Faculty

Aman Kaleem, faculty for the Visual Communications course at Vedica, is a filmmaker and co-founder of Red Stone Films, a storytelling, creative media agency and a film production house based in New Delhi. She holds a Masters of Arts in Mass Communication in from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi and was awarded Young India Fellowship in 2013. She has been a programmer of the International Film Festival of India, the largest and oldest festival of Asia. She is a guest faculty at Aligarh Muslim University. She loves to tell stories of women and their daily dilemmas. Her characters evolve as a reflection of women she has interacted with while growing up in ten different cities across India. Making films on women is her process of finding her voice through the collective narratives. Her last film ‘Eidiyaan’ won numerous international and national awards. Her recent film Shaadi, Sex, Aur Parivaar, funded by Public Service Broadcasting Trust, explores the institution of marriage through the lens of three Indian brides. They question the ideas of love, body image, sex and identity as a woman getting married while redefining meanings of liberation.

Bennett McClellan has worked as an author, business consultant, corporate executive, entrepreneur, executive coach, general manager, playwright, theatre director, television producer and raw food chef. Dr. McClellan is currently a professor and Vice Dean at the Jindal School of Liberal Arts. He also supervises thesis projects for senior business students at California Polytechnic University, Pomona. Dr. McClellan received his Ph.D. in Management from the Claremont Graduate University’s Peter F. Drucker-Masatoshi Ito School of Management, one of the foremost liberal arts colleges in the USA.

He also received his Master of Fine Arts from the University of California Los Angeles School of Theater, Film and Television. He created and produced the award winning student situation comedy, Good News Bad News supervised by former Directors Guild president and Emmy award television director, George Schaefer. In addition to academic honors, Dr. McClellan earned the distinction of Outstanding Graduate Student awarded by the UCLA Alumni Association for his work in theater, film and television.

Dr. McClellan earned his MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1981, with High Distinction (Baker Scholar). Continuing the theme of applying a liberal arts philosophy to the practice of business, Dr. McClellan served as Editor-in-Chief of the Harbus News during his tenure at HBS.

Dr. McClellan joined the management consultancy of McKinsey & Co. after finishing his MBA. During his six years at McKinsey & Co., Dr.McClellan focused on the entertainment and media sector, with assignments across multiple industries. His global experience included resident assignments in the UK and Asia. Dr. McClellan returned to the management consulting profession from 1997 to 2002 as Managing Director for Strategy with Pricewaterhouse Cooper’s media and entertainment group. He is the co-author of PwC’s publications, The Future of Media & Entertainment (1999) and Vying for Attention (2000).

Dr. McClellan earned his B.A. from the University of California, San Diego in biology/biochemistry. He graduated with High Honors and was the recipient of the UC President’s Undergraduate Fellowship to found and direct the UCSD Children’s Theatre.

Gaurav Saini is a theatre trainer, actor, director, and short-film maker. He conducts a range of workshops in theatre and theatre therapy for individuals as well as institutions. He started his journey in theatre with Barry John, first as a student of acting and then as an assistant teacher. He has explored many forms and approaches to theatre, including highly physical and rigorous forms of training in traditional Indian dance and martial arts forms and Western theatre. He is also a martial artist, with a Black-Belt in Thang-Ta, and training in Aikido, Kalarippayattu, Tai-Chi, and Judo. He is affiliated with NIRMAN, a non-profit organisation based in Varanasi.

Irfana Majumdar is the artistic director of the NIRMAN Theatre Studio, Varanasi. She is a theatre director and performer. Her main interest is ensemble-based devising and creation, physical and vocal training practices, collaborative creation, and solo performance. She studied directing and performance at the University of Chicago, and has also trained in Corporeal Mime, Suzuki and Viewpoints, Clowning, and many forms of body work. She has trained in classical Hindustani music since childhood.

Preeti Singh has 18 years of experience in communications with organisations including McKinsey & Company, Indian School of Business, and USIS. In her role as manager of professional development at McKinsey, she coached several high performers on communicating with impact and enhancing their interpersonal and people skills. She has recently set up her own venture called “My Satori Path” which offers training on these essential capabilities to schools, colleges, and corporate firms.

Masters in English Literature, Delhi University
Bachelors in English Literature, Delhi University

Shreyasi Singh is currently the Director of Careers and Programme Development at the Vedica Scholars Programme for Women. She was the Managing Editor for Inc. India, the Indian edition of the American magazine Inc. Her first book ‘The Wealth Wallahs’ was released in September 2016. She was the Managing Editor for Inc. India, the Indian edition of the American magazine Inc. She is now working on her first book on a successful start-up\'s journey. She is a co-founder of The Foundation for Working Women, a not-for-profit which works in the areas of policy, infrastructure and advocacy to enable women to \"live their choice to work\". Postgraduate in English Journalism, Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi Bachelor of Arts, Lady Shri Ram College for Women, University of Delhi

Trisha Gupta is a writer and critic based in New Delhi. She writes for various newspapers and runs a blog where she deconstructs cinema and popular culture. 

Anjula Gurtoo is a Research Fellow at the International University of Japan, NIIGATA, Japan. She has previously taught as associate professor in the Indian Institute of Science and assistant professor at IIM Lucknow. Her research area is that of policy studies, including equity issues in governance; sectoral reforms; informal economy; entrepreneurship; public participation and empowerment; infrastructure and development; and environment.

Doctorate, Fellow (Management), Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad 

Masters in Psychology, University of Delhi 

Chandrika Bahadur is Director for Education Initiatives at the Sustainable Development Solutions Network. In this role she leads the roll out of SDSNEdu, the online education intiative for SDSN. She also guides the work of the SDSN in supporting the design and eventual implementation of the SDGs and in particular, the interface of learning outcomes and technology. She has a background in economic development, international policy making and philanthropy. Previously she worked to help set up Reliance Foundation, a Rs. 1000 crores non-profit philanthropic foundation. From 2001-2008, Chandrika worked with the United Nations in different roles, including as part of the leadership team of the UN Millennium Project, an advisory group convened by the UN Secretary-General to recommend strategies for the Millennium Development Goals. Chandrika has graduated from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Harsh Shrivastava has wide experience in the corporate and government sector and is currently the head of Corporate Affairs for Srei Infrastructure Finance. He has been the Chief Operations Officer of the Centre for Civil Society, India’s top rated think-tank. Harsh was previously in India’s Planning Commission and worked as the program manager of the 12th Plan. He was also a Research Officer at the Prime Minister\'s Office and has worked as Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s deputy speechwriter.

He headed marketing and business development for Feedback Infrastructure and was the first director for agribusiness for the Confederation of Indian Industry.

He has been a regular writer for the op-ed pages of Mint, Economic Times; the Indian Express: and The Shillong Times. He was also the first webmaster of the BJP’s website in 1997 and 1998, and spent a year as a reporter at Businessworld magazine.

Harsh has co-written India\'s first book on Corporate Social Responsibility, released in 1999. Harsh has been faculty for strategic public communications at IIM, Ahmedabad.

He has also been a speaker at national and international conferences on policy and corporate subjects at ISB, Hyderabad and ISB Mohali, at XLRI, at IIM, Shillong, and at IIM, Udaipur; at Melbourne University and at the Australian National University, apart from other colleges. Harsh is on the board of the Meghalaya Institute of Governance and has been an Emerging Leaders Fellow at the Australia India Institute.

Jyotsna Puri has over 15 years of experience in evaluation and evidence-based policy having worked at the World Bank and the United Nations. Dr Puri is currently Deputy Executive Director and Head of Evaluation at the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) where she leads 3ie’s evaluation team and is head of office.

PhD in Economics, University of Maryland at College Park

Masters in Agriculture and Resource Economics, University of Maryland at College Park

Masters in Economics, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University

Bachelors in Economics, University of Delhi

Manisha Priyam is a researcher with experience on local governance, education reforms, and social protection policies. She combines academic insights with policy work oriented towards the social sector. She is currently a Research Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library and has also worked as a research scholar with London School of Economics and Political Science and an assistant professor with Delhi University. She has also worked as advisor to UNDP, World Bank, Ministry of HRD and State Government of Delhi.

PhD in Development Studies-Education Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science 

Masters in Political Science and Government, Hindu College 

Bachelors in Political Science, Lady Shri Ram College for Women 

Manoj Pant has been teaching Trade Theory in the Centre for International Trade and Development, School of International Studies, JNU for the last 20 years. He has been speaking on WTO issues for the last four years in seminars of the UNCTAD, OXFAM and other non-governmental organizations on issues of investment and competition policy. He was expert member of the Ministry of Commerce group on Environmental issues in the WTO, of the consultative group on trade issues of the Planning Commission and is currently also a member of the technical committee of the Ministry of Human Resource Development for WTO and trade in Educational Services and Chairman of the Project review Committee, Department of Scientific and Industrial research, Govt. of India, 2005-2007. He has about 35 publications in international referred journals and two books. He also writes a monthly column for “The Economic Times” publication.

PhD (Economics), Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, U.S.A 

Master of Arts, Economics, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, U.S.A 

Master of Arts, Economics, Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University 

Bachelor of Arts (Hons), Economics, St. Stephens College, Delhi University 

Meenakshi Gopinath, a Fulbright Scholar, Padma Shri Awardee and an educationist, retired as the Principal of Lady Shri Ram College in 2014, which is rated amongst the best institutions of higher learning in India. She is also the Founder and Honorary Director of WISCOMP (Women in Security Conflict Management and Peace).

PhD, University of Delhi

Masters of Arts, University of Massachusetts

Bachelors in Political Science, Lady Shri Ram College for Women

Fulbright Scholar, Georgetown University

Mihir Sharma is the author of Restart: The Last Chance for the Indian Economy. He is currently a Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation and India columnist for Bloomberg View and Business Standard.

Pete Mohanty, a Thinking Matters Fellow at Stanford University, researches immigration politics in the European Union. Having worked as a political outreach director in New York and Philadelphia before graduate school, Pete is also particularly interested in the intersection of diversity and leadership.

PhD in Political Science, University of Texas, Austin

Masters in Statistics, University of Texas, Austin

Bachelors in Political Science Swarthmore College

Pronab Sen is the Country Director for the International Growth Centre’s India Central Programme. He has held several eminent government positions, including that of Chief Statistician. He specialises in macroeconomics and public finance.

PhD in Economics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore

Masters in Business Administration, George Washington University

Masters in Economics, George Washington University

Bachelors in Economics, St Stephen\'s College, Delhi University

Pushkar (PhD Political Science, McGill University) is Director, International Centre Goa. He has previously taught at BITS Pilani-Goa, McGill University, Concordia University and Goa University. He is the co-author of Democracy, Civil Society and Health in India (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) and has written journal articles on Chilean politics and health reforms, and on democracy, public goods provision, and health in India. He also writes regularly on India’s higher education and his op-eds and essays have appeared in Asian Scientist, Indian Express, Hindustan Times, The Wire, Braingainmag.com and elsewhere. In 2015, an article in Forbes India listed Pushkar as one of India’s 24 thinkers “who best explain a rapidly-changing India to the world (and the world to India).

Sarabjeet Natesan is an economist with background in Teaching, Supply Chain consulting, and Economic and Strategic analysis of Public Policy. She has an experience of over 12 years in teaching Economic Policy, Macro and Micro Economics and Statistical methods for economic analysis at undergraduate and post-graduate level. She has prior industry experience in strategic Supply Chain planning and cost reduction, and Economic Policy research and consulting.

Her research interests lie in use of quantitative and qualitative methods in management and policy learning and evaluation; establishment of contextual factors affecting implementation of policies delving further into the role of implementers in efficient and effective outcomes.

Shuchi Sinha has over a decade of experience in the practice of corporate law with the leading law firms in India. She is a Partner at AZB & Partners, with an active practice in mergers and acquisitions, private equity investment and debt finance. She also worked on a summer assignment in London, U.K. with the international law firm Steptoe & Johnson, in their Trade Law and Intellectual Property practices. 

She has been advisor to a large number of clients including multilateral international organisations, funds, foreign banks and Indian corporate houses on various transactions and is also experienced in advisory work relating to regulatory matters under the Indian legal and policy framework. She was one of the lead Partners advising the investor in a foreign direct investment M&A deal in the Indian telecom infrastructure sector that won the M&A Deal of the Year – South Asia award at the Asia Legal Awards 2016, held recently in Hong Kong. 

Shuchi has also published extensively on legal issues in international legal journals as well as in well-known Indian newspapers and news magazines. 

Prior to undertaking corporate law practice, Shuchi spent many years in journalism and was a Senior Correspondent at India Today magazine, covering various beats including business and legal issues. Degrees held: LL.M., University of London LL.B., Faculty of Law, University of Delhi Certificate course in International Trade Laws, World Trade Institute, University of Berne, Switzerland B.A. (Hons) and M.A. in English, Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi.

Sundar Sarukkai is a philosopher whose research interests are primarily in the philosophy of the natural and the social sciences. 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). He is the co-editor for three volumes on logic as well as an Editorial advisory member of the Leonardo Book Series, MIT Press, Series Editor for the Series on Science and Technology Studies, Routledge and the Chief Editor of the Springer Handbook on Indian Logic. He was at the National Institute of Advanced Studies from 1994-2010 and then set up the Manipal Centre for Philosophy and Humanities, Manipal University where he is presently the Director.

PhD in Theoretical Particle Physics, Department of Physics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 

Masters in Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

Unni Karunakara is currently a Senior Fellow at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale University. He was elected International President of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in 2010. He was responsible for setting up a vastly successful tuberculosis control programme in Ethiopia. He went on to work as a medical coordinator for MSF programmes in Azerbaijan, Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Dr Karunakara has held various academic and research fellowships at universities in Africa and Europe. His research focused on the demography of forced migration and the delivery of healthcare to neglected populations affected by conflict, disasters and epidemics. He was the Deputy Director of Health of the Earth Institute, Millennium Villages Project, at Columbia University in New York, and Assistant Clinical Professor at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. PhD in Public Health, Johns Hopkins University Master of Public Health, Yale University Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, Mangalore University.

Vikram Lall is an award-winning architect, educator, author, and patron of the arts. He has more than 25 years of experience in architectural practice and consultancy and is the principal architect and partner of Lall & Associates. With a Masters Degree in Interdisciplinary Design from Cambridge, Vikram has designed several landmark buildings, such as the Akshardham temple in Delhi and the Buddha Smriti Park in Patna. His deep familiarity with both international and local ideologies has enabled him to creatively bridge the increasing gap between local and global design conditions. He has been feted by the President of India, and his projects have been extensively covered in several national and international journals.

Yugank Goyal is Associate Professor at O.P. Jindal Global University. As a founding faculty member there, he helped establish the university and spearheaded many initiatives including those related to research and international collaborations. Previously, he was a Consultant to a major private bank, advising on rural infrastructure projects in eastern India. He enjoys interdisciplinary engagements with law and development, environment, intellectual property, higher education and regulation. He has published in international academic journals as well as in newspapers and magazines on issues surrounding these areas. He has also spoken widely around the world, and serves as Faculty at the Institute for Global Law and Policy at Harvard Law School. He regularly consults the government on policy issues. Degrees held: PhD in Economics at University of Hamburg, Erasmus University Rotterdam and University of Bologna (Erasmus Mundus Scholar) LL.M. at University of Manchester and Erasmus University Rotterdam (Erasmus Mundus Scholar) B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering at NIT Surat

Avik Chatterjee has been a facilitator and corporate trainer since 2004 working with clients like Airtel, Microsoft and Samsung. Avik has had a diverse working experience working in many fields like photojournalism theatre and management consulting. He currently works with OD Alternatives as an executive coach conducting programs in the areas of team effectiveness, change management, leadership development and creativity and innovation.

Certified Life Coach

Masters in Tourism Administration, MPTI

Diploma in Photography, Birla Institute of Futuristic Studies

Bachelors in Commerce, Calcutta University

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

Ireena Vittal, armed with an MBA from IIM-Kolkata and a former partner at McKinsey & Company, is presently on the board of Tata Global Beverages, Axis Bank, Glaxo Smithkline Consumer Healthcare, Wipro, Godrej Consumers Products and Titan. Her areas of specialisation are emerging markets, agriculture and urban development.

Masters in Business Administration, IIM Kolkata

Bachelors in Electronics, Osmania University

Ramnath Narayanswamy is a senior professor in the Economics and Social Sciences Area at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. His areas of interest include Business and Society, Economic Reforms in Transition Economies (India and China), Spirituality and Self Development and Leadership Development, Outsourcing and Creativity and Innovation. His latest book is likely to be released in 2016. He is also completing a volume on management insights from Indian spirituality. He was Visiting Research Fellow in the Center for Russian and East European Studies of the University of Birmingham and Reader in the Center of Eurasian Studies of the University of Bombay. He was also invited by the German Foreign Ministry to do a study on The Indian Response to Perestroika 1985-1990, (supported by a grant from the Volkswagen Foundation) which was subse PhD, Economics and Sociology, Ecole des HautesEtudesen Sciences Sociales, Paris, France DEA (Sociology), University of Vincennes Paris, France DHESS (Economiques), Ecole des HautesEtudesen Sciences Sociales, Paris, France Master of Political Science, Poona University, India Bachelor of Political Science, Poona University, India.

Radhika Singh is an organisational leadership performance and executive coach. She consults on leadership coaching and succession planning. She is a Certified Coach in Neuro-Linguistic Programming.

Reena Mithal has spent over two decades working in global financial markets and investment research. Formerly, she was part of US-based emerging markets research teams at Putnam Investments, Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers, where she developed investment strategies and models for global clients. Ms Mithal has been an active angel investor in social enterprises in India. She founded Sankhya Partners in July 2012, and is Managing Partner, Sankhya Women Impact Funds.

PhD in Economics and Finance, Columbia Business School, Columbia University

Master of Arts, Jawaharlal Nehru University; The Fletcher School, Tufts University

Bachelor of Arts, St Stephen’s College, Delhi University

Santhosh Babu is the Managing Director of Organisation Development Alternatives and author of India’s first book on Coaching published by Wiley. Santhosh works with organisations and leaders to shift limiting beliefs and bring about lasting positive change and has been identified as a CEO Coach by Business World, Economic Times and Business Standard. He has worked with the leadership teams of Airtel, Max Group, Merck, Novartis, Vodafone, GSK, NIIT, to name a few. He is also a visiting faculty at the Indian School of Business (ISB). An engaging and inspiring speaker, Santhosh is regularly invited to deliver key-note addresses at business and strategy conferences around the globe.

Bachelors in Botany, St. Thomas College, Trissur

Shalini Mittal currently works as an associate consultant with OD Alternatives and is the Founder Director of n(Able) Solutions, an executive and leadership solutions consultancy set up by her in 2011. She is also the Founder of n(able) Change, a social change initiative focusing on gender equality and adult literacy. She has over 14 years of rich and varied experience of creating training solutions with expertise in analysing training needs, creating and customizing content and an established track record of excellent training delivery.

Masters in Industrial & Organisational Psychology

Professional Certificate in Education (PGCE), the University of Sunderland

Stacy Blake-Beard is a professor of management at the Simmons School of Management where she teaches organisational behavior. She is also faculty affiliate at the Center for Gender in Organisations at Simmons and visiting faculty at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India. Prior to joining Simmons, Dr. Blake-Beard was faculty at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. In her research work, Blake-Beard examines mentoring relationships in the context of gender and workforce diversity.

Stacy Blake-Beard sits on the advisory board of a number of organisations, including the Harvard Project on Tenure and is the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, including awards from the National Science Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Robert Toigo Foundation.

PhD in Organisational Psychology, University of Michigan 

Masters in Organisational Psychology, University of Michigan 

Bachelors in Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park 

Vivek Law  is the Founder of Investonomix, a digital content website on managing finance. He has also been a senior Business journalist with Bloomberg UTV and has diverse range of experience in Broadcast Media. He is also the author of The Money Book, which simplifies the process of investing and saving.

TD Chandrasekhar is an engineer with more than 24 years of business management experience. He started his career with NIIT, India in corporate planning and then moved over to consulting. He is currently an empanelled facilitator with Harvard Business Publishing (Asia Pacific) to deliver workshops on behalf of their corporate clients.

Masters in Business Administration, XLRI, Jamshedpur

Bachelors in Technology, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi