FACULTY

Founding Dean of National Management Programme; Professor, Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurugram

Dr. Aggarwal is a Professor and one of India’s leading researchers in the areas of Decision Science and Operations Management. An engineering graduate of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, Vijay did his MS and PhD in Operations Research and Computer Science from the Case Western Reserve University (USA). His professional experience is evenly divided between the US and India that includes teaching systems modelling, applied operation research, decision support systems, operations strategy, operations and supply chain management, and project management, and consulting and entrepreneurship in healthcare delivery systems, apparel supply chains, and higher education.

His career includes 10-year tenure at the Washington State University, and more recently, 15 years at MDI Gurugram, where he took up leadership and entrepreneurial roles in institution building while serving as the Founding Dean of the innovative National Management Program and bringing on board the Kellogg Business School at the Northwestern University for an academic collaboration under a UNDP Project. to 'Also, as the founder Director of Center for International Management, he launched an innovative academic program in Business Technology. ‘As a Consultant with a number of organizations in USA, Canada and India, he has undertaken several projects funded by NSERC, CIDA, USAID, UNDP, ESCAP and EU-Asia.

Vijay has co-authored books on Modernizing Organizations, and Financing and Managing Projects, and has served on the editorial boards of a few international journals and the governing boards of Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow and MTNL. He has also worked in various capacities at University of Maryland, Warwick Business School, Indian Institute of Science, Indian Institute of Management at Lucknow, and Consultancy Development Centre

BE(IIT Kanpur), MBA & PhD, University of Washington, Seattle

Dr. Prabhu Aggarwal is the President and Founder of Eduserve Global LLC, Virginia, USA. Dr. Aggarwal has over 25 years of experience in both academics and industry having served as the founding vice chancellor of OP Jindal University Raigarh, Chief Learning Officer, JSPL Group, and Assistant Dean, Mason School of Business, Williamsburg, Virginia before staring ESG. 

An active teacher and consultant, his areas of interest include higher education transformation and institution building, manufacturing and process excellence, supply chain strategy, theory of constraints, and leadership and management development. Dr. Aggarwal’s research has been published in various leading academic and practitioner journals such as Management Science, Operations Research, IIE Transactions, Journal of International Technology and Information Management, and International Journal of Production Economics. 

Dr. Aggarwal has designed and delivered programs in executive education and management development for various clients in the private, education, and government sectors in various countries such as USA, Brazil, Middle East, India etc. His clients include Bank of America, Price Waterhouse, Dell Computers, Jay Jacobs, Department of Transportation, Virginia, Isuzu Motors, USA; Defense Contract Management Agency, Brazilian Business School, ARI Wisconsin, etc, and JSPL Group Companies, India, JSW Group, amongst others. 

He has a Bachelor of Technology from IIT Kanpur and a MBA and Ph.D. from the University of Washington, Seattle, USA in management sciences.

PhD in Applied Zoology, Mangalore University, Mangaluru, India. Fellow, Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation.

Research Interests: Aravind’s work ranges from biosystematics, ecology and conservation, to genes, species, communities and ecosystems. For more than a decade, he has been studying taxonomy, diversity, distribution, and endemism patterns in terrestrial and freshwater molluscs and amphibians of the Western Ghats. His current work includes the use of molecular phylogeny and phylogeography to assess evolutionary relationships and the origins of land and freshwater snails of India. He uses data mining tools and ecological niche modelling methods to study species distribution and biogeographic patterns in various taxa.

Chairman, OD Alternatives

Santhosh Babu is the Chairman, Founder and Managing Director of ODA (Organization Development Alternatives Consultants Pvt. Ltd) and author of India’s first book on coaching published by Wiley. He also writes a weekly column in Business Today called “Buddha in the Boardroom”. Santhosh works in the areas of Cultural Change, Leadership Development and Organisational Transformation. During the last 17 years, he has worked with more than 200 clients and thought leaders worldwide. An engaging and inspiring speaker, Santhosh is regularly invited to deliver key-note addresses at business and strategy conferences around the globe. Using his fun-filled, interactive, high energy, creative facilitation style and magnetic stage presence, he instantly connects with individuals and captivates his audiences. Some of his recent keynote addresses include the Porter Price Event 2014 in Delhi, OPPI (Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers India), the HR Conference 2014, the CII Southern Region HR Conference 2014 and the TIE Annual Conference 2014. Santhosh has worked as a primary school teacher in Bhutan; he also worked with the WWF and travelled around the world as a backpacker before starting at OD Alternatives.

Ph.D. in Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA Coordinator, Academy for Conservation Science and Sustainability Studies.

Research interests: Milind’s research work explores the response of natural ecosystems to global change and especially climate change and invasive alien species. His interests include the use of open-source platforms and the use of the citizen-science approach to improving our understanding of ecosystem response to these drivers.

Urvashi Butalia is a publisher and writer. Co-founder of Kali for Women, India’s first feminist publisher, and now director of Zubaan, she is also author of the award-winning oral history of Partition, The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India.

Post his education in IIM Calcutta and NIT Kozhikode, Jishnu Changkakoti spent 22+ years working across the world in various roles in marketing, sales and general management. The roles he handled include heading marketing for Johnson & Johnson in Indonesia, setting up the Indian operation of a US Foods MNC, heading sales & marketing in a highly rated Indian company.  He has worked across multiple countries, as well as multiple categories like food, baby care, skin care, contact lenses, mobile phones etc.

Currently he is indulging in two of his passions - teaching, and helping small companies grow. In addition to teaching at Vedica, he is also a Visiting Faculty in IMT Ghaziabad. As Director, Sueno Management Consultancy, he provides consulting services, with particular focus on helping out smaller companies and start-ups develop their marketing & sales capabilities.

CEO of Sustain Labs Paris

She is also the founder and CEO of Sustain Labs Paris. Sustain Labs Paris is a sustainability incubator that transforms large organisations into becoming social entrepreneurs and therefore more sustainable. She is an established adviser and public speaker, advocating the cause of holistic as well as sustainable growth of Indian and global businesses in national economies.

Miniya is also on the Steering Group for Sustainability United Nations Global Compact India, and the World Steel Sustainability Expert Group. She has founded a Masters course on sustainability which she teaches at Sciences-po Paris, France’s leading university. She is a member of the ‘Board of The Economic Times Global Green’ initiative, and a member of 100 Women in Hedge Funds.

She was previously working as the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) at the Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. (JSPL[2]) and was one of the youngest top business women in India at the time.

Miniya was an employee of the ‘World Economic Forum’ (WEF), and was also a Global Leadership Fellow from 2011-2014. She has been a speaker or moderator at Davos and at other World Economic Forum regional summits, the United Nations, European Union, PE International, Microsoft Innovation Cup and Digital-Life-Design (DLD).

Miniya is a Jury Member for the Million Dollar Global Teacher Prize and for The Circulars award at Davos.

Provost, Anant University

Anunaya Chaubey is a well-known artist whose works explore the mystery of the mundane individual and communal worlds. Layered and subtly textured, his paintings present a play of people and places and the dynamism between the two. His works can be found in both public and private collections across the world.

He has been the Deputy Dean of the Young India Fellowship (a postgraduate liberal arts program) and faculty at Ashoka University in Delhi NCR since 2010. Before coming to Ashoka, he was the Principal of the College of Arts and Crafts at Patna University for 21 years. In 2008, he was invited by the Government of Mauritius as a Visiting Fellow to setup the Department of Arts and Crafts at the Rabindranath Tagore Institute. His latest international engagement was in July 2018 as a teaching fellow at Salzburg Academy on Media & Global Change where he conducted a workshop and lectured on “Re-imagining Journalism: News and Storytelling in an Age of Distrust”.

At Ashoka University, Anunaya teaches a postgraduate art appreciation course, which apart from providing an evolutionary account of art, also presents it as a converging ground for ideas and concerns drawn from multiple disciplines as well as a complex medium of expression open to countless valid interpretations. He also teaches a practice-based visual arts course to undergraduate students.

Director Curriculum at Harappa Education

Editor/Journalist and Master in Public Administration, LKYSPP, NUS, Singapore, Seema is a journalist/editor and has worked with established media houses in India including the India Today Group, the Times of India group and Hindustan Times Media in varied roles. She reports on sustainability practices, social entrepreneurship and philanthropy. She edits a daily feature page which looks at the future of work, gig economy, women at work, and millennial work practices.

While at LKYSPP, apart from policy analysis and developmental economics, she studied social entrepreneurship, urban interventions, negotiation, and environmental economics. She went on an exploring spree in Asia covering six countries including walking the Great Wall of China, experiencing Onsen at Beppu in Japan and trawling night markets in Taipei. She has been a part of multiple panel discussions on CSR practices in India. Seema is an alumna of media studies from Sophia, Mumbai University and Lady Shri Ram College for Women, Delhi University.

Adjunct Professor, Director of Community Partnership Initiatives, Philadelphia University & Thomas Jefferson University

Dr Corse is the Director of the University City Office of Council for Relationships, the Director of Council for Relationships’ Community Partnership Initiative, and a supervisor and teacher in the Thomas Jefferson/Council for Relationships Masters in Couple and Family Therapy training program. A 1987 graduate of the Clinical/Community Psychology programme at the University of Maryland, Dr Corse began her career as a clinical research professor at the University of Pennsylvania. She conducted research on the effectiveness of various treatments for mental illness and substance abuse. Dr Corse, a member of the American Psychological Association, is the author of "Cradled All the While: The Unexpected Gifts of a Mother's Death". Dr Corse presents seminars and workshops at a variety of for-profit and non-profit organizations on such topics as life balance, parenting, loss and grief, and emotional and spiritual issues in caring for the dying and grieving.

Tripti Desai is an Independent Director in five companies. After her stint in the corporate sector, she went back to academics and now has 30 years of work experience in teaching, training, research and consulting. She has presented papers at various national and international conferences and is a part of an ongoing cross cultural study investigating and researching across nine countries.

Founder, Mashauri; Entrepreneurship Lecturer, IE Business School Product Design, Innovation & Delivery; Customer Research & Acquisition

Simon has more than 20 years of management consulting experience focused on assisting senior executives in addressing their strategic and operational issues. He is a partner at Genesis Management Consulting, which specialises in strategy and decision making. At Mashauri, Simon supports entrepreneurs through online acceleration programmes which universities use to give students hands-on entrepreneurship education and experience (mashauri.org). Its mission is "building tomorrow's entrepreneurs today". At Genesis, he supports corporates in the area of strategy and innovation. Its current focus is on addressing the potential for industry disruption through defensive or offensive initiatives. The intersection of Genesis and Mashauri is where corporates meet startups. Here, he is able to help startups understand how to create disruptive business models and how to scale. At the IE Business School, he teaches strategy and entrepreneurship. He brings the benefit of massive practical experience (30 years) in supporting new and existing businesses.

Associate Professor, MDI Gurgaon

J. N. Godinho, an associate professor of marketing at MDI, Gurgaon, has a professional experience ranging from the marketing of fashion textiles, international marketing and managing operations of medium-sized export-oriented units. Professor Godinho’s areas of interest center around strategic marketing, brand management, sales and distribution management, and international marketing. He earned his Post Graduate Diploma in Business Administration in Marketing from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a Bachelors in Physics from the University of Madras.

Faculty, Vedica Scholars Programme for Women; Manager, 9Dot9 Writing & Communication Facility

Saurav Goswami has been teaching at the Vedica Writing & Communication Centre for the past two years. He brings in five years of experience in curricular design, class process and on-field perspectives of language teaching. As Visiting Faculty at the JK Lakshmipat University, Jaipur, he has been working to set up its Centre for Communication and Critical Thinking. He is advisory for the 9dot9 Writing & Communication Facility, which oversees various projects on communication skilling across institutes. A linguist and a grammarian, Saurav has had editorial experience with SAGE and Routledge. Before this Saurav worked for three years as English Content and Pedagogy Associate with Pratham Foundation. He integrates principles of ESL teaching and linguistics to customise student-focused curricula in verbal and written communication. Saurav believes in celebrating words but likes the crisp style of business language. He has a Bachelors and a Masters in English.

Associate Professor, University of Girona; Scientific Director of the Tourism Research Campus, University of Girona; EMTM Erasmus Mundus Master Programme Coordinator

Dr. Jaume Guia is an Associate Professor at the Department of Business Administration of the University of Girona, Spain, where he also serves as the Programme Director of the Erasmus Mundus European Master’s in Tourism Management (EMTM), and the Scientific Director of the Tourism Research Campus. He has more than 10 years of experience with Erasmus Mundus joint master programmes, which he has shared at regional conferences on Higher Education in the Balkans, Russia and the European Union. Over the years, he has promoted and participated in a diverse array of collaborative academic projects with universities in countries like Ghana, Madagascar, South Africa, Oman, Malaysia, China, USA, Brazil, Mexico, Slovenia and Denmark. He has supervised over 20 PhD dissertations, and his most recent academic publications cover a variety of topics about tourism destination management, including cross-border destination branding, 'Place Making', the understanding of travelers' experiences, as well as new mobilities and forms of tourism. Currently, he is leading a project in the Western Sahara, where relevant aspects of destination management are analysed in the context of conflict-ridden, insecure and contested spaces, therefore contributing to the research stream on tourism and peace.

Amit Krishn Gulati is an award-winning industrial designer, entrepreneur and design educator with a multifaceted oeuvre encompassing New Product Development, Healthcare, Hotels & Hospitality, Branding, Built Environments and Retail Experiences.

Amit completed the post-graduate programme in Industrial Design from the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad in 1995 and is the co-founder of Incubis, one of India’s leading architecture and design companies with several Fortune 500 clients.

Incubis is known for its path-breaking ’frugal innovation’ projects, exemplified by the creation of a range of affordable maternal infant-care devices for GE Healthcare, modular polyclinics for the Delhi Government and Ginger, the ‘smart’ hotel chain for the Tata Group.

Amit is passionate about mentoring entrepreneurs and works closely with many start-ups. He is one of the founding investors at Barista, India’s pioneering espresso retailer, Abisko, a solar solution venture and Eye-Q, a successful and fast-growing chain of affordable eye hospitals. Amit, and the team at Incubis, designed and helped execute the iconic 100 meter ‘Mudra’ installation that has become the celebrated symbol of the International Airport at New Delhi. Amit is actively engaged in creating design awareness and has served on the CII National Committee on Design for several years and is the Vice President-National Executive Council of the Association of Designers of India (ADI).

Vikas Gupta is Co-Founder and Director at 9.9 Media. A veteran marketing expert, he has over 29 years of experience in marketing management and business building. He has held leadership positions in globally reputed consumer groups across international markets. Prior to co-founding 9.9 Media, he was Senior Vice President and CMO of Coca-Cola India, Global Brand Director of Brand Coca-Cola at The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, USA, CMO and President (Advertising Sales) at ABP Pvt Ltd.

DLabs at Indian School of Business

DLabs is the incubation and acceleration arm of the Indian School of Business set up in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. It aims to support the creation of a vibrant and high-impact entrepreneurial ecosystem focused on innovation in key sectors including technology commercialisation. DLabs leverages the vast resources, expertise and networks of the CIE at ISB through mentorship, education and investor connect.

Hans Kelsen Fellow, European University Institute

Arpitha Kodiveri is a legal researcher focusing on environmental justice issues. She is a Hans Kelsen Fellow at the European University Institute, where she studies the intersection of consent, business and human rights in India. She was previously a senior research associate at the Ashoka Trust of Research in Ecology and the Environment. She has worked as an environmental lawyer with Natural Justice, helping adivasis improve their resource access in Rajasthan and Odisha.

Arpitha also co-founded the design+environment+law laboratory at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology. She has a Masters in Environmental Law from UC Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law as a Fulbright Scholar and a Bachelors in law from ILS Pune.

CFA, FCA, FRM

Ankur Kulshrestha, CFA, FCA, IIM-C started his corporate career with Suzuki India through campus placement in 2005. He moved to one of the world’s largest consulting organizations, EY in 2009, specialising in Automotive sector consulting. The role gave him rich exposure of handling international clients on strategic issues. His total industry experience is close to 10 years. Mr. Kulshrestha completed his Chartered Accountancy in 2005 wherein he secured All India ranks in all three stages, a milestone rarely heard-off in the 68 year history of ICAI. Interested in finance, he aced the CFA program by CFA Institute, USA and soon after got his CFA charter. He was the third rank holder in his batch from the Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University. Active in academia, with 10 years of experience, he takes up various finance courses at leading B-Schools in Delhi. He is the lead CFA trainer for FINSTUDYCLUB. Third in India and twentieth globally, he is a member of the prestigious Approved Prep Provider Program of the CFA Institute. His training sessions are webcasted in more than 15 countries. He, with his mobile App which has downloads in more than 60 countries, was the first in India to pioneer the concept of the ‘M-question bank’ for CFA training. Mr. Kulshrestha is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He is one of the empanelled trainers for the Reserve Bank of India. In addition, he is a certified valuator with immense experience in the field of valuation specialising in Corporate Restructurings. He has been a part of various panel discussions on strategic topics on economy, taxation, management, etc. Having learnt management and strategy from IIM Calcutta, he has presented several White Papers in national conferences and different industry fora.

Development Economist, Visiting Faculty, Harvard University, ISB & Ashoka University

Dr. Kumar is a development economist and professor. He earned his postgraduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and his MA in economics from Bangalore University. He also holds a Master's degree in public administration and a Ph.D. in political economy and government from Harvard University. Shiva Kumar teaches economics and public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and is a visiting professor at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad. He has focused his research on poverty and human development, social sector analysis, and the impact of development policies on children and women. Kumar has been a regular contributor to UNDP's Annual Human Development Reports. In addition to serving as an advisor to UNICEF - India, he is a member of India's National Advisory Council. The council was set up in June 2004 to oversee the implementation of India's National Common Minimum Programme. He has also been associated with the preparation of national human development reports in a number of countries including Bhutan, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar and Serbia. In 2003, Kumar co-edited the book, Readings in Human Development. His other publications include the Public Report on Basic Education (PROBE) (Oxford University Press, 1999) and a co-authored report entitled, Women in India: How free? How Equal?, for the UN System in India.

Communication & EI Coach, Learning & OD Consultant

Amit has more than 25 years of diverse experience as facilitator and coach, L&OD consultant, instructional design specialist, manager, and journalist in organizations across India, USA, Nepal and Mauritius. Amit works with various large corporate houses and institutions to enhance employability skills among professionals and students. He was previously a Senior Knowledge Management Officer at the World Bank, Instruction Design Specialist with NIIT and a journalist with media groups such as India Today, Times of India, and so on.

Farmer, Co-Founder SumArth, HBS, IFC Fellow, Silicon Valley Fellow, ICICI Fellow

Prabhat is a serial entrepreneur. He is an Engineer, Young India Fellow, Silicon Valley Fellow, ICICI Fellow, IFC fellow and possesses a degree from Harvard Business School. He has worked with PSU, social enterprises and MNCs. He has won various global B-plan competitions in India, Africa, Singapore, South Korea, Europe and USA for his medical device start-up. 

In 2015 he co-founded SumArth in his native village to promote sustainable farming; SumArth is currently working with more than 15,000 farmers in 7 districts of Bihar.
 

Architect & Director, Corinthian Consortium

Aaron is a registered architect and director of Corinthian Consortium, a collaborative confluence of specialist consultants and skilled craftsmen. He received a B.Arch and minor in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and the M.Des in Energy and Environments from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design Advanced Studies Program. He was awarded the Institute Silver from IIT Kharagpur and the Lodha Fellowship at Harvard.

Co-founder of QYON

Saurabh is co-founder of QYON (Question Your Own Notions) – an initiative for provoking thought and bringing about active change. He believes that the only variable that is in one’s control is the ‘self’, so the quest for change needs to start from there. Saurabh is an alumnus of IIT Delhi and the Said Business School, University of Oxford, where he was a British Chevening Scholar. He has over two decades of experience consulting with Fortune-500 firms and has lived and worked across five continents. After moving to the foothills of Himalayas, he turned to leadership and coaching young entrepreneurs in the space of transformative holistic education. He regularly speaks on entrepreneurship and is passionate about building ethical and conscious leadership in organisations.

Saurabh serves on the boards of many educational institutes, including the technology business incubator Catalyst at IIT Mandi, and a number of start-ups. He has travelled extensively across India to explore experiments on alternative development. While living among the Gonds, an indigenous population group, he taught at a local school, and attributes this to shaping him into the person he is today. He hopes to replicate similar transformative experiences for others as well!

Journalist, Literary and Culture Editor

Nandini Nair has been a journalist for more than a decade. She is currently the literary and culture editor with Open, a weekly news magazine in Delhi. Her days in the newsroom are spent reporting and researching, reading and writing, editing and commissioning. She has worked previously with the feature sections of The Indian Express and The Hindu. She has a M.A. in Arts and Culture Journalism from Columbia Journalism School, New York. She has a B.A. (Hons) in English from St. Stephen's College, Delhi, and a postgraduate diploma in journalism from Asian College of Journalism, Chennai.

Co-Founder IGSA Labs

Rahul is a visiting faculty at IIMs, Lucknow and Udaipur, in addition to a few other institutes such as Vedica and ISDM.  He is a co-founder of IGSA Labs - a private limited company engaged in the development of analytical models for supply chain decisions. He is also a co-founder of the Centre for Learning & Empowerment (CLE Trust), a non-profit trust engaged in providing free learning programs to underprivileged children and youth. Formerly, he was a faculty member with IIT Bombay and IIM Lucknow.

INDUSTRY EXPERTISE
Worked with Maruti-Suzuki (1991-93).
Cofounded IGSA Labs in 2007 and guides its R&D and analytical modeling work on a part-time basis.
Conducts industry executive development programs on supply chain analytics under the aegis of IIM Lucknow.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND     
Post Doctorate, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan.
Doctorate, IIM Ahmedabad.
B.Tech., IIT Kanpur.
 

Founder & CEO, PQ Solutions

Priya has over twenty years of experience in fundraising and related operations. PQ (Philanthropy Quotient) Solutions provides consulting, teaching and technology services for nonprofits and social enterprises. Currently she is developing a SAAS based fundraising and financial management software, PQ CRM for nonprofits.  

She serves as a faculty at the Indian Leaders for Social Sector (ILSS) and Naropa Fellowship, India. Priya serves on the boards of Yellowbox Foundation and Adhyayan Foundation. She holds Master's degrees from Old Dominion University, US, and the University of Kerala, India. Priya received Executive Education Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from  Harvard University.
 

Academic Director of the HEC EMBA programme

Jeffrey Petty is a professor of entrepreneurship, the Academic Director of the HEC EMBA programme, and the faculty advisor of the Entrepreneurship Accelerator at UNIL. He has a doctorate in management and an MBA in international management and his primary research interests include venture capital decision making, new venture financing, and opportunity exploitation. Jeffrey has taught courses on entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial finance, corporate strategy and policy, and knowledge management. Over the past twenty-five Jeffrey has worked with entrepreneurial organizations, ranging from start-ups to international corporations, in a variety of roles and has participated in all phases of the firm lifecycle, from concept development to exit. Jeffrey is an AMBA accreditation assessor and is currently a member of the Executive MBA Council’s Board of Trustees.

Professor, St Stephen's College Delhi

Bikram is the recipient of the INSA Teachers Award. He has taught Physics St Stephen’s College, Delhi, for over two decades. His primary academic interest is the teaching of physics at the undergraduate level. He earned his Ph.D. in astronomy at the University of Maryland at College Park, USA, in 1993. His interests are, however, not limited to astronomy, nor, indeed, to physics. He currently holds a professor position at Ashoka where he is helping design its physics programme.

IIM Ahmedabad

Prof. Ankur Sarin is a professor in the Public Systems Group at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He teaches microeconomics and social entrepreneurship. Prior to IIM-Ahmedabad, Prof. Sarin was a researcher at Mathematica Policy Research in Princeton, New Jersey in the US. He holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the University of Chicago.

His past works include investigations of the effects of social and economic inequality on the welfare outcomes of children and understanding the influence of technology on the social and economic life of the marginalised. 
 

Professor of Philosophy, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru

Sundar Sarukkai, trained in physics and philosophy, has a PhD from Purdue University. He is presently Professor of Philosophy at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru where, in addition to his research, he runs a programme on taking philosophy to the public funded by the Tata Trusts. He was at the National Institute of Advanced Studies from 1994-2009, following which he was the Founding-Director of the Manipal Centre for Philosophy & Humanities, Manipal University from 2010-2015 where he set up innovative Masters programs in Philosophy, Sociology and Literature. He is the author of the following books: Translating the World: Science and Language; Philosophy of Symmetry; Indian Philosophy and Philosophy of Science; What is Science? and The Cracked Mirror: An Indian Debate on Experience and Theory (co-authored with Gopal Guru), and also a co-editor of five edited books. He is an Editorial Advisory Board member of the Leonardo Book Series on science and art, published by MIT Press, the Series Editor for Science and Technology Studies, Routledge and the Chief Editor of the Springer Handbook of Logical Thought in India. His publications have spanned core themes in philosophy of natural science and social science, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of language and art, drawing on both Indian and Western philosophy. In recent times, he has also been involved in philosophy of education and also in policy issues around higher education. He has also been very active in outreach programs in philosophy to take philosophy to different communities and places through his workshops and public writing such as in The Hindu.

CEO, Akshayapatra Foundation

Mr Shekhawat is the CEO of AkshayaPatra Foundation and is based in London. He is a speaker, strategic partner and an independent advisor on company boards including Erehwon Innovation Consulting and Sevendots. He has had a career of over 25 years where he worked with Nielsen, Reckitt Benckiser and Coca-Cola. He earned his Bachelors & Masters degrees in Economics from University of Rajasthan and University of Mumbai respectively.

CEO, Harappa Education

Shreyasi Singh is currently Head of Edtech Initiatives at 9dot9 Media. Prior to this role, she was Director of Careers and Development at Vedica Scholars Programme for Women; a reimagined women-focussed post-graduate management programme. She also worked as the Managing Editor for Inc. India, the Indian edition of the American magazine Inc. She is a Co-founder of the Foundation for Working Women, a not-profit which works in the areas of policy, infrastructure and advocacy to enable women to “live their choice to work”. Shreyasi is alumna of Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi and has a Masters in English Journalism from the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi.

Professor, University of Pennsylvania

Dr Kenwyn Smith is a Professor of Organizational Behaviour and the Director of UPenn's Masters Programme in non-profit/NGO Leadership. Dr Smith teaches leadership, group and intergroup dynamics, organizational politics andchange management in three of UPenn's schools: The School of Social Policy & Practice, the Wharton School and the Fels Institute of Government (Arts and Sciences). His research experience ranges from prisons to schools, from businesses to health care institutions, from state enterprises to social entrepreneurial activities, from oppressed black townships in South Africa to agencies creating sustainable livelihoods in rural India, from pharmaceuticals in Belgium to financial services in urban America, from the World Bank to a community in Philadelphia wrestling with the anguish of people living with HIV/AIDS. Dr Smith did his PhD in Organizational Behaviour in 1974 and MA in Organizational Behaviour in 1973 from Yale University. He has founded a number of volunteer-based, non-profit organizations and is about to launch several research initiatives that will be at the heart of Penn's Center on Nonprofit Leadership. He has also received numerous Excellences in Teaching Awards and also highest ranked teacher award from the University of Pennsylvania. He has also worked in the following universities in various capacities. Oxford University, University of Maryland, University of Melbourne, Yale University, University of New Haven, University of Melbourne.

Senior Fellow for Eurasian Security

Amb. Phunchok Stobdan is an outstanding scholar of extraordinary insight whose achievements are varied and impressive. A rare intellectual born (20 Dec. 1958) in a Buddhist family ofLeh, he is regarded as a fine exemplar of the continuing line of people who have worked hard and make many sacrifices, for he excelled in many other fields than academic and diplomacy namely: writing and research, and shaping public opinion.
 
Stobdan is an eminent and influential figure in the newly created Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh.He is the Founding President of the Ladakh International Centre, Leh. He is particularly a source of inspiration for young men and women of Ladakh aspiring to serve the nation.
 
Professional Experience
 
Stobdan brings decades of experience as an analyst, academician, diplomat and a leading expert to the country with unparalleled insight into the political, economic and security landscape of Asia/Eurasia. The Government of India has enormously benefited from his judgment, experience and knowledge, as he also enjoys wide exposure to policy making.Stobdanhas been closely following the Himalayan affairs, particularly the India-China boundary issues. In all, he has 40 years experience of working in the following Think-Tanks, Government and other bodies:
Senior Fellow at India’s premier think-tank Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses (IDSA) under the Ministry of Defence; 
First Secy. at the Embassy of India in Almaty (1999-2002); 
Joint Director in National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), Government of India (2005-2006).
Director/Professor at the Centre for Strategic & Regional Studies in J&K (2006-2007); Ambassador of India to the Republic of Kyrgyzstan (2010-2012);
 
As an erudite scholar, Stobdan is an acknowledged authority on Asian/Eurasian security affairs. His articles get national and global level attention.
 
Stobdan is currently on the Advisory Council of Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs, Washington D.C. He authored several books, policy briefs, strategic commentaries and monographs. He has written/writes op-ed articles for various national/international journals and dailies such as Strategic Analysis, JanesDefence Weekly, Times of India, Indian Express, Hindustan Times, the Hindu, the Week, India Today and Outlook and others.
 
His latest books include ‘The Great Game in the Buddhist Himalayas: India and China’s Quest for Strategic Dominance’ Penguin Random House India (2019),‘India and Central Asia: The Strategic Dimension’, KW Publishers, New Delhi (2020)
 

Associate Professor, Business Policy Area,Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

Mukesh Sud is an Associate Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A). Dr.Sud was also an Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship in the Management Department at the Dolan School of Business. Dr.Sud teaches Business Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Dr.Sud received his PhD from the Indian Institute of Management in 2006 and has previously taught at Augustana College, Illinois. Prior to entering academia Dr Sud was an entrepreneur in Bangalore, India and ran technology companies in the field of Thermal Sprayed Coatings. Dr Sud is an engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi.