Abhishek Bondia
Principal Officer & Managing Director, SecureNow Insurance Broker Pvt. Ltd
Abhishek has over 15 years of experience in consulting and insurance. He is the co-founder of SecureNow Insurance Broker, an award-winning insurance broking firm. Set-up in 2011, SecureNow serves over 15,000 clients across India. The firm is backed by marquee investors including a leading impact focused venture capital firm, and a strategic insurance aligned fund.
Prior to setting up SecureNow, Abhishek worked at McKinsey & Company. Here he had setup a Research & Analytics practice focused on hospitals, health systems, health insurers and pharmaceutical clients. He also served financial services clients in the US and India on a wide range of topics including growth strategy, micro-market strategy, product development, and cost optimization.
Abhishek writes a weekly Q&A column on insurance in the Mint and a monthly column in Moneycontrol. He is often featured in personal finance TV shows including on CNN News18, and CNBC Awaaz. He is frequently cited in leading economic dailies. His perspectives on business building have been featured in leading blogs such as Asia Advisers Network.
He Studied:
• M.B.A. [Management Development Institute, Gurgaon]
• Chartered Accountant [Rank holder]
• Chartered Financial Analyst
• Bachelor of Commerce (h) [Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi]
Abhishek Tiwary
Executive Director, Head of People, KPMG Global Services
Abhishek has over 16 years of experience in diverse industries, including Government, IT and Consulting. After graduating from the National Defence Academy (NDA), he started his career with the Indian Navy. He learnt his early lessons in People Management while in uniform. During his career, he has held a variety of positions across the HR function, namely HR strategy, performance development, learning and mobility.
In his early days at KPMG in India, Abhishek led HR in various advisory businesses and was responsible for the incubation of new businesses and a big ticket acquisition on the people side. As the HR leader at KGS, Abhishek has overseen the growth of the firm to 7,000 employees. He has been responsible for the complete suite of HR services across different geographies and businesses. In parallel, the HR function has grown to over a 100 across inter alia recruitment, HR Business Partners, strategy and learning functions.
He is keenly involved in critical decision making at KGS. Abhishek is based in India out of Gurgaon.
He holds an MBA degree in Human Resource from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management –SIBM, Pune.
Adit Jain
Chairman and Editorial Director, IMA India
Adit Jain established IMA India, an economic & business research company in 1994. He continues to
serve as its Chairman and Editorial Director. Previously he worked with Lazard, an investment bank, as
Vice President & Head of M&A. Adit has advised companies on their India strategy; deposed as an
expert witness, at commercial litigations and given testimony at Parliamentary proceedings. He
provides briefings to Company Boards, speaks at emerging market seminars and has lectured on
Business Policy as Adjunct Faculty at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade and International
Management Institute.
He has over the years authored over a thousand articles in the domain of economics, politics,
international affairs and business practices. He is Editor of IMA’s Quarterly Country Report, CFO
Connect (a monthly magazine for the Finance Function) and IMA’s principal economic commentator.
His writings frequently focus on the economic role of governments. He is a non-executive Director on
the boards of Sanmar Group, BMR Advisers and PR Pundit Public Relations. He previously served on
the boards of Shriram Transport Finance, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam, Engineers India Ltd,
Certification Engineers International Limited and Indosolar.
Adit works closely with forest authorities at Kanha National Park towards education, community and
social initiatives. His foundation sponsors the education of thousands of school children. In 2009, Adit
was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, London. A keen wildlife photographer he
travels extensively in the Indian Himalayas and spends time at National Parks in India and East Africa.
He has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra,
India and a master’s degree in business administration from the Henley Business School
Ajay Mehra
Managing Director – South Asia, Airbus
Mr. Ajay Mehra serves as Managing Director, South Asia of Airbus S.A.S. He joined Airbus in 2000. He has over 30 years of experience in marketing and business development across industries, including capital goods, industrial products and consumer services. He spent fifteen years of his career holding senior positions in the aviation industry, including General Electric and Lucas Aerospace. He served as General Manager of Marketing at ITC Ltd.'s Hotels Division. He serves as an Independent Director of India Hospitality Corp.
Mr. Mehra holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology (Mesra, Ranchi) and a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management (Bombay).
Akash Mohapatra
Managing Director and Associate General Counsel, Deutsche Bank AG
Ameet Parikh
Managing Partner, Morphis Business Advisory
Ameet is the Managing Partner of Morphis Business Advisory, a successor to Tranzmute Capital & Management, a company he co-founded in 2011. Ameet is a chartered accountant and a law graduate and has over 33 years of professional services experience. He started his career with Arthur Andersen where he was involved in a wide range of engagements including M&A, Corporate Recovery, Joint Venture Consulting, Business Fraud and Investigations, Valuations, Technology Risk Consulting, Business Planning, Economic and Financial Consulting and Auditing. In 1998, he was appointed as Andersen India’s leader for Assurance & Business Advisory and a member of its India Leadership team. Soon thereafter he was additionally appointed as Andersen’s Risk Consulting Leader for Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East, India and Africa. Ameet became the Country Head of Ernst & Young's Risk and Business Solutions (RABS) practice in India and also a member of its India Leadership Team. Thereafter, he was also invited to EY’s Global Business Risk Service (BRS) Advisory Committee. He was Axis Risk Consulting's founder and Managing Director. In 2007 after Axis was acquired by Genpact, Ameet continued to serve as Axis’s Managing Director until 2010 and expanded the practice to Genpact’s global clients across several countries. Ameet has served companies principally in the Health and Life Sciences, Manufacturing, Technology Services, Business Process Outsourcing and Advertising industries.
Amit Aggarwal
CEO, IT-ITES Sector Skill Council, NASSCOM
Amit Aggarwal is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the IT-ITES Sector Skill Council NASSCOM. He is also the co-architect for the tech industry’s FutureSkills program. Amit has spent his entire career of 25+ years in the iech industry. He has an innate ability to build high performing and collaborative teams. Prior to joining NASSCOM, he was SVP-HR at Genpact. Amit has also worked with GE in Global Sales and transformation roles, and with Accenture in their consulting business. He holds an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and a bachelor’s degree in economics from St. Stephens College.
Amit Sharma
Executive Vice President and President, Asia at American Tower Corporation (ATC)
Amit Sharma joined ATC in September 2007. Prior to joining ATC, Sharma worked at Motorola, where he led country teams in India and Southeast Asia, including as Country President, India and as Head of Strategy, Asia-Pacific. Sharma also served on Motorola’s Asia-Pacific Board and was a member of its senior leadership team. He has also worked at GE Capital, serving as Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, and prior to that, with McKinsey, New York, serving as a core member of the firm's Electronics and Marketing Practices. He earned an M.B.A. in International Business from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He also holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Science from the Moore School, University of Pennsylvania, and a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology.
Anil Parashar
President and CEO, InterGlobe Technology Quotient
Anil Parashar has extensive operational and financial experience in handling various aspects of business including raising finances, capital restructuring, mergers & acquisitions, statutory compliances, investor relations and long term planning.
Prior to President and CEO of InterGlobe Technology Quotient (ITQ), he was Group CFO at InterGlobe Enterprise, where he led transformational transactions including the Worldspan distribution rights in India. He successfully demonstrated his financial acumen by leading InterGlobe through various stages of its evolution where he was responsible for providing strategic and financial leadership to all the Group businesses.
He is a member of Group’s Executive Committee and sits on the board of several InterGlobe companies, including ITQ and IndiGo.
Anil is credited with over 30 years of rich experience including leadership positions at Swiss Air, Asbestos Cement Company and Delhi Express Travels. He is also a representative on PHD Chamber of Commerce, Assocham and FICCI Forums on Taxation and Travel & Tourism.
He holds a professional degree in Chartered Accountancy and is a graduate in Economic (Hons.) from Delhi University.
Anish Behl
Head, Strategy and Wealth Management, Induslnd Bank
A rank holder Economist from Delhi University, Anish has over 27 years of financial services experience across Asia and India in Banking and Insurance. He is currently the Country Head – Wealth Management and Para Banking for Indusind Bank. A keen theatre enthusiast, he believes storytelling is the most powerful management tool in running businesses.
Ankit Gupta
Group Director, Holostik Group, Head, Real Estate Business
Mr. Ankit Gupta is serving as the Group Director, Strategy and Transformation, Holostik Group – a diversified business group involved in the businesses like Anti-counterfeiting Solutions, Packaging, Chemicals, Real-Estate and Warehousing. He is serving on the board of directors since 2005. As a second generation entrepreneur, he thinks of himself as a portfolio manager whose task is to identify opportunities and let the right person run it!
A young, dynamic and proactive individual who believes in doing the right things, the right way. A firm believer in creating a more sustainable and long-term impact on the society through innovation & technology without compromising on ethical values and principles.
An alumnus of Harvard Business School, UCLA Anderson School of Management & Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad), Ankit is driven by innovation & entrepreneurship. Ankit started his career with Aditya Birla group and later joined Holostik and since then has been an important part of its growth and success.
With partners like Microsoft, Ashoka University and Indian School of Business (ISB), Ankit is a part of the Board of Patrons for AIM Smart City Accelerator Program, where he is supporting and mentoring multiple start-ups.
Ankur Warikoo
Co-Founder and CEO, Nearbuy
Ankur Warikoo is an Internet entrepreneur, motivational speaker and Angel Investor based in India. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of Nearbuy.com (formerly known as Groupon. He was previously the MD of Rocket Internet India, Co-founder at Accentium Web, Management Consultant at A.T. Kearney. He holds an MBA degree from The Indian School of Business, an MS Physics from Michigan State University and a BS from Hindu College, Delhi University.
Warikoo started the Groupon India business in April 2011, which is when Groupon entered India through an acquisition. Between 2013-2015 Warikoo managed the India, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines markets for Groupon. In August 2015, Groupon India went through a management buyout, where the India management team (led by Ankur) bought out the majority shareholding of Groupon, partnering with Sequoia Capital. Post ISB, Ankur joined A.T. Kearney in their consulting practice in India. While at Kearney, Warikoo worked in the Real Estate and Media & Entertainment Sector - in Dubai, New York and India.
Anup Vikal
Chief Executive Officer, Maple Highways
Anup Vikal is the Chief Financial Officer of Nayara Energy and is responsible for the overall strategy, operations and delivery of the Finance function. Anup joined the Company in November, 2017.
As part of the finance portfolio, Anup drives Nayara Energy’s financial and operational success with the responsibility for financial strategy and capital structure, resource investment & optimization and ensuring transparency to our investors. He leads the functions of treasury, corporate finance, trade finance, accounting & reporting, corporate governance, controllership, investor relations, tax & strategy. Anup also heads the Legal department and oversees the CSR portfolio of the company.
Anup is an industry veteran with over 28 years of experience in investment community and proven track record of growth, operational excellence and turnaround with both established companies and start-ups. He has been instrumental in transforming the investor relations, business planning, management reporting, monetizing and divesting of businesses. He is also credited with raising over USD 30 billion of funding in all forms of debt, equity, quasi-equity from all parts of the world.
Anup’s thorough understanding of various industries and sectors have enabled him to perform leading role in over two dozen mergers & acquisitions, sell-offs, joint ventures, portfolio management and business restructuring. He has been a member of multiple Boards and Chairman of various Board Committees.
Prior to joining Nayara Energy, he has led top-performing organisations viz. Snapdeal, Aircel, InterGlobe Enterprises, Colt Technology Services India Private Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd and Tata Home Finance. Anup holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and Master's degree in Business Administration.
Anurag
Anurag is a technology enthusiast at the core with 20+ years of marketing and sales experience. He has been with Microsoft for 13+ years India across 2 stints. Marketing automation, analytics, product management, solution sales, and customer lifecycle management are areas of competence. Anurag loves to be at the confluence of technology, marketing, and media.
Apurva Chamaria
Head of Partnership Solutions, Startups & Venture Capital, Google
Apurva Chamaria is currently the Chief Revenue Officer at RateGain, world's leading SaaS provider to travel and hospitality sectors.
In his previous stint at HCL, he headed corporate marketing and was responsible for brand marketing, employer brand, employee marketing, thought-leadership , digital marketing, analytics, finance and marcom. His other roles @ HCL include being a part of the CEO’s Vineet Nayar's office and being a Sales Director at HCL America. Prior to moving into sales , he was the Global Head of Marketing and Strategy for Enterprise Applications (SAP, Oracle ,Microsoft , ECMP, I V & VS, Mainframe and Mid-range, Business Intelligence, IT Consulting) leading a geographically distributed team of marketing managers. As a part of the leadership team He worked to successfully identify, acquire and integrate Axon Group Plc ( acquisition worth GBP 441 million). I was involved in setting up the marketing organization, processes and systems in HCL and in the initial days worked as the Category Manager for Lifesciences & Retail.
He has pharmaceutical industry experience having worked in various sales and marketing positions at Ranbaxy Laboratories (now Sun Pharma). And is privileged to be invited to share his experiences at industry conferences like Sales Performance Management , LinkedIn Tech Connect, Microsoft Leaders Speak, ACMP Change Management, and premier B-School events at ISB, IIM-A, IIM-Raipur, FMS, IIMC, IMI, MICA, Great Lakes etc.
Specialties: Business Strategy , Sales and Marketing Strategy & Operations, Account Management and Client Servicing, Brand Management & Integrated Marketing Communications, Digital Marketing, Sales and Marketing Training, Teaching at B-Schools, Key-noting.
Arjun Uppal
Vice President, Corporate Affairs at DCM Shriram Ltd
Arjun has 38 years of experience with leading companies, many of whom are engaged with agribusiness. He is currently Vice President, Corporate Affairs at DCM Shriram Ltd. In this role he advises the Chairman, Mr Ajay Shriram, on matters relating to Public Policy and its impact on business, manages relationship with Industry Associations, represents the company at external forums, supports businesses on policy recommendations and works on governance of Higher Education Institutions. Earlier he was Head of Agribusiness at DCM Shriram responsible at for businesses such as dairy, fruits and vegetables, seeds, cattle feed, vocational training, telecom etc. These were housed in Haryali Kisaan Bazaar, a retail chain. Prior to this Arjun was an advisor to ICICI Bank’s Rural Credit Businesses (2005 to 2007) and worked closely with ICICI Foundation. This included incubating businesses that had social impact. Arjun was Managing Director of Mother Dairy Foods Ltd in its formative (2002-2003) days. The company’s mandate was to build a contemporary brand. Arjun began his career with Hindustan Unilever Ltd in 1982 and worked for 20 years in various commercial and general management roles. Arjun’s major interest areas are agriculture and social entrepreneurship. Arjun is a Chartered Accountant by training and did his BA (Hons) in Economics from St Stephens College.
Arpito Mukerji
Managing Director, Asia Real Estate Group, Apollo Global Management
Arpito Mukerji is a Managing Director in the Apollo Global Management’s Asia Real Estate Group and is responsible for sourcing and overseeing real estate investments in India. Prior to joining Apollo, Mukerji was a Partner at Rezone Investment Advisors, an India focused real estate investment and advisory boutique. Previously, he has worked in multiple assignments across India, United States and London with marquee firms like Bank of America Merrill Lynch, UBS, Dell Corporation, GE Capital and ABN AMRO Bank. Arpito holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Colorado and a Masters in Commerce from Himachal Pradesh University.
Asheesh Gupta
Partner, 9.9 Media
Asheesh currently leads the education management and services business at 9.9 Group. He has over 25 years of experience spanning operations, engineering, consulting, general management and business building. He worked with McKinsey & Company as a strategy consultant for seven years, where he led projects in India, the Netherlands, Russia, Scandinavia, Greece, U.A.E and several other parts of the world in sectors including energy, infrastructure, technology, education, retail and entertainment. Later, as President of Hero Mindmine, the private education venture of the Hero Group. He was responsible for growing the company from a start-up into a position of profitability and leadership, developing a team of over 200 professionals, and establishing international partnerships and 90 learning centres across India.
Asheesh was also a member of the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister’s Task Force on IT Enabled Services.
He holds a BTech degree from IIT Kanpur, and an MBA from IIM Calcutta.
Avinash Ramachandra
Executive Director - Corporate Affairs, KPMG
Avinash Ramachandra joined KPMG as the Executive Director for Corporate Affairs in February 2020. With more than 20 years of policy and communications experience, Avinash has worked for public affairs agencies and global brands including AMD, Dell, Apple and most recently Amazon. At KPMG, Avinash is responsible for building KPMG’s credibility and reputation across various geographies. For the past 20 years, Avinash has worked in settings directly managing and handling complex public policy campaigns and issues. In his most recent and previous roles, he has managed complex programs, building coalitions with external and internal audiences, and navigating a rigorous work environment where expectations were high and the pace was fast. Most of his work has had a direct and positive impact on the business of my organization. Most notably he advocated and successfully liberalized Foreign Direct Investment for food retail that resulted in retail being opened up for the first time in e-commerce which led to an incremental investment allocation of a half a billion dollars. In addition, he enabled an aggregation (Kala-Haat) program under which 9 collaborations with various sections of the government were enforced, onboarding over 200 societies that helped 650,000 weavers/artisans adopt e-commerce. Avinash began his career in the hospitality industry and switched over to public affairs in the year 2000.
Bhaskar Pramanik
Senior Advisor Rothschild and Company, India.
Board Advisor KPMG, India.
Board Advisor Alliant Asia Corporation.
Independent Director and Board Member, TCNS Clothing Company.
Bhaskar Pramanik is an accomplished management leader and professional from the technology industry. He has held national and global leadership positions in leading multinational technology companies. He was on the Executive Committee of NASSCOM, the National Committee of CII and AMCHAM. He recently retired from the Board of SBI. He retired as Chairman of Microsoft India in September 2017, after a successful 45-year career. Before this, he was the Managing Director of Oracle Corporation and Sun Microsystems in India. He was also the Global VP for Commercial Systems at Sun Microsystems Inc based out of Menlo Park, CA. He currently mentors and invests in startups. Pramanik has received multiple awards throughout his career, most notably the Baton Award at Digital Equipment Corporation, the Global Leadership and the best GEM VP award at Sun Microsystems, and the Platinum award for the Best Area at Microsoft. He completed his B.Tech. from IIT Kanpur and MEP from Stanford University.
Bhawani Singh Shekhawat
CEO UK/Europe, The Akshaya Patra Foundation
Bhawani led strategy, innovation and initiatives around Social Enterprise at The Akshaya Patra Foundation (meaning = a vessel which never runs out of food) He believes that if we want to solve some of the biggest problems in our world, we need stronger and more engaged Social Enterprise. We all need to think, act and believe and behave differently as in order to deliver significant and sustained impact.
Prior to leading Akshaya Patra in Europe, he had a career in the corporate world leading large multi- national teams in and organisations like Nielsen, Reckitt Benckiser (RB) and Coca-Cola in multiple geographies. He is now completely dedicated to playing a part in making the world a better place, particularly for the children.
He is passionate about people, growth via innovation and immensely enjoy leadership and implicit challenges. His passion with Strategy and Innovation helps him serve as a member of Advisory board and a Non Exec Director . Teaching is a labour of love and inspired by the raw energy of the class-room in business schools where he serve as adjunct faculty for Post Graduate/Leadership Programs.
He regularly speak at company meets and industry events and is listed with the London Bureau of Speakers on Customer Centricity, Insight, Innovation and Leadership.
His specialities include Public Speaking, Social Enterprise, NGO, Not for Profit, Charity, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Growth strategies, Organisation building, Coaching/Mentoring, Business Planning, Strategy development and Change management.
He holds a Masters degree in Economics (International & Business Economics) from the University of Mumbai.
Biplob Banerjee
Chief Human Resource Officer, USV Pharma
Biplob Banerjee currently works as a Chief People Officer at Allied Blenders and Distillers. He has previously worked with Jubilant Foodworks, which is the master franchise of Domino’s & Dunkin’ Donuts for India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. An engineer and an MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur, he has a total of 22 years’ experience with companies like PepsiCo, GECIS, GSK. Allied Blenders & Distillers (ABD) is a leading IMFL company engaged in manufacturing, marketing and sale of alcoholic beverages in India.
Biplob is a certified coach and fitness enthusiast, he loves music and adventure sports. At JFL, he was looking after HR, CSR and Admin for a workforce of 28,000 employees.
Burgess Cooper
Partner - Consulting Services, EY
A cybersecurity professional with wide-ranging technical knowledge across various domains, Burgess is EY Information & Cyber Security Advisory Services Partner with a team of 600+ professionals. He has 23+ years of experience in securing some of the biggest brands in the world from potential cyber-attacks. He is proficient in enterprise risk management, computer forensics, business continuity planning, and disaster recovery and vulnerability management. Prior to EY, he was a CISO with Vodafone and HSBC and responsible for Information Security, Privacy & Compliance across the Telecom and BFSI sector. He was also associated with a leading banking and financial services organization as its Chief Information Security Officer. He is a regular speaker and jury member at prominent industry events - BCCI, ASSOCHAM, CII, CISO, E-crime and a qualified EC-Council’s CEI Master Trainer for Industry CISO certification course. Burgess earned a BE in Telecommunications from Bharati Vidyapeeth University and an MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj College of Management in India.
Charul Madan
Partner - Global Technology & Services, Heidrick & Struggles
Charul is a partner with Heidrick & Struggles India and a member of the Global Technology & Services Practice in Asia Pacific. He began his executive search consulting career over 20 years ago as a generalist, cutting across sectors but over the last decade has specifically focused on Digital, Software, Consumer Internet, Semiconductor, IOT, Convergence, Telecommunications, and Professional Services. Over the years he has personally conducted more than 300 successful executive search projects and has advised Fortune 500 technology companies, Diversified Corporate, VC/PE Firms, and Technology led hyper growth companies. His specialist focus is CEO, COO, Chief Revenue Officer, Chief Business Officer, CTO, CPO, and other Engineering, Digital and Sales Leadership roles, besides functional leadership in Policy, HR, Legal and Finance. Prior to a career in consulting, he was the co-founder of an Indo-Swiss joint venture. The company was a pioneer in India in the technology enabled transportation sector in the space of automated level crossing and worker safety protection solutions & products. He is currently also an active angel investor and has invested in a few companies in their early stage, giving him the opportunity to sit on their board. He is an avid squash player, a biker and also enjoys horseback riding with his wife and daughter over the weekend. He was a national level Soccer, Hockey and Basketball player in his high school. He is a graduate of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, School of Industrial and Labor Relations’ with an Advanced Program in Leadership Consulting. He has completed his Management Program from IMI Europe and has completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from University ofDelhi. He is also an internationally certified user of Thomas Profiling PPA.
Dhritiman Biswas
Chief Of Staff, President, NASSCOM
Dhritiman is a public affairs, advocacy and communications professional with nearly two decades of experience across high growth and regulated sectors such as food & beverages, chemicals, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and tobacco. Dhritiman has held managerial and leadership roles in the public affairs and communications teams at the Reliance Foundation, Asian Paints, Abbott, Walmart and Bharti group. He believes the role of Public Policy has become even more important in recent times. He is a champion for a "business to government" engagement model and encourages corporations to integrate a sophisticated approach to public policy into their basic business processes. Dhritiman is an alumnus of the Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communications and is a columnist in the Economic Times and Indian Express.
Dr. Himanshu Rai
Director, IIM Indore, India
Professor Himanshu Rai is the Director of IIM Indore. Under his leadership IIM Indore got the triple crown accreditation of AMBA, AACSB and EQUIS making it one of 100 institutions in the world to have the honor. Prior to this he has been the Dean of SDA Bocconi India Campus, Professor at SDA Bocconi, Milan, and has taught at IIM Lucknow and XLRI. His profile includes a stint of over 8 years at Tata Steel, India, where he played a pivotal role in developing Quality Systems and the Communication Policy for the Company. He is an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad and KREC Surathkal. His book titled “Negotiation” published by McGraw Hill Education is a bestseller on Amazon and his TEDx talk on “Ethical Leadership: Lessons from the Vedas" won him several accolades the world over.
Dr. Rajeev Kumar Thakur
Director, GRASSIK SEARCH PVT LTD
Rajeev was born on 4th
December 1950 & passed out of Frank Anthony Public School, New Delhi, in 1st
Division. He joined Hindu College, Delhi University, rated currently as India’s
top college for Science. After
completing one year of Chemistry Honours, he joined the Directorate of Marine
Engineering Training, Calcutta, the only institute of its kind in Asia, passing
out as a Marine Engineer in 1973.
After a successful stint at
sea for 15 years, 8 of which were as a Chief Engineer, he left sea & joined
as Chief Engineer of Hotel Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza New Delhi, the largest
hotel project in India & subsequently served as Director of Engineering for
Gillette India. In 1991 Rajeev started his entrepreneurial journey as a
Technical Consultant to the Dutch company Dalcem Veciap BV to set up India’s
first fully automated mushroom plant & subsequently, in February’1993 he
set up an Executive Search firm, which brought about pioneering changes in
Talent Search in India. The company, then known as Grassik Consultants, did
India entry recruitments for Mcdonald’s & Coca-Cola & grew at over 40%
Y-O-Y for the first decade.
Grassik became a Private
Limited Company in 2006, and in 2011 it was restructured entirely & renamed
GRASSIK SEARCH PVT LTD. Rajeev has been running the company for 30 years, remaining
in debt free & never suffering a single loss-making year.
Rajeev’s sons have taken over
the company’s day-to-day operations in the past few years, doubling its
turnover in the first three years. Rajeev’s role is now more focused on the strategy
& planning of the organisation. He has started a new initiative called
LEARNING WITH GRASSIK that focuses on knowledge enhancement for the team,
counselling & mentoring them.
Additionally, Rajeev is a regular
writer covering a wide range of topics that provide solutions in an emerging
world. His articles are available on LinkedIn & are based on his personal
experiences. Last month he wrote an article, on invitation, titled “ROLE OF A
FATHER IN CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH” for a US-based medical journal Insightscare with global circulation.
He has participated in global webinars on various management topics that have
been broadcast globally. These webinars are available on YouTube.
Last Year Rajeev was
recognised as one of the Economic Times’ 50 “MOST PROMISING LEADERS OF ASIA
2021”. Grassik received the Economic Times 50 “BEST ORGANISATION FOR WOMEN” in
India this year. CNBC recognised us as the 100 MOST TRUSTED BRANDS OF INDIA.
Grassik is a GREAT PLACE TO WORK certified.
Rajeev was recently approached
by UK-based Alpha Group, part of NobleManhattan, one of the world’s top
coaching companies, to represent them in Delhi to carry out peer-to-peer
coaching. Still, work pressure prevented him from accepting this opportunity.
Rajeev is an effective
change management leader, continuously working on knowledge enhancement &
helping people across age groups to attain a winning mindset.
Dr. Samir Kapur
Director at Adfactors PR
Dr. Samir Kapur is part of the senior management team at Adfactors PR. As Director, he heads the New Delhi branch. He has more than two decades of experience in corporate communications, investor relations and strategic planning.
Prior to Adfactors PR, Samir had served as head of corporate communications at Fullerton India and ESPN Star Sports-India. He also gained rich PR industry experience at consultancy firms such as Vaishnavi and Perfect Relations.
Samir's strength lies in multiple specialities including strategising communication across verticals, external and internal communication, media relations, marketing communication and business analytics and intelligence, crisis communication, and public affairs and government engagement. He is equally adept at conceptualising Digital/Social Media Campaigns for clients across various sectors.
Over the years, Samir has serviced marquee clients such as Vodafone, MTS, PwC, Tata Group, Infosys, Singapore Airlines, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, General Motors, NDPL, Indo Rama, Times Internet, NDTV Convergence, ITDC, CRY, AMW, Amara Raja, and LML.
He is an engineer with MBA in finance and marketing. Samir has also equipped himself with a PhD in M&A from AMU (executive doctorate in business management).
Farhad Vania
Portfolio Management Advisor to the Country Director, GIZ India
Farhad Vania is a Portfolio Management advisor to the Country Director at GIZ India. Vania oversees Indian portfolio development for GIZ India which includes interface with Dept. for Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India, Other line ministries; and also includes working with State agencies, donor agencies, training, research & academic institutions and civil society organisations.
Mr Vania holds a Masters in Human Ecology from Centre for Human Ecology at the University of Edinburgh, as well as Masters in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai. He has over 15 years of experience with various projects related to CSR, forest, wildlife conservation, environmental management and social development.
Fela Chawngthu
Head of Global Customer Success & Digital Services Sales, Adobe
Fela Chawngthu has 16+ years of experience leading high performing sales and marketing teams with technology companies like Adobe, Oracle, HCL Technologies and Publicis Sapient. He specializes in go-to-market strategies and revenue management of digital transformation solutions. Fela currently leads 120+ people in Adobe's Global Customer Success & Digital Services Sales Team. One of Fela’s unrelenting passions is grooming and nurturing talents through personal coaching.
Firdaus Mogul
Founder, Check an Invoice Limited Founder, Renepay
After 25 years in senior positions at Standard Chartered Bank and American Express, Firdaus started his journey as an entrepreneur in 2015. His first company - Renepay - is a B2B payment facilitator that operates in Asia in partnership with leading banks. He has now embarked on his second venture - Check An Invoice Limited - which is the first subscription based SaaS application worldwide to focus solely on addressing the growing concern of invoice fraud. His is the former Director of International Business Development at Ten Group where his role was to support growth in international markets by acquiring large corporate contracts and leading content management schemes globally. He has a bachelor's degree in physics from Madras Christian College.
Gagan Adlakha
Leadership Coach & Sr Partner, Vyaktitva
Gagan is a Leadership Coach and a specialist in the area of Leadership Development and people performance with over 28 years of experience. An XLRI 1990 alumnus, Gagan joined the IT sector in its high growth phase and handled a variety of roles covering the complete gamut of the HR function for about 10 years. He rounded off his corporate experience by handling business roles for the next few years.
Gagan turned entrepreneur in 2004 and joined Vyaktitva as a partner with the desire to help enhance people performance across organisations. He has been working on various Coaching, Organizational Design and Learning & Development assignments focused on enhancing individual and organizational performance. He has designed and delivered solutions for premier organizations including the Max group, PepsiCo, Amex, Unilever, Colgate, Airtel, Genpact, Hewitt, Whirlpool, Accenture, Interglobe group, GE, ITC, Hero, RB, Mother Dairy, Ericsson, Cap Gemini, Jubilant, Viacom18, Aditya Birla Group, Godrej, CK Birla Group, Star India, and IBM. His experience has been across countries, cultures, levels, and industries.
He has also done extensive work with owner/ proprietor/ family-run businesses, partnerships, and social sector organizations.
Gaurav Gulati
Founder and Managing Partner, Aroa Venture Partners
Gaurav Gulati is the Founder and
Managing Partner of Aroa Venture Partners, a venture capital firm with a sector-agnostic
and multi-stage investment strategy. Gaurav’s
diverse and multi-faceted career spans over 20 years. He has founded and exited many start-ups, managed
capital, advised on private investments, worked with some of the leading
fortune 500 companies in the US, and written much code in C++ and Java during
the dot.com days. Gaurav’s most recent exit was Innov8, India’s leading and
most loved co-working space, which OYO acquired in 2020. Gaurav has a strong
entrepreneurial background and is deeply entrenched in the start-up ecosystem
in India.
Gaurav spent his formative years
living in the United States, Argentina, the Czech Republic, Malaysia, and
India. He earned his Bachelor’s degree
in Computer Science from the University of Illinois in Chicago and an M.B.A.
from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Gautam Bharadwaj
Co-Founder, Pinbox Solutions
Gautam Bhardwaj is an Ashoka Fellow and co-founder of pinBox Solutions -- a global pensionTech and social enterprise committed exclusively to micro-pension inclusion. Over the last 25 years, he has worked extensively with governments, regulators, development institutions and think-tanks across several countries on pension policy formulation and system design, and in implementation of inclusive micro-pension programs targeting low income, non-salaried workers. He established a social enterprise in India in 2005 that helped over 2.5m financially excluded low-income individuals to accumulate micro-savings for their old age. He has led several World Bank, ADB, UNCDF, USAID and FSD/UKAID funded studies related to micro-pension inclusion in Asia and Africa. He has served on several committees of the Government of India, PFRDA, IRDA and the Reserve Bank of India on postal, pension, tax and financial sector reforms. He was also a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Retirement Investment Systems Reform Expert Committee (2016-2018).
Gautam Gulati
Director, India Technology Centre for Schlumberger
Gautam Gulati has been instrumental in setting up the Pune IT Centre (PITC) that has competencies covering the entire spectrum of IT - Data Sciences, Advanced Analytics, Big Data, Automation, Cloud, SAP and Application Management. He has over 35 years of experience across industries. Gautam is also on NASSCOM GCC Council and co-chair of the Pune Chapter. Gautam is a Chartered Accountant by training and he has also worked in and explored different roles across hospitality, food processing, real estate, consulting in finance, project and general management roles.
Harish Trivedi
Chief Executive Officer, Apollo Proton Cancer Centre.
In a career span of more than 26 years, Harish has diligently worked in various industries & renowned organisations, including in Healthcare in the country, strategising and re-structuring essential functions for them. Harish believes that his insight, strong domain expertise and connectivity in the industry are his critical assets. Having worked in multiple and diverse conditions, in close association with the top management and himself as top management of these organisations, he has not only accomplished growth of revenue and profits but also managed ‘prima donna’ clinicians and added newer specialities and technologies, encompassing the entire spectrum of Healthcare delivery. Having worked closely with US MNCs like General Mills & PepsiCo, Tata tele in Telecom, Reliance retail and Fortis, and Max & VPS Healthcare, Harish’s insights are valued by renowned firms and contribute to prestigious institutes like IIM, CII, and FICCI in the form of panel discussions.
Keen Planner & Strategist, adept in managing business operations with a focus on top & Bottom line performance.
Strong Healthcare Industry Connect.
Self Driven & Result Oriented.
Responsible for the overall profitability of the business and accountable for strategic utilisation and deployment of available resources to achieve organisational goals.
Execution & Business turnaround.
Effective Communication
Team Building
Digital Health.
Hemant Kumar Ruia
Director, Subcontinent Region, DP World
Hemant Kumar Ruia is a Chartered Accountant, Chartered Financial Analyst, and Cost Accountant with 25 years of extensive experience in Business Partnering, Change agent, Finance, Treasury, Budgeting and forecasting, Taxation, Insurance, Commercial operation, Risk management, Investor relations, Legal, Secretarial, Information technology, Listed company related compliances, and Procurement.
He has successfully built and lead large and immensely engaged teams to deliver exceptional results. Effective communicator with excellent negotiation skills, process oriented, and business focused with strong leadership qualities. He has worked with companies like L&T, ICI India, Reckitt Benckiser, ConAgra India, and Reliance Retail.
Specialties: Business growth, Accounting, Finance, Treasury, Procurement, Processes, Automated controls, Restructuring, Legal, Secretarial, Information Technology, Investor Relations.
Himanshu Goyal
Director, The Weather Company (IBM Company)
Himanshu is the Global Director for Channel Sales and Ecosystem at BrowserStack, who are building the testing infrastructure for the internet.He has been a Co-Founder of two Start-ups, has delivered and led four Product launches and managed one acquisition. He has performed multiple roles for more than a decade at IBM, including the last one of launching The Weather Company (weather.com) in India South Asia. His previous experience includes working in organizations such as Wipro, Digite and Adobe. His passion is to mentor faculties and students in higher education and select startups in growth strategy for sales and marketing.
Ishteyaque Amjad
Managing Director – Policy & Government Affairs, Abbott India and South Asia
Ishteyaque Amjad is Managing Director – Policy
& Government Affairs, Abbott India and South Asia. He joined Abbott in June
2022. Ishteyaque is responsible for building and maintaining relationships with
governments, industry forums, multilateral agencies, and other key
stakeholders. He leads the Policy Advocacy, manages Geopolitics/ Geoeconomics,
and supports Market Access for Abbott in South Asia.
Ishteyaque joined Abbott from Godrej Group, an
Indian multinational conglomerate. Before Godrej, he worked for Coca-Cola India
and SW Asia as Vice President of Public Affairs, Communications and
Sustainability. He started his professional career in the Indian Army and
worked for Cargill, with roles in India and Singapore, and had a stint with
Essar Group, HCL and Orfilame.
He is a Postgraduate from the Symbiosis
Institute of Management Studies in Pune and a Bachelor of Economics from
Aligarh Muslim University. He also is an alumnus of the prestigious Indian
Military Academy.
Ishteyaque is the past president and
currently serves on the Management Committee of the Public Affairs Forum of India
(PAFI). He now leads the ASSOCHAM National Healthcare Committee and
Chairs the MedTech Committee of USIBC. He has been a member of the National
Committees in the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Federation of
Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). He has led the Food and
Agriculture committees of the US-ASEAN Business Council. He serves on the
Advisory Board of AIESEC India and previously served as a member of the Board
of Management of TERI School of Advanced Studies.
His interests include reading, poetry, sports,
and current affairs. He is married and has two sons.
Jaspreet Bakshi
HR Leader for Global In-House Centre, India, Marsh Mclennan
Jaspreet Bakshi has spent over 20 years in leadership roles across business and HR functions. In his current role at NatWest India as Managing Director, HR Customer Service & Operations, he led the HR transformation for the India arm with focus on Digital & Culture and creation of an integrated & value-based HR delivery model. Jaspreet has led multiple leadership roles in organization design to support Business Strategy for Marketing, Sales and Service organizations - both in business and functional roles; and holds cross cultural experience with clients across Americas, Asia-Pac, Europe and India. He also works as a mentor & sponsor of social entrepreneurship work undertaken by various institutes & foundations. He partners with incubators to advise on talent & manpower strategies & planning for start-ups.
Jatin Tyagi
Co-Founder & Managing Partner, People Square
As Co-Founder & Managing Partner of
People Square, Jatin Tyagi has extensive experience in HR leadership roles.
With a range of expertise that cuts across several industries (such as Consumer
Goods, Startups, the Internet, BFSI, Telecom, Pharma, and Industrial), Jatin
brings a strong business understanding to deliver value. As the HR Head of Cairn, he led the organisation
during the most challenging Crude Oil prices regime through a relentless focus
on productivity. Jatin lends an extensive guide to understanding
the Context & Economics of each business to chart out a road map for the
Talent Strategy. He believes in investing in Client relationships for the long
term. As a leader, his focus has been on driving a High-Performance workforce. With over 23 years of experience, Jatin has a
degree in MBA- Finance from Narsee Monjee (NMIMS), Mumbai.
Jayavardhan Diwan
Director, Odyssey India Advisors Private Limited
Am in the board of Pradep Metals and XTZ (egaming). Involved with 6-7 startups ranging from healthcare, fintech, robotics etc as investor and mentor. Advisor to a few hedge funds in distress space.
Involved with a US healthtech startup
Joshin Raghubar
Founder and Executive Chairperson at iKineo Ventures
Joshin Raghubar is a South African entrepreneur in the media, marketing, and technology sectors. He is the founder and executive chairperson of iKineo Ventures founder of Explore Sideways, a leading immersive travel(tech) company and purveyor of premium private wine, food, and culture tourism experiences; a director and investor in Strive, a growthscience firm that helps clients turn data into revenue; and co-founder of Sprout, South Africa’s leading digital media performance firm. Joshin also acted as an African Advisor to MacLarty and Associates, a diplomatic & strategic solutions firm. He started his entrepreneurial career as founder of iKineo, a pan-African customer engagement agency.
Joshin serves as the chairperson of the Bandwidth Barn, Africa’s largest non-profit incubator and accelerator for technology businesses; and chairperson of the Cape Innovation & Technology Initiative (CITi), tasked with development of the region as a technology and innovation cluster. Joshin also serves as a non-executive director of the Africa Leadership Initiative (Southern Africa).
He is a fellow of the Africa Leadership Initiative and the Aspen Institute’s Global Leaders Network, and a member of the Bertelsmann Foundation’s global Transformation Thinkers program. Joshin has a business science (honours) degree from the University of Cape Town, and a masters in development studies from the University of the Western Cape’s Institute for Social Development. He is a 2016 Yale Greenburg World Fellow.
In July 2019, Joshin was announced as a global John P. McNulty Prize Laureate, which is awarded to individuals who have leveraged their expertise, experience and networks to build and lead transformative social impact ventures.
Kapil Mehta
Co-Founder at SecureNow Insurance Broker
Kapil is the Co-founder and CEO of Secure Now Insurance Broker. He has deep insurance experience, including with some of the global insurance leaders. Prior to setting up SecureNow, he has worked at companies such as Prudential Financial, McKinsey and Unilever. He is a charter member of TiE, an executive council member of FICCI CMSME and a director of the Insurance Broking Association of India.
He writes frequently on insurance matters in several well regarded publications. He is an MBA in Management from IIM Ahmedabad.
Luis Miranda
Chairman, Centre for Civil Society; Chairman, CORO; Co-Founder, Indian School of Public Policy; Co-founder, Take Charge
Luis Miranda is chairman of the Centre for Civil Society and CORO and founder-director of the Indian School of Public Policy. He has been involved in setting up two highly successful companies – HDFC Bank and IDFC Private Equity. After founding IDFC Private Equity in 2002, he retired in 2010 to focus on capacity building in non-profits. Miranda is also on the board of Educate Girls and SBI Foundation and co-founded Take Charge, a mentoring program for Catholic youth in Mumbai.
Miranda is also chairman of ManipalCigna Health Insurance and senior advisor at Morgan Stanley. He writes blogs for Forbes and Thrive Global and teaches at the Accelerated Development Program of Chicago Booth. He received an MBA from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.
Madhukar Kamath
Chairman Emeritus DDB Mudra Group, Mentor Interbrand India & Chairman Multiplier Brand Solutions
Madhukar Kamath is an Economics graduate from Loyola College, Chennai, and studied Management at XLRI Jamshedpur, which has also conferred on him a Distinguished Alumnus award. Madhukar has more than four decades of experience in Advertising and Marketing Services and has spent over 25 years in erstwhile Mudra now the DDB Mudra Group, in two separate stints. Under his leadership, Mudra transformed itself from an Advertising Agency into one of India’s leading Integrated Marketing Communications Groups. Madhukar also played a key role in the Omnicom acquisition of the Mudra Group and the integration with the Global DDB Network. Subsequently, he facilitated the entry of Interbrand, the leading Global Brand Consultancy into India, and functioned as its Chairman. In between his two stints at DDB Mudra Group, Madhukar led Bates India as its CEO and was instrumental in the acquisition of Clarion. He also introduced Zenith Media into India.
Following his retirement, he turned an entrepreneur and is now the Chairman of Multiplier Brand Solutions, an Insights & Solutions company, connecting shoppers with brands.
Madhukar has served as the President of the AAAI (Advertising Agencies Association of India), the Chairman of ASCI (The Advertising Standards Council of India) and as the Chairman of ABC ( The Audit Bureau of Circulation ). He was also the Chairman of AdAsia 2011, then India’s largest Marketing Congress. Madhukar has been conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award by the AAAI. As the Chairman of the Mudra Foundation and the Chairperson of the Governing Council of MICA, for over a decade, Madhukar helped build MICA into India’s foremost Strategic Marketing and Communications Management Institute. Madhukar also served as the President of MICA, for the academic year 2016-17.
In 2013, Madhukar became an Executive Board member of Plan India, which is a not-for-profit organization striving to advance children’s rights and equality for girls, thus creating a lasting impact. Helping Plan India impact the lives of 10 million girl children as a part of their Country Strategic Plan, is very close to his heart. Recently he has been appointed to the International Board of Plan International Inc., a Global organisation with a footprint in 80 countries across the Globe. Madhukar joined the Board of Music Broadcast India (Radio City) in 2017.
Manish Kapur
Partner- International & Deal Advisory,M&A Tax at BSR & Co. LLP India
Manish Kapur has been a partdner for 10 years in Accounting Firms with the last 7 years in the Big 4. He is a tax professional with 27 years of work experience in tax related areas, and a mix of experience in transactions and corporate restructuring, international tax and transfer pricing in Big 4 accounting firms and industry.
As part of the M&A tax partner role for North India, he advises on multinational and domestic companies on their merger & acquisition transactions including corporate restructuring and corporate planning.
He is a Chartered Accountant (Fellow Member) from India and Bachelor of Commerce (honors) from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi.
Manoj Chugh
President - Group Public Affairs, Mahindra & Mahindra
An Information and Communications Technology Industry expert with a pioneering career spanning over 40 years, Manoj has managed and led businesses to achieve pole position across Technology & Services domains with both Indian and Global Majors. Manoj is a well-respected Visionary leader known to leverage technology to drive greater societal good and build long-term sustainable businesses.
He is credited with being the Pioneer of the Internet Revolution in India. Under his leadership, India witnessed the birth and creation of over 100,000 Networking Professionals. He has also been recognised as one of the top ten people to have shaped the last decade of the Indian IT Industry.
Starting his career with the Startups of yesteryears- HCL and Wipro, with whom he worked for 15 years, he shifted gears to work with Global Product Technology Firms for the next two decades, which included Scientific Atlanta, Cisco Systems and EMC as their President for the India & SAARC Region and subsequently as the Regional President (Global Accounts) – Asia Pacific/Japan for EMC. At the helm of these organisations, he has driven marquee initiatives that have served as the foundation of the modern IT Landscape, including innovative citizen-centric services.
Manoj pioneered the establishment of Cisco and EMC’s Global Development Centers in India through a Multi-Billion Dollar commitment. These were amongst the earliest such Engineering Centers to be established in India. After that, Manoj led the Enterprise Business (Satyam acquisition) of Tech Mahindra for six years as its Global President, where he led business units across 70 Global Markets, driving transformative success by helping customers leverage Disruptive technologies. Manoj then moved to the parent, Mahindra Group’s; Group Corporate Office, as the President- Group Public Affairs and a Member of the Group Executive Board. He leads Public Policy and Advocacy across the Federation of 150 Firms, cutting across all major sectors of the Economy.
He works closely with several Industry bodies and various Boards. He was the past Vice Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in India, Chairman of the Storage Network Industry Association, is currently a Member of the National Executive Committee of FICCI and leads their South Asia Council in addition to being on the Board of the South Asia Regional Council (A SAARC Initiative).
Manoj currently holds Board positions with Mahindra Defense Systems Limited, the Agriculture Skill Council of India ( A Section 8 Firm), Amity University ( India’s #1 ranked Private University), and the Group Executive Board of the $20B Mahindra Group. He is also on the Academic Council and Innovation Council of TERI University.
He has been bestowed with industry accolades and adjudged the Best IT Man of the Year.
Manoj is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, based in New Delhi, India.
Manu Mayank
Head of Social Impact & Sustainability, Humana People to People India.
Manu is the Head of Social Impact Sustainability at HUMANA People to People India. Since 2012, he has been working towards maximizing impact and making the organization sustainable through program innovation and building partnerships at scale for social, economic and environmental change with women and girls as key stakeholders at the grassroots. Prior to HUMANA, he has worked with different non-profits in India and overseas. He has international development experience across multiple countries in Asia-Pacific and Africa for the last 20 years with a focus on women empowerment, economic & environment development, and has directly brought change in the lives of more than five million women across nine countries through programs designed by him. He is also an entrepreneur and specialises in strategy, planning, scale & innovation, fundraising & partnerships, business development, non-profit management, social entrepreneurship, startups and coaching/mentoring. Manu holds a master’s degree in Social Planning & Development from The University of Queensland, Australia.
Mohinish Sinha
Partner, Deloitte India
Mohinish has more than 25 years of experience in organizational transformation, leadership development, coaching, and setting up and assessing learning functions. He works with a variety of clients in the sectors of education, oil & gas, banking and financial services, and IT. He also has expertise working with the government, public sector, and UN organizations, as well as with multinationals and Indian family-owned businesses. He has a special interest working with start-ups.
Mohinish is a part of SHRM India’s panel of subject matter experts on executive coaching and leadership. He has been invited to speak at various HR forums, such as the National HRD Network, and other academic institutions. He is a social media enthusiast, and has hosted webinars as well as webchats around employee engagement and leadership development.
He is trained in the “Action Coaching” and the experiential learning methodology of facilitation and curriculum design. He is also trained as a “Crisis Intervention Counsellor” in the client-centric “Rogerian” approach. He holds a certificate program in Transaction Analysis for individuals, teams and organisations, and serves as an expert advisor for Global Virtual Workforce in the Human Capital Institute, USA. Mohinish holds a post graduate degree from the XLRI School of Management, Jamshedpur.
Mukesh Butani
Founder & Managing Partner, BMR Legal Advocates
Mukesh Butani has specialisation in domestic, corporate, international tax and transfer pricing. He has over three decades of experience in advising multinationals and Indian conglomerates on a wide range of matters relating to FDI policy, business re-organisations, cross-border tax structuring, tax controversy and regulatory policy. He is an expert in the area of International Tax policy and has to his credit several landmark judicial pronouncements. He has deposed as an Expert Witness on contentious cross-border tax treaty & TP matters in foreign jurisdictions. Mukesh is a qualified Chartered Accountant and holds a bachelor's degree in Commerce and Law, and practices as an Advocate before various Tribunals, High Courts and the Supreme Court of India.
Nirupam Sahay
President, Dixon Technologies India Limited
Nirupam is an experienced global business leader with a strong track record of driving profitable growth. He has over 26 years of experience in Sales, Marketing, Innovation, Operations and General Management/P&L roles. He has led large Markets and Businesses in blue-chip companies across diverse industries - Lighting (Philips Lighting/Signify), Financial Services (GE Capital), Consumer Durables (Whirlpool) and Paints (Asian Paints). He is now Executive Director & CEO of Surya Roshni Lighting & Consumer Durables.
He has handled B2C and B2B businesses and grown market share and profitability in both high growth and declining businesses. He has driven digital transformation in products, sales processes and marketing.
Nirupam has built strong, diverse and highly engaged teams. He is able to balance driving short term results with building for the future. He works extremely well in a matrix structure, and is a strong team player.
Nitin Dave
CEO, Quess Staffing
Nitin Dave is an enthusiastic, innovative, and multi-skilled professional who has more than 20 years of experience in general management, senior sales and marketing roles. He has worked in different industries across multiple cultures and geographies throughout Europe, Southeast Asia, and India. Under his agile leadership, Tenon FM has registered a commendable growth over the years in terms of both business expansion and revenue. In his illustrious career, Nitin has been responsible for building a robust and sustainable business services with multidisciplinary teams. He has turned around units into profitable zones with adherence to standards and compliance, creating a strong customer base and infrastructure to establish long-term customer relationships. His strategic thinking and the ability to develop and implement successful operational and growth strategies have helped secure new business of all sizes and complexity across a range of sectors. His strong relationship and team-building abilities across a diverse workforce and stakeholders have been a great asset for Tenon FM. Before joining Tenon FM, India, Nitin has worked with G4S Facility Services India as Director Facility Management. He has also worked for TNT Express in multiple roles and geographies. His last assignment in TNT was Regional Director, North East India.
Nitin Sethi
Chief Digital Officer - Consumer Business, Adani Group
Nitin brings a rich experience in product design and digital customer experience, which he has acquired over the last 21 years across leading internet and digital platform companies in India. He is currently leading the Digital Transformation for Adani Group as Chief Digital Officer - Consumer Business and has built and scaled IndiGo's 6EDigital, Quikr.com, Yatra.com, Naukri.com, etc. Indiatimes, Rediff, and Bharti Airtel. He leads multi-functional teams and establishes the best user experience practices and processes across organisations. He is an expert in crafting loveable Omnichannel experiences through usable and straightforward products based on their personas and buying behaviours. Nitin mentors many start-ups and has invested in a few of them. He also likes to speak on Design Thinking and Transformation on many public forums and authored several articles.
Nitin won the 'Design-led Entrepreneurship Award' at Tie 2017 and was awarded the 'Karnataka Brand Leadership Award 2017.' He was recognised as one of the top digital influencers and made it to the 'Adobe Content 100 list' for 2017 and the 'Adobe Digi100 list' for 2018 & 2019. He has been chosen as one of the Smartest Digital Marketing Leaders by the World Digital Marketing Congress for 2019, 2020, and 2022. He recently made it to the DM Asia Top Digital Influencers list for 2019. Recently Nitin got the DMA Trailblazer award from DMA Asia. Also, he has been awarded "Experience Maker Executive of the Year" by Adobe in the yearly global award ceremony. In 2021 Nitin was awarded the "DMA Trailblazer CMO Award" by DM Asia.
Pankaj Rai
Group Chief Data Analytics Officer, Aditya Birla Group
Pankaj Rai is the
Group Chief Data Analytics Officer at Aditya Birla Group. In this role, he
leads the Group’s strategy on Analytics and Data Science, enabling its various
businesses, ranging from Cement, Chemicals, and Metals to Fashion Retail
& Financial Services, to enhance their
decision-making capabilities using data science. He also enables the analytics
maturity journey of the business teams by creating digital products and
platforms that can be scaled across the group and beyond.
Before this, Pankaj worked
as the Senior Vice President, Strategy at Wells
Fargo, where his key initiatives included
establishing the digital capabilities to enable the Bank’s digital channels and
building an internal consulting team to drive global
programs. He also worked as the Director
of Analytics at Dell. He led a team in
business research, data analysis, and statistical modelling across domains like
marketing, strategy, pricing, online, supply chain and financial services. Before
joining Dell, Pankaj was Head Program Management Office at Standard Chartered
Bank in their Singapore regional office, wherein he helped grow their shared
service centres in India and Malaysia.
In his professional career
spanning 25 years,
Pankaj started as a management consultant and then went on to
work in the financial services industry in India, wherein he worked with ICICI
and GE Capital in various roles covering sales, risk management, six-sigma and
operations. Pankaj has a
bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Delhi and an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. In his free time,
Pankaj enjoys long-distance running, cycling, badminton and meeting people
in his favourite Cafe.
Pavan Mahajan
Sr. Director, Sales - INDIA, SEA & ANZ, Belden Inc.
Pavan has more than 25 years of cross Industry experience in Information & Operational Technology, Industrial cables, Education and Finance where he has primarily driven scale and growth. He is currently a Senior Director in Belden Inc., and is responsible for leading and managing business across India, South East Asia, Australia and is based out of Singapore. Prior to this he was the CEO of Aspire Human Capital, a VC funded pioneer in education management in India. A chartered accountant by qualification, he has trained at PWC, worked at HB Mutual Fund and also started and sold his entrepreneurial firm.
Phillip Marker
Principal Consultant at Oxford Policy Management
Philip Marker is a principal consultant in energy, climate change, governance, and economic policy at Oxford Policy Management. He spent 18 years with DFID leading DFID programmes and policies, including heading a cross-government team driving collaboration on energy and climate change in India.
Prior to this, he was the Project Director at The Nand and Jeet Khemka Foundation and led the Solar Rooftop Policy Coalition to support the central and state governments in India to frame policy and regulation that will rapidly scale up private investment in rooftop solar. He was also Councellor-Energy Climate and Growth at Department for International Development.
He holds a diploma in Public Finance and Leadership, Public Administration from Warwick Business School and a Masters degree in Energy Technology for Developing Countries from the University of Salford.
Prachish Vasudeva
Managing Director, Alvarez and Marsal
Prachish Vasudeva is a Managing Director at Alvarez & Marsal, a global professional services firm notable for its work in turnaround management and performance improvement of a number of large, high-profile businesses worldwide.
Mr. Vasudeva heads the real estate practice in India. He brings 30 years of experience in investment, development and construction of real estate. His primary area of expertise is in helping stakeholders improve returns on their investments in real estate through strategic and operational initiatives, using innovation, process improvement and efficiency enhancement.
Mr. Vasudeva has worked globally with leading investors and developers across asset classes that include residential, commercial, retail, mixed use and hospitality. Previously, Mr. Vasudeva spent 6 years as a business head with Hines, a privately owned, global real estate investment, development and management firm with $144.1 billion of assets under management.
Prior to that, Mr. Vasudeva worked in the UAE for 10 years where he delivered over 7.6 million sq. ft. of real estate for leading developers and contractors in the UAE, including EMAAR Properties, Union Properties, ABM and the Al Ghurair group.
Mr. Vasudeva earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture, magna cum laude, from Manipal Institute of Technology. He has served on the board of directors of several companies. An Indian national, Mr. Vasudeva is fluent in Hindi, English and Punjabi.
Prasun Kumar
Chief Marketing Officer & Business Head, Just Dial
Prasun Kumar is a seasoned marketing professional, brand expert, blogger, technology enthusiast and entrepreneur at heart with over 20 years of experience across Internet (PropTech), Retail, Telecom and Advertising industries. He is currently the Head of Marketing and Revenue Verticals at Magicbricks, India’s No.1 property site (part of BCCL, India’s largest media conglomerate). His last assignment was as Senior Vice President – Marketing at Reliance Communications, then India’s 4th largest telecom operator with over 100 million consumers. At Magicbricks, Prasun has driven a string of successful initiatives that has affirmed the brand’s position as India’s No.1 online property platform. His entrepreneurial streak has seen him launch many industry firsts at Magicbricks including MBTV (India’s 1st real estate digital video channel), Magicbricks.com/deals (India’s 1st property deals aggregation platform), Brand Store (India’s 1st video microsite solution in real estate) and MagicBag (India’s 1st employee drive initiative for homeless people) which won Foxglove awards & OAA awards for Green Initiatives. He is also the brain behind the new award winning brand campaign #PataBadloLifeBadlo and brought Ayushmaan Khurana and Kriti Sanon as brand ambassadors. The campaign recently won Best Campaign in the E-Commerce category at the prestigious e4m Prime Time Awards 2020. Prasun is a multiple award winner including Best Marketer of the Year, Digital Marketing Influencer, Top 25 Video Marketers in India among others at various prestigious industry forums. At Magicbricks, Prasun is also responsible for new revenue verticals (INR 100cr+) as Business Head besides driving Traffic, Customer Acquisition, Consumer Research and Brand building encompassing digital & offline marketing and PR.
Prior to this, he has worked with Reliance Communications as Sr. VP – Marketing in charge of Brand, Communications and Consumer Insights. He had a stint at SONY India as Head - Marketing where he led the launch of the Xperia range of Sony smartphones and turned the ailing brand around to profitability. Before that as the Director - Brand and Marketing, he launched MTS (Russia’s largest telecom operator; a new entrant in India) brand in India and successfully scaled it up across the entire country. He has also held important positions at Levi Strauss & Co and McCann-Ericson in his career.
Prasun is a dynamic, methodical and disciplined executive, poised to tackle the complex challenges of the rapidly changing business environment. He has won industry recognition, been profiled in The Economic Times, blogs at important forums and is a speaker and panelist at prestigious events and regularly guest lectures at premium business schools including MDI, IMT, Delhi School of Economics, XIMB, IIM-Shillong, IIMC to name a few.
Prithvi Shergill
Head of Talent Enablement and Workplace Design, Smarten Spaces
Prithvi Shergill is an experienced Corporate Business Officer with a background working in the information technology and services industry. The former Chief Human Resources Officer at HCL Technologies, Shergill left the company in March 2017 to work as an independent consultant for breakthrough startups in the HR technology space. He is currently the Head of Talent Enablement and Workplace Design at Smarten Spaces, a company he co-founded in April 2017. He also works with new ventures establishing their businesses. Between 2012-17, Prithvi was the Chief Human Resources Officer at HCL, supporting the HR team and helping to guide the senior leadership team to shape the business strategy, identify human capital implications as well as design and deploy people practices to enhance performance and productivity. Prior to joining HCL, he was a partner at Accenture. He is skilled in Human Capital Strategy & Management, Growth Enablement, Business Revitalisation, Consulting, Organisational Design and Change, Operations as well as Leadership & Talent Development, Reward Design, and Optimising the Talent Supply Chain and Service Delivery. He has been accountable for policies, programmes and processes the put the employees first so as to engage, enable and empower the workforce. Prithvi holds a Bachelor in Commerce and an MBA from the University of Mumbai.
Rachit Kinger
Senior Product Insights Manager-podcasts and Talk Audio Formats,
Spotify
Rachit Kinger is a data science and product management professional in the digital media sector. He has worked with blue chip companies as well as media and technology start-ups where he has built and led high performing data and product teams. He is experienced in deploying data science in domains that require behavioural analysis. Rachit has built successful data science, user research and analytics departments and managed a portfolio of diverse products that include media advertising and data products, web analytics and award winning digital news products like iNews, The Scotsman and The Yorkshire Post.
Raghav Gupta
Managing Director - India and APAC, Coursera
Raghav Gupta is a strategic, execution focused and entrepreneurial business leader, with proven track record in the consumer, internet and management consulting industries in India, south-east Asia and Europe. Has led three consumer internet businesses in India – Coursera, BlaBlaCar and Sucré Patisserie – and successfully created new spaces in the consumer domain. He has over 19 years of experience across Coursera, BlaBlaCar, Sucré Patisserie, Booz & Co and Technopak Advisors.
His key skills include – business growth, business management, building teams, strategy, consumer understanding, product development, performance & brand marketing, PR, sales and building partnerships. Deeply experienced in – consumer internet, travel, food, retail, FMCG and management consulting. Passionate about consumer internet & entrepreneurship!
A confident and prolific public speaker, passionate social observer and natural relationship builder – he is able to bring together diverse experiences and learnings into creative and rigorous business execution.
He holds a Master's in business administration from INSEAD, previously he has also worked with Booz & Co and Technopak Advisors.
Rahul Gupta
Chief Executive Officer, Avanti Finance
Rahul Gupta is the Chief Executive Officer of Avanti Finance. The company is co-founded by luminaries Ratan Tata and Nandan Nilekani. Rahul is responsible for defining and delivering Avanti’s vision to provide affordable financial services to the next 100 million unserved and underserved households leveraging new- age digital technologies. The Avanti team is reimagining financial inclusion and building a population scale digital platform.
Rahul joined Avanti Finance in October 2018 and is based in Bengaluru. Before Avanti, Rahul was with GE (General Electric) for 20 years. In his most recent position, he served as the Managing Director & Head—Business Development & Growth, GE ASEAN overseeing strategy, growth and M&A for ten countries across the portfolio of GE businesses based in Singapore. Prior to that he held several leadership positions with GE Capital including President & CEO for Singapore and Hong Kong. Rahul has been a part of several prestigious leadership programmes with GE in the United States and has also completed the Fintech Programme from Said Business School, University of Oxford.
He is a sports fanatic, enjoys high altitude trekking , dabbles in start-up’s and hopes to become a good golfer.
Rajender Sud
Chief Executive Officer, Career Access
Accomplished leader with extensive experience in leading businesses and transformational change at the enterprise level. Known for spearheading strategy formulation and driving change. Recognized for solving complex organizational problems, shaping organizational culture and effectiveness. Deep expertise in operations, sales & marketing management, and managing P&L. Additional background in new services commercialization; business development, and human capital management. Strongly venturesome in taking risks and focusing on the future; making decisions and taking actions even when there’s an absence of proof confirming the decision; very focused on the long-term, and on the team-building needed to get there. Very comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity; drive change and challenge the status quo. Founder and CEO of Max Skill First, an innovative expansion in the field of professional development, set up under the aegis of Max Group—a leading Indian business conglomerate with interests ranging from insurance to healthcare and senior living to manufacturing.
A passionate marathon runner, an ardent spiritual practitioner, a food enthusiast and a real movie buff.
Rajesh Vig
Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers Private Limited (PwC)
Rajesh is a Partner in the Deals Practice (Corporate Finance & Investment Banking) of PwC India. He has experience of over 22 years in the Deals space. He has worked with large Indian and multinational clients in India as well as with clients based in Europe, U.K., USA, Middle East and the Far East. He is a Chartered Account with an MBA in Finance from SP Jain Institute of Management & Reasarch, Mumbai.
His experience encompasses a broad range of activities including mergers & acquisitions, divestments, fund raising (private equity and debt), valuations, business plan reviews and strategic/business issues in forming joint ventures & undertaking restructuring. He currently drives the Dealss practice for the Pharma & Healthcare Sector. He is based in Mumbai and his other interests include cars, cricket, tennis, reading, networking and hindi music
Ram K Mudholkar
Co-Founder & Partner at Global BioAg Linkages
Ram Mudholkar is an experienced Industry Leader with a demonstrated history in business excellence in the Agriculture Input industry. An independent Advisor and consultant to CEOs/Baords . Co-founded Global BioAg Linkages that supports and partners with BioAg companies. Previously he was President at DuPont South Asia and Chairman of Crop Life India.
He studies PGDM, Marketing, Business Strategy, Organization Development from IIM Ahmedabad.
Ramgopal (RamG) Vallath
Growth Mindset Guru, TEDx Speaker, Keynote Speaker, Bestselling Author, Co-Founder, Science Editor
A motivational speaker, best-selling author, science editor, life coach and co-founder of a tech startup - at the age of 52, Ramg Vallath continues to don many hats. His undeniable enthusiasm and positive approach towards life has kept his spirits high on its bumpy road. Coming from a village Malayalam-medium government school, RamG beat all odds and obtained a high all-India rank in the Indian Institute of Technology joint entrance examination (IIT-JEE). After completing a B.Tech. From IIT Madras, he went on to complete an MBA from the Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI) in Jamshedpur. He jumped into the rat race with Gusto and carved out a highly successful corporate career for himself by first becoming one of India’s youngest telecom business heads as a COO at Airtel, and later going on to work as a Director in Dell and HP.
Ramit Sethi
Founder, StrongBox Ventures
A Chartered accountant and business builder, with over 23 years experience in domestic and international banking with diverse competencies in Corporate Banking, Credit Management, Finance, Corporate Finance (M&A), Corporate Restructuring Advisory and Outsourcing of BFSI / BPO/ KPO /LPO & Eco Energy.
Recently, founded StrongBox Ventures which helps accelerate Early Stage Ventures / Start Ups, thru inputs in Strategy, Talent and Capital.
Promoted “CareerCo”, an IT enabled, online psychometric assessment company, which helps in identifying the right career choices and initial jobs for young people.
*India Advisor and Venture Partner to Tandem (Silicon Valley's Mobile Acceleration Fund)
*Member Advisory Board - Tiatros Inc (US based, healthcare relationship management solution)
*Member Advisory Board - Telr (Singapore) Payments Gateway (in Middle East / India / Indonesia)
*Outsourcing Advisor to Board - FU Gayrimenkul (Turkey) . Legal Process Outsourcing company.
Ravi Sreedharan
Founder of Indian School of Development Management
Ravi Sreedharan is an engineer from IIT-BHU (1985) and holds an MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad (1988). He worked in the corporate world for 24 years, mostly with HSBC in Dubai, Hong Kong, Jakarta and Cairo. At HSBC, Ravi held numerous senior positions including Regional Marketing Manager – Middle East and Africa, Consumer Banking Product Head for Asia Pacific, Retail Banking Director, Indonesia and CEO and President Director of Bank Ekonomi (member of HSBC Group), Indonesia. He quit a successful corporate career in 2011, at the age of 49, to return to India and pursue a career in social work. Back in India, he was part of the leadership team at Azim Premji Foundation 2011 to 2015. With an endowment of over Rs 50,000 crores, Azim Premji Foundation works in 50 districts across the country to improve the quality of government schools and learning levels of children in the least privileged sections of the society. This involved working at the grass root level with teachers, school leaders, School Management Committees, Communities, Panchayat Raj Institutions and with the administration from the Cluster and Block levels all the way to Ministry of Human Resources and Development (MHRD). Ravi has done a lot of work in the School Leadership space across the country from researching and defining qualities required in good school leaders to designing interventions to develop these qualities. This work was at the level of village schools on one end and advising National Level Programs of the Government in developing curriculum and programs for strengthening school leadership across the country on the other end. While working in the social sector across numerous villages in the country, Ravi saw an acute shortage of good, relevant leadership—not only in the education sector but also in the entire development sector. To address this critical issue, he left Azim Premji Foundation with an idea to build a pioneering, world class, iconic, not-for-profit institute in the country dedicated to Development Management, for which he founded the Indian Scholar of Development Management, where he is currently the Director.
Ravikumar Ramanan
Ex-CFO, IBM India
Rehan Khan
Managing Director - MSD India Region
Rehan has 22 years of experience as an investor, consultant, operator and board member in the Asia Pacific, in China, Middle East, in Africa, across Europe and in the US. Rehan has been an entrepreneur as well as a corporate leader and was till recently the Founder of First Penguin Capital, an early stage investment fund, based in Dubai. Rehan has spent a majority of his career focused on healthcare - roles have included MD, Abbott India and President, Asia Pacific, DaVita; he is currently the MD of Merck/MSD for South Asia. Rehan is currently on the board of a Carlyle-owned healthcare company and has served on both public and private boards in India, China and in Africa. Over a decade ago, Rehan established Sidney St. Collective, a non-profit mentoring program for young leaders aspiring to attend leading Business Schools. Rehan is an alumnus of Harvard Business School. He holds an M.Sc. from Harvard Medical School/MIT and a B.Sc. from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.
Rohit Bahadur
Partner and Head NFP CSR Advisory, Grant Thornton
Rohit Bahadur is currently Partner at Grant Thornton and currently heading the Not For Profit and CSR Advisory SME nationally for Grant Thronton in India.
Rohit has over 20 years of experience in due diligence, assurance, corporate governance and business risk. Prior to joining GT, he worked with two of the Big 4 firms and worked in the US with a food distribution company.
His experience encompasses Internal Audit, Grant Audit, SAS 70/SSAE 16, Control Assessments, Clause 49 Readiness, Risk Management and Standard Operating Procedures work. Further, he has handled over 15 Enterprise Wide Risk Management engagements including one for India’s leading Navratna PSU (multi-location and multi-function). He has led the Awards Advisory for many leading Award Properties. Rohit has conducted training workshops and made presentations on several topics pertaining to Corporate Governance.
Rohit has done his B. (Com) Honours and he has has completed his CPA from the California State Board of Accountancy and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He has attended a specialized course at AIM Manila on Risk Management and was on the Board of Governors, Institute of Internal Auditors, Delhi Chapter for two years.
Rohit Kapoor
Chief Executive Officer, SWIGGY
Rohit Kapoor is the Executive Director & Board Member at Max Healthcare.
Prior to Max Healthcare, part of Max group leadership team, he was appointed on the Governing Council of two operating companies during the periods of CEO transitions, and serving as non-Executive Director on multiple boards within the group.
Before joining Max India Limited, he was the Director & Head, Business Strategy at Religare Group and he was involved in shaping the ongoing strategy for the group which has a presence across lending, asset management, life insurance, health insurance, capital markets, venture capital, broking and art.
Previously he was a consultant with McKinsey & Company for close to a decade. Since joining the firm in 2000, Rohit worked across consulting and practice research functions. His notable client engagements included
Rohit was also a key contributor to the book ‘Banking in Asia – Acquiring a Profit Mindset’ published by Wiley & Co in 2003.
He is an Angel investor and a mentor to early stage start-ups.
Rohit Pathak
CEO, Copper Business, Hindalco Industries Limited, Metals flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group
Rohit Pathak is the President and CEO of Aditya Birla Insulators, the largest insulator player in India, where he is leading the transformation of ABI into an international business and diversification into composites. Rohit is on the Executive Council of IEEMA, the industry association of the electrical equipment industry in India, and was elected as the Vice President of IEEMA for the year 2019-20. His past experience includes being the Associate Principal at McKinsey & Company and Design Engineer at Analog Devices Inc. He has completed his PGDM from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and holds a degree in electrical and electronics engineering from BITS Pilani.
Rohit Thakur
Chief Human Resources Officer, Paytm
Rohit Thakur is Head of Human Resources at Accenture India Pvt. Ltd. since February, 2017. Previously, he served as Head of Human Resources - Microsoft Corporation (I) Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation since January 28, 2016 until January, 2017. He joined Microsoft in September 2012 and is responsible for leading HR priorities and developing HR initiatives that support Microsoft’s businesses across India. In this role, his focus includes aligning the organization’s HR strategy with business objectives, building a culturally aligned and diverse organization, talent development & management and implementing effective HR policies & systems across the Microsoft’s 6,000 strong employee base in India.
He has spent about 11 years at GE in various roles across multiple businesses. Mr. Thakur joined GE India Corporate in 2001 as Organization and Staffing Leader for India and served as the Program Manager for the HR and Information Management Leadership Programs. In 2002 he moved to GE Aircraft Engines—first as the HR Leader for Information Technology in Bangalore and then as the Global HR Leader for Information Technology at Cincinnati, USA. In 2005, he moved back to India as the HR Leader for the John F Welch Technology Center (JFWTC) in Bangalore, where he led HR Strategy/Operations, Growth and Engagement for approximately 3000 engineers and researchers across eight GE businesses. He served as the HR Leader for Capital India from August 2007. He served as Head of HR for GE Energy India since January 2011. Mr. Thakur worked for close to eight years with heavy engineering, FMCG and technology companies, including Eicher Goodearth Ltd. (Tractors division), Bausch and Lomb India and Cadence Design Systems. During this time, he was exposed to different elements of HR including union relations, collective bargaining, organization development & training, compensation & benefits, commercial team vitality and development.
He holds B.Com Degree in Commerce from Shri Ram College of Commerce and PM&IR Degree in Human Resource from XLRI Jamshedpur.
Rupesh Tripathi
Partner and Head of People at KPMG Global Services, KPMG Global Services (KGS)
Rupesh has two decades of experience in HR encompassing a broad spectrum of areas including Business HR, HR Strategy, Consulting, Talent Acquisition & Management, Leadership Development & Succession Planning, Executive Coaching, M&A Integration and Compensation & Benefits. He has worked across a diverse range of industries, including Banking, Consulting, Professional Services, Technology, Retail and Manufacturing. Rupesh currently leads the people function for KPMG Global Services. He is responsible for articulating and delivering the people agenda for the organization. In his last assignment, Rupesh led HR for the India region of IHS Markit, an information services firm. Earlier, Rupesh worked with Accenture, where he led the HR function for their India domestic business and for Accenture Capability Network’s (a distributed consulting model) India node. He has also previously worked with firms such as Citibank, Bharti Retail and Mercer. He began his career with Steel Authority of India Ltd. — a stint where he found his calling in the people function. Rupesh holds an MBA in HR from XLRI Jamshedpur and is a certified executive coach. He is a passionate runner and has run a number of domestic and international marathons. He is based in Gurugram, India.
Samir Verma
MD, Total Synergy Consulting Private Limited
Sandeep Aurora
Vice President, IESA
Sandeep is a well-known and respected business and marketing strategist who is recognized for being an influential communicator and proven thought leader on technology and the transformational power it carries. He is an acknowledged voice on technology trends and is sought for his views on digitization, innovation and scalability of technology by publications and forums. His thoughts on emerging technology trends in the industry have been captured in numerous articles like “How PC will get more real” and "Internet of Things" each of which highlights his commitment to nurture emerging technologies in the country. Sandeep has a simple mantra - a strong faith in communicating through relevant mediums where the audience and stakeholders actually spend time and that is where he drives attention and impact with a balance between brand salience / lead generation / business growth while maintaining a strong focus on ROI. The Lighthouse Insights Digital Campaign Award for the First Time Buyer Campaign is just one example of how under his leadership Intel linked the campaign to Business Objective, Strategy, Policy Influence and Effectiveness.
Sandeep Sachdeva
Co-Founder & CEO, Safe in India Foundation
Sandeep Sachdeva is a retired senior banking executive with 23 years of successful global experience with HSBC in leading, building and turning around national and global businesses and functions in seven countries and three continents. He has wide experience in Corporate and Commercial Banking, Change Management/Transformation, Retail Banking and Risk. He has led large businesses and delivered large transformation initiatives in areas of customer satisfaction and sustainable cost saves .He has since co-founded Safe in India Foundation, his chief passion, and is its current CEO. He is also an active board-member of a number of large social enterprises in the UK and Europe, which he has helped restructure and grow. Sandeep is a graduate of IIT Roorkee and an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad.
Sanjay Mittal
CEO and Managing Partner, Sankhya Ventures; Senior Advisor, Enabling Excellence
Sanjay is an industry leader in Risk Management, especially proficient at promoting the integration of risk and finance. He brings unique, cross functional insights to strategic decision making, incorporates refined risk methodologies and frameworks in the capital allocation process, enabling firms to make smarter, consistent, and robust business decisions, while incorporating an integrated view of market, capital structure, revenue, operations, and financing constraints.
Sanjay left Citigroup in 2018 and founded Sankhya Ventures, a strategic risk advisory and investment management firm, based in New Delhi, India. He has over 25 years in international financial markets, coupled with over 15 years in technology, data science, and analytics. Sanjay offers a uniquely interdisciplinary approach, blending rigor with finely tuned commercial insights, enabled by his many years in risk-taking positions, and curated from experiences gained over several cyclical and secular credit and market cycles. Prior to his roles in Risk Management, Sanjay spent over fifteen years in capital markets, trading, and fund management, in New York, Hong Kong, and Singapore. His experience spans the range from quantitative research to structuring asset liability management solutions for clients at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank, to fund management. Sanjay earned a PhD in Operations Research from Columbia University in New York, and a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India.
Sanjay Saxena
Managing Director, Total Synergy Consulting
Sanjay Saxena has nearly 30 years international experience of working on development sector projects. He has worked extensively in the areas of E-Governance, M&E, Capacity Building, Institutional Development, Urban Reforms etc. He has worked on over one hundred donor funded projects in over 23 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. He has been advising and assisting National, Provincial and Local Governments on Governance initatives with a view to reduce cost of services; improve systems efficiency and staff productivity; and provide better level of services and access to information to the public. Sanjay has more than 10 years experience as a Team Leader / Lead Advisor and has led numerous multi disciplinary international teams on projects across different thematic areas.
His area of specialistion has been designing and implementing Monitoring and Evaluation Systems and conducting reviews and assesssments of projects in the development sector. Sanjay has designed and developed numerous Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) and performance management systems for various projects and programs in different sectros such as urban infrastrcuture, water supply, sanitation, environmental conservation, education and health.
Over the years Sanjay has also conducted training workshops on E-Governance, ICT integration and M&E for over three thousand senior and middle level executives, professionals and academicians.
Sanjay Sharad Sen
Director-HR, Avantha Group
Sanjay Sharad Sen is Director, Human Resources at the Avantha Group. He has over 30 years of expertise in HR and Business Strategy roles across a wide range of industries including Engineering, Hospitality, Consumer Products and Banking. His experience base is across large multinational firms to promoter-owned conglomerates in international markets of Asia, USA and Europe in national, regional and global roles. Additionally, he is on the Board of Directors of multiple companies.
Sanjay holds a post-graduate degree in Human Resource Management from India’s premier institute, XLRI, Jamshedpur.
Sankar Ramamurthy
Chief People Officer, PI Industries Limited
A well-rounded professional, having wide and varied consulting experience in business leadership, developing and implementing Human Capital and HR strategies, transforming the HR function to deliver enhanced business value, designing and rolling out Talent Management and Leadership Development programs, supply chain reconfiguration, designing and implementing management control systems etc.
He is known and respected for my finely-honed analytical skills, breadth of perspective and superb communication. High-minded and intense, he is keen to provide business leadership and continue to work with Boards of Directors and the C-Suite to help bring about strategic and lasting change in organizations.
Previously he served as Group Director – HR at Kapataru Group of companies. He was responsible for identifying and developing the next generation of leaders, harmonising HR policies and practices and upgrading HR capabilities and processes within the Group. Kalpataru is in the businesses of residential real estate development, construction, power transmission and logistics.
Santosh Desai
Managing Director & CEO, Future Brands Ltd Author, Columnist, Social Commentator
Santosh is the Managing Director and CEO of Future Brands Ltd. Before taking up this assignment, he was the President of McCann-Erickson, one of India’s premier advertising agencies. A post-graduate from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, his interest lies in studying the evolving nature of consumer culture in India. He wears two hats: one as an authoritative voice in matters relating to brands and consumers and the other as a social commentator, making sense of the complex changes India is undergoing. He has served on the board of ING Vysya Bank and is currently on the boards of Future Consumer Products Limited, Oxfam India and Breakthrough. He is also a member of the Governing Councils of Mudra Institute of Communication, Ahmedabad & Praxis Business School, Kolkata. He has been writing a weekly column in the Times of India for over 16 years and is the author of the bestselling 'Mother Pious Lady-Making Sense of Everyday India', a book that examines how the everyday life of middle class India has evolved.
Sathya Kalyanasundaram
Managing Director & CEO, Eureka AI
Sathya brings with him over 20 years of experience from Consulting, Finance and FinTech leadership roles. In his current role, he is responsible for driving the growth of the overall India operations of Experian with a focused vision on vertical market strategy and strategic clients. Prior to Experian, Sathya was the CEO & Whole Time Director of MobME Wireless Solutions Limited where his primary role was to drive the overall business, financial and operational strategy across MobME's businesses. In his earlier roles, Sathya led the India operations of global MNCs such as Scientific Games and Texas Instruments. His primary responsibility in these roles was to build and drive the growth of the organizations in India across global delivery, sales, operations and R&D. He was also associated with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) as a Senior Member in the Economic Affairs Panel. As a CFO for many years, Sathya has led strategic actions around domestic & cross border M&A, divestitures, fund raising, sales execution & cultural transformation, to name a few. Sathya was conferred ‘Business Excellence by a CEO’ in 2017. He is an inductee of the CFO Institute's League of Excellence, and is a multi-year winner of the CFO Institute's CFO of the Year. Sathya holds an MBA degree in Finance from University of Hartford.
Saurabh Gupta
Executive Director, Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd.
Saurabh Gupta has 33 years of experience in blue-chip organizations with a zest for organisation building. He was a CEO of mid size companies for the past 9 years. His initial years comprised multi-functional experience in Finance, Sales & Manufacturing.
As a leader, he brings several key skills to the table—strong leadership roles involving strategic thinking, planning & execution; building, leading and developing large multi-functional teams; collaborating, decision making and result orientation; and business transformation deploying the latest digital tools including iOT, AIML, Deep learning tools, NLP and more.
He has excelled in startups & stable organisations equally and executed business transformation roles.
His specialties lie in managing businesses spanning various industries - Construction Material, Food & Beverage, Telecom & Education - and diversity of professional experience across industries, operating environment and markets - India, South East Asia and Africa.
Sharad Saxena
CEO, Car Dekho
Sharad is a young dynamic leader with over 15 years of diverse experience across business leadership, operations, growth and strategy, and performance management across a wide range of sectors in India. He is currently serving as the Chief Supply Officer for OYO's Hotels Franchise business in South Asia, where he is responsible for profitably growing one of the world's largest hotel network and building partner franchisees in the region. He is also the business sponsor for OYO's diversity and inclusion initiative. In his previous role, he headed OYO's managed workspaces business in India till December 2019. Before OYO, he worked with Max Healthcare where he was the SVP and Business Head for Max Saket. Before this, Sharad was head of business performance and management analytics function at Max Corporate. Sharad has also worked with ITC Ltd. as head of factory operations, McKinsey & Company as a management consultant and Ranbaxy Labs Ltd. in the MD & CEO's office. He holds an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Delhi.
Shibashish Bhattacharya
Assistant Vice President, Carrier Midea India Pvt Ltd
Shibashish is a Mechanical Engineer from NIT Silchar. Prior to Carrier Midea he held various key positions with Samsung India Electronics Pvt Ltd in various locations across India. He also has experience working in companies like BPL Ltd, Air Conditioning Corporation Ltd etc.
Shiv Dayal
CEO, MD, Langham Capital
Mr. Shiv Dayal is the Managing Director of Langham Capital Limited. He is also the founder of the company. He is responsible for managing all aspects of the firm's activities including origination and executing transactions, client relationship management, and financial management.
Prior to founding Langham Capital Limited, he managed two technology ventures in Europe. Prior to this, he worked in the mergers and acquisitions groups at JPMorgan and Dresdner Kleinwort Benson in London and New York. He managed merger, acquisition, sale, privatization, equity raising, and private equity transactions for global clients in a number of markets and jurisdictions including the UK, Europe, US, India, South Korea, Russia, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Brazil. He has also advised investors on stretching a venture capital fund to invest in the Indian IT sector. He began his career with the Tata Group of Companies in India. As a member of the Tata Administrative Service, he worked on a number of projects in areas such as hotels, luxury goods, telecoms, and soft drink bottling and distribution.
He also serves as the Chairman of F1F9 (India) Private. He is an Independent Director of Baroda Pioneer Asset Management Company Limited and a member of the European Technology Forum and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE).
Mr. Dayal has a Bachelor degree in Economics from the University of Sussex, a Masters degree in Development Economics from the University of East Anglia, and an M.B.A. from London Business School.
Siddarth Menon
CMO, Drums Food International
A sales, marketing and strategy professional with a proven track record of successful business growth,leadership and innovation. I am super passionate about people and believe in the power of strategy,innovation and analytics to drive business growth.
Earlier he was Head - North, Sales and Customer Development at Colgate Palmolive and led a Cross functional Team of over 90 people to drive topline of over 120MN $. During his tenure, he enabled doubled digit growth and over a 100bps market share growth through a detailed Go To market Strategy & Execution, Effective use of Strategic & Budget planning and Talent Management. He holds a Master’s degree in MMS, Marketing from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management (JBIMS).
Siddharth Jain
SVP- Operations, Thriveni EarthMovers Pvt. Ltd
Siddarth Jain is a globally experienced commercial leader with in-depth, both project and transactional, who has led high performance teams across many geographies (Iraq, India, Australia and the UK) and commodities. He provides a unique skill set across business development, stakeholder engagement, commercial negotiations, Legal, M&A, strategy, financial control and market risks. He has the ability to anticipate and mitigate risks, deliver in diverse and changing environments, and build trust amongst stakeholders, peers and reports. He has led the mine development of a significant diamond discovery (the first in 15 years globally). His previous role required leading an operating team of over 350 including accountability for running the feasibility study, securing funding from the Rio Tinto investment committee (IC), fast tracking government approvals, embedding an appropriate workforce and community culture that would create the pathway for development. He holds an MBA from University of Sydney and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology.
Sidharth Jain
General Manager - strategy & partnerships - Copper Diamonds, Rio Tinto
Siddarth Jain is a globally experienced commercial leader with in-depth, both project and transactional, who has led high performance teams across many geographies (Iraq, India, Australia and the UK) and commodities. He provides a unique skill set across business development, stakeholder engagement, commercial negotiations, Legal, M&A, strategy, financial control and market risks. He has the ability to anticipate and mitigate risks, deliver in diverse and changing environments, and build trust amongst stakeholders, peers and reports.
He has led the mine development of a significant diamond discovery (the first in 15 years globally). His previous role required leading an operating team of +350 including accountability for running the feasibility study, securing funding from the Rio Tinto investment committee (IC), fast tracking government approvals, embedding an appropriate workforce and community culture that would create the pathway for development.
He is an MBA from University of Sydney and holds Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology.
Sonjoy Mohanty
Director General, ISMA
Sonjoy Mohanty has 27 years of work experience handling Marketing, Sales, General Management, P&L and Board Responsibilities in large corporations across Micro Banking, Healthcare, Telecom, and Durables sectors. He is currently Secretary General at International Spirits & Wine Association of India (ISWAI) and leads the policy and strategy framework.
He was the CEO, Educomp Supplemental & President, Corporate Affairs at Educomp Solutions Ltd. He was also the former Chief Executive Officer & Director at A Little World.
Sudhir Singh Dungarpur
Partner, PwC
Sudhir is an experienced leader who has influenced and led change. Passionate about people, with a strong belief that getting them together, building robust networks and creating a collaborative environment is a driver to success. Problem solving through Innovation / new strategies and continuous learning drive me and that is why I love being in the digital space!
ATt PwC, he is responsible for the strategy & growth of the Digital business for the firm across sectors. Drives the successful design & execution of strategic business transformation programs for clients by bringing the Business, eXperience & Technology teams to collaborate & deliver excellence.
Lead for all alliances in the region- to drive new standards of innovation, agility, service, ecosystems & impact with business and technology partners.
Before joining PwC, he was Partner with KPMG in India in the advisory practice and headed two diverse service lines for the firm. As the leader for the Contract Compliance business in India, he worked with top software publishers, the Government and corporate clients to curb the software piracy & misuse within the region through various compliance initiatives. During this tenure, KPMG established a strong position by advising & helping the industry achieve compliance and manage their business risks.
Sugata Sircar
Founder & Director, Schneider Electric India now Director Sugata Sircar Advisory Private Limited
Sugata Sircar haS 29 years of experience in various industries including Electrical Energy, Gas Distribution, Manufacturing of Chemicals, Textiles, Tyres and FMCG. He has worked as CFO and as Managing Director of a public limited company in India. I currently sit on the Board of several Schneider India companies and partners the President & MD for the businesses of Schneider Electric in India and neighbouring countries. His strengths lie in business performance management, strategy and business decision support, investment decisions and in leadership. He is excited by the transformation in business models and performance management processes being brought about by digitization. As a leader, he brings strong experience in communication with investors, media, shareholders, and external agencies as well as profound geographical savvy, having worked extensively in Singapore/Malaysia and in the UK. Sugata is currently President, CFO Committee of the Indo French Chamber of Commerce & Industry, a member of The CFO Board and is active in other CFO Forums. In 2018, he received the IMA India CFO Award in 2018 on Excellence in Talent Management, just one of his many awards and accolades.
Suhale Kapoor
EVP & Co-Founder, Absolutdata Analytics
Suhale Kapoor is the EVP & Co-Founder of Absolutdata and he is part of a team that is building one of the most exciting and unique companies in the Big Data Analytics space. Absolutdata offers a suite of products and services that fuse data, technology and advanced analytics to transform the way global companies make decisions. Our Decision Engineering services include big data and digital analytics, machine learning, predictive modeling and IoT solutions and our NAVIK line of easy-to-use cloud-based products brings the power of real-time analytics to Fortune 1000 companies across the globe.
He is keenly interested in bringing Absolutdata's expertise to clients across APAC and the Middle East where they are witnessing consumer and business landscapes develop in very interesting ways, and the adoption of analytics across both MNCs and regional/local players.
He holds an MBA degree in Marketing, Finance and Entrepreneurship from IIM Ahmedabad and BA Honours in Economics from Delhi University.
Sujit Kumar
Adjunct/Visiting Faculty, IIMA & IIMB
A keen competence enhancer, Sujit is an Adjunct / Visiting Faculty at IIM Ahmedabad & Bangalore (PGP- Electives). He teaches Strategic Thinking & Creativity, Strategic Business Transformation, Reimagining Telecom & Next Generation Businesses, Strategic Consulting , and Critical Analytical Thinking.
As GM, Sales & Marketing, Sujit played a key role in the marquee turnaround of HMV (now SaReGaMa). His last corporate assignment was as Managing Director, Sony Pictures Entertainment. The joint venture, Sony Entertainment Television, was established as a market leader on his watch. He spent the next 15 years as a management consultant in industries like media, telecom, logistics, and real estate. During this period, Sujit was also the honorary founding Chairman of CII's National Broadband Committee which published a report " India's Broadband Economy: Vision 2010 ". This report became the blueprint for the adoption of a Broadband policy by Govt of India in 2004 and the subsequent development of the Broadband ecosystem in India.
Sujit is an Economics graduate from St Stephen's College, Delhi University ( 1975 ) and an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad ( 1977 ). He lives in Delhi.
Sunil Duggal
Vice President- Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, Pernod Ricard Indi
Sunil has 30+ years of experience in organizations such as PepsiCo India and Pernod Ricard India including Board level presence. He has chaired the CSR Committee of the Board . His 30 + years of experience includes Public Policy Government Affairs, CSR and Business Sustainability, Corporate Communication, Agri Supply Chains, Agri Commodity Trading. He has been associated with many work streams at CII and FICCI
Sunil is post graduate in International Business from Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, and post graduate in Business Administration from Institute of Management Technology Ghaziabad. He graduated in Economics Hons from Sriram College of Commerce, Delhi University
Sunil Wadhwa
Sr Advisor at EY ( Power & Utilities ) , Founder Multiple Orbits
Until September 15, 2019 Sunil was the Managing Director of GE T&D India Limited. Sunil has over 31 years of rich experience in the areas of business operations, project management, finance and corporate governance. Prior to joining GE, Sunil has had a highly rewarding 25 years career in the Tata group and then 5 years in ILFS Energy. In his previous roles, amongst others, he was widely admired for leading the successful turnaround of the Delhi Tata Power Discom. Sunil did his undergraduate studies at the Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University, and is a rank-holder chartered accountant. He was adjudged as the most inspirational CEO in the power sector across Asia by Asia Power (Singapore) for the year 2008 and has also received the Udyog Ratan award from the Institute of Economic Studies, New Delhi.
TD Chandrasekhar
Chief Innovation Officer, Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd. (Times Group)
TD Chandrasekhar is an Innovation Consultant, Speaker, Coach and Facilitator. His role is to enable organizations and executives to higher levels of performance. His key areas of expertise include:
1) Executive Workshops & Speaking Engagements
- Innovation & Leadership
- Neuro-Leadership
- Blue Ocean Strategy
- Growth Mindset
- High Performance Teams
- Execution Excellence
- Case Methodology
- Zen leadership and Mindfulness
- Train the Trainer
2) Coaching & Mentoring
- Executive Coaching
- Start-up teams
3) Consulting
- Organizational Development
- Leadership Assessment & Development Strategy
- Enabling 'learning organizations'
Uttam Ghosh
SVP & Deputy CHRO, Global Operations, Feedback Infra
Uttam is an experienced Human Resource Leader with a demonstrated history of working across unique industry sectors like Automobile, Outsourcing, KPO, Wellness, Healthcare, Pharma, Telecom, Skill, Training and Infrastructure. He has worked with reputed global as well as Indian MNCs. He brings strong professional expertise in all facets of Human Capital Management in both white and blue collared workforce with a specialist focus in Talent Development and Engagement, OD, Talent Aquisition, Succession Planning, Analytics and Diagnostics, HR Process Compliance, Risk Governance and HR Technolgy Transformation.
Vibhore Sharma
Science & Techology Venture Investor
Vibhore is an engineering and product leader with over 20 years of experience in building and leading teams engaged in software and systems engineering. He has helped build and evolve commercial products of both B2C as well as B2B businesses. He was amongst the earliest team members of InfoEdge India where he played a pivotal role in scaling the company’s technology and product. Currently, he is scouting for emerging Science and Technology startups to invest in and also helping organisations scale their technology and product capabilities.
Vijay Kalagara
Founder, QuestW
Vijay Kalagara is Founder at QuestW, where he pursues his passion for advancing women at work through research, analytics and headhunting. Previously, Vijay spent more than a decade in various HR roles at ABB and Rolls-Royce. He is based in Zurich, Switzerland.
Vikas Gupta
Founder & Director, 9.9 Mediaworx
Vikas currently heads the technology vertical at 9.9 Group – personal technology, CIO, CISO and IT managers. 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 Group, 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., a $200 million Indian media conglomerate with interests in newspapers, magazines, television and online. He also held senior positions with Unilever and P&G.
Vikas holds a BSc (Honours) degree from Delhi University and a MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur.
Vikas Kuthiala
Angel Investor, Mentor
Vikas Mittal
Managing Director -India Sub Continent, McCain Foods India
Vikas Mittal is the Managing Director at McCain Foods. His area of expertise is in leading teams to grow the business (Top line and Bottomline) and to build organisation capability acquired via rich variety of roles across geographies -India, Middle East, Africa and South East Asia.
He has been in different organisations such as, Procter and Gamble (11 years); Friesland Foods(4.5 years), Dabur India(4.5yrs) and working across most competitive FMCG categories -Haircare, skincare, foods and beverages, laundry, home care, OTC Healthcare on Global and Local brands such as Ariel, Pantene, H&S, Whisper, Vicks, Rainbow, Dabur, Vatika, Odomos, Odonil, Sanifresh, Uveda
He specializes in Marketing and Brand Building, P&L delivery, Network leadership
He holds an MBA degree in Marketing & Finance from IIM Lucknow and BE, Mechanical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering.
Vinod Thapliyal
Executive Coach, TranExec
Vinod is an executive coach and business leader with more than three decades of experience across diverse organisations. He is an Army veteran. He has worked with cohesive, high-performance teams across the Indian Army, manufacturing, financial services and engineering sectors and is passionate about building leadership capabilities and creating learning and growth opportunities. During his years with the Indian Army and later, he has had the opportunity to plan and execute projects, many of them in the face of adversity. An ardent believer in people and the unique set of strengths that they possess, he has coached and mentored about 100 senior and middle management leaders through his corporate journey and in the earlier avatar with the Army, has trained about 5000 officers and other defense personnel in leadership and combat. He has also managed and coached sports teams in the Army for national and international events. His past experiences includes being the Head of Operations (Engineering) at ACKRUTI CITY LTD., Head of Strategic Business Unit at Dvara KGFS and COO at MMTC-PAMP India Private Limited. He is an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad and National Defense Academy. He did his post-graduation diploma from Indian Institute of Banking and Finance after completing his Civil Engineering from College of Military Engineering.
Vipul Tuli
Managing Director, Sembcorp Energy India Ltd.
Vipul Tuli has been Managing Director of Sembcorp Energy India Ltd since May 31, 2017 and has been its Executive Director since April 17, 2017. Vipul serves as Chief Executive Officer and Country Head of Thermal Powertech Corporation India and Sembcorp Gayatri Power. He has been Country Head of Sembcorp India and Chief Executive Officer of Sembcorp India at Sembcorp Industries Ltd since November 17, 2015 and served as its Executive Vice President since February 13, 2016 until April 19, 2017 and Head of Group Strategy since November 17, 2015 until April 19, 2017. He has been associated with the Sembcorp group since 2015 in various positions. Prior to joining the Sembcorp group, he was associated with McKinsey & Company, Inc. since 1992, where he worked across the energy, chemicals and infrastructure sectors, and at the time of leaving in 2015, he was acting as a director (senior partner) based in its India office. He holds a B.Tech. in Chemical Engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi and a postgraduate diploma in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.
Yudi Bahl
Chief Operating Officer, GUS Global Services India Pvt. Ltd
A seasoned business leader with over twenty six years of cross functional experience, Yudi Bahl have held leadership positions across finance & strategy (CFO, Head Strategy / M&A) across diverse industries including infrastructure, education, financial services, telecom, and consumer.
Yudi has strong expertise in strategic & corporate planning, funding & valuation, business transformation, accelerating growth and M&A, business partnering, operational efficiency, risk & compliance, financial planning & analysis and investor relations complemented by hands on management & operating experience. He also has experience in the implementation of organisation-wide planning, risk & governance frameworks, and systems implementation.
With significant cross border experience across North America, Europe, and Asia, he has worked closely with promoters and business & functional leaders both in India and in the U.S. and partnered with them in driving key growth and strategic initiatives.