development of entrepreneurs and her conviction that Indian companies are poised to become global players. Having been a successful entrepreneur in Silicon Valley for 22 years, Vani now works with first-time entrepreneurs to build strong global companies. She focuses on technology companies, leveraging India’s domestic growth to create high growth enterprises. She has successfully led investments in e-commerce, mobile services, education and healthcare. Many of her investments have now become very successful, validating her aptitude for picking the best young minds and mentoring them to build successful enterprises. She serves on several company boards and speaks widely on entrepreneurship and leadership. Vani is profiled in numerous books and has been identified as one of the Fortune Most Powerful Women in Business. Outside of enjoying building high growth companies her interests focus on raising her two daughters and musing about finding the perfect balance between work and family. She is involved in various organizations focused on fostering entrepreneurship and women leadership.
Anil Advani
Managing Partner, Inventus Law
Anil Advani is a startup lawyer, angel investor, and mentor to early-stage startup founders in Silicon Valley and across the world. Anil advises early-stage start-up companies from 2-3 “guys in the garage” to global multinational corporations from inception through the life-cycle of the venture, negotiating angel and venture financings, customer and licensing transactions, and mergers and acquisitions. Over the last 19 years Anil has worked at powerhouse law firms such as Cooley Godward and Orrick Herrington, and now Inventus Law. Anil has represented over 3,000 startups, angels, founders, and has been involved in almost 500 financing and M&A transactions valued at over $3 billion in the aggregate. Anil has made over 25 angel investments in companies across the spectrum, from healthcare, financial services, to software and saas ventures. Anil is licensed to practice law in California, New York and India, and has represented U.S based investors and Companies in investments, acquisitions, and strategic expansion with India based companies, as well as 100’s of startups from India, Singapore, Europe and South America in setting up operations and closing financing and M&A transactions in Silicon Valley. Anil also has an active practice representing global companies that are part of YC, 500 Startups, Startup Chile, Tandem, Alchemist, Fabric and other accelerators and incubators.
Inventus Law is Anil’s own entrepreneurial venture with the primary goal of providing experienced legal counsel to start-up companies in a much more cost-effective, responsive and founder friendly manner than any of the “big” law firms out there. Lawyers at Inventus Law love helping founders of startup companies navigate the many pitfalls a startup usually encounters, and have worked with companies in a wide spectrum of industries, and going through varied lifecycles, from self-funded, seed funded to fast-growing $100M Companies.
Sangita Reddy
Joint Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group
Dr Sangita Reddy is a Global Healthcare Leader, Indian Entrepreneur and Humanitarian. She is the Joint Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited - Asia's largest and most trusted healthcare group. Dr Sangita Reddy is also the President of The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Passionately committed to transforming healthcare system through technological advancements, she is accelerating positive transformation for effective healthcare service delivery. She has been conferred with an Honorary Doctorate by Macquarie University Australia, in recognition of her untiring efforts and resolute commitment to bringing transformative changes in healthcare, development of Health IT and championing manifold initiatives both in India and abroad. Influencing Global Healthcare - As an influential policy maker and reformist, she is actively engaged with governments and industry bodies on aspects of public health and policy development. She has advocated and influenced policy reforms and is an acclaimed speaker on global healthcare forums around the world including the World Health Congress. An Entrepreneur Promoting Affordable and Sustainable Social Initiatives - Committed to building a more inclusive healthcare ecosystem in the nation, one of her initiatives has been Apollo Reach, which aims to build a string of secondary care hospitals in rural areas across India. Dr Sangita Reddy is also Chairman at Apollo Knowledge, an education initiative focused on shaping healthcare human capital for tomorrow. Driving Humanitarian Initiatives - Dr Sangita Reddy heads Apollo Philanthropy, an umbrella entity encompassing ‘Save a Child’s Heart Initiative’, SAHI, CURE and the Billion Hearts Beating Foundation. Awards and Recognitions - Dr Sangita Reddy has been a recipient of numerous prestigious awards for business and leadership. In 2019, she was presented with the “Best Female Healthcare Leader “Mediko award from the prestigious Indian Medical Association. International Women Entrepreneur 2019 award from the IWEC Foundation &The Healthcare Transformation Leader’s Award’ for her exemplary role in India’s healthcare sector at India's Biggest Event on Innovation in Healthcare – ‘Healthcare in today’s Digital India. Dr Sangita Reddy has also been featured by LinkedIn in the “Top Voices 2019 India List”.
Rahul Agarwal
Co-Head of Financial Institutional Investors, Invest India
Rahul Agarwal has over a decade of experience in Infrastructure Financing policy & Corporate Strategy. Rahul Agarwal is the Co-Head of Financial Investors Initiative and Infrastructure in Invest India. Rahul has previously worked as a consultant for High Level Committee on Financing Infrastructure and has wide experience of working with policy makers to enable financing of large infrastructure needs of India. Rahul started his career with Bank of America Merrill Lynch has also worked for a leading university of India as their Head of Strategies and Program Management.He holds a Masters in Business Administration (Finance), is a Certified Financial Risk Manager and a Chartered Financial Analyst.
Dr Mukesh Aghi
President and CEO, US-India Strategic Partnership Forum
Dr Mukesh Aghi is the President and Chief Executive Officer of USISPF. Dr Aghi has extensive experience working with business and government leaders in the U.S. and India to promote trade and strengthen ties between the two countries. He also currently serves as a trustee at Claremont Graduate University. Previously, Dr Aghi served as Chief Executive and Member of the Board at L&T Infotech where he expanded the business on a global level. During his time at Steria, Inc. (India), Dr Aghi served as Chairman and CEO of the Asia-Pacific region. Additionally, Dr Aghi was the founding CEO of Universitas 21 Global, the world’s largest consortium of research-led universities and global leader in providing post-graduate online education. He was also the President of IBM India for IBM Corporation, and spent time working with Ariba, Inc. and JD Edwards & Co. Dr Aghi holds several degrees, including an advanced management diploma from Harvard Business School, a Ph.D. in international relations from Claremont Graduate University, an MBA in international marketing from Andrews University, and a BA in business administration from the Middle East College, Beirut, Lebanon. As a fluent speaker in many international languages, Dr Aghi was recognized by Esquire Magazine as a Global Leader and has won many awards over the course of his professional career, including the J. R. D. Tata Leadership Award. In his free time, Dr Aghi is a major marathon and mountaineering enthusiast. He has competed in over 27 international marathons and climbed some of the highest peaks in North America and Europe.
Bruno Ahrens
Head of Product Management- Electrification, Bosch
Since 2009 active shaping the future of sustainable mobility in the context of electromobility and electrified powertrains. Experienced sales, marketing and especially product management leader in international environment, including long-term assignments in Germany, Japan, and South Korea. Born in Curitiba Brazil in 1983, studied mechanical engineering in Brazil and Germany and later completed an executive MBA at the ESMT Berlin in Germany.
Yamini Aiyar
President, Centre for Policy Research
Yamini Aiyar is the President and Chief Executive of CPR. Her research interests are in the field of social policy and development. In 2008, Yamini founded the Accountability Initiative at CPR. Yamini is a TED fellow and a founding member of the International Experts Panel of the Open Government Partnership. She is an Alumna of the London School of Economics, St. Edmund's college Cambridge University, and St Stephen’s College, Delhi University.
Syed Akbaruddin
Ambassador to UN (Retd), Government of India
Amb. Syed Akbaruddin served until recently as the Ambassador of India to the UN. He also served as the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs and was a key figure in the use of social media for promotion of India’s diplomatic postures. During more than three decades as a diplomat he specialized in multilateral diplomacy and is also an an expert on West Asia.
Praveen Akkiraju
Board Advisor, Team8
Praveen Akkiraju was most recently Managing Partner at the Softbank Vision Fund where he lead the Enterprise and SaaS investment practice. He currently serves as Board Advisor at Team8, a Startup foundry and venture fund. He is passionate about mentoring and investing in entrepreneurs who are building great product companies in the areas of Automation, Cyber Security, Enterprise Software and SaaS. Previously Praveen served as the CEO at Viptela, Inc. a SaaS platform that redefined Enterprise Edge Computing and its economics, the startup was subsequently acquired by Cisco Systems, Inc. Praveen has also served as the CEO at VCE, a pioneering Enterprise Cloud infrastructure company in the Data Center/Private Cloud market segment. Praveen started his career at Cisco leading product teams that developed some of Cisco’s flagship multi-billion dollar platforms. Praveen holds BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering and is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School.
Babita Ambekar
Partner & Global Head of India Practice, DWF LLP
Babita Ambekar is Partner and Global Head of India Practice at DWF LLP, a legal business with over 4,300 people across 33 locations. She is an English solicitor with over 20 years of experience in Asia, spanning Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore. Ms Ambekar specialises in cross border mergers and acquisitions, corporate, commercial and regulatory matters, with a focus on leading international transactions for Indian multinationals. Ms Ambekar has been recognised as “NRI Lawyer of the Year” by the Indian National Bar Association and is Chair of its Singapore Chapter. She is also featured in India Business Law Journal’s 2020 A-List of the top 100 India-focused lawyers globally.
Farooq Amin
CEO, Kanwal Foods & Spices (I) Pvt Ltd.
Mr Farooq Amin is the CEO of Kanwal Foods & Spices (I) Pvt Ltd. He is also the current Chairman of CII J&K and Secretary General, Kashmir Chamber of Commerce & Industries. He is also on the board of the J&K Khadi & Village Industries and is a member of the Young Entrepreneurs Forum. Mr Amin has been instrumental in promoting and running innovative schemes to improve the outlook of farming in J&K. He has been working in coordination with the Spices Board of India, Ministry of Commerce, GOI, and running a model project for contract farming of Kashmiri chillies, mint, fenugreek, cumin, all of which are currently only produced at a non-commercial scale in Kashmir. Acting as a policy interventionist, Mr Amin’s efforts are aimed at boosting the yields of Kashmiri spices and saffron, better quality produce and to act as a marketing expert on behalf of the spices and saffron cultivators of Kashmir. Mr Amin is a multifaceted personality who apart from being a successful businessman is also a keen sports enthusiast. He has joined efforts with other industrialists and business community of J&K to encourage and unveil young talent in the field of sports, promoting & giving opportunity to such talent to perform at the national as well as international level. He is the Chairman of Kanwal Sports Club and President - District Cricket Association, Anantnag. He formed Kanwal Sports Club in 2008 specifically to identify and promote talented Cricket and Football players from J&K. Lot of young cricketers affiliated to the club have played under BCCI affiliated tournaments including Ranji Trophy Tournaments. Kanwal Sports Club is also proud to count amongst its products, Parvaiz Rasool, who was the first cricketer from J&K to represent Team India.
Rajan Anandan
Managing Director, Sequoia Capital
As part of the leadership team at Sequoia Capital, Rajan Anandan is focusing on developing Surge into the world's top scale-up program for startups by acting as an investment advisor and mentor to the programme's founders. Surge aims to engineer rapid early progress for startups, by enabling disproportionate access to capital, talent, network and decades of company-building knowledge. Rajan's deep understanding of technology, operating expertise and a track record of growing tech businesses across the region will help Surge's founders scale and build the businesses of tomorrow. Prior to Sequoia, as the VP of Google India and Southeast Asia, Rajan played a key role in expanding the regions internet ecosystem while accelerating Google's innovation and growth in the region. He is also a prolific angel investor who has backed a large number of successful startups at very early stages. Rajan also led Microsoft and Dell in India, worked for Michael Dell the founder of Dell and was earlier a Partner at McKinsey & Company in Chicago.
Amit Anchal
Chief of Group Strategy and Business Development, Ola
Amit Anchal leads Strategy, Business Development and Corporate Finance for the Ola group and is responsible for shaping and taking forward the company’s strategic vision. He is also responsible for Corporate Finance functions including all fundraising (Equity and debt), Mergers & Acquisitions as well as handling company’s strategic partnerships. Having recently joined the Ola team, Amit was previously heading Business Development and M&A for Airtel and Bharti Group Companies working with Group’s Chairman, Sunil Mittal. For more than 18 years, Amit played an integral role in Bharti and Airtel's growth and expansion where he led M&As, Fundraising , Corporate Strategy, Growth and Transformation projects, among other aspects. Amit worked closely with CEOs and the Board across these areas which spanned across Telecom, Insurance, Education and Renewable energy sectors, amongst others. Spearheading conceptualization, business planning, commercial and legal aspects of new business ventures, Amit has been responsible for a number of multi-billion dollar deals and worked on several strategic and growth initiatives that have gone on to become Harvard case studies.
Shalni Arora
CEO, Savannah Wisdom
Shalni Arora is CEO of Savannah Wisdom, a private family charitable foundation. She is a qualified accountant trained at Arthur Andersen and an entrepreneur. She is one of the founders of DxS Limited, a personalised medicine business which she spun out from AstraZeneca and then successfully exited. She manages the B&M Community Fund, a charity of B&M Retail Plc which was a family business. She works for a number of charities and not for profit organisations through her own foundation and is a Trustee of Alder Hey Children’s Hospital Foundation Trust. She is also on the Board of the British Asia Trust, Transparency International UK, Alderhey Children’s Hospital Charity, the Belong Network and is a member of the Network for Social Change. Her foundation supports organisations with disruptive, innovative and radical ideas for tackling social issues and has been active during the COVID response and recovery phase. She won a Beacon Award for Philanthropy and has a Masters in Genetics from Cambridge and a Masters in International Development.
Ashok Atluri
Chairman and Managing Director, Zen Technologies
Ashok Atluri is the Chairman and Managing Director of Zen Technologies (www.zen.in) where he is spearheading the initiative to indigenise training simulation technologies for Indian Defence. Since Zen’s inception in 1993, Ashok has been responsible for driving strategy and ensuring cutting edge R&D has led to the development of state-of-the-art import substitute simulators for the Defence and Homeland forces. Ashok’s mission is self-reliance in Indian Defence. He believes that by framing policies that encourage indigenous R&D and IP creation and ensuring super-fast procurement cycle, India can become self-reliant in a short time. He actively contributes articles and has written for Huffington Post, Indian Express, Business World, etc. Besides, Ashok believes that self-reliance in defence can be achieved only through R&D and IP ownership with Indian companies. He is the Co-Chairman of Defence Innovators and Industry Association. He is an active member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). He is also an active angel investor and has invested in about 10 companies till now (including some through Indian Angel Network) He is a post-graduate diploma holder in Applied Computer Science from CMC and has done his commerce graduation from Badruka College, Osmania University, He is a voracious reader with eclectic tastes encompassing management, buddhism, probability, technology, investment, defence technologies, virtual currencies, political systems and education. He is a continuous learner and has attended various executive programs in Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, London Business School, Indian Business School
Deepak Bagla
Managing Director & CEO, Invest India
Deepak Bagla has a professional career of over three decades, starting with the World Bank in Washington DC. In 1989 he joined Citibank Global Corporate and Investment Banking team and held several responsibilities across Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. In 2007 he joined Private Equity to start an India dedicated fund for core infrastructure. Mr. Bagla is currently Managing Director & CEO of Invest India, the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency promoted by the Government of India. Invest India is also the execution agency for Government of India’s Start-up initiative. He is a special invitee on the official Bilateral CEO’s Forum and a member of the Venture Capital Investment Committee of the US $ 1.5 billion “Fund of Funds for Start-ups” established under the Prime Minister’s Startup India action plan. He is also a member of the Ministry of Finance steering Committee on Fintech and a Member of the High-Level committee of the Atal Innovation Mission responsible for establishing and scaling up incubators and tinkering labs across India. He was a special invitee to the Government of India’s, “High Level Committee on Financing Infrastructure” – (2011- 2013), member of the Banking & Finance Committee of the Bureau of Indian Standards (ISO affiliate 2005-06) and a member of the committee established by the Government to recommend corporate governance norms for independent directors (2006). He was elected President of Delhi Management Association (2008-09). Mr Bagla has a Bachelor’s degree with Honors in Economics from St Stephens College, New Delhi and a dual Masters in International Diplomacy and International Trade and Finance from The School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington DC.
K Balasubramanian
Managing Director, Head Corporate Banking Group, South Asia, Citi India
K Balasubramanian [Bala] is the head of Corporate Bank for Citi in South Asia covering India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Citi Corporate Bank offers its customers a comprehensive range of financial products and services both in India and at offshore locations for its clients and their subsidiaries and group entities. Citi India Corporate Bank is the largest amongst the International Banks operating in the country and serves large local Corporate Business Houses, Public Sector corporates, MNC subsidiaries, Banks and Financial Institutions/ intermediaries. Citi Corporate Bank is responsible for assisting clients in capital structuring, corporate finance solutions, capital raising (across bank and bond markets), liquidity/ risk management solutions, cash management and trade financing solutions etc. Citi India Corporate Bank is recognized as the #1 in Quality by Greenwich Associates. Bala is a seasoned banker having worked in different markets and covered clients across all major industries and geographies in India. Bala has 22 years of banking experience and have managed corporate loan book of $ 25bn . Bala’s strong knowledge of his clients, deep relationships built over several years, Industry knowledge and regulatory acumen have resulted in Citi winning several marquee mandates. Bala has assisted clients to raise capital across public (bonds/equity) and private market (bank loans/ private equity) for US$ 200bn . Several of these marquee deals have received accolades from multiple Agencies. Bala joined Citi, India in 1996 and spent 20 years with Citi across multiple roles. Bala worked with HDFC Bank running their Corporate Bank and Govt business for a brief period between 2016 and 2017. Bala is a Commerce graduate from St Xavier’s College, Kolkata and a qualified Chartered Accountant (CA) and Cost Accountant (ICWA). Bala is an all-India rank holder in both the professional degrees.
Ashu Khullar
CEO, Citi India
Ashu Khullar is the Chief Executive Officer, Citi India and Regional Head for South Asia. Ashu is responsible for all of Citi's businesses in India and has oversight of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. In India, Citi employs approximately 18,900 people and serves close to 2.5 million customers ranging from top corporate houses, multinationals, MME’s/SME's, self-employed entrepreneurs and retail clients. Citi India has leading market shares in a number of areas in India's banking industry, including foreign exchange, investment banking, cash management, trade, credit cards, e-commerce banking and distribution of mutual funds. In addition, Citi India's network of five Citi Service Centers serves a wide spectrum of global businesses and functions in areas such as technology, analytics, risk management, operations, decision management, financial control, etc.Ashu has worked across a number of management roles across Citi. Prior to his current role, he was Head of Capital Markets Origination (CMO) business for Asia Pacific, based in Hong Kong and was responsible for origination of Citi’s Capital Markets activities across Equity, Bonds, Loans and Structured Financing. Ashu was with Citi in London till September 2017. In London, he was Co-Head of Citi’s Corporate Banking business in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) (54 presence and ~60 non-presence countries), serving 2,500 corporate, financial institution and public sector clients. Prior to this, he was Head of Corporate Banking for Central Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa (CEEMEA) where he managed a team of 250 bankers. Between 2010 and 2014, Ashu was Co-Head of EMEA Loans, Capital Markets Origination, with oversight of the Project and Infrastructure Finance business. Ashu is a member of the Managing Committee at the Indian Banks Association (IBA) and National Executive Committee at Federation of Indian Chambers of commerce and Industry (FICCI). Ashu is also on the Global Board of Directors at US India Business Council (USIBC). Ashu joined Citi in 1988 in India where he held the role of Senior Relationship Manager before moving to London in 1996 as a Director for Emerging Markets Structuring and Syndications. Ashu graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree (Honours) in Commerce from The Shriram College of Commerce, University of Delhi and has a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
Kaveree Bamzai
Author and Journalist
Kaveree Bamzai is an independent journalist. She was the first, and so far, only woman editor of India Today, where she was employed till January 2019. A recipient of the Chevening Scholarship, she has worked in The Times of India and The Indian Express before this. A graduate of the Delhi School of Economics, she has spoken at several media forums. She is the author of No Regrets: A Guilt-Free Woman's Guide to a Good Life, Bollywood Today, and two monographs in the Zubaan series on Women in Indian Film. She is on several committees, among them the Women Examplar Committee of CII, and is recognised as a changemaker by Save The Children charity. She lives in Delhi with her journalist husband and two sons.
Dr Mukulika Banerjee
Director, South Asia Centre, LSE
Mukulika Banerjee is the inaugural Director of the LSE South Asia Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She studied in Delhi and Oxford universities and taught at Oxford and UCL before joining LSE. She has conducted ethnographic research in Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa (NWFP), Pakistan between 1990-1993 and in India since 1998. She has published widely and her publications include Why India Votes? (2014), The Pathan Unarmed (2001) and The Sari (2003) and edited Muslim Portraits (2007). Her forthcoming monograph is entitled Cultivating Democracy : Politics and Citizenship in agrarian India
Nitin Bannerjee
Group General Counsel, Ola
As the Group General Counsel, Nitin Bannerjee leads legal, governance and compliance for Ola’s Indian and International mobility vertical as well as Ola Electric, Ola Financial Services, Ola Fleet Technologies and Ola Foods. An international corporate commercial lawyer, Nitin is qualified both in India and UK and has experience in a number of senior legal leadership and country counsel roles. His expertise includes energy and infrastructure projects, M&A and disposal, litigation & arbitration, governance, joint venture management, compliance, regulatory & policy advocacy, and corporate commercial matters. Prior to joining Ola, Nitin led projects at Vedanta Ltd., Vodafone India, and BG Group. Nitin was a director on the board of MahanagarGas Limited (MGL) and also has significant private practice experience at the law firms of Trilegal, JSA and PwC.
Brad Barth
Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Grandeur Peak Global Advisors
Brad Barth is the Deputy Chief Investment Officer of Grandeur Peak Global Advisors. Brad co-manages the Grandeur Peak Global Stalwarts, Grandeur Peak International Stalwarts, Grandeur Peak US Stalwarts and Grandeur Peak Global Reach funds. Brad was a financial institutions analyst at Goldman Sachs prior to joining Grandeur Peak. Brad received a BA degree from the University of Utah and an MS from the London School of Economics.
Umang Bedi
Co-Founder, Dailyhunt
Umang is the Co-Founder of Dailyhunt, India’s largest local language content & news discovery platform across 14 Indian languages. He was previously the Managing Director - India and South Asia with Facebook India, Adobe Inc. and Intuit Inc. Umang is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and an engineering graduate from the University of Pune. He is the recipient of the ’40 Under Forty: India’s Hottest Business Leaders Award’ given by The Economic Times and Spencer Stuart in 2014, ‘GQ’s 50 Most Influential Young Indians’ for 2016 & 2017, Fortune India 40 under 40 in 2017, ‘Influencer of the Year‘ in 2018 by Business World and ‘Media Game Changer of the Year’ in 2019 by the International Advertising Association. He is a Fellow & a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
Ashwath Bhatt
Theatre & Film Actor, Theatre Garage Project
Born in Kashmir- Ashwath Bhatt, after his graduation from National School of Drama- New Delhi, did his Post Graduation in classical acting and Acting instruction from LAMDA (London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts) London. He was the first recipient of prestigious Inlaks foundation scholarship for Theatre/Acting. He is a visiting faculty to various prestigious institutions in India & Europe and has worked with reputed theatre companies in various countries. ‘Inlaks Theatre Awards’ is his brainchild. Apart from teaching, he regularly performs his one man show ‘Ek Mulaqat Manto Se’ (A rendezvous with Manto) based on life and times of Sadat Hasan Manto. He has performed at various festivals around the Globe. He is widely known for his work on 'Red Nose Clowning' theatre form in India. In 2007, he established non-profit trust – Theatre Garage Project. The philosophy behind his work is 'Finding something in nothing'. Theatre Garage Project has collaborations with prestigious organisations- Goethe Insitute, British Council, Clowns without Borders-USA & Germany, Red Nose International- Vienna. He also directs regularly in theatre. He has also worked with acclaimed film makers like Mira Nair (The Reluctant Fundamentalist), Meghna Gulzar (Raazi), Vishal Bhardwaj (Haider), Kabir Khan (Phantom), Buddhadeb Dasgupta, Rahul Dholakia (Lamhaa), Vikram Bhatt (Raaz Reboot), Oscar winning director Danis Tanovic (Tigers), Indo-British film directed by Rajan Patel (Feast of Varanasi), A.R.Rahman’s production 99 Songs, Anurag Singh (Kesari) etc. He regularly runs projects in Jammu & Kashmir. At present he is supporting a Kashmiri Pandit refugee school in Jagti, Jammu.
Dr Arindam Bhattacharya
Managing Director and Senior Partner, BCG New Delhi
Arindam Bhattacharya is a member of the Global Advantage, Industrial Goods, Operations, and Public Sector practices at Boston Consulting Group. He is a BCG Fellow, currently leading research on the radical shift in globalization and its implications for global firms, and working with colleagues on a book on the same topic. Previously, Arindam led BCG in India, was a member of the global leadership team of BCG’s Industrial Goods practice, and led the Industrial Goods practice in India. He was also the co-leader of BCG’s Global Advantage Initiative and a co-founder and Director of the Bruce Henderson Institute, BCG's new research institution. Arindam has worked extensively as a consultant and as a researcher. He focuses on portfolio and growth strategy, and the competitiveness of industrial companies. He has worked with India’s central and state governments on a variety of topics covering both policy development (supporting a planning commission on development of a five-year plan for Indian industry) and transformation of large public systems to drive outcome (transformation of state school systems in Haryana and Rajasthan). Arindam was a member of Confederation of Indian Industry's (CII) National Council for many years. He is member of International Advisory Council of Oxford India Center for Sustainable Development, Oxford University, a member of the International Advisory Board at the School of Public Policy, University of California San Diego, and a member of the advisory board and several expert committees set up by the government of India. He is a coauthor of the 2008 book “Globality: Competing with Everyone from Everywhere for Everything,” which tells the story of a new era of international business competition—one in which global companies that grew up in rapidly developing economies are challenging the big, developed-country corporations that have been the globalization leaders for the last two decades.
Dr Indu Bhushan
CEO, Ayushman Bharat
Dr Indu Bhushan is the Chief Executive Officer of Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY), National Health Authority, the world’s largest government-funded health assurance scheme providing cashless secondary and tertiary care to more than 53 crore poorest citizens. As CEO, he led the design, development and the rollout of the scheme and oversees its implementation in the country. A civil servant-turned-economist with a career spanning nearly 37 years, Dr Bhushan is a former Indian Administrative Service (IAS: 1983 Rajasthan) officer and took voluntary retirement after serving for nearly a decade. Until his appointment as CEO, National Health Authority, he served as Director General, East Asia Department of the Asian?Development Bank (ADB) in Manilla, Philippines. He has held multiple positions within ADB including Director General, Strategy and Policy Department and has led ADB’s engagement with several Asian economies including the People’s Republic of China. An electrical engineer by education, he is an alumnus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology - Banaras Hindu University and IIT Delhi where he earned his B.Tech degree and post-graduate diploma, respectively. He holds a Doctorate in Health Economics and a Masters in Health Sciences from Johns Hopkins University, USA and is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Dr Bhushan was recently selected for the Global Achievement Award by Johns Hopkins University, his alma mater. The award is given each year to recognise the exceptional contributions of those alumni who epitomize the Johns Hopkins tradition of excellence and bring credit to the University in the international arena through their professional or humanitarian service. He also awarded Government of India’s National Award for E-Governance 2019-2020 (Gold Award) for Excellence in Government Process Re-engineering for Digital Transformation for Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY on behalf of the National Health Authority.
Rama Bijapurkar
Independent Management Consultant & Professor of Practice, IIM Ahmedabad
Rama Bijapurkar is India's most respected thought leader on market strategy and India's consumer economy. She has an independent consulting practice and works across sectors and organization types, describing her mission as 'bringing market and customer focus to business strategy'. In addition to her consulting practice, Rama has served as an independent director on the boards of several of India's blue chip companies. These include Axis Bank, Bharat Petroleum, CRISIL, Godrej Consumer Products, Infosys, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd, Redington Gulf FZE. She also serves on the Governing Councils of the Banking Codes and Standards Board of India, the Insurance Information Board and is a member of the Eminent Persons Advisory Group of the Competition Commission of India. She has been a regular visiting faculty at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, her alma mater, and is a member of its Board of Governors. Ms. Bijapurkar is a dominant voice in the media on business and policy issues in her areas of interest and work. She is the author of the internationally acclaimed best-selling book on Consumer India, ""We are like that only - Understanding the logic of Consumer India"" (Indian edition, Penguin; international English and Chinese editions titled ""Winning in the Indian market"", John Wiley). She has most recently published a sequel to this, titled ""A Never-Before World - Tracking the evolution of Consumer India"" (Penguin). She is also the author of ""Customer in the Boardroom? Crafting Customer Based Business Strategy"" (Sage). Ms. Bijapurkar holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Physics from Delhi University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (equivalent to an MBA) from IIM, Ahmedabad. Prior to setting up her own consulting practice, Rama has worked for over two decades in leading market research and management consulting companies.
Lord Karan Bilimoria
Founder and Chairman, Cobra Beer Partnership Limited
Karan Bilimoria is the founder of Cobra Beer, Chairman of the Cobra Beer Partnership Limited, a Joint Venture with Molson Coors, and Chairman of Molson Coors Cobra India. In the Monde Selection, one of the most prestigious quality awards in the world for beer, the Cobra range have collectively been awarded a total of 121 Gold and Grand Gold medals since 2001, making it one of the most awarded beers in the world. Lord Bilimoria is the Founding Chairman of the UK India Business Council, a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London, a former Chancellor of Thames Valley University (now the University of West London); he was the youngest University Chancellor in the UK when appointed. Karan was a former Senior Non-Executive Director of the Booker Group now TESCO PLC (2007-2016); he is one of the first two visiting entrepreneurs at the University of Cambridge; he is a founding member of the Prime Minister of India’s Global Advisory Council. In 2006, Karan Bilimoria was appointed the Lord Bilimoria of Chelsea, making him the first ever Zoroastrian Parsi to sit in the House of Lords. In 2008 he was awarded the Pravasi Bharti Samman by the President of India. He is an Honorary Fellow of Sidney Sussex College Cambridge and was Chair of the Advisory Board of the Judge Business School, Cambridge University from 2015-2020. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young and graduated in law from the University of Cambridge. He is also an alumnus through executive education of the Cranfield School of Management, the London Business School and the Harvard Business School. In July 2014, he was installed as the seventh Chancellor of the University of Birmingham, making him the first Indian-born Chancellor of a Russell Group University in Great Britain, and he is the President of the UK Council for International Students Affairs (UKCISA). Since 2017 Lord Bilimoria has been a Bynum Tudor Fellow at Kellogg College, University of Oxford. Lord Bilimoria is an Honorary Group Captain in 601 Squadron Royal Air Force. In June 2020, he was appointed President of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
William Blair
Vice President and Chief Executive, Lockheed Martin India Pvt Ltd
William Blair is a Vice President in Lockheed Martin and joined Lockheed Martin India Private Ltd as Chief Executive on 1 October 2019. He is responsible for leading and developing Lockheed Martin Corporation’s strategy for India and serves as the executive representative for all Lockheed Martin programs, products and services in the country. This is his third appointment in India with a multinational aerospace and defense company. Previously, Mr Blair served in a variety of senior leadership roles with defense and aerospace companies including the Raytheon Company (8 years) and GE Aviation (25 years). He was the Raytheon India Country Executive from 2010-2013 and GE Aviation India Country Executive from 2005-2008. Mr Blair graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering and from Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering. He is married and based in New Delhi, India.
Madhukar Bose
South Asia and Digital Healthcare Lead, Healthcare UK (Department for International Trade)
Madhukar leads Healthcare UK’s work in South Asia as well as being the global lead for Digital Health responsible for supporting UK organisations in the health tech space win business in key markets across the world. He has conceptualised and implemented ground-breaking initiatives such as the Digital Health demonstrator in China, the Healthcare AI Catalyst in India and has led trade missions to a number of markets including Brazil, UAE, China and India. Madhukar’s management consulting career has spanned advising the NHS on the assistive technology programme, designing a new Telecare service for one of the largest pharmaceutical majors in the world, guiding the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care on the national business case for mobile working in community services, and setting up a Telehealth venture in India. He is an MBA alumnus of the Cranfield School of Management.
Paul Brett
Executive Producer, Flying Tiger & The Studio Group
Paul Brett has worked in the film, TV and media industry since graduating in Management Studies from Bath University forty years ago. He is a film financier and studio operator having recently acquired Longcross Studios in London. His financial partners are Blackstone, Sculptor and Catalyst Capital. The Studio Group has ambitions to open facilities in Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania and The Americas. Paul has visited every state in India, save Assam since 1978. His credits include The King's Speech.
Rajesh Chadha
Program Director – Natural Resources, Brookings Institution India Center
Dr. Rajesh Chadha is Program Director for Natural Resources at Brookings India. He was formerly a Professor & Research Director at the National Council for Applied Economic Research in India. He has worked extensively on international trade issues, foreign direct investment and agricultural markets. He has been a Visiting Scholar at the Universities of Michigan, Melbourne, and Monash, and Visiting Faculty at many prestigious institutes in India. He was nominated as a GTAP Research Fellow (2004-2007) by the Global Trade Analysis Project, Purdue University, USA. He received his PhD in Economics (steel industry) from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi.
Dr Sajjid Chinoy
Chief India Economist, J. P. Morgan
Dr Sajjid Z. Chinoy is J.P. Morgan’s Chief India Economist and also serves on the Advisory Council to the 15th Finance Commission set up by the Government of India. He has previously worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and McKinsey & Company. He has authored several publications on the Indian economy including co-editing a book on Indian economic reform: “Reforming India’s External, Fiscal and Financial Policies” with Dr. Anne O. Krueger. He received his Ph.D. in economics at Stanford University in 2001.
Amb Sujan R Chinoy
Director General, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA)
Amb Sujan R Chinoy is Director General, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. A career diplomat of the Indian Foreign Service from 1981-2018, he was India’s Ambassador to Japan from 2015-2018. A specialist with over 25 years of experience on China, East Asia and the Asia-Pacific, he served in Indian Missions in Hong Kong and Beijing and as Consul General in Shanghai and Sydney. He also served as India’s representative to the First Committee at the United Nations in New York dealing with Disarmament & International Security Affairs and as Political Counsellor in the Indian Mission in Riyadh. At Headquarters, he handled China, USA, Canada and press relations. On deputation for four years with the National Security Council Secretariat, he worked on internal and external national security policy. He is fluent in English, Chinese, and several other foreign languages.
Oliver Craske
Writer and Editor
Oliver Craske is a writer and editor from London, and the author of Indian Sun: The Life and Music of Ravi Shankar, the first full biography of the maestro, which is newly published by Faber & Faber. During a 25-year-long career in publishing, most recently as editorial director at Scala, he has edited and published non-fiction books on music, art, photography, sport and heritage subjects. Alongside this, he has had a longstanding interest in India and its music. He first met Ravi Shankar in 1994, worked with him on his autobiography (Raga Mala) and was encouraged by him to write his full story after his death.
Melissa Conley Tyler
Research Fellow, Asia Institute, The University of Melbourne
Melissa is one of Australia's most prolific commentators on Australia-Asia engagement. She joined The University of Melbourne in 2019 as Director of Diplomacy at Asialink, Australia's leading centre for creative Australia-Asia engagement. She comes to the university after 13 years as National Executive Director of the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA). Under her leadership, the AIIA was recognised as the Top Think Tank in Southeast and the Pacific and one of the top 50 think tanks worldwide in the University of Pennsylvania’s Global Go To Think Tanks Index for three years running. She is a regular commentator on Australian foreign policy and Asian engagement. In 2017, she co-authored Think Tank Diplomacy, the first-ever book length discussion of the role of think tanks in modern diplomacy. In 2019 Melissa was honoured as a Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs in recognition of her distinguished contribution to international affairs.
Janhavi Dadarkar
CEO & Founder, Maiora - Governance and Strategy Consulting
Janhavi Dadarkar works globally with boards, organisational leaders and entrepreneurs enabling them to foster better governance and strategy for enterprises in the private, public and third sector. Combining pragmatic insights with her legal background and experience of leading her own businesses, Janhavi is a recognised thought-leader who provides excellent insights into the critical capabilities required to deliver exceptional organisational performance. Described as ‘skilled at cutting through complications and simplifying complexity’, she leads on the design and delivery of initiatives to address leadership challenges. Through her company Maiora, she consults, researches and advises on governance frameworks and has authored many guides and articles. As the Chair of a Fintech company, IOD programme lead and advisory board member of the Centre for Corporate Governance Janhavi is passionate about better stewardship for the collective good of all.
Rudra Dalmia
Executive Director and CFO, Paytm Mall
Rudra Dalmia is a Corporate Leader with over 21 years experience in Asset Management, Fintech, Digital Payments, Venture Investing, Leadership of Growth Businesses, Private Equity, Portfolio Management, Blockchain, Technology businesses and Investment Banking. He has successfully built and turned around high growth businesses - Fintech & Ecommerce. He has been involved in M&A/Corp Finance transactions in UK, USA, Germany, Sweden, India, Vietnam, Dubai amongst other geographies. He is currently the Executive Director and CFO of Paytm Mall a $3 Bn dollar business with investors like Alibaba, SoftBank, eBay and SAIF Partners. He was the Former Country (INDIA) Head and Managing Director of Saxobank (Asset Management, Fintech, Remittances, Macro Research). Rudra founded RD Capital a multifamily office advisory business and has been a Principal investor on behalf of Dawnay Day International, Fineqia Inc and Ebookers in the past. Rudra has done his MBA from Cornell University, Executive Education from Stanford Business School and from Shriram College of Commerce. Rudra is also Hon. President - Khushii NGO - India’s pre-eminent private educational charity with over 45000 beneficiaries across India.
Jayant Damodar Patil
Founder and Editor-in-Chief, BharatShakti.in, BharatShakti
Nitin A. Gokhale is a well-known defence and strategic affairs analyst, media entrepreneur and author of more than half a dozen books on military history, insurgencies and wars. Starting his career in 1983, he has led teams of journalists across print, broadcast and web platforms. A specialist in conflict coverage, Gokhale has lived and reported from India’s North-east for 23 years, been on the ground at Kargil in the summer of 1999 and also brought live reports from Sri Lanka’s Eelam War IV between 2006-2009 while working for NDTV, the news channel. . In 2014, he decided to turn full-time media entrepreneur and part time author. Gokhale is a popular visiting faculty at India’s Defence Services Staff College, the three war colleges, the National Defence College, CDM and the IB’s intelligence school. He now owns and runs two important portals, bharatshakti.in and StratNewsGlobal.com Gokhale is also an independent consultant on security and strategic affairs across Asia.
Preeti Dawra
Founder and CEO, Asian Century Communications
Preeti Dawra is the founder and CEO of Asian Century Communications. A strategic advisory firm which counsels seniormost leaders in market strategy, media, messaging, communications, and events. Preeti serves as a board member for Princeton in Asia and has been an advisor to Rockefeller Foundation. Preeti served as the Head of External Relations at the National University of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and as a communications advisor to the UNDP President in NYC. She is the curator of the annual Indian Arts & Ideas Festival and the South Asian Diaspora Conference in Singapore. Preeti has written extensively for MINT and now writes for OPEN.
Priyanka Deo
Executive Editor, New India Junction
Priyanka Deo is the executive editor of YouTube channel New India Junction and a columnist. Her videos have been shared by prominent personalities including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Priyanka’s articles regularly appear in major publications including the Indian Express, Zee, Swarajya and WION. Priyanka holds master’s degrees from Harvard University, the London School of Economics and Political Science and the University of Southern California. Prior to that, she played tennis internationally and captained the University of Illinois Women’s Varsity team.
Air Marshal SB Deo
Managing Director, JSR Dynamics Pvt Ltd
Air Marshal SB Deo served a sterling 40 years in the Indian Air Force during which he has clocked over 4000 hours in a variety of fighter aircraft. He is a qualified flying instructor and has instructed at the IAF Flying Instructors School as well as Tactics & Air Combat Development Establishment. As a senior ranked officer he tenured as Director General Air Operations at Air HQ, New Delhi before becoming Air Officer Commanding in Chief of Eastern Air Command followed by Western Air Command. Thereafter he served as the Vice Chief of Air Staff before retiring in Sep 2018. Apart from being an aviation enthusiast all through, he has an undying interest in technology, mechanics, computers and a variety of allied subjects. His interests led him to design Glide bombs, Cruise Missiles, UAVs and innovative aerospace platforms which was recognised by the then Honourable President of India, Shri Abdul Kalam. Air Marshal Deo launched JSR Dynamics in December 2018 with Glide Bombs in four weight categories as the flagship product. Since then, the Company has increased its range of products to include Range Extension Kits, Cruise Missiles and UAVs. Within a year of its being launched, the Company has invested in top of the line equipment and highly experienced personnel to live up to its promise of delivering world class products. JSR Dynamics is founded on strong fundamentals and professionalism that flows from the vast knowledge and experience of Air Marshal SB Deo. This is evident from the technology employed and the finesse of products. Under his leadership, the Company is one of the few Defence startups in India that makes entire products from Design to Delivery thus contributing in earnest to the ‘Make in India’ concept.
Nikhil Deogun
CEO of The Americas, U.S. Senior Partner, Brunswick Group
As Brunswick’s CEO of the Americas and U.S. Senior Partner, Nikhil Deogun advises clients on business critical communications issues including mergers and acquisitions, shareholder activism, IPOs, crisis and litigation, and corporate reputation matters. Nik joined Brunswick from CNBC where he was Editor in Chief and Senior Vice President, Business News and managed the network’s news content, coverage and production. Prior to CNBC, Nik had a long and distinguished career at The Wall Street Journal, including as Deputy Managing Editor where he oversaw the paper’s financial and international coverage and network of international bureaus and correspondents. Nik serves on the American Board of Trustees for the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship, the Board of Trustees of Muskingum University, the Board of Advisors of the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism, and the Board of Directors of the US India Strategic Partnership Forum.
Sandrine Dixson-Declѐve
Co-President, The Club of Rome
Sandrine Dixson-Decleve has 30 years of European and international policy, business leadership and strategy experience with a particular focus on EU and international climate change, sustainable development, green growth, conventional and sustainable energy solutions and sustainable finance. She is currently the Co-President of the Club of Rome and divides her time between lecturing, facilitating difficult conversations and advisory work. She holds several advisory positions for the European Commission: Chair, Expert Group on Economic and Societal Impact of Research & Innovation (ESIR); Member, Assembly on Research & Innovation (DGR&I); TEG Sustainable Finance Taxonomy, Chair, Manufacturing & Outreach (DGFISMA). She sits on several Advisory Boards for Climate KIC, the European Aluminium and the IEEP and is a Senior Associate and faculty member of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and a Senior Associate for E3G. In addition, she is an Ambassador, for the Energy Transition Commission (ETC) and a Senior Advisor to Interel and Xynteo. In 2017 Sandrine co-founded the Women Enablers Change Agent Network (WECAN).
Louise Donaghey
Senior Vice President, India and South East Asia, Rolls-Royce
Louise Donaghey is Senior Vice-President – India and South Asia at Rolls-Royce where she is responsible for all customer and government relations for the Defence Business in India and the South Asia region. In this role, she leads regional teams focused on delivering on our current commitments and growing the Defence portfolio. Prior to this, Louise was responsible for customer satisfaction for the entire Defence organization, ensuring customer issues across the global in-service fleet were dealt with appropriately and that we communicated to our customers in a timely manner. Before joining Defence, Louise lead Sales for Civil Aerospace in East Africa and was responsible for securing the $500m deal with Ethiopian Airlines which also represented the first sales of the Trent 1000 to an existing GEnx customer. In Service Development for Civil, Louise was responsible for developing Rolls-Royce’s suite of aftermarket service offerings known as TotalCare®. Louise brings 22 years of aviation experience to Rolls-Royce. She began her career as an Engineering Officer in the Royal Air Force responsible for a squadron of Harrier aircraft. Transitioning into Industry through management positions in BAE Systems Defence, Louise gained experience in programme management, Lean engineering, business improvement and customer-facing roles. She joined Rolls-Royce Purchasing in the UK in 2004, heading a team of Supplier Development Leaders before moving to the Civil Aerospace Sales Team where she was first responsible for all European Leasing Companies and later, based in Reston, Virginia, USA to manage relationships with American Airlines, US Airways and Southwest Airlines. Louise holds a First Class Honours Degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Loughborough, UK and she is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society. She is married with 2 children and holds a black belt in Freestyle kickboxing.
Barkha Dutt
Barkha Dutt Media Pvt Ltd, Founder-Editor Mojo & We The Women
Barkha Dutt is an award-winning TV journalist, anchor and columnist with more than two decades of reporting experience. She is India’s only Emmy-nominated journalist who has won multiple national and international awards, including the Padmashri. She is the Founder-Editor of Mojo Story, a multi-media events and content venture and is also a featured Columnist with the Washington Post.
Manoj Kumar Dwivedi
Commissioner Secretary, Government of Jammu & Kashmir
Mr Manoj Kumar Dwivedi is a member of the prestigious Indian Administrative Services (IAS). He is presently serving in the rank of Commissioner Secretary and oversees the Department of Industries and Commerce, Government of Jammu & Kashmir. Mr Dwivedi is an alumnus of IIT Delhi with accomplishment of executive programmes from Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and Judge Business School, University of Cambridge. He has an extensive experience of over 25 years spanning both public and private sectors. Before joining the Indian Administrative Services in the year 1997, he has worked with Tata Steel, which is one of India’s biggest conglomerates and was a team-leader with NIIT during the founding days of IT revolution in India. During his public service career, Mr Dwivedi has served in diverse capacities with various departments including Health, Commerce, IT, Environment & Forests and Rural Development amongst others. Shortly before his present stint, he served as Joint Secretary in Ministry of Commerce, Government of India wherein he led several trade negotiations and represented India at various international forums.
Robert Fee
Vice President, International Affairs, Cheniere Energy
Robert Fee is Vice President, International Affairs and Commercial Development based in London. He previously served at Cheniere as Chief of Staff to the CEO and Acting Senior Vice President for External Affairs, where he managed as Federal, State, and Local Government Affairs. Before joining Cheniere, Robert was Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor in the Office of Fossil Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy. In his various roles, Fee helped manage the oversight of the Office’s Research and Development program and major policy and regulatory responsibilities, including over $3 billion carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration projects, hydraulic fracturing, climate regulation, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and international engagements. He also held positions at the White House and the Department of Energy. Fee has a B.A. in History from Miami University in Ohio.
Dr Joe Felter
William J Perry Fellow, Stanford’s Center for International Security & Cooperation
Dr Joe Felter is a William J. Perry Fellow at Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and research fellow at the Hoover Institution. From 2017 to 2019, he served as US deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia. A former US Army Special Forces and Foreign Area officer, Joe served in a variety of special operations and diplomatic assignments including operational deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. Joe’s previous academic positions include director of West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center, assistant professor in the US Military Academy’s Department of Social Sciences, and adjunct associate professor at Columbia University’s School for International and Public Affairs. He is coauthor of "Small Wars, Big Data: The Information Revolution and Modern Conflict" (Princeton University Press, 2018). Joe received a BS from the US Military Academy at West Point, MPA from Harvard Kennedy School, and PhD from Stanford University.
Chng Kai Fong
Managing Director, Economic Development Board
Chng Kai Fong was appointed Managing Director of the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) on 1 October 2017. He was the Principal Private Secretary (PPS) to the Prime Minister (PM) from 1 September 2014 to 30 September 2017. Before his appointment as PPS to the PM, Mr Chng served various roles in the Public Service. He was Director of Communications Group at the Prime Minister’s Office, where he oversaw strategic communications and coordinated communications strategy across Government agencies. He was also Director of Resource Industry at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, where he coordinated the Government’s efforts to drive productivity growth, and Director of the Institute of Public Sector Leadership, which runs leadership development programmes for public sector leaders. Mr Chng also served in the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Ministry of Communications and Information. Mr Chng was also seconded from 2008 to 2010 as a Senior Management Consultant to Shell in its Downstream Strategy Division. Mr Chng graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Master in Engineering in 2001, specialising in signal processing. In 2011, Mr Chng was awarded the Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship. He is also a Sloan Fellow with a Master of Science in Management from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Mr Chng is married with two daughters and a son. In his younger days, he freelanced as a Euphonium player and an amateur conductor. These days, he waves his hands when classical music is playing on the radio, to the bewilderment of his children.
Josh Foulger
Co-Chair, Fast Track Task Force under MEITY
Josh Foulger is the Managing Director and Country Head of one of the largest Electronics Manufacturing Services companies in the world having annual revenues in excess of $200 billion. Under his stewardship, the firm has come a long way and is currently the largest contract electronics manufacturer in India churning out over 50 million handsets annually. Earlier, Josh spent nearly two decades with Nokia Corporation and launched Nokia’s manufacturing operations in India and Vietnam. Josh is often credited by his industry peers for putting India on the global map of smartphone manufacturing hubs. Currently, Josh is on honorable PM’s Council of Industry Advisors which consults PMO on strategic decision making especially on developing manufacturing ecosystem within India. Josh completed his Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Texas, Arlington.
Lord Jitesh Gadhia
Member, House of Lords
Lord Jitesh Gadhia is an investment banker and businessman and has been a Member of the House of Lords since September 2016. He is a board member of UK Government Investments, the centre of excellence for corporate finance and corporate governance for the UK Government and also serves on the boards of BGL Holdings, which owns comparethemarket.com, Accord Healthcare Limited, a leading supplier of generic pharmaceuticals and Calisen plc, a FTSE250 company, which owns and manages critical energy infrastructure including smart meters. He was a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone and has over 25 years’ financial services experience, having also held senior positions at Barclays Capital, ABN AMRO and Baring Brothers. He has advised on a wide range of high-profile M&A transactions across developed and emerging markets, including the largest investment flows between UK and India. Lord Gadhia is a member of UK-India CEO Forum. He graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in economics and attended the London Business School as a Sloan Fellow.
Barry Gardiner MP
Former Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade, Government UK
Barry Gardiner MP won the seat of Brent North in 1997 and has now been elected to parliament for the 7th time. He has served as a Government Minister in three different departments: Northern Ireland, Trade & Industry, and Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. On the opposition frontbench he has served in a number of positions: as the Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade, The Shadow Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change, The Shadow Minister for Europe and the Shadow Minister for the Environment. He has served on a number of select committees: Public Accounts, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, and the Energy & Climate Change Select Committees. He chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Conservation and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Nature. Internationally he is the Vice-President for Europe of the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment and is a director of The Climate Parliament.
Dr Praveen Gedam
Additional Chief Executive Officer, National Health Authority
Dr Praveen Gedam is the Additional Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Authority (NHA) in the rank of Joint Secretary to Government of India. He is an Indian Administrative Service officer of 2002 batch, Maharashtra cadre. As second-in-command at NHA, he assists the CEO in its functioning and also supervises the work of various verticals and coordinates with ministries, organisations, State Governments and other stakeholders. Dr Praveen Gedam is a National Talent Search Scholar and MBBS doctor by education. He has held several important positions as a career bureaucrat and, prior to joining NHA, he was the Private Secretary to Hon’ble Minister of Railways and Coal.
Alan Gemmell
Her Majesty's Trade Commissioner & British Deputy High Commissioner, Western India
Alan Gemmell was appointed Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for South Asia and the British Deputy High Commissioner for Western India in June 2020. Prior to his appointment, Alan was Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council where he promoted intra-Commonwealth trade working with leading British businesses including: HSBC, JCB,Rolls Royce, Standard Chartered, as well as the City of London, the UK government and a number of governments of Commonwealth countries. Alan was part of a 2019 Commonwealth mission to assess the successful application of the government of Maldives to re-join the Commonwealth. Alan has worked in Brazil, India, Israel and Mexico with the British Council and was Director of the British Council in India from 2016 to 2018 leading the UK-India Year of Culture and working with State Governments to support education agendas across the country. Alan worked on counter terrorism and preventing extremism in the UK’s Cabinet Office and on economic migration in the Home Office. Alan was awarded OBE in the 2016 New Year’s Honours list for services to arts and science.
Sujoy Ghosh
Vice President, India and Asia Pacific, First Solar
Sujoy Ghosh is the Vice President for First Solar overseeing the company’s activities in India and Asia Pacific regions. He has been with First Solar for the past 8 years, and has supervised the build out of the company’s India business resulting in an overall installed base of 2GW in India for First Solar’s CdTe thin film PV modules. He has also been responsible for executing the company’s strategy to develop utility scale solar PV assets and in his tenure the company has created 260MWac of utility scale projects with its own capital as a developer. Besides India, he has been responsible for overseeing First Solar’s region operations in the Middle East and more recently in Asia Pacific. Sujoy has 30 years of industry experience in India, and joined First Solar from GE, where he was the Regional General Manager for GE Energy’s Power and Water business. In his 9 years with GE, he has worked in a diverse range of businesses from T&D (SCADA, network management and sub-station automation) to Thermal Power Generation (Gas and Steam Turbine and gasification) to Renewables (Wind). For the last 5 years, he led GE’s Thermal Products and Renewable Sales in India/Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Prior to joining GE, Sujoy worked for 13 years in Tata Honeywell in sales/market development handling technology platforms from distributed control systems, safety systems and advanced control and optimization packages, across business verticals in the manufacturing, utility and oil & gas verticals.
Mustafa Ghouse
CEO, JSW Sports
Mustafa Ghouse is the CEO of JSW Sports, the sports arm of the $14 billion JSW Group conglomerate. Since its inception in 2012 as a programme to support Indian Olympic athletes, JSW Sports has owned and operated franchise teams in the Indian Premier League (cricket), Pro-Kabaddi League (kabaddi) and Indian Super League (football), where Mustafa holds several different managerial positions. A former Davis Cupper and Asian Games medal-winning tennis player, Mustafa also led the establishment of the Inspire Institute of Sport, India’s first High-Performance Olympic Training Centre based in Bellary, South India.
Nitin Gokhale
Founder & Editor-in-Chief, BharatShakti.in
Nitin A. Gokhale is a media entrepreneur, one of South Asia's leading strategic affairs analyst and author of seven books so far on military history, insurgencies and wars. Starting his career in journalism in 1983, he has since led teams of journalists across media platforms. A specialist in conflict coverage, Gokhale has covered the insurgencies in India’s North-East, the 1999 Kargil conflict and Sri Lanka’s Eelam War IV between 2006-2009. Gokhale now travels across the globe to speak at seminars and conferences, and lectures at India’s premier defence colleges. He has founded two niche portals, bharatshakti.in and StratNewsGlobal.com (stratnewsglobal.com).
Priya Guha
Venture Partner, Merian Ventures
Priya Guha is a Venture Partner at Merian Ventures, investing in women-led innovation, a Member of the Innovate UK Council, NED at the Digital Catapult and Adjunct Faculty at the Ashridge Hult Business School. She was previously GM for RocketSpace, launching their UK operations. Priya used to be a career diplomat, most recently as British Consul General to San Francisco and previously in India and Spain. She is on the Althea Foundation Board, the Tech London Advocates Advisory Board and London Tech Week Advisory Committee. She also Chairs the Board of Trustees of Modern Muse and is an Advisor to The Youth Group. Priya was named in the 2019 Top 50 Most Influential Women in Technology and Top 5 Asian Investors in UK Tech.
Arvind Gupta
Head & Co-Founder, Digital India Foundation
Arvind Gupta is the Head and Co-Founder of Digital India Foundation, a policy think tank working in areas of Digital Inclusion, Smart Cities, Internet Governance, Data Privacy & Cyber Security, Electronics Manufacturing. He is an Adjunct Professor at IIT-BHU, teaching “Data and Digital Economy”. He has over 27 years of industry experience, having worked in diverse sectors in variety of leadership, policy and entrepreneurial profiles in India and Silicon Valley, USA. He has considerable experience in Consumer Internet, Digital Media, Payment Systems, Analytics and Data Economy. He has been on the Global FinTech Top100 list of Influencers and also the Member of World Economic Forum’s Global Futures Council on Digital Economy & Society, OECD Expert Member of Global Value Chains. He has been awarded the Eisenhower Global Fellowship for Innovation for year 2014. He has been awarded the DataQuest Pathbreaker of the year award and Distinguished Centenary Alumni award from IIT-BHU. In his last role, he was the CEO of MyGov, an initiative of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, to Empower Citizens of India with Participative Governance and Digitally communicate Schemes and Policies to all Indians. He led the Digital, Social Media and Communication Campaign for PM Narendra Modi, which resulted in PM Modi creating electoral history and achieving its Mission 272 in 2014 Elections. He is Member of Founder’s Circle of iSPiRT, which has worked extensively on the ""IndiaStack"". He is one of the thought leaders in implementing DBT throughout India. He is an active member of TiE, NASSCOM and Founder Member of iSPiRT. He also co-founded startups such as amplify.ai, ApnaPay, Ideaswall amongst others. Mr Gupta is also a frequent speaker at various industry and Global forums. He is visiting faculty at IIT, Management Schools, Innovation Forums and has published many articles on #DigitalEconomy, Value of Data, #GovTech in leading papers of India, Harvard Business Review and World Economic Forum Mr Gupta graduated with a degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from IIT-BHU, Varanasi. He has a Masters in Computer Science and MBA (Finance & Marketing) from University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.
Poonam Gupta
CEO, PG Paper Company Ltd
Poonam Gupta OBE is a leading UK entrepreneur and CEO of one of Scotland’s most successful export businesses. She established the global success story – PG Paper – from her kitchen table with £1000 in 2003. The company now has a turnover in excess of £56million, operates in over 60 countries , with offices in India, the US, China, Sweden and Turkey – and is still growing. With a career-long interest in strengthening and enabling greater collaboration between Scotland and India; Poonam led a successful Scottish Chambers Task Force to India in 2019. She has been recognised as one of the ‘100 Most Influential in UK-India Relations’ by India Inc Group. Her entrepreneurial and business efforts have also been acknowledged by her peer group and the industry at large; for which she has received several business awards; most recently Ernst & Young’s ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ in 2019. In recognition for her service to charity and business, she has been awarded the OBE in 2016. Poonam is a benefactor of a number of local, national and international charities; with a particular focus on woman-centric issues, disadvantaged children, gender equality and animal conservation.
Arvind Gupta
President, Boeing India
Salil Gupte is President of Boeing India and the senior in-country executive, who integrates and advances Boeing’s activities in India across its three business units: Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Boeing Global Services, and Boeing Defense, Space & Security, leading a team of 3500 employees across New Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai. Previously, Gupte was vice president of Boeing Capital Corporation, a wholly owned Boeing subsidiary, primarily responsible for arranging, structuring and providing financing for Boeing’s commercial airplane, space and defense products. Gupte’s earlier roles at Boeing include supply chain execution for Boeing Global Services and leading commercial operations for Boeing’s spare parts business. Gupte has worked closely with customers across the Boeing enterprise, led sales and marketing teams, and has experience in commercial and defense supply chains, overseeing manufacturing, sourcing, and fulfilment activities for Boeing products. Gupte has also led Boeing’s aftermarket strategy teams, completing joint ventures and acquisitions to accelerate Boeing’s growth in services.
Vanessa Guthrie
Non-Executive Director, Australia – India Council
Dr Vanessa Guthrie is an experienced Executive and Director with a career spanning thirty years in the resources sector, in a variety of diverse minerals and energy resources. Vanessa has qualifications in geology, environment, law and business management including a PhD in Geology. She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science from Curtin University in 2017 for her contribution to sustainability, innovation and policy leadership in the resources industry. Vanessa is on the board of a number of organisations, including listed companies Santos Limited, Adbri Limited and Tronox Holdings PLC; the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Curtin University where she is Pro Chancellor and the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) where she is Deputy Chair. She is an active member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and Chief Executive Women (CEW), and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE). Vanessa's contribution to the mining industry has been recognised both in Australia and globally, including being recognised as one of the world’s Top 100 list of inspirational women in mining.
Dr Christiane Hamacher
CEO, Biocon Biologics
Dr Christiane Hamacher joined as Chief Executive officer (CEO) of Biocon Biologics India Ltd in March 2019. Dr Hamacher has over 20 years of leadership experience in both strategic and operational roles across the value chain in global pharma, spanning Asia, Europe and the U.S. She has been with Roche, Basel, Switzerland since 2007 and prior to that spent 10 years at Schering AG, Berlin, Germany. She is an accomplished international C-suite executive with a passion for setting the corporate vision, defining and implementing future-driven strategy and growing businesses through entrepreneurial innovation and patient-centricity. She has robust experience in steering complex, global matrix organizations, quickly building strong, trusting relationships to enable achievement of top-level results. During her long career in the pharmaceutical industry, she has built expertise in the areas of oncology, virology, CNS, cardiovascular, gynaecology, diagnostics, dermatology, rheumatology and rare diseases. She holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology (Oncology) from the University Clinic Bergmannsheil / University of Bochum, Germany. She also studied Economics at the University of Hagen, Germany.
Prof Andrew Hardy
Chief Executive Officer, University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust
Andrew Hardy is Chief Executive Officer of University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust (UHCW). Andy was appointed Chief Executive Officer in 2010. For the six years prior to that he was Chief Finance Officer of UHCW, as well as Deputy Chief Executive Officer from 2008 – 2010. In addition, Andy sits on a number of Boards including the following West Midlands Academic Health Service Network, CIPFA, Warwick Business School Faculty Advisory Board and NHS Elect. In January 2016 Andy was appointed Professor of Industry at the University of Warwick. In addition to his Chief Executive Officer role, Andy was appointed as Senior Responsible Officer of the Coventry & Warwickshire STP Footprint in March 2016. Andy is also a Director of Albany Theatre Trust, Coventry.
John Madew
Head of Mining & Resources, Australian Trade & Investment Commission
John Madew is Head of Mining & Resources in Austrade’s sector Centre of Excellence. In this role, he is responsible for overall strategic oversight and guidance to Austrade on the mining and resources sector, providing advice to business and governments based on a deep understanding of the domestic and global sectoral ecosystem, and leading engagement with industry and manage critical stakeholder relationships to pursue Austrade’s vision of becoming a networked organisation. From 2016 to 2020 John held a leadership role in Austrade’s South Asia operation. In 2019 - 2020 he led the South Asia region as General Manager in New Delhi driving trade, investment and education promotion across India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh with 60 staff over 10 locations. During his time in India, he was also Senior Trade & Investment Commissioner based in Mumbai where he led the Australian Government investment attraction activities across South Asia.
Arun Madhu
General Counsel, Nexus Venture Partners
Arun Madhu is the General Counsel of Nexus Venture Partners. Prior to joining Nexus, Arun has worked with leading corporate law firms in India. He started his career at Trilegal and thereafter, was part of the founding team at Phoenix Legal. During his time in private practice, Arun advised a wide range of global clients on investments, M&A, as well as banking and securities laws. Arun is also involved with various industry led initiatives related to the Indian venture capital ecosystem. Arun is a B.A., LL.B (Hons.) graduate from the National Law University, Jodhpur.
Vini Mahajan
Chief Secretary, Government of Punjab
Vini Mahajan is an Economics graduate from Lady Shri Ram College, she completed her MBA from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta in the year 1987 and joined the Indian Administrative Service in the same year. Vini Mahajan, a 1987-batch IAS officer, has recently been appointed the new Chief Secretary of Punjab.
Ashok Malik
Policy Advisor, Ministry of External Affairs, India
Ashok Malik is Policy Advisor in the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. In this capacity, he works closely with the External Affairs Minister, the Foreign Secretary and the leadership of the MEA. Prior to his current role, from August 2017 to July 2019, Malik was Press Secretary to the President of India. The first person from outside the civil services to be appointed to the post, he was part of the President’s core group of political advisors and functioned as his principal speech-writer and spokesperson. Before joining government, Malik was Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, one of India’s leading public policy think tanks. His work focused on Indian foreign policy and its increasing interplay with domestic politics and trade/economic policy, as well as with emerging areas of business and technology choices, human capital and sustainable development. A prolific writer and columnist in his previous professional life – which included a long stint in the media – Malik authored a number of research and policy papers as well as commentary for Indian and international institutions and publications, including Yale Global Online, Harvard Asia Quarterly, Oxford University Press and the Lowy Institute. The subjects his writings have covered range from the emergence of new sources of Indian foreign policy [https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/india-s-new-world-civil-society-making-foreign-policy] to the imperatives behind the Government of India’s recent policy decisions on Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh [https://www.orfonline.org/research/jammu-kashmir-and-ladakh-exploring-a-new-paradigm-54185/]. In March 2012, he released a book, “India: The Spirit of Enterprise” (Lustre Press-Roli), a study of the growth of the Indian private sector in the post-liberalisation period. In 2016, Malik was awarded the Padma Shri (India’s fourth-highest civilian honour) by the Government of India.
Rory Medcalf
Professor & Head of the National Security College, Australian National University
Professor Rory Medcalf is Head of the National Security College at the Australian National University. His has three decades of experience across diplomacy, intelligence analysis, think tanks, academia and journalism, including as founding director of the international security program at the Lowy Institute. In government, Professor Medcalf worked as a senior strategic analyst with the Office of National Assessments, Canberra’s peak intelligence agency. He was an Australian diplomat, with experience in India, Japan and Papua New Guinea, and continues to lead informal strategic dialogues with India and several other Indo-Pacific powers. He has contributed to three landmark international reports on nuclear arms control and was on the independent expert panel for the Australia’s 2016 Defence White Paper. He has been recognised as a thought leader internationally for his work on the Indo-Pacific strategic concept, as articulated in his acclaimed 2020 book Contest for the Indo-Pacific. He is a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum Register of Experts and Eminent Persons and the board of the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations.
Malini Mehra
Professor & Head of the National Security College, Australian National University
Malini Mehra is chief executive of the GLOBE International secretariat. Founded in 1989 by Senators Al Gore, John Kerry and other distinguished legislators, GLOBE serves to promote parliamentary leadership on sustainable development. Malini is an award-winning civil society leader and non-profit founder with a background in gender and development, who has played a prominent role in the global sustainable development movement for over three decades. In an unusual multi-sectoral international career she has worked at the highest levels of national government, the United Nations, business and international NGOs. From leading international campaigns for Oxfam and Friends of the Earth International, she has co-authored the UN’s Human Development Reports and advised the UN Secretary-General on UN reform. While in the UK government, Malini was the architect of the UK’s sustainability partnerships with China, India, Mexico, Brazil and South Africa. She has served on numerous high-level corporate advisory boards on sustainability, including for CEOs of leading companies such as Unilever, BHP Billiton and Kimberly-Clark. From 2000-2013, she founded and led the award-winning Indian NGO, Centre for Social Markets (2000), an early pioneer of the Indian corporate social responsibility movement. In 2007, CSM initiated ‘Climate Challenge India’, the country’s first national mobilization campaign on climate change engaging cities and business. Malini’s film, In Good Company (2009), was the first to profile the role of Indian business on climate change. In 2011, together with fellow Young Global Leader, Dr Saleem Ali, she initiated the World Economic Forum’s YGL project promoting cooperation on climate change, disaster risk management and water security between India and Pakistan. She remains active on issues in the region as a trustee of The Third Pole and India Climate Dialogue. Having lived and worked in major global cities including New York, Berlin, Amsterdam and Geneva, Malini is now settled in London where she raises her three children and is a commissioner to the Mayor of London on sustainable development. She also serves on numerous NGO boards including the Institute for European Environmental Policy, China Dialogue and EcoPeace Middle East. Malini has degrees from Smith College (USA) and the Institute for Development Studies (Sussex).
Venky Harinarayan
Founding Partner, rocketship.vc
Venky Harinarayan is an entrepreneur and investor. He was a founder of Junglee—a pioneering shopping search engine that was acquired by Amazon.com, a founder of Kosmix—an innovative search and categorization company that was acquired by Walmart Stores, Inc., and a founding investor in Efficient Frontier—a leading search and social media marketing company that was acquired by Adobe. Together, these start-ups were valued at $1 billion at the time of their acquisition. Venky has also played the role of entrepreneur in two of the most successful retailers of our times — Walmart and Amazon.com. Most recently, at Walmart, as Senior Vice President of Global e-Commerce, Venky created and ran @WalmartLabs, the innovation arm for the world’s largest company. At Amazon.com, Venky helped create the Marketplace business, that today accounts for more than half of all the units sold. He also invented the concept underlying Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Venky is also an active investor. He created Cambrian Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm in 2000 whose investments include Neoteris (Juniper), Aster Data (Teradata), and Yousendit. Venky was one of the earliest investors in Facebook, investing in 2005. Other angel investments include Lyft and TutorVista (Pearson). Venky was named to the “100 Most Creative People in Business” by FastCompany in 2012 and to the “Venture Capital 100” by AlwaysOn in 2012 and is a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from IIT Madras. Venky earned his bachelor’s degree from IIT Madras; master’s from UCLA and PhD from Stanford University, all in computer science.
Dr GK Harinath
Chairman, Multicultural NSW
Dr GK Harinath is a renowned Cricket Administrator and a doctor by profession. His journey in Cricket administration started in 1978 when he was invited by the President of Balmain Cricket Club to become their club doctor. After few years he was elected to Club council . He learnt all about Cricket admin under the Late Fred Bennet who retired as Cricket Australia's Chairman. In 1995, Dr Harinath was elected as president of Balmain Cricket Club and became a delegate to the Sydney Cricket association, and later was elected as Deputy Chair for 2 years. He was elected on the New South Wales (NSW) Cricket Board in 2000 and was elected as Chairman, Cricket New South Wales in 2007.He was made a life member Cricket New South Wales in 2009. Between 2004 - 2012, he sat on the board of Cricket Australia. Dr Harinath played a crucial role in bringing Australian and Indian cricket boards closer. He was awarded Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for sevices to Cricket and Community. He was appointed Chairman Multicultural NSW in 2013 and hold the position currently. He has also been the Chairman of Parramasala for the past 10 years. It is the biggest multicultural festival in Western Sydney. Currently, he sits on the Board of Australia Day Council. In the past, he has been a Board member South East Area Health Service for 6 years. He was awarded Pravasi Bharti award in 2017 by President of India in Bangalore.
Kaizad Hazari
President & Global General Counsel, Glenmark Pharmaceutical Ltd
Kaizad Hazari has over twenty six years of experience across different Industry sectors like Finance, Chemicals, FMCG, Manufacturing, Metals, Mining, Pharmaceuticals and Retail. He was with GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals Ltd (GSK) as Executive Vice President (South Asia) handling Legal and Corporate Affairs role. He was also the Vice President & Associate General Counsel - Emerging Market Central at GSK and on the Business & Global Legal Leadership Teams. He has held Board and Management positions (locally and internationally) and played an active role in various Committees and Industry platforms. Kaizad has held key positions and was Joint President- Head Legal with Hindalco Industries Ltd. Other organizations he has worked with include Raymond Group, Asian Paints (India) Ltd., ICICI Ltd., and was the CEO designate for managing Stressed Assets with HDFC Ltd for a brief period.
Richard Heald
Group CEO & Chair, UK India Business Council
Richard Heald joined the UK India Business Council (“UKIBC”) as its Chief Executive Officer in September 2010. Before joining the UKIBC, he worked for Rothschild for over 17 years and has over 30 years’ experience of the international financial markets, 20 years of which has been focused on advisory and capital raisings for governments and major corporate across the globe. Latterly, he worked as Vice Chairman, Rothschild, India, where he played a key role in advising numerous UK and Indian companies on spin-offs and capital raisings, secondary capital raisings, outbound and inbound M&A as well as the provision of debt and restructuring. During this time and subsequently at the UKIBC he has built up an extensive network of Indian and UK government and corporate contacts. Richards vision for the UKIBC has always been that is should become an outcome-orientated, business-led facilitator and catalyst for UK India economic and trade across the corporate value chain. Under his leadership, the UKIBC has expanded rapidly extending its scope and reach both in India and in the UK and has evolved into a full provider of export services to small and medium sized companies with representation in Mumbai, Bangalore and Gurgaon as well as representation across the UK. The UKIBC has developed a strong voice for business in sector focused policy advocacy for major UK and Indian corporates and, since the Brexit vote of 2016, is increasingly engaged in trade policy work either through support of G2G initiatives such as the Joint Economic Trade Committee, the Economic and Financial Partnership and the UK India CEO Forum. The UKIBC is also increasingly engaged in UK India trade related consultancy and project management supporting companies on accessing India, addressing market access issues and encouraging technology collaborations and start-ups. COVID-19 has given rise to significant operational challenges to both Indian and UK companies. The UKIBC has responded by digitizing its programmes, offering practical solutions and engaging with the UK and Indian Governments to represent business views on how to navigate the current challenges. Richard recently announced that he will be stepping up to become Chair of the UKIBC after 10 years as CEO. He will remain involved and committed to supporting the organisation and UK – India economic relations going forward. Richard has written and published many articles on UK India trade related matters and has frequently appeared on TV and radio promoting UK India economic and trade policy issues. He was awarded an OBE in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to economic and trade relations between the UK and India. Richard is a graduate from Oxford University with a degree in law and is married with two daughters.
Wong Heang Fine
Group CEO, Surbana Jurong Private Limited
Richard Heald joined the UK India Business Council (“UKIBC”) as its Chief Executive Officer in September 2010. Before joining the UKIBC, he worked for Rothschild for over 17 years and has over 30 years’ experience of the international financial markets, 20 years of which has been focused on advisory and capital raisings for governments and major corporate across the globe. Latterly, he worked as Vice Chairman, Rothschild, India, where he played a key role in advising numerous UK and Indian companies on spin-offs and capital raisings, secondary capital raisings, outbound and inbound M&A as well as the provision of debt and restructuring. During this time and subsequently at the UKIBC he has built up an extensive network of Indian and UK government and corporate contacts. Richards vision for the UKIBC has always been that is should become an outcome-orientated, business-led facilitator and catalyst for UK India economic and trade across the corporate value chain. Under his leadership, the UKIBC has expanded rapidly extending its scope and reach both in India and in the UK and has evolved into a full provider of export services to small and medium sized companies with representation in Mumbai, Bangalore and Gurgaon as well as representation across the UK. The UKIBC has developed a strong voice for business in sector focused policy advocacy for major UK and Indian corporates and, since the Brexit vote of 2016, is increasingly engaged in trade policy work either through support of G2G initiatives such as the Joint Economic Trade Committee, the Economic and Financial Partnership and the UK India CEO Forum. The UKIBC is also increasingly engaged in UK India trade related consultancy and project management supporting companies on accessing India, addressing market access issues and encouraging technology collaborations and start-ups. COVID-19 has given rise to significant operational challenges to both Indian and UK companies. The UKIBC has responded by digitizing its programmes, offering practical solutions and engaging with the UK and Indian Governments to represent business views on how to navigate the current challenges. Richard recently announced that he will be stepping up to become Chair of the UKIBC after 10 years as CEO. He will remain involved and committed to supporting the organisation and UK – India economic relations going forward. Richard has written and published many articles on UK India trade related matters and has frequently appeared on TV and radio promoting UK India economic and trade policy issues. He was awarded an OBE in the 2016 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to economic and trade relations between the UK and India. Richard is a graduate from Oxford University with a degree in law and is married with two daughters.
David Highton
Chair, Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust
David Highton has been Chair of Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust since 2017. Since 2018 he has been Chair of Demelza Hospice Care for Children and Strategic Health Advisor to Servita, a professional services company in UK, Middle East and Far East. Previously he was an Advisor to the Minister of Public Health in Qatar and also Executive Director at Hamad Medical Corporation. From 2010-14 he was Director of Clearview Healthcare, a Delhi-based company providing operator managed equipment services in India. Before moving to Qatar in 2011, David worked in the independent health sector and was also an NHS CEO from 1991 to 2003, including the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital and the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals.
Hitan Mehta
Executive Director, British Asian Trust
Hitan Mehta has been an integral member of the British Asian Trust. He is a member of the original founding team and its first ever employee. He has devoted the last 13 years to make BAT a resounding success, serving as its Executive Director. Hitan has over this time also supported HRH The Prince of Wales’s interactions with South Asia, having personally accompanied him on five trips to the region. Hitan has also served as Head of Operations for The Prince of Wales’s Charities Foundation, organising commercial activities to raise funds with a programme of music, sports, films and exhibitions. His concerted efforts on UK India relations saw him recognised in the ‘100 Most Influential People in UK India Relations’ list for 2018.
Sunil Mehta
Chief Executive, Indian Banks' Association (IBA)
Hitan Mehta has been an integral member of the British Asian Trust. He is a member of the original founding team and its first ever employee. He has devoted the last 13 years to make BAT a resounding success, serving as its Executive Director. Hitan has over this time also supported HRH The Prince of Wales’s interactions with South Asia, having personally accompanied him on five trips to the region. Hitan has also served as Head of Operations for The Prince of Wales’s Charities Foundation, organising commercial activities to raise funds with a programme of music, sports, films and exhibitions. His concerted efforts on UK India relations saw him recognised in the ‘100 Most Influential People in UK India Relations’ list for 2018.
Carly Moorhouse Fund Research Analyst, Quilter Cheviot Carly Moorhouse is part of the fund research team at Quilter Cheviot, working with both Quilter Cheviot and the Quilter Investors Multi-Asset team, leading the team’s Asian and Emerging Market fund research capabilities. Carly graduated from the University of Warwick with a degree in Sociology and has a Masters degree in Business from Warwick Business School. After graduating she started her career as a financial services consultant at Mazars LLP shortly before moving internally to Mazars Financial Planning as an investment analyst within the wealth management team. Carly is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter holder.
Rana Mitter
Professor, Oxford University
Rana Mitter OBE FBA is the Director of the University China Centre and Professor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of Oxford. He is the author of several books, including China’s War with Japan: The Struggle for Survival, 1937-1945 (Penguin, 2013), which was a Book of the Year in the Financial Times and Economist. His latest book is China’s Good War: How World War II is Shaping a Nationalist Future (Harvard, 2020). He has commented regularly on China in media and forums around the world including the World Economic Forum at Davos.
Narendra Mulani
Partner, Chicago Pacific Partners
Narendra Mulani spent 23 years at Accenture where he held several global leadership roles. In 2013 he was charged with founding and growing the Accenture Applied Intelligence business unit as Global Managing Director. The unit is responsible for building core capabilities in analytics, artificial intelligence and automation to create functional and industry solutions at scale. Narendra was also asked to coordinate the application of artificial intelligence and analytic technologies across Accenture. Over the past 7 years he led Accenture’s Applied Intelligence business from its inception to driving in excess of $8 billion in annual revenues. This is believed to be one of the largest applied AI businesses in the world. Narendra’s deep understanding of digital disruption, strong business operator skills, and ability to collaborate and influence across a highly matrixed organization drove the rapid and profitable growth of the business while also balancing for enterprise risk. Reflecting his dual role as strategist and business operator, Narendra was the Senior Managing Director responsible for the business unit. Prior to his role in Applied Intelligence Narendra held senior leadership roles at Accenture including the P&L owner for the Products industry portfolio in North America.
Gaurav Narain
Co-Head of Equities, Ocean Dial Asset Management
Gaurav Narain joined Ocean Dial in November 2011 and has been involved with the Indian markets for the past 25 years. He has held senior positions as both a Fund Manager and an equities analyst for New Horizon Investments, ING Investment Management India and SG (Asia) Securities India. He holds a Masters in Finance and Control and a Bachelor of Economics from Delhi University and is based in Mumbai.
Prof. Ananth Narayan
Associate Professor, S P Jain Institute of Management & Research
Prof Ananth Narayan is an Additional Director nominated by RBI on the board of Yes Bank. He is also an Independent Director on the boards of SBI Capital Markets, Clearcorp Dealing Systems, CARE Ratings, and Dvara Research. He is the Senior India Analyst with Observatory Group LLC. He is a member of SEBI’s Mutual Fund Advisory Committee, FICCI’s Capital markets Committee, and Kerala Infrastructure Fund Investment Committee. He has 24 years of experience in banking and markets, last as MD & Regional Head of Financial Markets, ASEAN & South Asia, with Standard Chartered Bank. He has served as Vice Chairman on the board of Fixed Income Money Market and Dealers Association (FIMMDA), Foreign Exchange Dealers Association of India (FEDAI), and on various RBI committees. He is a B Tech (Electrical) from IIT Bombay and a PGDM from IIM Lucknow. He speaks, writes and consults about macroeconomics, monetary economics, markets and financial services.
Prof. Ananth Narayan
Associate Professor, S P Jain Institute of Management & Research
Prof Ananth Narayan is an Additional Director nominated by RBI on the board of Yes Bank. He is also an Independent Director on the boards of SBI Capital Markets, Clearcorp Dealing Systems, CARE Ratings, and Dvara Research. He is the Senior India Analyst with Observatory Group LLC. He is a member of SEBI’s Mutual Fund Advisory Committee, FICCI’s Capital markets Committee, and Kerala Infrastructure Fund Investment Committee. He has 24 years of experience in banking and markets, last as MD & Regional Head of Financial Markets, ASEAN & South Asia, with Standard Chartered Bank. He has served as Vice Chairman on the board of Fixed Income Money Market and Dealers Association (FIMMDA), Foreign Exchange Dealers Association of India (FEDAI), and on various RBI committees. He is a B Tech (Electrical) from IIT Bombay and a PGDM from IIM Lucknow. He speaks, writes and consults about macroeconomics, monetary economics, markets and financial services.
Sanjay Nayar
Partner & CEO, KKR India
Sanjay Nayar (Mumbai) joined KKR in 2009 and is a Member and CEO of KKR India. He is also a member of the Asian Investment Committee and Asia Portfolio Management Committee. He is on the board of KKR's portfolio companies, Radiant Lifecare, Max Healthcare Institute Limited, Avendus Capital Pvt. Ltd, Max Financial Services Ltd, Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd, and Sterlite Investment Managers Ltd. He also supports expanding the range of KKR's credit and capital markets offerings across the Asia Pacific region. Prior to joining KKR, he served as CEO of Citigroup's Indian and South Asian operations and as a member of Citigroup’s Management Committee and Asia Executive Operating Committee from 2002 – 2009. Currently, he is a member of the board of USISPF, and SEBI’s NISM Board of Governors. Serves on the Board of Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA), Washington D.C; Indian School of Business (ISB); Advisory Board of Habitat for Humanity; Chairman of Grameen Impact Investments India (GIII); Founding Member of Brookings, India, and heads PE/VC Committee of the CII. Mr Nayar was the deputy chairman of the Indian Banks Association (IBA); the Committee of the Reserve Bank of India tasked with building a Centre for Advanced Financial Learning (CAFRAL); Co-Chairman of the Banking Committee for the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). He also served as the Chairman of the Indian Private Venture Capital Association from 2013 thru 2015.
Kunal Nayyar
Actor, British-Indian
Kunal Nayyar is best known for his work as Rajesh Koothrappali on television’s #1 comedy, “The Big Bang Theory.” The series has been nominated for multiple Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, Critics Choice Awards and won the People’s Choice Award for favorite network TV comedy three years in a row. In 2015, Nayyar made his New York Theatre debut in “The Spoils.” He starred in the off-Broadway play alongside Jesse Eisenberg, who also penned the play. ""The Spoils"" production went to London in 2016, and Nayyar made his West End debut. His additional theater credits include “Huck and Holden” at the Dahlia Theater in Los Angeles, for which Nayyar was awarded Best Male Lead in a Play on the West Coast by the Garland Awards, and “Love's Labour's Lost” at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Nayyar is the voice of Guy Diamond in the DreamWorks animated feature “Trolls”, as well as the up and coming “Trolls World Tour” premiering in April of 2020. Nayyar was also the voice of Vijay on the Nickelodeon animated series, “Sanjay and Craig,” and Gupta in the Fox feature “Ice Age: Continental Drift.” Nayyar guest hosted “The Late Late Show” on CBS. He took over the show for three nights and interviewed talent that included Billy Bob Thornton, Bob Newhart, Simon Helberg, Sarah Hyland and Britt Robertson. His episodes aired February 25 – 27, 2015. His other credits include a recurring role on the Vince Vaughn produced TBS show, “Sullivan & Sons,” as well as his most recent film, “Sweetness In The Belly”, starring Dakota Fanning, which premiered at TIFF in 2019. Nayyar produced the documentary, “Beyond All Boundaries,” about the competitive sport of Cricket in India. The documentary follows three people and their passion for the sport - Sudhir, a penniless superfan who cycles across India to cheer the team; Prithvi, a 12-year old boy wonder who is a cricket prodigy; and Akshaya, a girl cricketer from Mumbai's slums. After high school, Nayyar left India for the United States where he majored in business and took acting classes at the University of Portland (Portland, OR). In his senior year, he was nominated as the best actor in his play, “The Rose Tattoo,” and was given an invitation to the American College Theater Festival (ACTF) to compete in an acting competition, where he eventually won the Mark Twain Award for comic brilliance as well as a fellowship to the prestigious Sundance Theater Lab. He went on to receive his Masters in Fine Arts for acting from Temple University in Philadelphia. He was born in London, England, and spent most of his younger years growing up in New Delhi, India. He currently resides in Los Angeles.
Badrinivas NC
Managing Director Head of Markets & Securities Services, Citi South Asia
Badrinivas is the Head of Markets & Securities Services (MSS) for Citi South Asia. In this role, Badri is responsible for delivering on strategic initiatives and business plans for Citi’s clients across the MSS businesses. The team is responsible for bringing global products and services to the Indian client base and exporting Indian products and services to Citi’s global client base with the aim to become a trusted advisor. Citi has been present in India since 1902 and it is regularly awarded the Best International Bank in India from international trade magazines in the region. The MSS business at Citi India is a dominant player across fixed income, currencies, commodities, credit, investments, equity sales & research and custody. The business caters to a diverse set of clients across FPIs, large local corporates, multinationals, mid-market enterprises, SMEs, banks, domestic financial institutions, AMCs and provident funds.Citi India has a FX market share over 15%, 30% in custody services and close to 10% in equities with the bank’s markets business in the country among the top three for the bank globally. Prior to this role, Badri was the Country Treasurer & Head of Trading (Rates & FX) and Local Markets Treasury for Citibank NA & its affiliates in India - responsible for actively managing the balance sheet & investment portfolio of Citibank NA including its key affiliates, running the trading business for Citibank across Rates & FX products and generating Treasury income through appropriate positioning in the fixed income and FX markets. He is a specialist in Treasury & Asset Liability Management (ALM) with over a decade experience in the Indian fixed income, money markets & FX markets and fully conversation with the present and evolving local & global regulatory framework related to balance sheet management. Badri was a member of the RBI committee on Pricing of Credit and has been part of various industry body forums. He also regularly appears in the media and writes invitation columns in top financial publications in the country. He has overall banking experience of 20 years, across products (assets & liabilities) & functions (Operations, Product, Marketing, Sales & Treasury).
Deep Nishar
Senior Managing Partner, Americas, SoftBank Vision Fund
Deep Nishar is a Senior internet executive with 20 years of experience managing large, global organizations that create insanely brilliant and simple products that change peoples lives. He headed the overall consumer and monetization product strategy and user experience at LinkedIn, where efforts yielded the world’s largest and most powerful professional network with 347 million members worldwide. He was responsible for P&L of all online revenue streams ($869 million in 2014). Previously, at Google, his achievements included establishing the company’s mobile business beginning in 2005 and winning the Google Founders Award. He is a co-author of 14 U.S. patents. He also advises several companies and mentors founders through start up, growth and acquisition. Inspired by: brilliantly simple products, amazing people, great management…and my beautiful family!
Amul Pandya
Head of Business Development, Ocean Dial Asset Management
Amul Pandya’s career started out in politics in 2009. He shifted to asset management in 2012, joining Ocean Dial as a Sales & Marketing Manager. Amul subsequently helped to launch Cape Wrath Capital, a UK equity deep value firm in 2016. He re-joined Ocean Dial in September 2018 as Head of Business Development. Amul has a degree in Law from Southampton University and is a CFA charterholder.
Neil Parekh
Head of Asia, Australia & New Zealand, Tikehau Capital
Mr Neil Parekh is a Partner and Head of Asia-Pacific for Tikehau Capital. Prior to his current position he was General Manager, Asia for National Australia Bank. Mr Parekh takes an active interest in many Fintech ventures and currently serves as a Board Advisor to the ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN), established with the help of the MAS and the International Finance Corporation. He is also a member of the strategic investment advisory committee for AFIN’s AMTD Solidarity Fund. He benefits from more than 30 years of global experience in the financial services industry in the Asia Pacific region, US and Europe. Mr Parekh contributes his time as the Chairman of the International advisory committee for the AICD and is a member of the Governing Council of the Singapore Institute of Directors. Mr Parekh previously served as the Vice-chairman of the Singapore Indian Chamber and as a board director of Nautilus Insurance and TIE Singapore.
Alpesh Patel
Dealmaker, International Trade’s Global Entrepreneur Programme
Alpesh Patel is a Dealmaker, Dept for International Trade’s Global Entrepreneur Programme – bringing global tech companies to the UK. CEO of Private Equity and Hedge Fund Asset Management Company Former: Visiting Fellow in Business, Oxford University, Bloomberg TV presenter, Financial Times columnist, Chatham House Council Member, UK India Business Council Board Member, worked for Hon Eliot Engel, US Congress. Financial Times Author on Investing.
Dinesh K Patnaik
Director General, ICCR
H.E. Ambassador Mr. Dinesh K. Patnaik (IFS:1990) is a career diplomat of the Indian Foreign Service with experience of 30 years in a variety of interesting and challenging assignments. He has served in Indian Missions in Geneva, Dhaka, Beijing and Vienna. At Headquarters, he has served in the Europe West, External Publicity, Africa and UN Divisions. Shri Patnaik served as the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Vienna from 2009 to 2012. He was India’s Ambassador to Cambodia from 2012 to 2015 and India’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Morocco from 2015 to 2016. He was Deputy High Commissioner of India to London from 2016 to 2018. Prior to joining ICCR, he served as Additional Secretary (Indian Ocean Region) and thereafter Additional Secretary (CPV&OIA) in the Ministry of External Affairs. Ambassador Patnaik holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kolkata. He also holds a Master’s degree in Advanced International Studies from the University of Vienna and Certificate in International Studies from the Diplomatic Academy, Vienna. Ambassador Patnaik is married to Poonam who is an international educator. They have two daughters.
Anju Patwardhan
Managing Director, CreditEase FinTech VC Fund
Anju Patwardhan is a globally experienced banker, venture investor, and board director. She has lived in Singapore, India, and San Francisco. She was the Managing Director at CreditEase Fintech Venture Capital Fund of USD 500 million, based in San Francisco until last year, where she managed investments in over 40 companies globally (mainly in the US and the UK) since 2016. Several of these are now unicorns. Prior to this, Anju worked in banking for over two decades with Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in global and regional leadership roles, including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Risk Officer, Digital Banking Head, and Global Chief Innovation Officer. She was a member of SCB’s global executive leadership team, a member of its global Technology & Operations Management Group, and member of the global Risk Management Group. Anju was a Fulbright Fellow & Visiting Scholar from ASEAN at Stanford University in 2016, and Distinguished Careers Institute (DCI) Fellow at Stanford in 2017 and 2018. While at Stanford, she focused on use of technology to support financial inclusion and financial well-being . She also collaborated to launch a fintech course in 2017 at Stanford GSB for the MBA students and continues to be a guest speaker for the course. She has been a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) steering committee on ‘Disruptive Innovation in Financial Services’ since 2015 and is a Distinguished Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Banking and Finance. She has served as FinTech Industry Expert at UC Berkeley (SCET) was previously on the advisory board of Government of Estonia’s e-Residency program. . She is an experienced board director and serves on boards of banks, fintech companies, and non-profit entities. She is currently on boards of the Gulf International Bank in Saudi Arabia, several fintech companies in San Francisco and London, and on OCBC Bank’s Board Digital Advisory Council in Singapore. She is an alumnus of the IIT Delhi and IIM Bangalore and has additional qualifications in board directorship, risk management and art appreciation.
Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan
Distinguished Fellow & Head, Nuclear and Space Policy Initiative, Observer Research Foundation
Dr. Rajeswari (Raji) Pillai Rajagopalan is a Distinguished Fellow and heads the Nuclear and Space Policy Initiative at the Observer Research Foundation. She is also a Non-Resident Indo-Pacific Fellow at the Perth USAsia Centre from April-December 2020. She was also the Technical Advisor to a new United Nations Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on Prevention of Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS) (July 2018-July 2019). As a senior Asia defence writer for The Diplomat, she writes a weekly column on Asian strategic issues. Dr. Rajagopalan joined ORF after a five-year stint at the National Security Council Secretariat (2003-2007), Government of India, where she was an Assistant Director. Prior to joining the NSCS, she was Research Officer at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. She was also a Visiting Professor at the Graduate Institute of International Politics, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan in 2012. She has authored or edited nine books including Global Nuclear Security: Moving Beyond the NSS (2018), Space Policy 2.0 (2017), Nuclear Security in India (2015), Clashing Titans: Military Strategy and Insecurity among Asian Great Powers (2012), The Dragon's Fire: Chinese Military Strategy and Its Implications for Asia (2009). She has published research essays in edited volumes, and in peer reviewed journals such as India Review, Strategic Studies Quarterly, Air and Space Power Journal, International Journal of Nuclear Law and Strategic Analysis. She has also contributed essays to newspapers such as The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Times of India, and The Economic Times. She has been invited to speak at international fora including the United Nations Disarmament Forum (New York), the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) (Vienna), Conference on Disarmament (Geneva), ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the European Union.
Baroness Usha Prashar
Chair, Ficci UK
The Right Honourable the Baroness Usha Prashar of Runnymede CBE, PC, an independent member of the House of Lords since 1999, has led and chaired a number of public and voluntary organisations with distinction. In the House of Lords she is a Vice Chair of the Commonwealth All Party Parliamentary Group and serves on the House of Lords EU Select Committee on Services. From 2014-17 she was a member of House of Lords European Union Select Committee and chair of its sub-committee on Home Affairs; from 2001 - 2009 member of Joint Committee on Human Rights; from 2006-2007 member of Committee on Regulators; from 2008- 2009 Chair of Committee for Privileges and Conduct. Currently she is Chairman of Cumberland Lodge, an educational institution, non-executive director of Nationwide Building Society and Chairman of U.K. Council of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Previously she has held roles such as Deputy Chairman, British Council, 2012-2018 where she led the UK - India year of culture in 2017/18.
Gareth Price
Senior Research Fellow, Chatham House
Gareth Price is a Senior Research Fellow at Chatham House leading research on South Asia. He was previously an analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, focused on South Asia, and before that worked on the same region for a political risk consultancy, Control Risks Group. His Ph.D. focused on the politics of Northeast India. His current research interests include India’s foreign policy, regional relations within South Asia and the politics surrounding water. He also focuses on Afghanistan’s regional engagement. He has worked on projects for numerous governments and companies and is a regular media commentator on South Asian affairs.
Aman Puri
Consulate General of India, Birmingham
Dr. Aman Puri assumed charge as Consul General of India, Birmingham in February 2017. He is a member of the Indian Foreign Service [IFS] having joined in 2003. He has earlier worked with the Prime Minister of India in the capacity of Head of Protocol. Dr. Puri is a qualified Dentist, has a special interest in the healthcare sector, and is an ardent supporter of deeper and stronger collaborations between Universities/NHS Trusts and their Indian counterparts for creating a ‘circular economy’. During the last 3 years, under Dr. Puri’s guidance the Consulate has achieved substantial success in supporting economic relationship between India and the Midlands/North of England region of the UK. Most recently , ‘West Midlands India Partnership’ a special purpose vehicle has been created to promote two-way trade and investment relationship. Consulate worked closely with WMGC in bringing key stakeholders across West-Midlands India economic landscape together to support this initiative.
Sanjay Raina
Chief Commercial Officer, Abu Dhabi Media
Sanjay Raina is the Chief Commercial Officer at Abu Dhabi Media, the region’s largest media company. Sanjay heads a team of 76 people and his role envisages planning and strategizing the monetization efforts for all ADM assets Sanjay took over the position of FOX Networks Group’ as General Manager in August 2013, with the core responsibilities to ensure the overall growth and enhancement of the channels with a specific task to build the Fox and National Geographic brand in the MENA & Pakistan region. Sanjay joined the FNG team with over two decades of experience in the International media industry. His current remit covers P&L responsibility for the Middle East & North Africa region, Content Acquisition and Planning, Channel Operations, Brand and Consumer Marketing. Sanjay ran a team of 80 over people based out of Dubai. Prior to FNG, Sanjay has worked across various categories namely Consumer Electronics, Publishing and News Television, Pay Television and Sports broadcasting with esteemed organizations like Philips, Hindustan Times, Times Now, Astro Malaysia and Ten Sports. Sanjay has had International stints in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and currently Dubai. Sanjay is also an award-winning executive having been awarded the Broadcast Executive of the year at the Digital Studio Awards 2016 and the Broadcast Executive of the year at Broadcast Pro ME awards 2017. He holds an MBA in Marketing from University of Pune, as well as a Bachelor in Electronics from the same establishment. Sanjay is married with two sons’ and is an avid golfer.
Shailesh Rao
Advisor, Venture Highway & Advisor, BigSpring
Shailesh has been at the forefront of key innovations across several essential and well-known digital services today. Shailesh launched YouTube across Asia, and Google Maps and Twitter around the world leading the localization and distribution of these services to meet the needs of different cultures and societies. He received the prestigious Founders Award while at Google for playing a leadership role in the launch of Google Maps and Google Earth globally. Shailesh led the first streaming of live sports on the Internet with the IPL on YouTube in 2009 transforming digital video in India and sports globally. He was recognized as one of India’s 100 most impactful leaders by Businessweek. Most recently, he was a Partner and Senior Advisor to TPG’s Growth Fund and The Rise Fund, the world’s largest social impact fund founded by TPG and Bono, having led several technology investments in India and expanded the fund’s capabilities to Southeast Asia.
Srini Rao
Global Vice Chair, Global Delivery Services, EY
Srini Rao leads the Global Delivery Services (GDS) organization across EY. In that role, Srini leads and manages over 40,000 professionals across 6 countries and 15 cities spanning the EY network. EY’s unique and distinctive GDS organization has established itself as a strategic transformation catalyst across EY, re-imagining and transforming delivery models across the vast global portfolio of EY’s Service Lines and EY’s Enablement Functions, developing new services and solutions for the global business, and at the tip of the spear on most of EY’s strategic initiatives. Prior to his GDS role, Srini was the Deputy Global Vice Chair for Tax, and before that, the Global Chief Operating Officer for Tax at EY.
Girish Ramachandran
President - Asia Pacific, Tata Consultancy Services Asia Pacific Pte Ltd
Girish Ramachandran is President, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Asia Pacific (APAC). In this role, he is responsible for strategy, growth and business operations in Australia, New Zealand, ASEAN, Greater China and Korea. Under his leadership, TCS APAC has consistently contributed to TCS’s industry-leading growth. Girish joined TCS in 1994 and in his 25 year career with TCS, has held a wide variety of leadership positions across key parts of TCS’s business including Head of Europe, Middle East and Africa and Corporate Vice President – Corporate Initiatives. Girish serves on the board of Amsterdam based Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), a pioneer in global sustainability reporting. He is a member of CII International Council and also serves on the International Boards of Nyenrode University in Netherlands. He is a recipient of the Frans Banninck CocqMedal from the Mayor of Amsterdam in recognition of his meritorious service to the city of Amsterdam. In 2017, The Australian Government appointed Girish as the Business Champion for New Colombo Plan. In 2018, Singapore Human Resource Institute (SHRI), recognized Girish with the “Leading CEO” award amongst a list of top CEOs. Girish holds a Master’s degree in Management from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai and a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Technology from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore.
S Ramadorai
Chairman TISS, Former Chairman NSDC & NSDA
Mr S Ramadorai was in public service from February 2011 to October 2016. During his tenure as the Chairman of National Skill Development Agency (NSDA) and the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) his approach was to standardize the skilling effort, ensure quality and commonality of outcomes by leveraging technology and create an inclusive environment to co-operate, collaborate & co-exist. He strongly believed that empowering the youth with the right skills can define the future of the country. Mr Ramadorai is currently the Chairman of the Advisory Board at Tata STRIVE, which is the Tata Group’s CSR skill development initiative that aims to address the pressing national need of skilling youth for employment, entrepreneurship and community enterprise. He is also the Chairman of Tata Technologies Limited and additionally serves as an Independent Director on the Boards of Piramal Enterprises Limited and DSP Investment Managers. In March 2016, he retired as the Chairman of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE Limited) after having served on their board for a period of 6 years. Mr Ramadorai took over as the CEO of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in 1996 when the company’s revenues were at $ 155 million and since then led the company through some of its most exciting phases, including its going public in 2004. In October 2009, he retired as the CEO, leaving a $ 6 billion global IT services company to his successor. He was then appointed as the Vice Chairman and retired in October 2014, after an association of over 4 decades with the company. Given his keen passion to work for the social sector and community initiatives, he also serves as the Chairman on the Council of Management at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) and the Chairperson of the Governing Board at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). He is also the President of the Society for Rehabilitation of Crippled Children (SRCC) – which has recently built a super specialty children’s hospital in Mumbai. In recognition of his commitment and dedication to the IT industry he was awarded the Padma Bhushan (India's third highest civilian honour) in January 2006. In April 2009, he was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his contribution to the Indo-British economic relations. In 2016, he was also awarded The Economic Times - Lifetime Achievement Award for his glorious contribution to Tata Consultancy Services. His academic credentials include a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Delhi University (India), a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics and Telecommunications from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru (India) and a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of California – UCLA (USA). In 1993, Ramadorai attended the Sloan School of Management’s highly acclaimed Senior Executive Development Program. Ramadorai is a well-recognized global leader and technocrat who has participa
Satya Ramamurthy
Partner, KPMG
Satya is a Partner with KPMG in Singapore and is the Head of the Infrastructure, Government and Healthcare sector. He has over 25 years experience advising both Governments and private sector clients in the South East Asian region. Satya has advised on market entry and business transformation initiatives for several companies in the region. He has also worked extensively with governments in driving corporatisation, public private partnerships, and creating new market structures. Prior to joining KPMG in 1995, Satya worked with MNCs in Asia and the Middle East. He is a Chartered Accountant and has a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
MR Rangaswami
Founder & Chairman, Indiaspora
MR Rangaswami is a software executive, investor, entrepreneur, corporate eco-strategy expert, community builder and philanthropist. Recognized as a software business expert, he participated in the rapid expansion of the Silicon Valley software industry during his tenure as an executive at both large and small software companies. In 1997, he co-founded Sand Hill Group one of the earliest “angel” investment firms and was featured on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. He produced the prestigious Enterprise and Software conferences that were held in Silicon Valley. He was also listed on the Forbes “Midas” list of investors. M.R. is the publisher of SandHill.com a leading website for entrepreneurs, VCs and CIOs. In 2007, M.R. embarked on a new venture as the founder of the Corporate Eco Forum, an invitation-only membership organization for Global 500 companies that demonstrate a serious commitment to environment as a business strategy issue. In 2012 M.R. founded Indiaspora to unite Indian Americans and to transform their success into meaningful impact in India and on the global stage.
Dipen Rugnani
CEO, Newland Global Group
Dipen Rughani, is the CEO of corporate advisory firm Newland Global Group (NGG) based in Australia. NGG focuses on simplifying and strengthening trade and investment between Australia and India. Under his leadership, NGG has managed, advised, and grew businesses in the public and private sectors between Australia and India. Dipen has over 25 years of business experience with clients in Trade and Investment. As a leading authority who fosters and strengthens Australia-India trade relations, Dipen works closely with all the State Governments of Australia, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Austrade, Indian Consulates across the country, and the Indian High Commission in Canberra. Dipen has also led the Australia India Business Council (AIBC) as its National Chairman from 2012 to 2016. His passion for facilitating stronger relations between Australia-India has allowed him to lead many business delegations at prominent B2B summits held in India, and provide substantial inputs into the Australian government’s white papers and strategy papers. Dipen is an advisor to key Australia-India centric institutions, and sits on several boards focusing on trade potential between Australia and India. Dipen is the mind behind the ‘Australia India Conversations’ and ‘Australia India Webinar Series’ initiatives that stimulate and enhance deliberations on the new energy in Australia–India relations. The conversations and webinars intends to bring together some of the best minds to share their understanding of the critically important and complex areas of engagement between Australia and India. Dipen is currently writing his first book “Simplifying Doing Business in INDIA”, the book is focused on streamlining doing business in India. The book conducts considerable analysis of the changes that have been implemented by the government in India on the ‘Ease of Doing Business’. The book provides a step-by-step guide of doing business in India, and the sort of opportunities New India has to offer. The book will be released late 2020. Dipen is also President and Trustee of Anoopam Mission Australia, a charity which supports and educates handicapped children, educates underprivileged girls & women and provides free medical services to over 100 villages in Gujarat.
Mridula Iyer
Head - Treasury & Trade Solutions (TTS), Citi South Asia
Mridula Iyer is head of Treasury & Trade Solutions (TTS) for Citi South Asia, covering India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. TTS serves Citi’s Corporate, Institutional and Mid- Market clients to provide them with Cash Management, Trade Finance and Working capital efficiency solutions. She started her career with Citi in 1996 and over the past 24 years has worked in multiple roles in diverse businesses across Cash Management, Trade and Securities Services, as well as Compliance. Prior to this role, Mridula was Head of TTS Cash Products, where she led the growth of Citi India’s cash business with a focus on innovation and digital capabilities for clients. She has vast experience in banking and financial services having worked in diverse functions across Sales, Product Management, Operations and Compliance. She has been a key member of the TTS India and South Asia management team. A Chartered Accountant by qualification, she has a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Mumbai University.
Gopal Jain
Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India
Mr Gopal Jain is a designated Senior Advocate by the Supreme Court of India with over 25 years of experience in Commercial Litigation and Arbitration. He specialises in the field of Regulatory disputes, commercial litigation and commercial arbitration (domestic and international both as Senior Counsel and arbitrator appointed by the court). He has experience as a Counsel in contentious and complex commercial disputes in the key infrastructure sectors such as roads, construction, airport, electricity, oil & gas etc. on wide ranging matters involving contractual interpretation, combination of policy and contract related issues with the focus being on finding solutions to the commercial disputes. He has initiated Regulatory Policy platforms- ‘The Policy Dialogues for Future India’ and ‘World Bank’s Dialogue with Regulators’ to facilitate dialogues between a multidisciplinary panel consisting of Regulators, policy makers, decision makers etc. The objective is to develop a ‘Regulatory Vision’ for India and bring focus on Regulators and Policy Makers as an institution to promote ease of doing business, support India as an investment hub and to create a fair and competitive market to enable economic growth and development.
William Russell
Lord Mayor, City of London
The Lord Mayor combines a historic constitutional role with a modern-day mission: to act as a global Ambassador and spokesperson for the City – the UK’s financial and professional services industry. Alderman William Russell has been elected as the 692nd Lord Mayor of the City of London. He will serve as the elected head of the City of London Corporation, from 8 November 2019 for a one-year term. With over thirty years’ experience in the financial and business City, including holding senior positions in the national and international Banking sector, William started his career with First Boston before joining Merrill Lynch as an Investment Banker. He is currently Chair of CDAM, a London based Asset Management business and Senior Advisor to STJ Advisors. William has been a Board member of Innovate Finance, the industry body for the UK Fintech community. An educational entrepreneur, he is Co-Founder of Knightsbridge School and a Director of Knightsbridge School International.
Sachit Jain
Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Vardhman Special Steels Ltd.
Vice Chairman and managing director of Vardhman Special Steel Limited which is a part of the Vardhman Textile Group. Actively involved in CII since 25 years and past Chairman of the Northern Region. Past President of the Ludhiana Management Association. Founder and President of the Baddi Barootiwala Nalagarh Association (the largest industrial association in Himachal Pradesh). Been involved in several government bodies in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. Transformed the culture of the steel division into a growth oriented company. Installed a new rolling mill and helped to improve the productivity in the Steel Melting Shop which lead to a significant increase in production from 60,000 tons to 170,000 tons. The company’s turnover grew from 250 Cr from when he joined to 1120 Cr 2018-19. Market capitalization of VSSL grew from 50 Cr to 450 Cr – though currently down to around 300 Cr. Successfully implemented a JV with Aichi Steel Corporation of Toyota Group, one of the world’s leading special steel producers.
Umesh Sachdev
Founder & CEO, Uniphore
Umesh Sachdev, Co-founder, and CEO of Uniphore, is a modern-day entrepreneur with a passion for technologies that have massive societal impact. Umesh co-founded Uniphore with Ravi Saraogi to bridge the communication gap between man and machine using voice and speech. He was globally recognized in 2016 as one of the ten ‘Next Generation Leaders’ by Time Magazine. The MIT Tech Review recognized him as one of the ‘Innovators Under 35’. He has been conferred with the title of ‘Innovative Entrepreneur’ by the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Technopreneur Promotion Programme (TePP). He holds patents in Speech Recognition Technologies and Voice Biometrics and is the author of many technical papers. Umesh is an alumnus of Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, and also a renowned ‘TED Talk’ speaker.
Taranjit Singh Sandhu
Ambassador of India, United States
Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu is one of the most experienced Indian diplomats on US affairs, having served in the Indian Mission in Washington DC twice earlier. He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of India in Washington DC from July 2013 to January 2017. Earlier, he was First Secretary (Political) at the Embassy of India, Washington, DC responsible for liaison with the United States Congress from 1997 to 2000. He has also been at the Permanent Mission of India to United Nations, New York from July 2005 to February 2009. Prior to his current assignment in Washington DC, Ambassador Sandhu was High Commissioner of India to Sri Lanka from January 2017 to January 2020. In a distinguished career spanning over thirty years in the Indian Foreign Service since 1988, Ambassador Sandhu started his diplomatic career from former Soviet Union (Russia) where he worked as Third Secretary (Political) / Second Secretary (Commercial) in the Indian Mission from 1990 to 1992. Following the breakup of Soviet Union, he was sent to open a new Embassy in Ukraine. He served as Head of Political and Administration Wings in Indian Embassy in Kiev from 1992 to 1994. Ambassador Sandhu assumed charge as Ambassador to the United States on February 3, 2020 and presented his credentials to the President of the United States of America, H.E. Mr. Donald Trump at the Oval office of the White House on 6 February 2020.
Mahmoud Jardaneh
Energy Attache, U.S. Department of Energy
Mahmoud (MJ) Jardaneh is the Energy Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. He is responsible for advancing the U.S. Department of Energy's engagements in India. Prior to joining the U.S. Department of Energy, Mr Jardaneh held various positions at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), including reactor operations engineer, structural engineer, and technical staff. He was also a Mansfield Fellow working on nuclear power safety regulations within the Japanese Government. Mr Jardaneh holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Temple University and a master’s degree in environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University.
Sanjeev Sanyal
Principal Economic Adviser, Government of India
Sanjeev Sanyal is an internationally acclaimed economist and best-selling author. He is currently?the Principal Economic Advisor to the Government of India and also serves as the Co-Chair of the G-20 Framework Working Group. Prior to joining the government, he spent two decades in the financial sector and was Global Strategist & Managing Director at Deutsche Bank. He was named Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2010. He is also a well known environmentalist and urban theorist. In 2007, he was awarded the Eisenhower Fellowship for his work on urban dynamics. He has been a Visiting Scholar at Oxford University, Adjunct Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore and a Senior Fellow of the World Wide Fund for Nature. In 2016, he served in the Future City Sub-Committee of the Singapore government tasked with building a long-term vision for the city-state and is currently a member of the committee tasked with writing a new National Urban Policy for India (to be published 2018).? Sanjeev attended Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi and Oxford University where he was a Rhodes Scholar (1992-95).?His best-selling books include?Land of the Seven Rivers,?The Indian Renaissance?and?The Ocean of Churn, all published by Penguin. In addition, he had published around 200 articles, columns and reports in leading national/international publications. He was given the inaugural International Indian Achievers Award for contributions to Literature in 2014. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, London and a Visiting Fellow of IDFC Institute, Mumbai.
Natasha Jha Bhaskar
General Manager, Newland Global Group
Natasha Jha Bhaskar, is the General Manager of Newland Global Group, corporate advisory firm specialising in the Australia India bilateral trade space based in Sydney, Australia. Natasha has twelve years of experience in the Indian Parliament in policy analysis – communication - advocacy of important federal government policies, which are of national and international relevance. She has had excellent and deep exposure to the Indian legislative process. She has engaged with different levels of government, to study efficient governance and delivery models, strategy, and implementation plans for building human capital. She has been part of Indian Parliament delegations to national and international conferences (SAARC, ASEAN, BRICS, National Legislators Conference). Her current work focuses on understanding the dynamic Indian policy landscape, staying on top of industry trends and leveraging trade opportunities between the two countries. She is also a frequent commentator on Australia India bilateral issues (SBS Australia, Australian Financial Review, ABC News, Sky News). Natasha regularly writes on issues ranging from policy reform to key sectors of engagement between Australia and India. She has several publications credited to her name in The Business Today, Observer Research Foundation, Lowy’s Interpreter, India Inc., Yojana, CNA Singapore, CUTS Washington. Natasha was recognised as the Young Professional of the Year at the 2019 India Australia Business and Community Awards (IABCA).
Mohit Joshi
Infosys, President
Mohit has over 20 years of professional experience in the U.S, Europe, India, Mexico and is the President of Infosys Ltd. He is the Head of Banking, Financial Services, Insurance, Healthcare and Life Sciences business at Infosys. Infosys is a world leader in the Software & Services business with Global revenues of USD 13 Billion with over 228,000 employees across 50 countries. As the President, Mohit is part of the Executive Management team at Infosys with the responsibility to represent the firm to Clients, Investors, Governments and other Stakeholders. Mohit is also the Chairman of Edgeverve Limited, the software subsidiary of Infosys. His responsibilities include: • Direct P&L responsibility for the Financial Services, Insurance, Healthcare & Life sciences business at Infosys. This is over a third of Infosys’ Global revenues. He also has responsibility for the UK & Australia public sector business and for Australia as a region (across verticals). • Leading the Software business at Infosys – this includes Finacle (a leading Banking software platform) and Edge (the AI and Automation software provided by Infosys) • Sales Operations, effectiveness, training across Infosys. This means leading & transforming a 2000 Sales teams across the globe. Oversight on Large deals across Infosys and Deal Advisor relations. Mohit joined Infosys in 2000 and has since worked in different capacities. In his previous role, he was responsible for leading the Financial Services practice in Europe. In 2007, Mohit was appointed as CEO of Infosys Mexico and was instrumental in setting up the first subsidiary in Latin America. Mohit has previously worked in India with ABN AMRO and ANZ Grindlays in their Corporate and Investment banks. Mohit holds a Master of Business Administration from the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University and a Bachelor’s degree in history from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi. Mohit was invited to join the Global Young Leader program at the World Economic Forum in 2014. He is also a member of the Economic Growth Board of the CBI (Confederation of British Industry). He is also a member of YPO (Young Presidents Organization), Mayfair Chapter. He lives with his wife and two daughters in London. Mohit has lived and worked in three continents across Asia, Europe and North America and this informs his work and career.
Samir Saran
President, Observer Research Foundation
Samir Saran is the President of Observer Research Foundation (ORF), one of Asia’s most influential think tanks. Working with the Board, he provides strategic direction and leadership to ORF’s multiple centres on fundraising, research projects, platform design and outreach initiatives including stakeholder engagement. He curates the Raisina Dialogue, India’s annual flagship platform on geopolitics and geo-economics, and chairs CyFy, India’s annual conference on cybersecurity and internet governance. He spearheads the foundation’s efforts to foster new international partnerships and globalize its platforms. Samir is also a Commissioner of The Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace, a member of the Regional Stewardship Board of the World Economic Forum, and a part of its Global Future Council on Geopolitics. He has recently co-authored two books on geopolitics.
Jagjeet Sareen
Director, Investment and Finance, International Solar Alliance
Jagjeet Sareen is a strategic thinker on geo-economics and international affairs. Jagjeet has been working on global economic governance, inter-governmental negotiations, investment, and finance issues for over 15 years. Jagjeet is currently working as Director, Finance, at the International Solar Alliance, on a secondment from the World Bank. At the World Bank, he worked as a Senior Policy Officer. From 2014-18, he led strategy and policy team at the World Bank’s Climate Investment Funds (CIF), with an $8 billion portfolio that finances clean infrastructure projects in 76 developing countries. He was also a part of the World Bank’s External and Corporate Relations (ECR) team, focusing on global economic governance and the management of the World Bank’s interface with the G20. In 2018, he was seconded from the World Bank to the International Solar Alliance (ISA) secretariat, headquartered in India. He has previously worked at Asian Development Bank and the United Nations.
Prasoon Joshi
Poet, Songwriter and Communication Professional
National Award Winner, an acclaimed industry Leader, Prasoon Joshi exemplifies the rare breed of creativity and leadership. He goes beyond defined roles and uses his Intellectual and Artistic ability as a writer and Poet to create unique content that inspires and propels positive change in the society. An Advertising and Communication icon who’s built Mega brands, a Writer who’s been honored with the prestigious National award by the President of India , he has also garnered glory at International Awards like Cannes, D&Ad, and plethora of others. As Chairman of McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific , he is credited with marrying creativity with scale and giving McCann's work in India a distinct cultural edge making it a powerhouse that has the pulse of the market and consumer. His work for mainstream brands like Coca Cola, MasterCard, J&J , Perfetti, Nestle, Maggi, and national ones like Dabur, Britannia and more ,is well recognised Content creation for brands in the music space for coca cola or social projects like Malnutrition Polio eradication, Women Empowerment Ministry of Tourism , the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan (Clean India) have all won accolades and found deep and powerful consumer connect. His creativity as a Writer -Poet permeates the arena of celebrated Indian Feature Films '(Bollywood) where he is a celebrated and award winning Song and Screenwriter. Through his writing in films like Taare Zameen Par, Rang De Basanti, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Neerja and Manikarnika, he has rekindled the faith that one can give constructive direction to the society through high calibre work in the Popular genre. His poems in various issues have found a unique connection with the consciousness of the country. Prasoon is also a columnist writing on branding and social issues in leading business and daily publications He has authored 5 books as well, his first at the age of 17 and his latest “ Thinking Aloud” released in January 2019. Designated a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, Prasoon has also been conferred the prestigious Padma Award by the President of India. Through his multifaceted pursuits and Content creation across the fields of Poetry, Cinema Advertising and Music he has positively impacted the public consciousness and has emerged as an iconic socio cultural voice that resonates across segments.
A. Gitesh Sarma
High Commissioner, High Commission of India, Canberra
A Gitesh Sharma was born on 25th March 1961. He completed his B.A. (Hons) and M.A. in Political Science from Delhi University. He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1986. Worked in Ministry of External Affairs as Under Secretary (Europe East) and Director (Central Asia). Mr Sarma’s overseas assignments include Indian Missions in Russia, Ukraine, Hong Kong, Pakistan and United Kingdom. He has been Ambassador of India to Uzbekistan and High Commissioner of India in Fiji. Additionally, served as the Officer on Special Duty (IT Enabled Services) in the Information Technology Department of the state of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, India. He was also Joint Secretary (External Relations) in the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India. Mr Sarma was Secretary(West) in the Ministry of External Affairs until November 2019.
Amb Kenneth I Juster
U.S. Ambassador, Republic of India
Kenneth I. Juster was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate on November 2, 2017 and appointed by the President on November 3, 2017 to be the 25th United States Ambassador to the Republic of India. He presented his credentials to the President of India on November 23, 2017. He has 40 years of experience as a senior business executive, senior law partner, and senior government official. He previously served from January to June 2017 as the Deputy Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs and Deputy Director of the National Economic Council. He was a senior member of both the National Security Council staff and the National Economic Council staff. In this role, he coordinated the Administration’s international economic policy and integrated it with national security and foreign policy. He also served as the lead U.S. negotiator (“Sherpa”) in the run-up to the G7 Summit in Taormina, Italy. Prior to that, he was a Partner and Managing Director, from 2010-2017, at the global investment firm Warburg Pincus, where he focused on a broad range of issues, including geopolitical risk, global public policy, regulatory matters, and environmental, social, and governance initiatives relating to the Firm’s investment activities and portfolio companies. From 2005-2010, he was Executive Vice President of Law, Policy, and Corporate Strategy at salesforce.com, a software company that pioneered cloud computing for business enterprises.
Harinder Sekhon
Strategic and Foreign Policy Consultant, Vivekananda International Foundation
Dr. Harinder Sekhon was a Consultant (June 2019 - July 209) at the Vivekananda International Foundation. She was also Senior Fellow at the VIF from October 2014 - June 2019. She has over three decades of research, writing and teaching experience on various aspects of Indo-US relations, US policy and strategy in Asia and regional security challenges in South and East Asia.From 2004 till 2013, she was Senior Fellow, US Studies Programme at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi based Public Policy Think Tank. Before that, Dr. Sekhon worked as an Intelligence and Strategic Analyst with the National Security Council Secretariat, Government of India for two years and was engaged in data analysis and preparing assessments on strategic issues for policy implementation by the Government of India. Dr. Sekhon was Associate Professor of History at MCMDAV College for Women, Chandigarh from 1986 till 1998 and was a Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the Centre of Contemporary Studies, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library from 1999 to 2001. She has authored three books: Garland Around My Neck: The Story of Puran Singh of Pingalwara, published by UBS Publishers, New Delhi in 2001, Five Decades of Indo-US Relations: Strategic and Intellectual published by UBS Publishers, New Delhi, in 2002, and India and the United States: Breakthroughs, Prospects and Challenges Ahead published by Macmillan India in 2008. She has presented research papers at several national and international conferences and writes frequently for academic journals and several newspapers on her area of study. She appears frequently on numerous TV channels on panel discussions pertaining to her areas of specialization. Dr. Sekhon graduated in History Honours from Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi and has done her MA, M Phil and PhD from Punjab University, Chandigarh.
K B Kachru
Chairman Emeritus & Principal Advisor, South Asia at Radisson Hotel Group
K B Kachru is chairman emeritus and principal advisor, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group, and has been instrumental in building the business in India since 1998. K B continues to be on the board of the Group’s South Asia business entities. Radisson Hotel Group is one of the world’s largest and most dynamic hotel groups with overall brand portfolio of over 1,400 hotels. In India it presently operates over 94 hotels (10,910 rooms). He was previously chairman, South Asia, of the Group, since 2013. Prior to that, K B served as executive vice president, responsible for the overall strategy, hotel development, management and functional support of key markets within South Asia, overseeing Radisson Hotel Group’s joint venture companies in India. K B is an active member of various Tourism and Hospitality Advisory Committees at the state and national level. He is presently a member of Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) National Tourism Committee and Vice President of Hotel Association of India. He has been on the board of directors for the Tourism Corporation of various state governments and on the board of governors of the Institute of Hotel Management in New Delhi. He also served as an executive member of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) India Chapter, the American Society of Travel Agents of India, Hotel Association of India (HAI), Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) and India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB). He has recently been appointed on the Board of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Trust, which is one of the most prominent and visited Hindu religious destinations in India (over 8 million devotees). He also spearheaded the formation of the Institute for International Management and Technology in collaboration with Oxford Brookes University, UK, and was also responsible for the introduction of arrival passenger duty free shopping at India’s international airports.
Joe Kaderavek
CEO, CobaltBlue
Joe Kaderavek commenced his career as an RAAF Engineering Officer before transitioning to PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he was responsible for preparing operational reviews and examining strategic options across mining, processing, railway and port facilities throughout Australia, North America and Europe. Over the last 20 years he has been involved in equities/investment research (including senior roles with Deutsche Bank and Five Oceans Asset Management) focussed on mining, minerals processing and energy storage technologies. Most recently, Joe held an international consulting role with a focus on renewable energy and battery storage technologies. Joe holds the following qualifications: • BEng (Aeronautical Engineering) (University of Sydney); • GCertEng (Reliability Engineering) (Monash University); • Master of Business Administration (MBA) (Deakin University); • Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA Institute). Joe has significant experience in managing investments in the global resources and minerals processing industries, and in managing turnaround projects supporting corporate targets, merger and divestment activities. Joe also has a detailed understanding of the energy storage market and battery technology.
Neeraj Seth
MD, Head of Asian Credit, Blackrock
Neeraj Seth, Managing Director, is the Head of Asian Credit and has been in his current role since 2009. He is the portfolio manager for the Asian Tiger Bond Fund and Asia Pacific private credit fund. He leads the strategy for Asian Fundamental Credit and is responsible for providing oversight of the investment process, performance, and the team's infrastructure as well as determining the strategic direction and growth initiatives of the platform. He has been responsible for building the Asian fundamental credit business since 2009.
Jigar Shah
Head of Legal and Compliance, KKR India
Jigar Shah joined KKR in 2018 and heads the Legal and Compliance function for KKR India, working across all the KKR activities in India including its corporate and real estate lending arms, private equity, special situation and infrastructure platforms. Prior to joining KKR, Jigar was the head of Legal at JPMorgan India during 2013-18, responsible for all transactional and non-transactional legal support, and a member of JPMorgan’s India Country Location Management Committee, India Management Committee and APAC Legal Management Committee as well as its APAC Inclusive Leadership Council which set JPMorgan’s diversity and inclusion agenda in the region. Jigar previously worked at Deutsche Bank during 2002-13 in their London, Hong Kong and Mumbai offices (as Head of Corporate and Investment Bank Legal). Prior to Deutsche Bank, Jigar was in private practice at various international law firms in London including Linklaters. Over the years, Jigar has built up a lot of experience in legal and regulatory compliant structuring solutions and delivered various forms of exits at each of KKR, JPM and DB; and led teams supporting the whole spectrum of Corporate and Investment Banking business lines across various asset classes, both flow and structured products. Jigar graduated with an LLB in 1992 from the University of Leicester, and completed his Law Society Finals from the College of Law in Guilford in 1993, before qualifying as a Solicitor, England & Wales in 1996. Jigar has been listed by Chambers and Partners in 2019 as one of the most influential General Counsels in India.
Nilesh Shah
Managing Director, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Co Ltd.
Nilesh Shah is the Managing Director of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Co Ltd. In his previous assignments, Nilesh has held leadership roles with Axis Capital, ICICI Prudential Asset Management, Franklin Templeton and ICICI securities. Nilesh is a gold medalist chartered accountant and a merit rank cost accountant. He has been the part of the teams that received ‘Best Fund House of the Year’ award at Franklin Templeton,ICICI Prudential and Kotak Mutual Fund.
Rajesh Shah
Co-Chairman & Managing Director, Mukand Ltd.
EDUCATION 1983-1983 Programme for Management Development, Harvard University, USA 1973-75 Master's in Business Administration (MBA), University of California, Berkeley, USA 1970-73 Masters Degree in Mathematics, Cambridge University, UK CURRENT EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP Co-Chairman & Managing Director, Mukand Ltd. Chairman, Mukand Sumi Special Steel Limited BOARD POSITIONS HELD 2008-2015 Board Director, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, appointed by Daiichi Sankyo, Japan 2003-2006 Board Director, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) 2000 Invited to join the Board of Directors, State Bank of India, Central Board 1999-2005 Board Director, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) PARTICIPATION IN INDUSTRIAL FORUMS 2013 onwards Member India - Japan Business Leaders’ Forum 1992- CURRENT Regular attendee at the Annual Conference of the World Economic Forum, Davos 2001-2002 India - China Eminent Persons Group 1998-1999 President, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) 1996-1997 International Board Member, Young Presidents' Organization (YPO) 1996-1996 Chairman, YPO International Conference (University), Bombay ACADEMIC, SOCIAL AND SPORTS FORUMS 2018 – CURRENT Member of the Board, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs 2017 – March 2019 Chairman, Board of Governors, National Institute of Fashion Technology 2014 - CURRENT Owner of sports team Patna Pirates, Three time Champion of the ProKabaddi League 2014 Co-author - Resurgent India: Ideas and Priorities 2011-CURRENT Implementing a program to enable every Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe girl child in district Thane, Maharashtra, to complete Grade X 2003 Dean’s Council Harvard Kennedy School.
Vidya Shah
CEO, EdelGive Foundation
Vidya Shah is the CEO of EdelGive Foundation, the philanthropic initiative of Edelweiss Group – one of India’s leading diversified financial services group. Having witnessed the potential of small to mid-sized, high calibre NGOs in addressing India’s development concerns, Vidya has channelled EdelGive’s structure of giving to include both financial and non-financial support to this special cohort of organisations. Through this approach, over the last 12 years, EdelGive has been instrumental in growing over 150 organisations, scaling their budgets, impact and reach exponentially. In addition to being a non-executive director at Edelweiss, Vidya also serves on the board of various prominent CSOs such as Agastya International Foundation, Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy, Mann Deshi Foundation and the Indian School of Public Policy. Vidya earned an MBA degree from IIM-Ahmedabad and spent the first 11 years of her career in the field of investment banking.
Anoushka Shankar
Sitarist, Composer & Producer
Sitarist, composer, producer: Anoushka Shankar is a singular, genre-defying figure within the classical and contemporary, acoustic and electronic world music scenes. Her dynamic and spiritual musicality has garnered several prestigious accolades, including six Grammy® Award nominations, recognition as the youngest and first female recipient of a British House of Commons Shield, credit as an Asian Hero by TIME Magazine, two Eastern Eye Awards for Music and a Songlines Best Artist Award. Anoushka has the notable honour of becoming the first Indian musician to perform live at the Grammy® Awards. During her twenty-five years as a live, touring sitarist, Anouska has come to be known for her deeply emotional and fiery playing style, surprising and inventive instrumentation, and intense rhythmic interplay. Whether it’s Carnegie Hall in New York or the psytrance festival Boom in Portugal, the Sydney Opera House or Glastonbury, Anoushka is equally at ease presenting classical Indian ragas with tabla accompaniment, soloing with world-renowned orchestras like the Berlin, London or New York Philharmonic, or live-looping with her pedal-board over a screeching bass, sharing her passion for the spirituality and depth of the sitar whilst breaking it out of the constraints of cultural expectations. Anoushka studied the sitar and Indian Classical music from the age of nine exclusively under her father and guru, the late, legendary Ravi Shankar, and made her professional debut at the age of 13. By twenty, she had toured the world extensively and made three classical solo recordings for EMI/Angel Records: Anoushka, Anourag and Live at Carnegie Hall. With the latter she became the first Indian woman to be nominated for a Grammy® award, and the youngest-ever nominee in the World Music category. Having worked full-time as a musician throughout her teenaged years, in her early twenties Anoushka took a break from making albums and looked towards other creative outlets. She authored a biography on her father, Bapi: The Love of My Life, and became a regular columnist for New Delhi’s First City magazine and India’s national newspaper The Hindustan Times. She experimented with film by acting in Pamela Rooks’ Dance Like a Man, for which she trained as a Bharatanatyam dancer and was nominated for India’s prestigious National Award for Best Debut. However, her explorations in writing, dancing and acting only served to confirm that her first love was music. Feeling a deep desire to create music which more closely represented her multicultural life and identity, in 2005 Anoushka released her self-produced, self-composed breakthrough Rise, which found her stepping into a new cross-cultural sound-world and earned her a second Grammy® nomination. In 2007 she spread her wings further and released the experimental, conceptual album Breathing Under Water in collaboration with producer/multi-instrumentalist Karsh Kale. In this period she also began a fulfilling journey a
Shradha Sharma
Founder &CEO, YourStory Media
Shradha Sharma is the Founder &CEO of YourStory Media, India’s largest digital media and education platform for entrepreneurship. Shradha founded YourStory as a digital storytelling platform for entrepreneurs and startups in 2008, leaving behind a lucrative job at a top national media company, solely because she believed India’s new-age entrepreneurs deserved to have their stories told – something that mainstream media was not ready to do at the time. Shradha’s contributions to the ecosystem have been acknowledged many times over the years. She was on Fortune’s list of the best 40 under 40 entrepreneurs in India for three years in a row. In 2018, she won the Forbes Power Trailblazers award and the FICCI FlowYoung Women Achiever Award, among others. She was twice featured on LinkedIn’s list of powerful influencers. Shradha graduated with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in History from St.Stephen’s College in New Delhi and went on to obtain another Master’s from MICA, Ahmedabad. Prior to founding YourStory, she held senior leadership roles at leading media firms, CNBC TV18 and The Times of India Group.
Michael Sharpe
National Director - Industry, Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre
Michael Sharpe is the National Director for Industry at the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre. AMGC is an initiative of the Australian Government. Its goal is to drive innovation, productivity and competitiveness across Australia. AMGC is run by a team of industry experts. It is connected with a nationwide network of manufacturers, universities, and export hubs. Michael has vast industrial experience including nearly three decades at Sharpe Bros (Australia), one of the nation’s leading road companies. From 2004 -2014, he served as Managing Director of the family business. From 2012 – 2016, he was on the board of HunterNet, a successful industry cluster in Australia and served as Chairman.
Baba Kalyani
Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Forge Limited
Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Forge Limited Member, Prime Minister’s Science Technology & Innovation Council, Government of India Co-Chairman, India-Japan Business Leaders’ Forum Co-Chairman, India-Sweden Business Roundtable Member, US-India CEOs’ Forum Member, Indo French CEO’s Forum Member, India-UK CEOs’ Forum Member, India-Israel CEOs’ Forum Directorships/Affiliations: Member, International Advisory Committee, Robert Bosch GmbH Member, World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland Chairman, CII–National Manufacturing Council Past President, Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers Founding Chairman, Pratham Pune Education Foundation Salient Awards & Recognitions: Padma Bhushan, India Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, Japan,2019 Cross of the Order of Merit, Germany Commander First Class of the Royal Order of Polar Star, Sweden Knight in the Order of the Legion of Honour, France Forge Master conferred at the 20th Intl. Forging Convention, 2011 Doctor of Science (honoriscausa) – Deakin University, Australia and IIT Kharagpur, India Lokmanya Tilak National Award, August 2019 Education: B.E.(Hons), Mechanical Engineering, BITS Pilani, India M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, USA
Bala Kamallakharan
Investor, Startup Coach & Entrepreneur, Iceland Venture Studio
Bala Kamallakharan is the Founder of Startup Iceland, a grassroots initiative to build sustainable startup ecosystems in Iceland. Bala is also Co-Founder of Dattaca Labs and Iceland Venture Studio. Bala has served as Executive Board Member in Guide to Iceland and TravelShift. Bala has invested, mentored and was the Chairman of the Board at CLARA (Resonata), the Icelandic Community Analytics company which was acquired by Jive Software in 2013. CLARA was the first Icelandic company to be acquired into Silicon Valley. Bala has done various early stage investments like Buuteeq (acquired by Priceline.com NASDAQ:PCLN), GreenQloud (acquired by NetApp NASDAQ:NTAP). Before venturing into being an Investor and Entrepreneur, Bala was with Glitnir Bank’s executive team. He was part of the Strategic Growth team focusing on strategic priorities of the bank, which included mergers & acquisitions, business development and strategy formulation. Bala played many leadership roles within the bank.
Surya Kant
President, North America, UK and Europe, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
In a career spanning more than 35 years, Surya (“Sury) Kant has made a significant contribution to the growth of the global software industry and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). As President for North America, UK and Europe, Sury is responsible for the continued growth of the company’s global revenues, key customer relationships and technology offerings across TCS’ largest markets. His longstanding tenure at TCS includes establishing the presence of the Indian software industry in Japan in 1987, leading UK operations in the ‘90s while recording substantial growth and visibility for the organization, and serving as the Head of Operations in North India until 2005. Sury has also spearheaded numerous employee initiatives that have since been adopted as company best practices and recognized through industry awards in the areas of HR (leadership development and diversity) and CSR (education and health). He is affiliated with several academic institutions and a frequent speaker at industry conferences, most notably playing a leading role in the US supporting STEM education and careers.
Amit Kapur
Head UK & Ireland, Tata Consultancy Services Limited
Amit Kapur is Country Head, UK & Ireland at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a world leading IT services, consulting and business solutions organisation. Amit oversees driving strategy and operations for TCS’ second largest region, servicing large global and leading UK organisations. Since joining TCS in 1999, Amit has worked with some of the top global 500 firms in several consulting, advisory and management roles, helping them drive efficiencies and improve their business results. Amit, based in London, previously led the TCS Benelux business for 7 years. Under his leadership, TCS Benelux was able to demonstrate a full services play, and added several marquee brands to its customer portfolio in the region. Amit graduated from Mumbai University, India in 1999, with his Master in Management Studies. He lives in London with his family.
Shekhar Kapur
Filmmaker, India
Starting life as an economist and a Chartered Accountant in the UK, Shekhar Kapur shifted directions to explore the creative industries. Where he created some of the most iconic films both in India and the West. Masoom, Mr India, Bandit Queen and Elizabeth. Shekhar's always been on the cutting edge of technology, successfully founding along with AR Rahman one of the early start ups in the Digital Entertainment Business, Qyuki, Along the way he has directed stage musicals in the West, such as the Matterhorn in Europe, and co produced West End and Broadway Musicals along with Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber such as Bombay Dreams. He has been an Honorary Scholar at MIT, exploring the use of New Technologies such as AR, VR and AI in story telling. He serves on the Board of Advisors for the Dubai Expo 20/20, been on the Juries of the Cannes Film Festival, and almost every major film festival in the world. He has also produced/directed major TV Series in the West, the latest being WILL , on the life of the young William Shakespeare. Shekhar served on the Prime Minister's high powered committee on Innovation under PM Manmohan Singh. And has been Chairman of the Indian Film Awards Currently Shekhar is preparing for an International Series based on the Opium Wars. Based on Amitav Ghosh's award winning IBIS Series of books. Ask Shekhar what he does. He has a simple answer. I am a Story Teller. My films have 10 Oscar nominations and 4 wins.
Sat Pal Khattar
Chairman / Director, Khattar Holdings Private Ltd
Mr Sat Pal Khattar is a Singaporean and is widely acknowledged as a community leader and businessman in Singapore. Mr Khattar studied Law and served as Deputy Public Prosecutor and State Counsel. Later, he founded a law firm which he is now retired from. He has served on numerous public institutions, including the Public Services Commission, the Presidential Council of Minority Rights and the Securities Industries Council. In 2011, he was conferred the Padma Shri award by the Indian Government for his efforts to promote India-Singapore relations. This award is the fourth highest Civilian award and he is the first Singaporean to receive the award. He has several years of experience in the legal and financial field. Mr. Khattar has also held many distinguished positions over the years, including Chairman of Khattar Holdings Company of Companies, Director of Haw Par Corporation Ltd and Lee Kuan Yew Exchange Fellowship, Co-Chairman of Singapore India Partnership Foundation and Life Trustee of Singapore Indian Development Association.
Manohar Khiatani
Senior Executive Director, Capitaland Ltd
Mr Manohar Khiatani is the Senior Executive Director of CapitaLand Group, one of Asia’s largest diversified real estate groups with AUM exceeding US$90 billion. Headquartered in Singapore, CapitaLand has a presence across more than 200 cities in 30 countries. Prior to joining CapitaLand, Mr Khiatani was the Deputy Group CEO of Ascendas-Singbridge, a provider of urban and business space solutions. Ascendas-Singbridge merged with CapitaLand in July 2019. Before joining Ascendas in 2013, he served as the CEO of JTC Corporation, the Singapore government’s lead agency for industrial infrastructure and facilities. Prior to joining JTC in 2009, Mr Khiatani was the Deputy Managing Director at the Singapore Economic Development Board. Mr Khiatani is a Board Member of several companies listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange including the trustee-manager of Ascendas India Trust. He holds a Master in Naval Architecture from the University of Hamburg, Germany. He also attended the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School.
Manu Khajuria
Founder, Voice of Dogras, Freelance Writer/Storyteller
Manu Khajuria is a freelance writer/ storyteller, activist from Jammu Kashmir. A native of Jammu Region and proudly tracing her roots to Bumnal a small village in Bishnah Tehsil of Jammu District, her focus is the Region, it's history, culture and current issues. She is Founder Director of Voice of Dogras, a community organization which espouses the rights of the Jammu Region and aims to preserve and promote it's unique history and cultural identity. She has presented many papers and been a TV Panelist in India and abroad showcasing the historical legacy of the Dogras and giving voice to the aspirations of the people of Jammu Region. She has curated many seminars and through her organization Voice of Dogras created a body of audio visual content on Jammu & Kashmir, inculding a Documentary titled ""October 26th"" on the Accession of Jammu & Kashmir to India in collaboration with the Hari Tara Charitable Trust, Jammu. She was also the Director of the Jammu Kashmir Festival which organized the first such festival on Jammu & Kashmir in London in 2016. She is also part of Friends of India Society International UK, an organization which has been strengthening relationship between UK and India since 1975. She was awarded the prestigious Maharaja Gulab Singh Memorial Annual Award 2019 by the Trustees of Maharaja Gulab Singh Trust under the Chairmanship of Dr Karan Singh for her outstanding contribution in the promotion of Dogra culture, history and legacy. She was felicitated by the Ministry of Women & Child Development, Twitter India & Breakthrough India with Web Wonder Women award in 2019. She is currently residing in London with her husband and two children and working on a book on Jammu Region as an Author of the UK based Tattva Press.
Ravi Krishnan
Chairman & Co-Founder, Stepathlon Lifestyle Pvt. Ltd.
Ravi Krishan is a Former MD of IMG – South Asia and one of the most prominent names in the Indian Sports, Media & Entertainment business, Ravi Krishnan co-founded Stepathlon, that in his words, “Brings a Sports Marketing Approach to Wellness”. Ravi moved to India, from Australia, in 1995 to set up IMG in the region. He created multiple successful properties during his time with IMG such as; India’s only ATP event, The (Indo-Pakistan) Sahara Cup (Cricket), Lakme Fashion Week (India’s first fashion week). Currently, he is the Executive Chairman of Stepathlon, a business focused on effectively combining Inclusive Engagement, Mass Participation with Health and Wellness to Establish, Engage and Expand Communities (e.g. Fans) and Corporates (e.g. Employees). Ravi has been named in the Top 50 Most Influential People in Indian Sport by Sports Illustrated and the Top 25 Executives under the age of 40 in Business Today, Fitness Entrepreneur of the Year – Entrepreneur Awards 2015. Ravi is also: - Chairman of KWANAbler, a Company focused on partnering with Indian and global stakeholders in Sports, Media, Entertainment and Consumer, looking to create long term value. - Chairman (NE) of 5X Festival, South Asian millennial festival showcasing the best of music, art, film and fashion.
Dr Ajay Kumar
Defence Secretary, Government of India
Dr Ajay Kumar joined the Indian Administrative Service in1985 and assumed the present appointment as the Secretary, Department of Defence on 23 Aug 19. Dr Ajay Kumar completed his B Tech in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur, India and subsequently completed M.S. Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota, USA and also a PhD in Business Administration from Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, USA. Served in the State Government of Kerala in early years, he served in the Ministry of Communications and IT, as the Director General, National Informatics Centre (NIC) and as the Additional Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology. Prior to assuming current appointment, he served in the Ministry of Defence as the Secretary, Department of Defence Production, from December 2017 to August 2019. Dr Ajay Kumar has, to his credit, several publications in refereed national and international journals including at ICIS, IEEE, IJEC, HICCS etc. He was awarded the “Silver Elephant” medallion by National Scouts and Guides by His Excellency the President of India, in 1994. In the same year he also earned a citation by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and was adjudged the “Outstanding Young Person” by the Junior Chamber of Kerala. He earned the Graduate School Fellowship by the University of Minnesota, USA for the years 2004 and 2005. He was adjudged as the “Electronics Leader of the Year” for the year 2012 for promotion of electronics industry in the country and was awarded the Technovation Sarabhai Award by IESA in 2015 for his outstanding contribution to ESDM Industry and its Ecosystem. He was awarded the ‘Champion of Change’ Award by CEAMA in 2017. He was also awarded Distinguished Alumnus Award(DAA)-2019 of IIT Kanpur.
Manish Kumar
Managing Director & CEO, National Skill Development Corporation
Manish Kumar is the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of National Skill Development Corporation. Prior to joining the NSDC, he worked for the World Bank as Country Coordinator and Senior Institution Development Economist, Water and Sanitation Program, New Delhi. He also worked for the World Bank in Middle East and North African countries covering Lebanon, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, etc. Manish served in the Indian Administrative Service, occupying various positions in Government of Tripura up to 2011. During his tenure in Tripura, he conceptualized and executed economic development programs for countering insurgency and was selected as a Mason Fellow by Harvard University for his leadership in empowering tribal women. Manish holds degree in Bachelor of Technology in Mining Machinery from IIT (ISM), Dhanbad, a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University, USA, and PhD in Public Policy from The George Washington University, Washington DC, USA.
Vikrant Kuthiala
Director, R B Jodhamal Bishan Lal Hotel & Resorts Pvt Ltd
Vikrant Kuthiala, is one of the most prominent Businessman from Jammu with interests in steel manufacturing, power sector, hospitality and education amongst others. Under his stewardship R B Jodhamal group has grown to becoming one of the most respectable business houses in J&K. He is also a regular voice on various industry forums championing the cause of industry in J&K. Mr Kuthiala is currently the Hon Treasurer of the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), J&K regional branch. He has also served as the Chairman of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Jammu. Mr Kuthiala has also had a long association with J&K Bank Ltd, where he served as an Independent Director and Member of various Board Sub Committees between 2009-2016.
Manoj Ladwa
Founder & CEO, India Inc. Group
Manoj is the founder and chief executive of the India Inc. Group. He has interests in India focused advisory services, government affairs, and publishing. In 2010 he founded India Inc. a London headquartered media organisation which publishes India’s foremost Trade & Investment magazine India Global Business, diaspora platform iGlobal & produces India Global Week. For 15 years Manoj practised as a corporate lawyer running his own firm with offices in Westminster & Mumbai before turning his attention to business, charitable, and political interests in the UK & India. In 2014 Manoj served as a member of the hugely successful Narendra Modi for Prime Minister campaign. He led the Research Analysis & Messaging division working closely with senior party leaders and spokespeople. He has been instrumental in organising many of Prime Minister Modi’s diaspora engagements including at Wembley Stadium in 2015. He continues to provide strategic advice to investment & political outreach initiatives in India and globally. Manoj is an accomplished media commentator. He writes a popular weekly blog “Globally Speaking” and is active on Twitter @manojladwa. In 2017 he authored a landmark study on UK-India Relations Beyond Brexit which was released by Prime Minister Modi. Manoj is a non-executive director of India Infrastructure Finance Company (UK) and chairs it’s Risk Committee. Manoj serves on the advisory board of the Commonwealth Enterprise & Investment Council. In 2003 he established the London office of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce. He has served on committees of India’s Ministry of External Affairs, UKTI and London Chamber of Commerce. Manoj campaigns actively on various community issues and strives for better political representation for people of Indian origin in the UK. He is a founder member and first President of National Hindu Students Forum UK. He is a former Director & Trustee of the Avanti School Trust and founder Trustee of volunteering charity SEWA Day. Manoj is a graduate of the London School of Economics.
Nikolaus Lang
Managing Director and Senior Partner, Boston Consulting Group
Nikolaus S. Lang is a Managing Director and Senior Partner in BCG’s Munich office and has been working for the firm for 22 years. He leads BCG’s Center for Mobility Innovation, which serves clients in the automotive, mobility, transport and logistics, and infrastructure sectors on strategic projects related to the future of mobility. His consulting work focuses on topics such as smart cities, multimodal traffic management, mobility platforms, and connected and autonomous transport solutions. For many years now, he has led the cooperation with the World Economic Forum on the future of mobility, including the piloting and launch of a robo-taxi fleet in the City of Boston, as well as numerous projects for industry players, private equity investors, and national governments and city administrations. In 2019, he was nominated to the WEF’s Global Urban and Autonomous Mobility Council. Nikolaus has been the author of several dozens of publications, including the following: • Revolution in the Driver’s Seat: The Road to Autonomous Vehicles (2015) • Self-Driving Vehicles, Robo-Taxis, and the Urban Mobility Revolution (2016) • Making Autonomous Vehicles a Reality: Lessons from Boston and Beyond (2017) • Seeking Perpetual Motion with Mobility as a Service? (2018) • Reshaping Urban Mobility with Autonomous Vehicles: Lessons from the City of Boston (2018) • In Building an Urban Mobility Platform, Cooperation Is Key (2019) • The Leaders in Urban Mobility Will be Regional, Not Global (2019) In addition to his mobility-related activities, Nikolaus is also the Global Leader of BCG’s Global Advantage Practice, supporting clients on an array of globalization-related topics. Nikolaus spent ten years in Asia and has worked in most of the world’s emerging markets. Before joining BCG, Nikolaus worked in the corporate strategy department of the Austrian trading firm Bank Austria Handelsholding. Nikolaus holds a master’s degree and a PhD in business administration from the University of St. Gallen.
Edie Lush
MC, Edie Lush Ltd
Edie Lush, an award winning journalist is an author, broadcaster and podcaster. She is Executive Producer and Co-host of the Global GoalsCast podcast which tells the stories of the champions making the world a better place through the Sustainable Development Goals. As Executive Editor of Hub Culture Edie creates social media from Davos to the UN General Assembly in New York to the COP Climate Summits. She has been the Economics and Political correspondent for Bloomberg Television, a columnist at The Week magazine and the Associate Editor of Spectator Business magazine. She runs her own business providing senior Leaders, Influencers, Academics and Executives with Communication training. Before moving into journalism Edie was a political analyst for investment bank UBS in London and New York-based hedge fund Omega Advisors.
Roshan Shetty
Head of Life Sciences & HealthCare EMEA, Infosys
Roshan Shetty, as Infosys Head of Life Sciences & HealthCare for EMEA, is an industry leader collaborating with clients in creating their strategy and executing transformational programmes leveraging business and technology services. He has over two decades of global experience in the IT services industry at Infosys managing clients across the Globe (US, UK and Europe). He has successfully collaborated with clients on many strategic businesses & IT digital and data transformation deals that have brought forward immense value to client organizations including successfully closing large complex Merger & Acquisition deals. Roshan was Country Head for Infosys in Netherlands, where he was responsible for the strategy and execution of Infosys businesses. He is the architect for Infosys growth and visibility in the Dutch market, which is key growth market for Infosys in Europe. He spearheaded the partnership model with Universities in Netherlands to embrace global talent and sponsor initiatives collaborating with Universities to give back to society. Roshan was also part of Netherlands Prime Minister’s delegation on Trade and Commerce to strengthen the relationship between Netherlands and India. Roshan is a Stanford University alumni, where he has successfully completed the Executive Leadership Program and the Stanford Ignite Program - Entrepreneurship & Leadership. He also holds Master of Business Administration in Marketing from MIT and a Bachelor of Technology degree in Chemical Engineering.
Harinder Sidhu
Deputy Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Harinder Sidhu is a Deputy Secretary in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. She has recently returned from New Delhi, where from February 2016 she held the post of Australia’s High Commissioner to India and Ambassador to the Kingdom of Bhutan. Ms Sidhu brings over 30 years’ experience in government. She began her career as a diplomat with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Before her appointment to India, she served as head of the Department’s Multilateral Policy Division with responsibility for Australia’s relationships with the UN and UN agencies, the UN Security Council and the Commonwealth. Between 2008 and 2013, Ms Sidhu held the post of First Assistant Secretary in the Department of Climate Change. Prior to that, she served in several senior roles in government, particularly on defence and national security matters in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Office of National Assessments. Ms Sidhu has served overseas at Australian Embassies in Damascus and Moscow, and was also posted to Cairo where she studied the Arabic language. She holds degrees in Economics and Law from the University of Sydney.
Karamjit Singh
Chairman, University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust
Karamjit Singh CBE was born in and still lives in Coventry. He holds an MA in Industrial Relations from the University of Warwick and a postgraduate diploma in Law from Nottingham Law School. He is also a Companion of the Chartered Institute of Management and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 1990 he was awarded a one year Harkness Fellowship by the Commonwealth Fund, New York to study public policy in the United States being based at two universities in Chicago and Austin, Texas. Karamjit began his career as an academic researcher, a community worker in the voluntary sector, in local government and the Commission for Racial Equality. Since 1987 he has held a number of national appointments in the police and justice system, electoral services and financial services organisations, headed a UK wide independent grievance mechanism for the Social Fund and acted as an Ombudsman in Northern Ireland. His previous voluntary interests have included citizenship education, poverty and social mobility, lung disease and organising free medical camps in the Punjab region of India. He is currently a Trustee of a centre based at Cambridge University promoting accessible health, education and good governance in the global South; a Council Member of Justice which promotes evidence led change in the justice system; a Holding Trustee of a Sikh Temple in Coventry; and was recently elected to the Board of NHS Providers which is a represents all hospitals providing NHS services. He has recently founded an SME publishing company and the first publication was his father’s autobiography as one of the earliest Sikh migrants arriving in the UK in 1938 and then coming to Coventry in 1940, a few months before the Blitz. Karamjit received the CBE in 2000 for services to the administration of justice and in 2017 was named in the Guardian Newspaper Top 1000 Persons Survey. September 11 2019 – Karamjit Singh CBE, Chairman at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, has been listed on Green Park’s fourth annual BAME 100 Business Leaders index, celebrating Britain’s black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) board-ready talent
Vikram Singh
Senior Advisor, Defense & Aerospace, US-India Strategic Partnership Forum
Vikram J Singh is Senior Advisor, Defense and Aerospace, at the US India Strategic Partnership Forum. Singh has been a leader of innovation and transformation in public policy and global affairs at the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of State, and major non-profits. His company, Red Cedar Global Strategies, advises government, corporate and civil society clients on policy and technology challenges, program design, and risk across Asia. He is currently Senior Advisor for Asia at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and Senior Fellow for National Security, Democracy and Technology and the Center for American Progress (CAP). From 2012 to 2014, Singh was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia. He helped transform American policy in the region, running successful negotiations over U.S. military access with Australia, the Philippines, and Singapore and developing new defense arrangements with New Zealand and Vietnam. His team conceived of and ran the U.S. – India Defense Trade and Technology Initiative and developed plans for the Southeast Asia Maritime Security Initiative. Singh was Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Department of State until 2011, where he developed a political-military strategy for reconciliation efforts to end the war. He represented the United States with China, India, Russia, Middle Eastern partners, the U.N., and NATO countries on political, military and economic issues related to Afghanistan and Pakistan. From 2014 to 2017, Singh was CAP’s Vice President for National Security, where he established CAP’s Asia program and launched work on nuclear security, a major task for on U.S – India relations, and a new program on defending the internet as a force for democracy. He led CAP’s partnership with the American Enterprise Institute on democracy and the transatlantic alliance Singh has wide experience across defense, having served as the first defense Fellow at the Center for a New American Security from 2007 to 2009 after several years at the Pentagon, where he was the first director for partnership strategy. He helped develop and secure passage by Congress of several legal authorities for global defense partnerships. He also served at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and chaired the DoD missile technology working group for the “Next Steps in the Strategic Partnership” with India. Prior to joining DoD, Singh ran a five-country Ford Foundation program on South Asia. He also reported on the Sri Lankan civil war for the Voice of America. Singh was awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Civilian Service in 2012 and Department of State Superior Honor Awards in 2006 and 2012. He is a Fellow of Columbia University and a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and Columbia University. Singh publishes widely, from the Washington Post to Foreign Affairs, and is a highly sought-out speaker and commentator on television and rad
Bipul Sinha
CEO, Rubrik
Bipul Sinha is an entrepreneur, engineer and venture capitalist with more than 20 years of experience building billion-dollar companies - including Rubrik which he co-founded and leads as the CEO. In addition, Bipul is the Board Chairman & Co-Founder of Confluera and a Venture Partner at Lightspeed. Previously, Bipul was a Partner at Lightspeed where he focused on software, mobile, and Internet sectors. His investments included Nutanix, Pulse News, Bromium, and PernixData. Before Lightspeed, Bipul worked at Blumberg Capital, where he was the founding investor/board member of Nutanix and Hootsuite. Bipul also held engineering positions at Oracle Corporation, American Megatrends and IBM. Bipul received his Bachelor in Technology in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur where he was bestowed with the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Bipul completed his MBA in Finance from The Wharton School where he was a Palmer Scholar. Bipul holds several patents in distributed computing.
Chetna Sinha
Founder-Chairperson, Mann Deshi Bank and Mann Deshi Foundation
Chetna Gala Sinha is an activist, farmer and banker. She is the recipient of the Nari Shakti Puraskar, India’s highest civilian award for women who work in the area of women’s empowerment. She has served as a Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum in Davos (2018), Switzerland and as a Co-Chair of Financial Inclusion at the W20 Summit (2018) in Argentina. In the early 1980s, while still a student, she joined the Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) movement and travelled through the country championing land rights and other social issues. In 19996, Chetna founded the Mann Deshi Foundation in Mhaswad, a droughtstricken area of Maharashtra, with the aim of economically and socially empowering rural women. In 1997, she set up the Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank - India’s first bank for and by rural women. Today, the Mann Deshi Bank has over 100,000 account holders, has loaned over $70 million and regularly creates new financial products to support the needs of female microentrepreneurs. It has received the 2006 Microfinance Process Excellence Award, the 2014 Best Eco-Tech Bank Award by the Indian Bank Association and the 2015 ‘Best Bank Award’ by the Maharashtra Urban Cooperative Banks Federation. In 2006, Chetna founded the first Business Schools for Rural Women and in 2013, she launched the first Chambers of Commerce for women micro-entrepreneurs in the country. In 2012, she set up a Community Empowerment Programme for Farmers that supports Water Conservation. It has built 16 check dams and impacted 50,000 people. Mann Deshi Foundation also has a Sports Programme for talented athletes (2012) and a women-owned Community Radio (2008) that reaches over 100,000 listeners. In 2013, Mann Deshi Foundation was awarded the Best Innovation Award by the National Rural Livelihoods Mission. To date, Mann Deshi has supported over 500,000 women and plans to reach one million women entrepreneurs by 2024. Chetna Sinha has received many accolades for her work. In 2002, she was part of the first class of Yale University’s prestigious World Fellows Programme. She has awarded the 2005 Jankidevi Bajaj Award for Rural Entrepreneurship, the 2005 Ashoka Changemakers Award, the 2009 Godfrey Phillips Bravery Award, the 2010 EdelGive Social Innovation Honors (Livelihood Category). She has won the the Schwab Foundation’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2013), the Forbes Social Entrepreneurs of the Year Award (2017) and was included by Fortune India as one of the country’s 50 top businesswomen (2018). She has been instrumental in driving significant policy changes. These include: - Successfully advocating with the RBI to relax stringent KYC norms so low-income customers could open bank accounts. This led to the creation of the immensely popular Basic Savings Bank Deposit Accounts (BSBD) which require no minimum balance. - Successfully advocating with the RBI to increase collateral free lending to support low-income customers. - Creating the first low-cost pension scheme for women micr
Nikhil Srivastava
Managing Director, Head of India Private Equity, PAG Asia Capital
Nikhil Srivastava is Managing Director and Head of India Private Equity at PAG, one of Asia's largest alternative investment managers with US$35 billion under management. Nikhil started PAG's Mumbai office in 2019, and is currently investing from a US$6 billion Private Equity fund. Prior to joining PAG, Nikhil spent nearly a decade at KKR in India, Singapore and the United States. He has worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and was an early employee at Inphi (NYSE: IPHI). Nikhil has a BE in EEE from BITS Pilani, Masters in EE from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Nikhil is the author of several patents.
BVR Subbu
Board Member, Ola Electric
BVR Subbu is a Member of the Board of Directors, of Ola Electric. Mr. Subbu completed his Masters in Economics from New Delhi’s prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University, and was awarded UGC National Scholarship for Doctoral studies in Economics upon which he joined the Tata Administrative Service. He was seconded to TATA Motors and held a variety of line and staff responsibilities from 1977 -1996. He is best known in the Indian Commercial Vehicle industry for conceptualizing and successfully introducing the TATA 2213, the first mass produced Heavy Commercial Vehicle, which metamorphosed the trucking industry in India. Known for the strategic onslaught by Tata in the Light Commercial Vehicle market, which led to the exit of both Toyota and Nissan from the Indian CV market. He established Hyundai Motor India, joining initially as Director, Marketing & Sales, and later taking on the role of President of the company from 1997 – 2006. He is best known in the Car industry – both in India and globally – as the strategist responsible for building Hyundai Motors from an unknown name to India’s second largest car company in 6 months; from first car to millionth car in a record breaking 7 years; from marginal losses to US$ 1 billion in cumulative profits in 6 years, and from minor component exports to 130,000 cars exports per annum in 5 years. Mr. Subbu was a member of the Committee set up by the Govt. of Delhi that drew up the detailed specifications for low-floor buses in 1998. These designs have since become the de-facto standard for low-floor buses in India since then. He is a member of Governing Board of the Shriram Institute for Scientific & Industrial Research, New Delhi. Member of the Boards of Directors of KPIT Technologies Ltd, Comstar Automotive Technologies Pvt Ltd, Sona BLW Precision Forgings Pvt. Ltd, Ampere Vehicles Pvt Ltd. and Ola Electric Mobility Pvt. Ltd. Mr. Subbu manages a boutique strategy consulting firm ‘Beyond Visual Range’, which specializes in ‘actionable strategy’ focused primarily on the automotive and engineering industries. Formerly, he was a member of the Board of Directors of Proton Holdings Berhad, Malaysia, Lotus Group International, UK, Larsen & Toubro, (L&T - MIPC) Mumbai and International Tractors Ltd, New Delhi. He is also the author of “SANTRO - The Car That Built A Company” published by Hachette India.
Jyotsna Suri
Chairperson & Managing Director, The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group
Dr Jyotsna Suri has been associated with Bharat Hotels since its inception. In the year 1989, she became the Group's Joint Managing Director. In 2006, she took on the mantle of Chairperson & Managing Director and since then, has been the driving force of the Group’s operations. Under her stewardship, The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group became one of the leading privately-owned domestic hotel brands in India, engaged in the business of operating and managing hotels, palaces and resorts, with a focus on the luxury segment. The Group operates 12 luxury hotels, palaces and resorts under The LaLiT brand and two mid-segment hotels under The LaLiT Traveller brand across India’s key business and leisure travel destinations, offering 2,261 rooms, In addition, the Group holds exclusive rights to operate and provide management consultancy services to a hotel in London, The LaLiT London, offering 70 rooms. Recently Dr Suri was conferred with the Order of The Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star by Japan Government for her contribution towards strengthening strategic ties between India and Japan in economic and tourism sectors. She is the first Indian Woman to have received the Imperial honour since its commencement for foreign nationals in 1981. Besides this she has been the recipient of over 30 National and International awards and recognitions. She has also been featured in several power and business listings by renowned publications like Business World, Fortune India, Forbes Asia to name a few. Dr Suri holds various portfolios with Industry Associations – Past President FICCI; Chairperson FICCI Tourism Committee; Chairperson, Creative Industries Committee, FICCI; Executive Member of HAI; Council Member of World Travel & Tourism Council, India Initiative; Member of Board of Governors for National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology and Member of Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs.
Amb Navdeep Suri
Distinguished Fellow, Observer Research Foundation
Navdeep Suri is Distinguished Fellow and Director, Centre for New Economic Diplomacy at the Observer Research Foundation. He has recently completed a distinguished 36-year career in the Indian Foreign Service, having served in India’s diplomatic missions in Cairo, Damascus, Washington, Dar es Salaam and London and as India’s Consul General in Johannesburg. He has also headed the West Africa and Public Diplomacy departments at the Ministry of External Affairs. He was India’s High Commissioner to Australia and Ambassador to Egypt and UAE. In a rare gesture, the President of UAE conferred on him the Order of Zayed II, the country’s second-highest civilian award. His innovative use of social media in public diplomacy in 2010 also received extensive recognition and two prestigious awards. Navdeep has learnt Arabic and French, has a Masters degree in Economics and has written on India’s Africa policy, on Public Diplomacy and on the IT outsourcing industry. His English translations of his grandfather Nanak Singh’s classic Punjabi novels have been published by Penguin as ‘The Watchmaker’ and by Harper Collins as ‘A Life Incomplete’ and ‘Khooni Vaisakhi’.
Atul Temurnikar
Co-founder & Chairman, Global Schools Foundation (GSF) Singapore
Atul Temurnikar is a prominent member of the education industry in ASEAN, South East Asia, Middle East and India. He serves as Executive Chairman of Singapore-based Global Schools Foundation (GSF), a not-for-profit organisation. He is also a co-founding Trustee of GSF. Mr Temurnikar is a staunch advocate of high-quality and cost effective education that transcends socio-economic boundaries. His significant efforts in the education sector include ? Participated for 3 (three) terms over 6 years, as a member of Schools Sub-committee of the National Integration Committee (NIC) set up by the Government of Singapore, under the committee for education to better integrate 2.5 million foreigners in Singapore. ? Recommendation of changes to the Indian Foreign Direct Investment’s (FDI) policies for India’s education sector, which were then implemented by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry of India. These changes were instrumental in allowing foreign education providers’ to make investment in the real estate for schools. ? Proposal of metrics-oriented education including the integration of a national education module in all international schools in Malaysia, as a institutional Member of the education committee formed by the Prime Minister’s Office of Malaysia; On the cultural and sports front, Mr Temurnikar is also co-founder and trustee of Global Indian Foundation, a Singapore registered charitable organisation, which provides cultural & sports education to young citizens.
Nolty Theriot
Senior Vice-President, US-India Strategic Partnership Forum
Nolty Theriot serves as Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and head of the energy, manufacturing, environment and infrastructure at the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF). In this leadership position, Mr. Theriot leads policy teams and executes strategies for companies in India and the U.S. that increase market access, resolve international disputes, and benefit from policy developments and emerging business trends. Prior to joining USISPF, Mr. Theriot served as a Senior Director of Energy Policy & Advocacy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he worked with U.S. and foreign governments to reduce barriers to trade and investment. During his five-year tenure, he also managed the US-India Business Council’s energy, environment and infrastructure policy committees and led numerous successful trade missions.
Ben Thompson
Presenter and Correspondent, BBC News
Ben Thompson is a presenter and correspondent for BBC News, based in London. He hosts BBC Breakfast, the UK’s flagship morning news programme, as well as BBC Business Live, broadcast globally on BBC World News and across the UK on the BBC News Channel. With more than 15 years experience as a journalist, Ben has travelled around the world interviewing newsmakers, politicians and business leaders and telling the stories of people at the heart of the biggest global stories. Before taking up this latest role Ben was the BBC's North America Business Correspondent, based in New York and Middle East Business Correspondent, based in Dubai.
Amish Tripathi
Director, The Nehru Centre
Amish is a diplomat, author and columnist. He has taken over as the Director of The Nehru Centre in London in October 2019. Amish has been listed among the 50 most powerful Indians by India Today magazine in 2019. Forbes India has regularly ranked Amish among the top 100 most influential celebrities in India. Amish was also selected as an Eisenhower Fellow, a prestigious American programme for outstanding leaders from around the world, in 2014. Amish published his first book in 2010, and has written 7 books till date. His books have sold 5 million copies, and have been translated into 10 Indian and 9 international languages. Amish is an alumnus of the prestigious Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Calcutta. He worked for 14 years in the financial services industry before turning to writing.
Rajen Vagadia
Vice President and President, Qualcomm India & SAARC
Rajen Vagadia has more than 28 years of experience in the telecom industry, covering diverse areas in manufacturing, business development and sales, supply-chain and strategy. He joined Qualcomm in 2011 and during his tenure he has played a key role in driving the LTE growth for India and expanding opportunities for adjacent business in-country. He led the business development of the Internet of Things (IoT) across the different verticals covering smart cities, healthcare, automotive, wearables, home automation and industrial automation. Prior to joining Qualcomm, Vagadia has held local and regional, executive level positions at Motorola, Tata Teleservices Ltd, Elcoteq and Reliance Infocomm Ltd. in areas of, business development and outsourcing. He has worked for Indian Carriers and Multinationals-OEM, ODM, Contract Manufacturers and Carriers. He was an entrepreneur early in his career, where his company was a supplier of telecom gear to the India and SAARC markets.
Brijraj Vaghani
Chief Technology Officer, Ola
As the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Ola, Brijraj Vaghani is playing an integral role in taking forward the company's development and future growth using new technologies, data-led insights and innovation strategies. Bringing with him more than 15 years of experience, Brijraj is passionate about building an Integrated Transport Solution for Indian cities and making the commuter journey better. A strategic thinker, developer and entrepreneur, Brijraj co-founded Ridlr, an end-to-end public transport ticketing and commuting app that fulfils a commuter’s daily intra-city travel needs. Most recently, Frost and Sullivan awarded Ridlr with the Indian Public Transport Smart Travel Application Entrepreneurial Company of the Year. Prior to co-founding Ridlr, he worked in the US and in India in various technology and business leadership roles and is also one of the founding members for the India center of Sears Holding Corporation. He also worked with Nextwave Wireless and Qualcomm.
Peter Varghese
Chancellor, Retired diplomat, University of Queensland
Peter Varghese began as Chancellor of The University of Queensland on 11 July 2016. Prior to this appointment, Mr Varghese’s extensive career in public service and diplomacy spanned 38 years and included senior positions in foreign affairs, trade policy and intelligence. Most recently, he served as Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (2012-2016). Previous senior appointments included High Commissioner to India (2009-2012), High Commissioner to Malaysia (2000-2002), Director-General of the Office of National Assessments (2004-2009), and Senior Advisor (International) to the Prime Minister of Australia (2003-2004). Mr Varghese was the author of a comprehensive India Economic Strategy to 2035 commissioned by the Australian Prime Minister and submitted in July 2018.
Kartik Verma
Managing Director, Techstars
Kartik Varma is an entrepreneur and an investor. He is the co-founder of PropTiger.com, India's largest digital real estate services firm (funded by Accel and Softbank), and iTrust Financial Advisors, a web-based open architecture platform providing financial products and advice to the mass affluent market in India. Previously, Kartik worked at The Childrens Investment Fund (London), Ziff Brothers Investments (New York and London) and James D Wolfensohn, Inc. (New York). Kartik has an LLB from the London School of Economics and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He's currently a Managing Director at Techstars and runs the Barclays Accelerator powered by Techstars in London which invests in early stage fintech startups.
Munish Verma
Managing Partner, SoftBank Investment Advisers
Munish Varma is a Managing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers in London. Overseeing teams in London and Delhi, Munish has led multiple investments globally and has responsibility for the Vision Fund’s portfolio in India. India represents one of the most significant international markets for the Fund with investments spanning consumer, hospitality, logistics and financial service sectors. In the past few years Munish has been integral to investing in some of India’s fastest growing companies including OYO, PayTM, Policy Bazaar, FirstCry, Delhivery and Lenskart. He has also provided mentoring to many young entrepreneurs and is an active participant in India’s startup ecosystem. In focusing on the intersection of evolving consumer behaviours and financial services, Munish has gained an in-depth understanding of the fintech and insuretech sectors and led the fund’s investment in OakNorth in the UK which is leveraging machine learning to offer businesses customized lending solutions. Munish joined SoftBank from Deutsche Bank where he had held multiple roles across Global Markets and Wealth Management. Whilst at Deutsche Bank, he served as the Head of Global Markets, India and as a member of the Global Markets Asia Pac ExCo. Prior to that he was Head of Global Principal Finance Europe and was responsible for illiquid asset trading and principal investments undertaken by Deutsche Bank in the region. He also briefly worked for Nomura Securities where he was responsible for the Structured Credit business globally and was part of the Global Markets ExCo. Munish graduated from Mangalore University with an MEng in Chemical Engineering and has an MBA from Cornell University.
Anand Verma
Founder & CEO, Brilliant Basics, an Infosys Company
Anand Verma founded Brilliant Basics in 2012 and with more than 20 years’ experience across the digital and technology industries, Anand is an innovator and digital entrepreneur. Since the studios creation, the business has gone on to employ over 200 members of staff across the globe and what started as an office in London, has since led to teams in Norwich, Berlin, Bangalore, Brussels and Stockholm. Anand sold Brilliant Basics Digital Studios to Infosys in 2017. In addition to leading Brilliant Basics expansion globally Anand also heads Digital for Infosys. Prior to Brilliant Basics, Anand was one of the youngest President and CEO at Interpublic Group (IPG), leading Media Brands Ventures in EMEA, a global media conglomerate where he led their digital Operations, Incubation and Acquisitions. Prior to this, he was leading Sapient (now Publicis.Sapient) in a variety of digital leadership roles. He is also a member Young Presidents Organisation and The Guild of Entrepreneurs. He also advises a number of startups as well as Universities.
Ishan Verma
Director, JK Startups Association, Founder & CEO, Nentoir Technologies
Ishan is the director of Jammu & Kashmir Start-ups Association, a non-profit organisation run by a group of entrepreneurs working to develop startup ecosystem in Jammu and Kashmir. He is an entrepreneur with an academic background in Civil Engineering. He is also the co-founder & CEO of Nentoir Technologies, a startup working on developing GIS technology platforms for helping village and smaller city administrations make smarter decisions. Nentoir holds the distinction of being the first start-up from J&K to be incubated at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Technology business Incubation Centre under Startup India initiative and supported by Department of Science and Technology. Nentoir also holds the distinction of being the only startup from J&K to be featured in several leading Innovation programs across India such as: the India Innovation Growth Program 2018 2.0 cohort at IIM Ahmedabad (supported by DST, Lockheed, Tata Trusts), Eureka (organized by IIT Bombay), TATA First dot and CII AgriFACE among others. Ishan is a speaker at various regional meets and educational/corporate institutions across J&K. He uses such platforms to motivate students and other participants to develop a keen entrepreneurial spirit and help build a new economic foundation for J&K. Ishan is on a mission to make the J&K region economically stronger by building a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. Born in a small village near Indo Pak border in district Poonch, Ishan successfully made the transition from his village to cities across India and has now returned to make a difference to the place he calls home - J&K. This journey has motivated him to take entrepreneurship and innovation to the grassroots of Jammu & Kashmir and help realise Hon'ble PM Narendra Modi's vision of Startup India and Aatmnirbhar Bharat.
Sahil Verma
Director, JK Startups Association, Founder, PureMart
Sahil Verma, is the founder & director of PureMart.in. Sahil is a pharmacist, post graduate in clinical research and a management graduate from Manipal University but remains an entrepreneur by heart and choice. Sahil started PureMart with a vision to provide unadulterated dry fruit, saffron, and indigenous produce of J&K directly to consumers at affordable prices. Currently PureMart serves about 50k families pan-India and internationally, despite all the challenges with respect to logistics, infrastructure, resources and internet access in J&K. Sahil has a deep rooted belief that by delivering a highly quality product to the customer you create a stronger brand proposition and ensure customer loyalty. A brand without a quality product has a very short shelf life. Sahil’s efforts have been recognised by leading media houses like NDTV Business, ANI, Business Line magazine etc and PureMart was proudly selected as one of the top 10 start-ups in J&K in 2018/19. Sahil has not limited his entrepreneurial journey to sourcing and promoting indigenous produces of J&K but has also started working on a new start-up this year which is focussed mainly on creating value for both farmers and consumers by collecting fruits harvested using traditional ripening processes and growing urea free vegetables in J&K. This start-up not only aims to help farmers get good value for their crops but also aims to keep both the beneficiaries i.e. the farmer & the consumer, healthy and happy. Sahil aims to digitize the agriculture and horticulture produce of J&K in an agrotech model. This model aim to provide traders and consumers across India upto date market trends and prices of the commodities thereby bringing increased transparency to the market. Sahil has played a leading role in creating the start-up ecosystem in J&K. He has also been able to foster, mentor and promote many aspiring and budding entrepreneurs in J&K. Sahil is on a mission to create a complete ecosystem in J&K wherein mentors, incubation centres and angel networks will be created for the budding entrepreneurs, with the ethos that youth should be motivated to become ‘Job Creators’ rather than just being ‘Job Seekers’. Sahil is also one of the Directors in the Jammu & Kashmir Start-up Association, a non-profit organisation run by a group of entrepreneurs working to develop the start-up ecosystem in J&K.
Ajay Vij
Senior Vice President, Industry Head Financial Services, Infosys Ltd
Ajay Vij has 20 years of experience in growing Technology, Consulting and Outsourcing services business in Europe and North America. Ajay has a strong background of developing product/platform partnerships and large transformation deals with Financial services clients. Recently, Ajay has led successful pursuits in structuring transformational engagements in the Information Management and Regulatory areas. Another area where he is actively involved is collaborating with the Fintech ecosystem, especially working with key technology disruptors that have the potential to change the business models in banking. Prior to Infosys Ajay was a Partner and Large deals leader for IBM GBS Financial Services in Europe. He also held P&L responsibility of the European business for iGATE where he led the Sales & Marketing, Analyst relations and product partnerships and was part of the leadership council at iGATE. Ajay holds a Bachelors degree in Computer Science and has an MBA from London Business School.
K. VijayRaghavan
Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India
Professor K. VijayRaghavan is the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, succeeding Dr. R. Chidambaram on April 3, 2018 and the Chairperson of Prime Minister’s Science, Technology & Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC). He was Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India from January 28, 2013 to February 2, 2018. The Principal Scientific Adviser works with all arms of the Government, with our States, our citizens, national and international agencies. The goal is that the benefits of science, technology and innovation solutions reach the most needy, for the sustainable development of India and for the well being of our planet. VijayRaghavan is also a Distinguished Professor at the National Centre of Biological Sciences (NCBS), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Bangalore (TIFR) and was the NCBS Director till 2013. He studied Chemical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research was a Senior Research Fellow at the California Institute of Technology. His research is on nerves and muscles and how complex behaviour emerges during animal development. VijayRaghavan is a Fellow of the Indian Science Academies, the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences (UK) and a Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences. He was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2013.
Amb Anil Wadhwa
Former Secretary, MEA East (India), Government of India
Ambassador Anil Wadhwa was a member of the Indian Foreign Service from 1979 to 2017 and has served as Indian Ambassador to Italy, Thailand , Oman, Poland , San Marino and Lithuania . As Secretary ( East) in the Ministry of External Affairs of India he oversaw relations with South East Asia , Gulf and West Asia , Pacific and Australasia. He has served as the Indian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to FAO, IFAD , WFP, UNESCAP and worked with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague heading the Government Relations and Media and Public Affairs Branches . Ambassador Wadhwa has been India’s chief delegate to the East Asia Summit, Asean - India, Asem, ACD, the Arab League , Mekong Ganga Cooperation, and ARF meetings. He has been leading the CII task force for writing the Australia a Economic Strategy Report for the Indian government. Ambassador Wadhwa is currently a Distinguished Fellow with the Vivekananda International Foundation, New Delhi and an Independent Director on the Boards of some Corporate firms.
Dr Amit Wanchoo
CEO, Space Communications, Asia Global Fellow 2018
Trained as a medical doctor, Amit is the CEO of SPACE COMMUNICATIONS, 1st Event Management Company of Jammu and Kashmir. He is also the director of EATON LABORATORIES which is the first pharmaceutical manufacturing unit of Kashmir actively involved in low cost healthcare. Dr. Wanchoo has blended medicine, art and entertainment as an effective tool for generating employment opportunities for youth.Dr. Wanchoo has also founded H.N.Wanchoo Trust in memory of his Grandfather. This Trust runs a unique “Ambulance Service Project” for the people of valley.Being born and brought up in Kashmir, Dr. Amit has received various awards which include Yale World Fellow 2007, Young Global Leader 2009 by World Economic forum, Fellowship in Global Leadership and Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School -2014, Asia Global Fellow 2018 at AGI, Hong Kong University and Kamalnayan Bajaj ASPEN Fellow 2019.
Steve Waugh
Former Cricketer, Australia
Steve Waugh AO is a former Australian cricket captain and remains one of crickets most recognised, revered and respected players. He is considered the most successful Test captain in cricket history. Since retirement from the game, Waugh has also shown that he believes in using sport as a means to help those less fortunate in life by using his profile to raise awareness, and encourage fundraising to support needy causes. In India since 1998, he has supported the Udayan rehabilitation home for children of leprosy sufferers He is also a member of the prestigious Laureus Worlds Sports Academy. In Australia, Steve and his wife Lynette established the Steve Waugh Foundation over 15 years ago to support children and their families who are suffering from rare diseases.
John Whittingdale
Minister of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Govt of UK
John Whittingdale was appointed Minister of State for Media and Data in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on 14 February 2020.He previously served as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport from May 2015 until 14 July 2016. He was elected Conservative MP for Maldon in 1992.
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the UN, Government of UK
Lord Ahmad was appointed as the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict and as Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the United Nations on 13 June 2017. Previously Lord Ahmad was the Minister for Aviation and Trade (Department for Transport) from 2016 to 2017. After this he was the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief from 2018 to 2019. Lord Ahmad had a 20-year career in the City working in banking and finance, including at the NatWest Group where he was a senior manager in corporate banking and financial markets. He was later Vice-President and Marketing Director of Alliance Bernstein and his last role before joining the government was as Strategy and Marketing Director at Sucden Financial.
Sanjay Puri
Managing Director, PBI India Ltd
Since it’s inception in 1980, Sanjay Puri has led PBI India to become one of the pre-eminent names in the food production industry in India. He also also successfully led PBI’s foray other businesses including Metals & Chemicals. Sanjay is currently the President of The Roller Flour Millers Federation of India. He is a prominent member of industry in J&K representing the voice of the industry on various panels and committees. He is the former Chairman of CII J&K.
Ruveda Salam
Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax, Government of Jammu and Kashmir
Dr Ruveda Salam made history when she became the first woman from the Kashmir Valley to qualify in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination in 2013. She went on to join the Indian Police Service (IPS) assuming the position of Assistant Commissioner of Police in Chennai. Dr Salam comes from Farkin, a remote village in Kupwara district, J&K. When she was growing up her father often used to advise her to become an Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer. She appeared for the UPSC exams again and upon clearing the exams a second time joined the Indian Administrative Services and is currently serving as the Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, Jammu. Before achieving the feat of clearing the UPSC exams twice, Dr Salam had completed her MBBS from the Government Medical College in Srinagar and also the Kashmir Civil Services examinations. She also holds the distinction of representing India at the Youth-20 meet in Sydney in 2019 as one of only five representatives from India. The Youth-20 meet is held in parallel to the prestigious G-20 Nations meet. In 2018, the Ministry of Women and Child Development of Government of India added Dr Salam to a list of 112 women achievers who have achieved a first in any field and made the country proud. Titled ‘First Ladies’, the award was presented to her by the honorable President of India Ram Nath Kovind. Dr Salam is a regular speaker focusing specially on giving motivational speeches to the youth, particularly girls. She has also conducted various workshops for girls in J&K and other parts of the country encouraging them to pursue education and is specially passionate about attracting more girls to take the UPSC examination.
B V Krishnan
Former Partner & CEO, KKR & KKR India Financial Services
B V Krishnan (BVK) was most recently a Partner at KKR, the global alternative asset management firm, and former CEO of KKR India Financial Services. BVK is credited with creating the alternative private credit market in India, as a segment that provides structured financing to Indian businesses and entrepreneurs. Under his leadership, the business that BVK managed executed on over $ 6.5 bn of financings over a decade through a business model that combined investing through balance sheet, third party funds and capital markets. Previously, BVK was head of Structured Products for Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities (FICC) and Equity Capital Markets, at Citigroup, India. BVK is a Chartered Accountant by qualification.
