The Art and Science of Creating More Effective Boards: Creating Value With Board Evaluations
Have you ever wondered if there is a different approach to conducting board evaluations? Do you wish to provide the members of your board with insights that help them to become more impactful in the boardroom? Do you wish to provide your Chairperson with data that help him/her to understand what characteristics any new members should bring to the table to best complement the existing team? Do you wish to contribute to bringing governance to life?
If answer at least two questions with Yes, it is worth your while to join us for an exclusive breakfast event under Chatham House rules.
This exclusive breakfast event provides you with insights into:
the status of research of effective boards;
how the new guide for boards that places greater emphasis on behaviour and culture can be brought to life;
the levers board members can pull to increase their impact in the boardroom;
what boards can do collectively to become more effective; and
a research-driven and evidence-based approach for conducting Board Evaluations.
When: Arrivals from 8am, session runs 8:30 – 10am, Tuesday 18th June 2019
Where: Zetter Townhouse, 49-50 St John’s Square, London EC1V 4JJ (closest tube stations: Barbican, Farringdon)
Want to attend, but can’t make the date? We organise these sessions regularly, with a few more coming up. Just email us and let us know – we’ll keep you in the loop for future sessions.
This session is led by Dr Sabine Dembkowski from Better Boards, an independent consultancy specialised in developing Boards, Executive Committees and Executives that work with boards and/or aspire to a board position. Sabine is credited with having identified the seven hallmarks of effective boards and for having developed an innovative online tool that takes Board Evaluations to the next level. Her approach to conducting board evaluations is at present the only one that is based on academic research, peer-reviewed and published in the US, UK and across Europe.
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If you would like to attend, please email Christy Alex at christy@economicpolicygroup.com with the following information: Name, Position, Organisation and a brief sentence or two on why this event would be interesting for you. If there is something specific you would like covered in the session, you can mention that too.
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***This event has now ended. For future event opportunities, please contact us (details at the bottom)*** What does innovation mean to you? This half-day workshop brings together a global community of in-house counsel together with company secretaries, compliance professionals, CxOs and other innovators to…
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Craig Barker()
Bio
Pratik Dattani (Conference Chair)
Managing Director (EPG Economic and Strategic Consulting)Linkin
Bio
Managing Director for boutique economic consulting firm EPG, specialising in economic analysis, strategic communications and market entry assistance with India, with offices in London, Bangalore and East Africa.
He was additionally, until August 2017, UK Director for the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the premier and largest industry body in India. He is also the co-founder of a tech start-up in the CSR space. Previously he worked in Economic Consulting at FTI Consulting and Deloitte in London and Abu Dhabi, with a focus on public policy and arbitration. He was Chairman for a not-for-profit membership organisation with several thousand members for three years.
He studied Economics at Warwick University, where he was awarded the Prize for Excellence, and LMU University of Munich. His dissertation won a prize at an international economics conference at Georgetown University, Washington DC. He has published academic research on behavioural economics and social impact and is a regular commentator on public policy and India across print, TV and online media, featured on BBC News, CBC, CNBC, CNN, NDTV, South China Morning Post and Huffington Post.
Rishi Kapal
Global EdTech Specialist | Stanford LEAD Alumni | Author (Edugild)LinkinTwittere-mail
Bio
Rishi is the CEO of Edugild Global EdTech Program and Venture Partner of Global Scaleup Singapore. He is a Stanford LEAD alumni having already authored three books in academia, management and fiction genres. Rishi advises education technology companies all around the world to make relevant solutions, coaches professionals for higher order transitions and advises institutes to develop innovative programs and ecosystems. Prior to his own journey in academia, Rishi has been in leadership roles with Fortune 500s companies like Sony, Qualcomm, Ericsson and BP/Castrol to name a few. He has a dual masters degree in management with a graduation in engineering and law. Now based in Pune, Rishi travels extensively to meet and greet edtech founders, educational institutions and leaders.
Francisco Marmolejo is the World Bank’s Lead Tertiary Education Specialist and Coordinator of its Network of Higher Education Specialists. He serves as the coordinator of the internal thematic group on higher education, which helps facilitate the exchange of ideas on higher education initiatives across the globe.
Previously, he served as founding Executive Director of the Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration (CONAHEC), a network of more than 160 higher education institutions primarily from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, based at the University of Arizona (UA), where he also worked as Assistant Vice President.
At UA, he was Affiliated Researcher at the Center for the Study of Higher Education and Affiliate Faculty at the Center for Latin American Studies.
Anand Sudarshan
Founder & Director (Sylvant Advisors Pvt. Ltd.)Linkine-mail
Bio
Anand Sudarshan is the Founder & Director of Sylvant Advisors Private Limited. Anand is also an independent director at NIIT. Till June 2012, he was Vice-Chairman & Managing Director of MaGE, where he has had a distinguished career since May 2006. He currently advises companies & entities in the education sector, and is also a fund advisor with TVS Capital Funds. He is active in supporting Government of India in policy formulation, and is a member of select Committees & Task Forces of the Planning Commission of India as well as the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Dr. Ganesh has set up 5F World (www.5FWorld.com) as a meta start-up which scans the start-up eco-system and makes investments in select start-ups that transform employee and customer journeys. He is Executive Chairman of 5F World and also Chairman of two incubated firms, Global Talent Track and Skills Alpha. Dr. Ganesh is a Senior Advisor for Digital Transformation with McKinsey & Co and the Pune Smart City Initiative and is currently leading the development of a Start-Up Hub in the city of Pune which will provide research to city investors and established firms and also support the mentoring and corporate linkages of start-ups anywhere which need to establish linkages with industry leaders in the Manufacturing, Financial Services, Information Technology and Business Process Management sectors of India. He is also advising start-ups in the USA Singapore and India which are focused on Digital Financial Services and Retail Commerce.
Kishore Balaji
Director - Corporate Affairs, South Asia (Intel)Linkine-mail
Bio
Kishore Balaji has been working across multiple verticals, in many roles helping organisations build their strategies & businesses. The spaces he has been engaged in so far ranged between Education, Training, Employability, Rural Dev, ICT for SMBs/ SMEs, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Nation Building projects among others, acorss South Asia and APAC.
Dr. Chandra Bhushan Sharma
Chairman (National Institute Of Open Schooling (Nios))Linkine-mail
Bio
Dr. Chandra Bhushan Sharma, the present Chairman of the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), is Professor of Education at the School of Education, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi. He has taught for three decades and sat on many national committees and commissions constituted to advise governments and institutions. His expertise is in policy making from school to higher education especially distance mode education. He was one of the three member committee constituted by the Government of India to draft the Distance Education Council of India Bill. He has also been on the committee to suggest revamping of teacher education in India.
Prof. Mammo Muchie
Research Chair In Innovation Studies (Tshwane University Of Technology)Linkine-mail
Bio
Professor Mammo Muchie holds a DPhil in Science, Technology, and Innovation for Development (STI&D) from the University of Sussex. UK. He is currently a DST/NRF rated Research Professor at the Faculty of Management Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa. He is a fellow of the South African Academy of Sciences and the African Academy of Sciences. He is also currently adjunct Professor at the Adama Science, Technology University, Arsi University, Addis Ababa University and University of Gondar, Ethiopia. He has been senior research associate at the SPMTDC programme and also has become Senior Research Associate at the TMD Centre of Oxford University. He is collaborating with researchers (DILIC) on the potential research areas of Africa-China industrial high-technology sectors. He has been invited as Associate Faculty professor at Sussex University, UK for the next three years; at the University of Economics in Prague as visiting professor, Jawarahal Nehru University India, Tonji and Shanghai University, China; Honorary Professor Jiaxing University, China, Assistant Professor Amsterdam University, Visiting Professor Carleton College, USA; Principal Lecturer, Middlesex University, Professor, Aalborg University; Part–time Lecturer, Cambridge University; Honorary Professor UNISA. Professor Mammo held various positions globally, including the Director of the Research Programme on Civil Society and African Integration at the then University of Kwa Zulu-Natal; board member at the North Western University, Chengdu, China. He is currently the chairman of the advisory board of African Talent hub of the Community Interest Company (registration no.10461990) to raise funds for making Africa the talent, innovation, entrepreneurship, creativity and knowledge hub of the world. He has been appointed as special distinguished advisor to the Africa Union’s Student Council and a mentor for the African Entrepreneurship award. He has initiated the African Unity for Renaissance and Knowledge Exchange series of conferences since the last six years. He is a founding scientific advisor to ´the African Solar network, founding chairman of the Network of Ethiopian scholars. He has lead the SIDA, Sweden funded research on engineering design and on transformative innovation for African integrated development and educate on public media to speed up the creation of innovative and renascent Africa. He is also a co-founding member of the Nano Technology Institute in TUT leading the innovation side of the research.
AG Rao
Group Managing Director (ManpowerGroup India)Linkine-mail
Bio
Mr AG Rao is result driven professional, with over 24 years of multi-domain experience in varied industries. He has impressive, fast track management career marked by demonstrated ability to build peak-performing teams to turnaround business SBUs, and achieved functional business objectives.
He is one of the valued members of senior management team, contributing to create pragmatic business strategies and implementation plans designed on Cost efficiency, Operational excellence and Risk-free operations.
Pranjal Kumar
Vice President (Bertelsmann Investments & Corporate Center India)Linkine-mail
Bio
Pranjal lead venture capital investments, champion portfolio management in investee companies, and drive strategic projects for Bertelsmann Group companies in India. He has been part of A.T. Kearney India unit leadership, driving business development & project delivery in Communication, Media & Technology practice. Pranjal has expertise in shaping growth strategy and its operationalization, and in driving large-scale operational excellence programs for CXOs primarily in telecoms, retail, consumer goods and auto sector.
Amanda Illing
CEO (Hardwicke barristers' chambers)Linkine-mail
Bio
Amanda Illing is the CEO of Hardwicke barristers’ chambers. Her role is to develop strategies to grow the business and to build long-lasting relationships with clients while ensuring Hardwicke is run in an ethical way. She takes responsibility for the career development of the barristers at Hardwicke, and her staff team. She is committed to meeting clients’ needs and providing solutions to engaging the right barrister for the right client/case, and working out fee structures to suit.
Amanda was previously the Private Secretary to the Director of Public Prosecutions and a caseworker in the Crown Prosecution Service, handling cases such as the appeal of the Birmingham Six, and the first corporate manslaughter prosecution following the sinking of the Herald of Free Enterprise. Amanda won the Silver Award for Inspirational Woman of the Year at the 2015 Citywealth Powerwomen Awards.
She also won the Eclipse Proclaim Modern Law Award 2013 (Non-Lawyer of the Year). Amanda is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). She is a trustee of the Public Law Project (PLP), and trustee of the London Legal Support Trust (LLST). Outside work, Amanda is a member of a group that is trying to save its local pub, to open it as a community pub.
Alex Hamilton is a co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Radiant Law. Before founding Radiant Law, Alex was a Partner at Latham & Watkins and co-Chair of Latham & Watkins’ global Technology Transactions Group.
Alex is recognised in Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 as a ranked expert for IT and for outsourcing, with clients saying: “he takes a modern approach – he listens and understands the problem first, and is very cost-efficient”, “first choice lawyer”, “impresses everyone he comes across”, “In big-ticket outsourcings you want a pretty robust contract to draw on, and that’s what Alex always delivers”.
Alex also a lawyer focusing on outsourcing and technology transactions, including off-shoring, business process and assisted transformation outsourcing, information technology and network and systems and software procurement and integration and data protection.
Alex has led a number of projects which have been recognised by the FT’s Innovative Lawyer Awards and was shortlisted for the FT’s 2010 Innovative Lawyer of the Year award.
Alex is recognised for outsourcing and technology transactions in Chambers, Legal 500, Legal Experts and PLC’s Which Lawyer, with clients saying:
“first choice lawyer”
“I was impressed with the quality of his work and excellent industry acumen, which is spot-on.”
“impresses everyone he comes across”
“in big-ticket outsourcings you want a pretty robust contract to draw on, and that’s what Alex always delivers”
David Williams
General Counsel (ex-US and Canada) at Concordia International Corp (Concordia International Corp)LinkinTwittere-mail
Bio
David Williams is a commercially-focused legal adviser and business partner to senior management across broad range of issues and projects. His responsibility also includes in business transactions, regulatory and compliance matters, and litigation/dispute resolution, with a focus on pharmaceutical/lifescience and highly-regulated consumer goods sectors.
Specialises in contract drafting and negotiation; mergers and acquisitions; general commercial legal advice; marketing and promotional issues, regulatory and compliance
Manager of a Legal department operating in UK, Ireland and Mumbai, providing legal advice and compliance guidance to a business operating in over 100 countries.
Concordia International specializes in the acquisition, licensing and development of off-patent prescription medicines, which may be niche, hard-to-make products. Its medicines are manufactured and sold through an out-sourced manufacturing network and marketed internationally through a combination of direct sales and local distribution relationships. The company’s diversified product portfolio consists of approximately 200 molecules, representing a variety of dosage strengths, formulations and geographic markets and covering a range of therapeutic categories, including endocrinology, neurology, ophthalmology and urology.
He was responsible for team of lawyers providing legal and business advice to Teva’s business operations in UK, Ireland and Nordics.
Erik D. Lazar
Director (Transatlantic Law International)Linkine-mail
Bio
Erik founded Transatlantic Law International in London in 2001 after more than 15 years of international legal and management experience, including in European General Counsel positions for Fortune 50 companies in Brussels and Luxembourg, where he was responsible for all legal aspects of European operations.
Transatlantic has grown under his direction from an original 15 country presence in Europe to a global business law service, serving primarily Fortune 500 companies in multiple countries worldwide.
Erik specializes in global M&A, restructuring, management of cross-border projects, international transactions, global labor and employment law, antitrust, and commercial agreements.
In M&A he has completed or negotiated over 80 major transactions with a deal value of more than $5 billion in every European country and in Asia since 1992, ranging from mid-cap single country acquisitions to billion-dollar cross border acquisitions and joint ventures.
Prior to moving to Europe in 1991, Erik worked as a corporate and litigation lawyer in leading US law firms in Boston and New York.
He has lectured extensively before bar associations and corporate groups in the United States and in Europe on topics including European M&A, corporate governance, distribution and agency agreements, antitrust and compliance programs, and key issues in cross-border movement of executives, as well as global non-competition agreements, among other matters.
He is also senior outside advisor to a number of Fortune 500 companies on executive labor and employment issues including all legal aspects of executive contracts and cross-border movement of executives among his other areas of practice.
He is an honors graduate of Yale University and of the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, where he edited the Communications and Entertainment Law Journal (Comm/Ent), and is a member of the bars of New York and Massachusetts. He speaks French and German and resides in London.
Funke Abimbola
GENERAL COUNSEL & COMPANY SECRETARY (ROCHE (UK & IRELAND))LinkinTwittere-mail
Bio
FUNKE ABIMBOLA is Managing Counsel (UK & Ireland), UK Data Privacy Officer and UK Company Secretary for Roche, leading the legal team that supports Roche’s pharmaceutical operations in the UK, Ireland, Malta and Gibraltar. She also has a commercial role as England Deployment Lead on a high priority, Roche market access project.
Roche is the world’s largest biotech company.
A practising solicitor for almost 15 years, Funke graduated with an honours degree in law from Newcastle University in 1994. She is qualified to practice law both in Nigeria and in England & Wales.
She is a recognised legal expert within the UK life sciences sector, has received multiple awards and other recognitions for her work and is listed in several international legal directories as an expert in her field.
Importantly, Funke is a notable diversity champion and campaigner within the UK legal industry and has received awards and other recognitions for her diversity work, all of which is done in her spare time on a voluntary basis.
A renowned public speaker, she speaks regularly at legal and diversity conferences in the UK and abroad. She speaks to and advises state school students as part of Speakers for Schools and also supports University students as a Professional Ambassador for Aspiring Solicitors, an organisation devoted to breaking down entry-level barriers for future solicitors from under-represented groups. She is a champion and regular speaker for WILL (Women in Law London), the largest network supporting pre-partnership women solicitors working in private practice and in-house. In addition, she established Women Leaders in Life Sciences law, what is believed to be the first international network dedicated to supporting the pipeline of female lawyer/leaders working within the life sciences industry. She is also personally sponsoring a research-based report on the social mobility issues within the legal profession, due to launch in September 2015.
She is an experienced and expert mentor and sponsor, especially to female and BME students and solicitors. As one of the UK’s leading female pioneers in law, she was recently appointed as a Professional Champion to the First 100 Years project, a ground-breaking project dedicated to building up a digital library celebrating 100 years of female lawyers in the UK.
A proud working mother to a 12 year old son, Funke juggles the demands of her career with home life and advises working mothers on how best to achieve the elusive work/life balance.
Funke is passionate about the law, diversity, education and the healthcare sector. She is also a keen fundraiser for various charities including Cancer Research UK and has twice served as a school governor and a board director.
Glenn Quadros
General Counsel, SCES Outsourcing and IT (Unilever)LinkinTwittere-mail
Bio
Glenn Quadros has both a deep strategic and practical perspective on outsourcing and shared service issues having over 10 years’ experience on the “buy”; “sell” and “ultimate customer” side. He is also a very active NOA founding member.
Highlights include:
Currently, sitting on the board as General Counsel of ETS (“Enterprise Solutions and Technology”) Unilever – one of the largest, most progressive and sophisticated shared service organisations in the world. A key focus areas here is driving greater value from strategic suppliers, especially as service is predominantly delivered through suppliers, with 2/3 of spend being with third parties.
7.5 years on the buy-side at BT Global Services – experiencing both periods of high growth and challenging down-turns, where there was a significant amount of introspection on what went right and what went right. Helping to transform the legal function supporting ETS by initiating alternative methods of sourcing legal services. Three objectives of particular focus of Glenn are helping to: Reposition and rebrand the NOA to help influence the media, end users and suppliers on promoting the benefits of outsourcing arrangements. Ensure that End Users interests are at the heart of all key debates. Develop conventions “sticking” areas between “buyers” and “sellers” to promote a speedier, more effective and ethical way of transacting.
Richard Tapp, Director of Legal Services for Carillion, has been named one of the top lawyers in Europe by the influential FT Innovative Lawyers 2013 Awards. Carillion plc is a major player in the business services and construction fields, with revenues in excess of £4bn and more than 50,000 employees, and an in-house team of some 20 lawyers focusing on the provision of innovative business solutions. He is the co-author of Managing External Legal Resources (ICSA Publishing).
Janvi is the Chairwoman and co-founder of Halebury. Janvi focuses on client management and business development as well as team building and management.
Halebury is an alternative law firm and NewLaw pioneer. Our flexible model provides a range of resourcing solutions to our clients and a unique career path for senior in-house lawyers. Our expert legal consultants have held positions as senior in-house counsel, Heads of Legal and General Counsel in leading businesses; they have the experience and commercial skills to seamlessly integrate with your legal team and business and to hit the ground running. With a strong TMT and financial services sector focus, we partner with you for the long term to help identify your resourcing challenges and seek to genuinely add value by creating new systems and efficiencies.
Halebury lawyers are “your external in-house lawyer”. This concept is achieved by focusing on three key ingredients; engaging lawyers with superior industry knowledge and strategic focus; retaining entrepreneurial lawyers; and creating an innovative legal services model. Halebury lawyers specialise in employment, commercial and corporate law within the technology, media, telecoms and financial sectors.
Karl Chapman is Chief Executive of Riverview Law and has a long pedigree in starting, growing and managing successful companies.
After reading law at Birmingham University, Karl joined Guinness Mahon Investment Management (GMIM) in 1985. In 1987 he was Money Observer’s top-performing UK unit trust fund manager.
He left GMIM in 1989 to set up CRT Group plc (CRT), a consultancy, recruitment and training business. Under Karl’s leadership his team grew CRT, both organically and by acquisition, to a market capitalisation of over £600 million, sales in excess of £400 million with 2,500 employees operating from over 200 locations. In 1996 CRT sold 50.1% of its equity for £109 million to Knowledge Universe, a private US-based company whose major shareholders were Larry Ellison and Michael Milken.
Karl left CRT in 2000 and set up AdviserPlus Business Solutions in 2001. AdviserPlus is a leading advisory outsourcing organisation providing HR, and H&S solutions to organisations ranging from FTSE 100 companies to SMEs. He joined Riverview Law with effect from 1 June 2011.
Karl is excited by the changes taking place in the legal market: “Rarely do market opportunities like this arise. The legal market is large, fragmented and has few brands. New entrants like Riverview Law, with no baggage and a total focus on the customer, stand a very good chance of building big and sustainable businesses.”
Karl is based in London and Lincolnshire and couples his passion for business with a long-standing love of Chelsea Football Club where, over more than forty years, he has experienced the lows and highs that come with an irrational attachment to a football team.
Maniti Barot is a Director with Pangea3 and is currently responsible for managing client relationships arising out of Asia-Pacific and Europe. In this role, Maniti works with clients on a wide range of engagements, leveraging her hands-on, unparalleled expertise in offshore project management. Her experience as a practicing attorney allows her to provide consultative project guidance to clients across Asia-Pacific, helping legal departments and law firms take advantage of time and cost-saving legal services and solutions.
For over 8 years, in her previous position with Pangea3, Maniti was responsible for managing a team of attorneys within the Corporate & Compliance Department. In that role she ensured the consistency and quality of reviewed contracts, contracts negotiations, contract abstractions and oversaw all aspects of client interaction. She endeavoured to meet her client’s expectations and maintain the highest quality and efficiency by using Six Sigma methodologies, playbooks and other knowledge objects.
Maniti received her law degree at Government Law College and is a member of the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa in India, with all India practice rights. She also is a certified Six Sigma Yellow Belt.
Miranda Brawn
Director of Legal and Transaction Management (Daiwa)LinkinTwittere-mail
Bio
An insightful legal, finance and diversity expert, Miranda Brawn has made a successful portfolio career for herself. Brawn has a robust track record managing teams and clients for the world’s largest banks, such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Deutsche Bank. She has previously worked in senior middle office management roles and the front office as a sales trader. Today, Miranda manages the legal risk in Europe for derivatives, regulations and securities financing within an investment bank.Brawn has many strings to her bow and is well known for her passion in philanthropic and diversity issues. Moderator and public speaker for diversity, legal and finance events internationally. She advises ‘Game Changer’ firms and is their Ambassador in the media. Examples include where she is the Patron for the “Black British Academics” and the Vice-Chair for the “Black Cultural Archives”.She holds Post Graduate Diplomas in Management and Law, Master in Business Administration (MBA) degree in Strategic Management and Finance, passed the Bar of England & Wales (Lincoln’s Inn), studied News Journalism at The London School of Journalism & Political Philosophy at Cambridge University.
Saswata Mukherjee
Global Legal Operations Director (Unilever)Linkine-mail
Bio
Saswata Mukherjee has worked for Unilever Legal group since 2002 working in several portfolios worldwide. Currently based in London at head-quarters, Saswata is part of Unilever’s Legal Management Team as Global Legal Operations Director.
He is responsible for external legal provider strategy and implementation including law firm panels and legal service provider strategy. Saswata is also overseeing Unilever’s Legal transformation agenda and ensuring the talent pool has the right learning tools by creating a learning academy. The role also is responsible to drive simplification and IT synergy and opportunities for the entire legal group, including contract management and matter management tools.
Previous to this role, Saswata was Legal Director SEAA (South East Asia Australasia), overseeing the cluster and involved in all issues/key projects most notably M&A’s. Saswata also led the Competition Law work for Unilever in Asia (South Asia, North Asia and SEAA) and was the Customer Development legal business partner.
Saswata also acted as Legal Director (Board member) for Unilever Asia Pte Ltd (Unilever’s office in Singapore) leading a team of lawyers managing all legal & compliance issues. Saswata moved to Singapore in 2007 to undertake a specialised Supply Chain Legal Business Partner role and thereafter moved to corporate commercial roles in 2011.
Initially he was based in the operating company (Hindustan Unilever Limited) and went on to take on numerous roles. The roles entailed business partnering CD, Marketing and Supply Chain functions (factories) and accountability for litigations dispute management in India.
Saswata wants to spend his spare time with his family and travelling to different countries. Saswata is also an avid football fan.
Aldo de Pape is a strong believer of opening science and education for the betterment of society. Aldo previously worked at Springer and Digital Science, a corporate venture capital fund of Macmillan Publishers investing in scientific technology.
Aldo was trained in Utrecht and Gent and has a Masters degree in International Relations and General Management. In 2007 Aldo published I am! (a children’s book). TeachPitch is a web-based platform that helps teachers and schools identify the best online learning resources. We would love to hear your ideas and feedback on our new product TeachPitch for Schools, a repository technology that helps individual teachers, departments, schools and districts find, share, manage and monitor the very best of learning.
Douglas Sperry Makepeace()
Bio
Douglas Sperry Makepeace learned marketing from IBM, and the investment business from Merrill, Lynch. Sir John Templeton was Sperry’s first investor, seeding a fund of funds in 1989. In 2004, the JPMorgan Private Bank created funds for Sperry to advise, based on the record of that first fund. Sperry’s total assets grew to $500 million.
In 1991, Sperry sponsored a single-manager fund, and raised $40 million for the manager. The largest investors were Soros funds, Haussmann Holdings, and many early funds of funds.
Currently Mr. Makepeace advises several institutions on hedge fund investing. Their assets total about $10 billion. He also continues to represent managers that he admires, introducing them to investors he admires. He is registered with both the SEC and CFTC.
Why I spend so much time in the San Francisco Bay Area
In 2014, I read a book about the growing power of technology. This power is growing so fast that it will solve many of the world’s shortages in the next five to ten years. The result will be abundances, and Abundance is the title, by Diamandis. The future is being made in the Bay Area.
I’m working with several ventures that have a Stanford connection. Together we can rebuild education from the ground up, so people can learn at their own pace, in accord with human nature.
And I am working with several technology companies, like the ones in Abundance. Certainly, many ventures will need more capital over the next several years. Many excellent people have good ideas, and deserve to have investors.
Sperry Fund Management has been finding and evaluating and monitoring hedge fund managers for 25 years. Now Sperry Fund Investments is bringing excellent venture managers to investors.
Ann Attridge is responsible for creating and developing Scotland’s first fully digital SQA qualification and building a team of talented designers and developers.
Awarded Approved Centre status by the SQA for the delivery of the National 4 ESOL course using Klik2learn’s e assessment system. Nominated for an Elton award by the British Council for ‘Excellence in Course Innovation.’ Responsible for operational and strategic business planning.
Charles McIntyre
CEO, Co-Founder (IBIS Capital – EdTechXGlobal)Linkine-mail
Bio
Charles’ McIntyre experience has been in building businesses in a number of industry sectors including: financial services, media, media tech and more recently online education. He co-founded IBIS Capital in 2003 in order to create a flexible, boutique investment bank that could both invest in, and advise companies and their shareholders. 12 years on and IBIS Capital has evolved into three distinct businesses; investment banking, venture capital and hedge fund management. Charles also sits on the Boards of a range of entrepreneurial companies in the media and education sectors.
Charles began his career with the investment banking arm of Apax Partners, one of the leading independent private equity firms in the UK where he helped build the company’s media franchise. In 1998, together with other senior management, Charles spun off the investment banking arm of Apax Partners. Over the next two years the business was built up into a pan-European investment bank operating with offices in 7 countries with 140 people. Charles was the Managing Director responsible for European media investment banking and was involved in a wide range of fundraising and M&A transactions.
In 2003, Charles joined David Forster to form IBIS Capital. Now in its 12th year IBIS Capital has established itself as a leading investment banking boutique focused on the media and media tech sectors with over 50 corporate transactions completed. The company is also able to act as a principal investor both in the public and private markets. In 2013, Charles started focusing on the e-learning and edtech markets and is responsible for a number of key industry initiatives including co-founding EdTech Europe, an annual summit for strategic players and investors interested in the online education market.
Specialties: Media and Ed-Tech Investment Opportunities Business Deals in the Media, Media Tech and Ed-Tech Sectors Mergers and Acquisitions
Christine Major
Director Global Solutions (Discovery Education)LinkinTwittere-mail
Bio
Christine Major has more than 15 years of experience in the ed tech industry and has worked from Governments in Asia to classrooms in Canada. As Director of Global Solutions for Discovery Education, Christine cultivates deep partnerships with education partners, to develop customized solutions that support their strategic goals and help make the transition to digitally enhanced teaching and learning. A former UK primary teacher, Christine has led the UK’s largest technology focused professional development service for schools and her talks blend humor, deep insight and a wealth of global experience.
Dame Asha Khemka
Principal and Chief Executive (West Nottinghamshire College)e-mail
Bio
Dame Asha Khemka OBE DBE joined Council in 2009 and is also a member of Finance Committee. She took up her post as Principal and Chief Executive of West Nottinghamshire College in May 2006. It is now one of the largest colleges in the country with just over 30,000 students and an annual budget approaching £70 million. The College, as an organisation, and Dame Asha, individually, have received public recognition and acclaim for their contribution to the Further Education sector and for their contribution to the ex-mining communities of North Nottinghamshire. Dame Asha’s lifetime contribution to the sector was recognised in 2009 with the award of an OBE and again in 2014 when she became the first Indian in living memory to be appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Dame Asha is a board member of several national organisations, including the Association of Colleges (AoC), being the Chair of its Quality and Performance Portfolio Group and Chair of AoC India. She is a board member of the Education and Training Foundation, D2N2 LEP and is a Trustee of City and Guilds. She is a founder member of the Inspire and Achieve Foundation whose main objective is to raise the aspirations of working class young people.
Gaurav Mehra joined Kaizen in 2015 and leads the fund’s Education Technology investments. Prior to joining Kaizen, he co-founded Saba and helped build it into a $150 million public company and a global leader in Talent Management software solutions. With 25 years in building technology and scaling global product and service operations, Gaurav helps portfolio companies shape defensible growth strategies. Gaurav holds BS and MS degrees in Computer Science from Stanford University. As a Partner with Kaizen, an Education, EdTech and HCM focused fund, I evaluate deals, and work with our portfolio partners on operational and scaling challenges.
Gurpreet Jagpal
Interim Director of Enterprise, and CEO (South Bank University Enterprises Ltd)LinkinTwittere-mail
Bio
Gurpreet Jagpal is an inspirational, transformational and visionary Director with the proven ability to transform business performance: managing and implementing change, delivering operational efficiencies and providing measurable results. Introducing strategies, turning ideas into reality and acting as an ambassador for business culture, branding and philosophy – promoting visions and values.
Championing strategies in entrepreneurship, business support, training, engagement and company creation I enjoy taking ownership of multiple project delivery, managing staff and funding, delivering measurable results & instilling a performance culture. Financially astute Gurpreet lead on controlling and planning departmental budgets, forecasts and reporting structures.
Isabel Newman supports all stages of the investment process from initial appraisal through to deal execution and portfolio management, with a specific focus on the fund’s Children and Young People theme.
Isabel has a background in social investment and international grant making, having previously worked at CAF Venturesome and Comic Relief.
She holds a BA in Geography from Newcastle University and an MSc in Globalisation and Development from SOAS.
Isabel is also a Trustee of The Midi Music Company, a south London based charity that inspires children and young people to get into the music and creative industries.
Trevor Barratt is the Managing Director – TES Global
• Highly experienced media professional and owner with over 30 years’ experience managing content and event related assets.
• Twenty years’ experience at board level, with the majority as CEO
• Managed and sold two businesses via leveraged buy outs. In addition, made numerous acquisitions a and disposals of individual assets
• Extensive knowledge of digital media though events and publishing
• Key strengths are: strategy – in particular event dynamics, content led media and sales proposition, leading to the routes to extract maximum shareholder value.
Passionate about social housing, sport (rugby, golf, cricket and squash). Member of Harlequins Rugby Club and the Nevill Golf Club.
Kevin McCole
Chief Operating Officer (UK India Business Council)LinkinTwittere-mail
Bio
Kevin McCole joined the UKIBC in December 2008 as Chief Operating Officer and has a range of responsibilities: co-ordinating the work of the team across the UK and Indian offices; directly leading the Membership, Consultancy, and Policy and Research teams; and managing relationships with members, UK Trade and Investment and other stakeholders. Kevin also serves on the British Chambers of Commerce’s Global Accreditation Board, and on the UK’s Overseas Business Network Partnership Board convened jointly by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK Trade and Investment and the British Chambers of Commerce.
Kevin joined the UK India Business Council after 19 years in the UK’s Diplomatic Service, where he served in The Netherlands, Malta, Romania, India, and various London postings. In India, Kevin spent three years at the British Deputy High Commission in Kolkata helping UK businesses win contracts and find partners in Eastern India and assisted Indian companies expand into the UK.
Nathan Andrews
Director (Ecole Hoteliere)Linkine-mail
Bio
Nathan Andrews believes in Working to deliver on the brand promise to all stakeholders while ensuring customer delight as well as the financial success of every business within the city. To make Lavasa India’s first hill city the preferred destination for residents, students and tourists. A city of learning, art and culture with a quality of life unparalleled in the country.
Paul Balogh
Co-founder / CEO (Learn Forward)Linkine-mail
Bio
Paul Balogh (CEO) and Cristian Dinu (CTO) – cofounders of Learn Forward, a UK startup focused on making the digital classroom work by using real-time technologies to power two-way communication in tech-enabled classrooms (delivery of content but also collaborative work). Both cofounders are originally from Romania and they pack different backgrounds: Paul was involved with the publishing sector managing digital businesses in this space while Dinu has a strong background in designing IT solutions for large corporations such as IBM and Vodafone. They decided to move to the UK in 2015 after being winning a place with a London-based business accelerator specialised in EdTech: Emerge Education.
Rajay Naik was previously the director of government and external affairs at The Open University (OU) – the U.K.’s largest university and a global leader in online learning – Naik now leads Keypath’s European operations and is based out of its London office. During his time at The OU, the institution has continued its domination of adult education, grown its international partnerships and launched the FutureLearn MOOC platform.
Naik is a major figure in U.K. higher education, joining senior ministerial delegations on behalf of the British government and as a member of the high-level UK-ASEAN Business Council. Before joining The OU, he was a member of the landmark Independent Review of Higher Education, chaired by former BP CEO Lord Browne. As far back as 2006, he co-authored “Learner Voice,” which examined how technology would transform education. In May, Naik stepped down after six years as a non-executive director at the Big Lottery Fund where he managed a £1.7 billion per year budget as chairman of U.K. funding. He also recently served on the U.K. Digital Skills Commission and the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills’ Education Technology Action Group.
Ravi Dugal, President of Flipick Pvt. Ltd. (www.flipick.com), a self-catering online service that allows publishers and design shops to produce their own fixed-format eBooks directly from within Adobe InDesign.
Flipick is a technology-based partner that provides interactive, real time, self-paced ecosystems for learning and managed technical services. It helps create an immersive environment that is conducive to conceptual learning. Flipick delivers a 360° solution for the educational industry that includes content digitisation, re-authoring, interactive designs, game based eLearning, assessment and detailed analytics as well as content delivery on web, iOS, Android and Windows 8 platforms.
Some of the services include:
₋ Technical Need Analysis
₋ Building interactive content for higher education
₋ Authoring content for HTML5 based 2D/3D animation
₋ Re-authoring animations from Flash to HTML5
₋ Video production and enhancementsFounder Abacus Computers Limited the first in India to pioneer a revolution for open platform language publishing and newspaper editorial system in the eightees
Other experiences;
CEO of Mediawide group of companies. Pioneered self service real estate advertising solutions for UK newspapers almost 8 years ago. Solutions are used in leading newspapers today, one of the newspaper chain building almost 4000 broadsheet real estate pages every month
Architect of Brandmark, a unique solution for localized marketing for leading brands. Brandmark comprises media planning, ad building, automated adaptations, approvals management and electronic delivery. Leading brands including Singapore Airlines, Standard Chartered Bank, Hyatt, Monsanto, Goodyear, Shell and Wriggleys use the solution to build print ads, catalogs, flip books, web banners and visual merchandize
Vertical solutions of Brandmark include workflow and FSI (circulars) builder with full support of versions for regional promotions
Mediawide is actively involved in consulting and bespoke development around web to print, VDP, database publishing and integration with ERP systems
Specialties: Dynamic publishing, editorial systems, advertising solutions, brand marketing operations management and language publishing
Sam Barton is a Business development Manager helping businesses to mature from start-up upwards. Special Advisor to HRH The Duke of York, KG supporting iDEA and Pitch@Palace initiatives.
Global Sales & Markets group – Supported EXCO reporting requirements, worked on Gamification piece. Global People Performance and Culture group – Project Manager for Global Purpose roll-out. Restructuring: Key engagement, MF Global UK Limited (In Special Administration) working on inter-company loans, resolution of client asset positions (segregated and non-segregated), damages claims, debtor reviews and London Metal Exchange client account reconciliation.
Under Selva’s leadership Regent Group was nominated for three industry awards as an award finalists by Education Investor in the categories: Education Business of the Year 2014, Higher Education Provider of 2014, Private Tuition Centre operator of 2014 Selva is in the process of launching Regent Leadership Academy in London and the United States with his management and thinking guru from Harvard University – Prof. Huete is mentoring Selva with the launch of Regent Leadership Academy in early 2015 with a view to nurture leadership in a very unique manner via managing and resolving conflicts Recently Selva has been instrumental in launching Regent English Academy to support the local linguistic needs of North West London’s incredibly diverse and cosmopolitan student population.
Supriyo Chaudhuri has extensive experience of Global Education, managing projects, leading businesses and developing and supporting partner networks. With an in-depth understanding of the Higher and Professional Education sectors, deep knowledge of Education Technology and global experience in Education Marketing, he has worked with some of the world’s foremost Education and Skills Training companies with distinction and success. He was until recently, the Director for Asia Engagement for Knod Education, a US venture-funded innovative skills company. He is now Senior Manager in Education for EPG.
Tom’s Hooper second venture in education technology is Third Space. He is passionate about the role technology can play in helping solve social problems. Tom spends his time building support for Third Space from grassroots to Government level. Third Space Learning connects teachers from around the world to children in schools across the UK, to provide live one-to-one maths support during the school day for children at risk of failure. Third Space was launched in 2013, and has established three academic centres in Asia – two in India, one in Sri Lanka – where local maths graduates are trained to be specialist online teachers, connecting to children in English schools via Third Space Learning’s online teaching technology. As an EdTech company that has built the foundation of its model in India, He is excited to be speaking at IEIC 2016.
Tonee’s passionate about technology and the opportunity it provides education in the developing world. A dyslexic learner. Love learning and technology. Intrigued by the combination of both. Tonee dislike how we learn. Most dyslexic people do.
A Social EdTech-prenuer building an education innovation that advance students in Africa while making a sustainable business model for education stakeholders. Adventures in his previous life: Founder of the largest IT incubator in Kenya, raised €5 Million for it. Current adventure: Building Kytabu( org), a textbooks subscription application for all desktops and laptops as well as android tablets for the developing world.
Beating the OLPC model with a big stick…it can be done better. Kytabu is an android application for phones and tablets that enables teachers and students to rent curriculum textbooks using mobile money. Kytabu leases textbooks as chapters, pages or complete books for either an hour, day, week, month or school term.
This fractured size and varied time reduces the cost of the content buy 72% and in some cases, by 1/1000 of the original price.
Morten Bernhard Hagen
Head of Sales & Marketing (SAM Labs)Linkine-mail
Bio
Morten Hagen has a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from UCL and an experienced strategy consult in the FMCG sector at P&G and Unilever. He loves technology and is driving growth at SAM Labs.
SAM Labs is a rapid development kit for the IoT which makes designing and setting up Internet of Things applications fun and easy. Morten will be representing SAM Labs as one of the IoT Forum’s Ones to Watch this year.
Mark Birse
Group Manager Inspectorate (MHRA)Linkin
Bio
Mark Birse is the Group Manager for the MHRA Inspectorate which comprises of over 70 Inspectors covering GCP, GDP, GLP, GMP & GPvP. Mark is eligible to be named as a Qualified Person and is a chemistry graduate with an MSc in pharmaceutical sciences. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. Prior to joining the MHRA in 2002 as a GMP Inspector, Mark previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over 10 years in a variety of roles including process technology, technology transfer, new product introduction and quality assurance.
Mark Birse is a member of the PIC/S Executive Bureau through his chairmanship of the Sub Committee on Communications.
Providing leadership for the Inspectorate and driving forward collaborative working with other Government departments and international regulators, including building international cross-border confidence and seeking opportunities for synergistic working and resource sharing.
Ensuring that adequate Inspectorate resources are provided to both enable a robust and proportionate inspection programme that is established on risk based methodologies whilst also supporting external meetings and EU and International initiatives. For example implementation of new EU directives, EMA Inspectors Working Groups and their associated drafting teams for changes to EU legislation, PIC/S Committee meetings and Expert Circles, OECD and Council of Europe.
Being a member of the Inspection, Enforcement and Standards Division Leadership Team.
Seeking opportunities to foster and support innovation through creating a more enabling regulatory environment for the adoption of innovative manufacturing technology and supporting development activities through a risk adaptive approach to clinical trials.
Presenting and chairing sessions at numerous UK and international conferences and meetings on a range of MHRA and Inspection issues.
Dr Noel Tagoe
Executive Vice President (Academics) (CIMA)Linkine-mail
Bio
As Executive Vice President – Academics, Dr Noel Tagoe oversees the formulation and implementation of CIMA’s research strategy, the development of CIMA’s qualifications and related assessment. He was previously Head of Research and Development at CIMA.
Prior to joining CIMA Noel taught at University College Dublin (UCD) in Ireland and the universities of Manchester, Reading and Oxford in England. Between academic appointments he held senior accounting and strategy positions with BP and Elf Aquitaine (now part of Total Oil) in Africa. In addition, Noel established and led KPMG’s financial advisory consulting practice in West Africa for 3 years.
Noel is a chartered accountant from Ghana and a fellow member of CIMA. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Ghana and postgraduate degrees from the universities of Dundee and Oxford.
Dr. Ann Van den Bruel()
Bio
Dr. Ann Van den Bruel research focuses on diagnostic tests. Diagnostic tests help doctors to identify illnesses and other conditions so that patients may be treated or given a prognosis about the course of the illness. It is important to study the added value of tests because a better understanding leads to more efficient healthcare and better outcomes for patients.
Over the past years, Dr. Ann Van den Bruel have worked mainly on the diagnosis of serious infections in children. More precisely I conducted a large-scale study in primary care to analyse the value of clinical features for this diagnosis. In addition, we looked at how laboratory tests can help with this diagnosis and how parents and doctors view the diagnostic process when a child is admitted to hospital with a serious infection. The results of these studies have been used in several guidelines including one on feverish children by NICE.
More generally, I have collaborated with colleagues in other studies on diagnostic tests, such as clinical features in patients with chest pain, ultrasound for patients with shoulder problems, exercise testing to identify coronary disease, etc.
Currently I am the Director of the NIHR Diagnostic Evidence Co-operative Oxford which aims to facilitate diagnostic innovations in the NHS. We offer training and advice for anyone who is developing a new diagnostic test for primary care.
In addition to research, I’m also involved in teaching for the Centre for Evidence Based Medicine and other institutions across Europe.
Professor Sir Malcolm Grant
Chairman (NHS England)
Bio
Professor Sir Malcolm Grant , CBE, FAcSS is the Chairman of NHS England, formerly known as the NHS Commissioning Board. He is also a barrister and academic lawyer.
Grant was appointed as chair of the newly formed NHS Commissioning Board in 2011 by the Secretary of State for Health, Andrew Lansley. He was previously the ninth President and Provost of University College London – the head as well as principal academic and administrative officer of the university – for over a decade from 2003 until 2013. He is the current Chancellor of the University of York.
In August 2003, Grant left the University of Cambridge to become Provost and President of University College London.
In 2004, Grant launched ‘The Campaign for UCL’. The campaign was designed to generate 300 million pounds of extra funding for the university, to expand facilities and provide for new research initiatives. The appeal will also fund an ear institute, a spinal repair unit and an institute for women’s health. Fifty million pounds of the targeted funds will provide support for students, in the form of bursaries, scholarships, and post-doctoral fellowships. It was the biggest ever fundraising target set by a university in the United Kingdom, until Cambridge set a £1 billion target for its 800-year anniversary followed by the highest ever £3 billion target set by University of Oxford through the Oxford thinking campaign.
Grant said of the ‘Campaign’:
“I have heard it suggested that the concept of philanthropy is somehow alien to the national psyche, and that asking for money is not the British thing to do. This is, frankly, nonsense. Most of our leading universities owe their origins to philanthropy. Without the generosity of our founding fathers, UCL would never have seen the light of day back in 1826. This campaign will enable UCL, a real British success story, to enjoy the kind of resources to enable us to compete with the world’s very best academic institutions”
— Interview with BBC News, 2004
In 2005, on an invitation from The Cheese Grater, he agreed to shave off his moustache if UCL students raised £1500 for Comic Relief, on Red Nose Day. Unfortunately for his moustache — of 33 years — students and staff duly donated over £2,000. However, it has since regrown.
In 2006, he spoke out against the Israel university boycotts by the Association of University Lecturers (now the Universities Colleges Union). In 2006, Grant also controversially stated that European students had better English skills than many British students.
In 2007, Grant said the achievement and academic gap between male and female students was widening. Since 1998, 313,259 more women than men have made university applications. Malcolm Grant said, “the trend indicated a big fall in the number of university-educated men”.
In January 2007, he argued that the entire nationwide university approach to funding needed a different approach. In regard to UCL’s need for additional funding, he stated the reasons in an interview with the BBC:
“”To provide world-class research – through discovery, invention and creativity – and to convey the excitement of it to able young minds.”
— Interview with BBC News, 2007
In June 2007, in response to legal threats from Alan Lakin, husband of a purveyor of herbal remedies, Grant required Professor David Colquhoun to remove his website, “Improbable Science” from university computers. An outcry from the scientific community ensued, and Grant reconsidered, inviting Dr. Colquhoun to bring the site back to UCL once it had been edited for libel.
In December 2011, Grant became the first UCL Provost to be challenged by ‘a vote of No Confidence’ by UCL Union, the representative body of UCL students, following his appointment as chair of the NHS Commissioning Board. However this was deemed unconstitutional.[citation needed] As a result, the matter was passed to a referendum in which the students of UCL voted in confidence of Grant by 1699 votes to 1185, with 391 abstentions.
Jane Towers-Clark
Head of University Development (ACCA)e-mail
Bio
Jane is currently Head of University Development, ACCA. She graduated from Exeter University and started her career as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst and Young, London. She went on to work as a lecturer in accountancy in Singapore and as an auditor in Australia before returning to the UK and going on to become Head of Accounting Finance and Economics at Oxford Brookes University. She is co-author of the text book ‘Accounting: A Smart Approach’ and has a Doctorate in Education from the Institute of Education, UCL.
Mr. Julien Machot is currently the Chairman of ISDC Global and an Investment Banker with at EFG Bank Headquarter in Switzerland having operations across Europe. His name is well known in the Private Banking Sector and Global wealth Management. He is a dynamic and vibrant entrepreneur and also a visionary in Education Sector.
Julien holds a Double Masters from University of Paris in Economics and International Business. Julien Machot has worked as the CEO of Sloane Group and also the Director of LSBF (London School of Business & Finance). He was also the Treasurer and General Secretary at CIG, The CIG is the prominent reference among UHNW investors in Europe, in Switzerland and throughout the world.
Professor S.S. Vasan
Honorary Visiting Professor, University of York; Senior Business Development Manager, Public Health England ()Linkin
Bio
Professor S.S. Vasan is Senior Business Development Manager for Public Health England (PHE), and prior to that for the Health Protection Agency. A former McKinsey Consultant and Rhodes Scholar, he is also Honorary Visiting Professor of Health Sciences at the University of York, and Adjunct Professor of Preventive and Social Medicine at JIPMER, an ‘Institution of National Importance’ in India. Before joining public service, he was Head of Public Health for Oxford University’s spin-out company Oxitec Limited, which was recently acquired for $160m.
Dr Vasan is PHE’s business development lead for global health, innovation and international consultancy, as well as for Ebola- and Zika-related activities. For the latter, he received the RCUK Impact Award 2015 and the British Expertise International Award 2018, on behalf of his team. He represents PHE’s overseas commercial engagement in the UK InterLab Forum and is a member of the Antiviral Task Group of the Australia-Canada-UK-US Medical Counter-Measures Consortium, and the Five Eyes BSL4 Laboratories Network (in which he also the co-chairs International Response Working Group). He obtained his doctorate from Trinity College, Oxford, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, Royal Entomological Society, Royal Society for Public Health and the Chartered Management Institute.
Richard Cruse
Managing Director (ProFactor Pharma)
Bio
Richard Cruse entered the biotech industry in 1987, as Director of Finance with Delta Biotechnology, and, until joining Entomed SA in April 2002, was Finance Director with PPL Therapeutics PLC for the previous 9 years. During this time, PPL concluded a number of VC and pre-float investments and established a full listing on the London Stock Exchange with a further two follow-on offerings. Richard was also closely involved in the execution of a complex financing package intended to facilitate PPL’s manufacturing plant construction and crucial to the final rights issue. As well as the position of CFO, he held responsibility for the business development function at Entomed, involving the conclusion of research collaboration agreements and marketing of compounds for out-licensing. Prior to entering the biotech industry, Richard’s career was based in manufacturing. He is a Chartered Certified Accountant and has an MBA from Sheffield Business School.
Roger New
Executive Director at Diabetology Ltd (Proxima Concepts Limited)Linkin
Bio
Roger New is a Scientist/inventor with 40 years experience in the biotechnology/pharmaceutics area. Professional interests:oral drug delivery, oral vaccines, drug discovery, peptide therapeutics.
Thirty years experience of Research and Development in field of drug delivery
World-recognised expert in liposomes: author of seminal reference book “Liposomes – A Practical Approach” published by OUP
First to demonstrate efficacy of liposomal amphotericin. Coordinated first Phase I/II trials of liposomal doxorubicin
Devised three new systems for oral delivery of insulin, giving first positive human results ever observed in Type I diabetics
Honorary professor at several foreign academic institutions. Consultant advisor to IRCD. Member of UK Govt Expert Mission on Biotechnology to China and Brazil
Patent applications filed and granted in areas of pharmaceutics, diagnostics and microbiology
Inventor of Patents
Frost & Sullivan European Entrepreneurial Company of the Year Award in Diabetes 2011
Finalist TechMARK Emerging Star 2012
Simon Wallwork
Partner (Slater Heelis LLP)LinkinTwitter
Bio
Simon Wallwork is a Partner in the Corporate Finance team at Slater Heelis LLP in Manchester.
Simon Wallwork key strengths is his ability to develop close working relationships with our clients. Our work is strongly partner-led and our service combines technical expertise, sector knowledge, commerciality and risk assessment. We pride ourselves on the quality and speed of our delivery of advice, our innovative thinking and commercial awareness and our availability to our clients.
We advise on:
(a) mergers and acquisitions of companies and business assets ;
(b) Venture Capital funding;
(c) public-to-private transactions, MBOs, MBI’s and IBO’s;
(d) IPO’s, Public Offers, Placings both public and private;
(e) refinancing, debt restructuring and corporate reorganisations;
(f) general advice on corporate structures, share buy backs, corporate governance, joint ventures.
We have expertise in the Life Sciences, Renewable Energy and Technology sectors giving us a thorough understanding of the issues and pressures affecting businesses in these sectors.
Specialties: acquisitions, disposals, MBO’s, MBI’s, IBO’S, Listings on AIM, and other markets, joint ventures, development capital, private equity, corporate governance in particular in the Renewable Energy, Life Science and Digital Technology sectors.
Patricia Hewitt
CHAIR (UK INDIA BUSINESS COUNCIL)Website
Bio
Patricia Hewitt is the Chair of the UK India Business Council (UKIBC), the premier business-to-business network that works with the British Government to promote bilateral trade between the UK and India.
Patricia Hewitt had a long and distinguished career in politics and government, including as the longest-serving Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in the last fifty years. In that role, she made India her top international priority, believing – as she said in 2002 – that India was rapidly becoming ‘the world’s most exciting knowledge-driven economy’. She also served in Tony Blair’s government as Cabinet Minister for Women (2001 – 2005) and Secretary of State for Health (2005 – 2007). Between 1997 and 2010, Patricia was Labour MP for Leicester West and continues to have close ties with the city and its large British Asian community.
Patricia is a non-executive director of EuroTunnel, a member of the International Advisory Board of Sutherland Global Services and a senior adviser to FTI Consulting. She was for many years Senior Independent Director of BT, where she chaired the remuneration and pensions committees, and a member of the UK government’s Asia Task Force. She is also a member of the UK India Round Table.
For the last six years, Patricia has been an active supporter of Katha, a ‘profit for all’ social enterprise that is transforming the lives of children and their families in Delhi’s slums. She chairs the donor consortium established by the British Asian Trust – one of the Prince of Wales’s Trusts – to support Katha’s work.
In October 2014, Patricia was selected by the British Government to receive the first Dadabhai Naoroji award to recognise her contribution to economic ties between the UK and India.
Born in Australia, Patricia took her undergraduate degree at Cambridge University, and has been awarded an MA by both Cambridge and Oxford. She is an Honorary Associate of Newnham College, Cambridge, an Honorary Doctor of De Montfort University and an Honorary Fellow of the London Business School.
Patricia’s husband, William Birtles, has recently retired from a long career as a barrister and senior judge at the Mayor’s and City of London Court. They have a daughter and a son, both in their 20’s. In her spare time, Patricia enjoys reading, music, theatre and gardening. Although her efforts to learn Hindi have not been very successful, she wowed the Vibrant Gujarat summit in January 2013 with her speech in Gujarati!
Prem Bajaj
Visiting Doctor (Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, Charring Cross Hospital, London)
Bio
Dr. Prem Bajaj is currently Medical Director of Modern Health Limited, London. He completed MBBS from Delhi University, India, has a Fellowship of the College of General Practitioners, India, Doctor of Medicine (Copenhagen University, Denmark) Ph.D. in Pain Management (Alborg University, Denmark), Masters in Clinical Pathology and Immunology (Sheffield Medical School, UK), Masters in Pain Managment (Wales School of Medicine, Cardiff, UK) and Certifications in Medical Acupuncture and Hypnotherapy from UK. He has published articles in several international journals and is an honorary reviewer for several peer review journals. He has won several scholarships and awards during his career.
Dr. Prem Bajaj is a medical practitioner specialising in pain management, clinical pathology, acupuncture and hypnotherapy. His approach to patient management is holistic and he also incoporates medical acupuncture and CBT-hypnotherapy into the management where appropriate. He subspecialises in managing fatigue syndromes, deaddiction, chronic diseases including fibromyalgia, Lyme disease and multiple chemical sensitivities. He has also gained broad, multi-speciality experience having worked in the departments of Neurology, Orthopaedics, Medicine and Pathology in large hospitals in Denmark and India. He has done his post-doctoral clinical research from the department of Addiction Pharmacology, San Francisco, USA .
Dr. Prem Bajaj is fluent in English, Danish, Hindi and Punjabi.
Dr. Prem Bajaj’s special strengths are that he is able to establish a special comfort zone with his patients and reaches the depth of their problems, providing them appropriate treatment and educating them to follow the principle ”prevention is better than cure”. His approach is full of empathy, sympathy and is non-judgemental.
His values are that he is truthful, honest and delivers with self clarity. He is an academic researcher, an expert in conducting clinical trials, a social worker, author, reviewer of scientific publications and also possess an indepth knowledge of drug development, drug safety and Good Medical Practices.
My Vision: To use my broad spectrum medical and clinical skills in the prevention and management of complex diseases and bringing goodness, happiness, good health and peace to all.
Andreas Schleicher
Director for the Directorate of Education and Skills (OECD)LinkinTwittere-mail
Bio
Andreas Schleicher is Director for Education and Skills, and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the Secretary-General at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris.
As a key member of the OECD Senior Management team, Mr. Schleicher supports the Secretary-General’s strategy to produce analysis and policy advice that advances economic growth and social progress. He promotes the work of the Directorate for Education and Skills on a global stage and fosters co-operation both within and outside the OECD. In addition to policy and country reviews, the work of the Directorate includes the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), and the development and analysis of benchmarks on the performance of education systems (INES).
Before joining the OECD, Mr. Schleicher was Director for Analysis at the International Association for Educational Achievement (IEA). He studied Physics in Germany and received a degree in Mathematics and Statistics in Australia. He is the recipient of numerous honours and awards, including the “Theodor Heuss” prize, awarded in the name of the first president of the Federal Republic of Germany for “exemplary democratic engagement”. He holds an honorary Professorship at the University of Heidelberg.
Chris Oglesby
Chief Executive Officer (Bruntwood)Linkin
Bio
Chris Oglesby grew up in Manchester from the age of four, attending Cheadle Hulme School, before studying at the London School of Economics and City University, London. He graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Property Valuation and Finance and joined the investment team in the City of London Office of St Quintin (now CBRE), before returning north to work for Bruntwood in 1991. He qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 1993 and set up Bruntwood’s Manchester city centre office, adding an in-house sales and marketing team, before taking over the reins of the company as CEO at the end of 1999.
Chris Oglesby’s company is a family-owned and run company, Bruntwood has always operated with a strong set of values, founded on its belief that the success of the company comes from the success of its customers and the communities in which it operates. This commitment to cities has led to Chris playing an active and often leading role in many public and private sector initiatives and partnerships. He has been a board member at CityCo (Manchester’s city centre management company), the Piccadilly Partnership, Corridor Manchester (the city’s major knowledge economy initiative focused on its universities and hospitals) and the Irwell City Park initiative along the boundary between Manchester and Salford. In Liverpool and Leeds, he has taken his experience of best practice in local area partnerships and instigated the set-up of the Commercial District and West End Partnerships respectively in each city.
Bruntwood is nationally recognised for its support of cultural and community initiatives, donating 10% of its annual profits to charitable causes. Chris is a Trustee of The Oglesby Charitable Trust, which works with more than 40 community based charities a year, and is a board member of Onside, a new charity which is developing a series of youth centres across the North based on the successful Lads and Girls Club model pioneered in Bolton.
Chris has a strong belief in continued personal development. He was a member of the Academy of Chief Executives from 1998-2002 and has been a member of the Young Presidents Organisation since 2000, holding several officer positions over the years including Chairman in 2007/8. He also attended the Owner President Management Programme at Harvard for three years, graduating in 2007.
Chris Oglesby, Bruntwood CEO and MSP Chairman, said:“Through our acquisition of Alderley Park, we have a unique opportunity to create a diverse innovative community of bioscience businesses which is internationally respected for the quality of its work and as a sustainable business model. With our partners and the community of exceptional scientists who choose to remain at the Park, we will build a flagship for a vibrant life sciences industry in the North of England.”
Satyendra Shrivastava is a corporate generalist and he leads the regulatory insurance, employment, global mobility at Khaitan Legal Associates. He regularly advises clients on entry strategies and on various aspects of doing business in India and has an extensive experience of working with different regulators in India.
He is a frequent speaker at international conferences and seminars on different areas of Indian law and regulation and also facilitate training and workshops on HR law and general regulatory framework for foreign companies interested in establishing a presence in India.
Rakesh Roshan
CEO (OxSight Limited, an Oxford University venture)Linkin
Bio
Rakesh Roshan is a senior member of the management team at Isis. He is a diligent results-driven senior management leader with over 13 years of experience in technology transfer, technology commercialisation, forming and growing new businesses, developing investment strategies and roadmaps, and implementing innovative management policies. Rakesh has extensive accomplishments in motivating and providing strategic guidance to negotiate, execute, and manage complex licence and spinout transactions. He has a strong track record in evaluating, structuring and securing investments for various business propositions that resulted in the formation of a number of technology companies. His proven leadership proficiencies involve directing diverse and cross-functional teams to deliver commercial objectives on time and within budget.
Under his leadership, his team at Isis Innovation has formed more than 15% of all Oxford spin-outs to date and secured equity funding from leading private and institutional investors based in USA, Hong Kong, Japan, China, India and the UK.
His Areas of excellence will be: International Partnerships, New Ventures, Emerging Technologies, Open Innovation Strategy, Technology Roadmap, Investment Decisions, Procuring Investment Pipeline, Due-diligence, Strategic Alliances, Raising Capital, Financial Modelling, Technology Evaluation, Business Development, Business Planning, Contract Negotiations, Business & Risk Analysis, Leadership Skills, Team Management, R&D Management, IP Management, Technology Commercialisation, IP Landscaping and Litigation. .
Dr Mary Stiasny OBE
Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) and Chief Executive of the University of London International Programmes (University of London)LinkinTwittere-mail
Bio
Throughout her career, Dr Mary Stiasny has worked tirelessly to both deliver and promote quality accessible education across the world.
Prior to becoming Pro Vice-Chancellor (International), Dr Stiasny provided strategic direction and leadership at the Institute of Education, in her capacity as Pro-Director with responsibility for Learning, Teaching and International.
Working life for Dr Stiasny began as a secondary school teacher in West London. She then joined Goldsmiths College, where she was involved in initial teacher education, becoming Director of PGCE and Deputy Head of the Department of Educational Studies. This was followed by a move to Oxford Brookes University, where she was appointed Deputy Head of the School of Education. She then returned to London, to become Head of the School of Education and Training at the University of Greenwich. Following this, she spent four years at the British Council as Director of Education and Training before joining the Institute of Education.
Dr Stiasny’s practical and strategic experience in education spans across a wide range of roles, including providing consultancy for a number of educational projects that have attracted external funding, and as an external examiner.
Viren Mahurkar
Managing Director (HitchinRock Advisors Pte. Ltd.)Linkin
Bio
Viren Mahurkar has 25+ year career experience. Senior roles in investment banking and healthcare. Global perspective: New York, Mumbai, London and currently Singapore. Close ties to US, Europe and Asia investor and biomedical ecosystems.
Banking / M&A Advisory roles :
Viren Mahurkar Expertise in M&A, FX/Rates/Capital Markets, Securities Services and Trade Finance. Trained in Macro & Financial Economics, Alternative Investments and Quantitative Finance; establishing linkages between macro-regimes, financial markets & institutions and asset classes in global and key regional economies.
MD HitchinRock Advisors, Singapore
EVP & Head – Strategic Advisory and Capital Markets at ICICI Securities India
Partner/ Head – M&A at Ambit India
Assistant Director, Global Corporate Finance at ANZ Investment Bank London / India
Director/Head – Custodian and Securities Services for Grindlays Bank India
FX/Derivatives Dealer at the ANZ Grindlays Treasury India
Assistant Manager Trade Finance at Citibank India
Healthcare roles:
Thought leadership and operational experience in Healthcare sector. In-house M&A, licensing, strategic alliances and structured deals for 2 majors (PFE, NVS) and 1 Asian family business (WPL.IN). Advisor to several US, EU, JP and Asian large-caps, mid/small-caps, family, private/startup. Strategic and scientific understanding within macro/asset allocation.
Regional Director, M&A/BD&L Asia & Russia for Novartis Alcon, based in Singapore
SVP Global Business Development, Wockhardt, based in India
Director Regional Business Development Europe for Pfizer, based in New York
Academic Background:
MBA from FMS, University of Delhi; MSc from London School of Economics; executive leadership program at Harvard Business School. CAIA and CQF certifications; advanced courses in biotech and healthcare.
Speaker at global and regional healthcare and finance forums
Lowell Williams
Principal (Dudley College)Linkine-mail
Bio
Lowell is currently the Principal of Dudley College. In challenging economic times, Lowell has led the creation of the multi-million pound Dudley Learning Quarter. This inspirational new town centre campus includes Dudley Evolve, a state of the art vocational centre, Dudley Sixth, a dedicated A level centre and Dudley Advance, a specialist STEM centre (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
Lowell is Chairman of the college’s Energy Training Hub, a company specialising in the development and delivery of renewable energy and environmental technologies. He is also principal trainer with the college’s Leadership & Management Training Hub, which offers tailored development programmes to senior and middle managers across the public and private sector in the UK and on an international basis.
Justin van Fleet
Director (International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity)Linkine-mail
Bio
Justin van Fleet is also the Chief of Staff to the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Global Business Coalition for Education and works with the UK children’s charity, Theirworld, founded by Sarah Brown.
He was previously a fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for Universal Education in Washington, D.C. where his research focused on corporate social investments and philanthropy for global education. He graduated with a PhD from the University of Maryland in international education policy and holds a Master’s degree from Harvard University in the same field.
Pramath Raj Sinha is a Senior Advisor of the Albright Stonebridge Group, India and the Founder and Managing Director of 9.9 Mediaworx Private Limited. Prior to founding 9.9 Media, he was a Partner at Mckinsey and led the ABP Group, one of India’s leading and most diversified media conglomerates.
Pramath helped set up and served as the Founding Dean of the Indian School of Business (ISB). He continues to be a member of its Board of Governors.
Pramath is a Director on the Boards of PRADAN, India’s leading development institution focused on improving livelihoods in the country’s poorest district and of the Central Square Foundation, a philanthropic fund focused on improving the educational outcomes for low-income children in India. He holds a Bachelors degree from IIT Kanpur and an MSE and PhD from University of Pennsylvania.
Ajay Agrawal
Managing Director Europe (Ignite Capital Partners, Inc.)Linkin
Bio
Dr. Ajay Agrawal, Ph.D., serves as the Managing Director of the Worldwide organization of collaborations in the pharmaceutical industry, London and Director of business development at Lipoxen Plc, AIM-listed company, in London. Dr. Agrawal serves as a Director of business development at Almac Sciences UK and a Special Advisor on healthcare for commonwealth British council, London. He served as the Head of Business Development for Lipoxen Plc (now Xenetic Biosciences, Inc.) since August 2008. Dr. Agrawal has extensive experience in the biotech & pharma industry worldwide. Dr. Agrawal has almost 20 years’ experience in the biotech and pharmaceutical industry worldwide. He founded PolyMASC Pharmaceuticals plc in 1995. Dr. Agrawal is an entrepreneur and advisor to the number of companies worldwide. He serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of four international biotechnology journals from the USA. He serves as a Director of Manipal Acunova Limited. He serves on the Board of Directors of Clinovo Ltd UK. Dr. Agrawal serves on the editorial advisory board of four international pharmaceutical journals from the USA. Dr. Agrawal served as a Non-Executive Director of ImmuPharma plc from April 27, 2007 to October 23, 2015. He serves on the editorial advisory board of three international trade journals, Current Drug Delivery, Infectious Disorders- Drug Targets and Recent Patents on Drug Delivery and Formulation, Bentham Press, California, USA. Dr. Agrawal has been a consultant to a number of companies in the sector, including Genovac GmbH (Germany), Qiagen (Germany), Aldevron (USA), PHT Pharma (Italy) and Karo Bio (Sweden). He holds a PhD in Chemistry and has conducted his post-doctoral research in the faculty of Medicine, University of Alberta, Canada and at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
Ajay Agrawal is a member in Public-listed Company, Immupharma plc London in London with operations in France and Switzerland. Also, member of the remuneration and audit committees. Won “the New Economy Pharmaceutical & Healthcare Awards for 2010″ for the best European drug development company, and for “best technology award” at the AIM awards, sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers Oct 2009. Earlier, also won “Breakthrough of the year award” on our $500 million licensing deal with Cephalon at the “European Mediscience Awards 2009.
Ajay Agrawal is also is an advisory member for Ignite Capital Inc., in relation to the best method to become publically traded, either by IPO, reverse merger or S-1 and 20F Filers. Transactions we have been involved both in the USA and offshore include LBO’s, mergers, acquisitions and restructurings of both private and public companies.Seeking undervalued assets and IP with substantial upside.
He has also participated in a diverse range of financing structures including but not limited to senior and asset based and cash flow debt, mezzanine and convertible debt and common stock/ preferred equity. We provide advices in relation to the most efficient use of capital and have access to a substantial array of capital providers: accredited investors, full service investment banking firms, commercial banks, venture capital firms, fund managers, hedge funds, SBIC’s, offshore funds, PIPE funds, family offices and private equity sponsors.
Raja Dasgupta
CEO (Studenting Era Private Limited)Linkine-mail
Bio
Raja Dasguta has 22 plus years of experience in Education Sector with special focus on Academia, Institutional Alliances and Skill Development, including at Oracle, NIIT and QAI.
Studenting ERA is a digital ecosystem of student services. Aiding students in their development and career progress quests with a global capability matrix. It is a portal through which allows students to have access to information, services and opportunities which will assist them to enhance their career goals and objectives.
Offerings spanning across five areas of support: Career Counselling services, Global Collaborative Learning Opportunities, Entrepreneurship Development Programs, Project and Employability Program and other student benefits that one can access across any digital devices.
Colum Elliott-Kelly joined Blippar, the world’s leading augmented reality platform, in 2014 to build a business unit dedicated to the education space. Blippar Education’s vision is to turn the world into an interactive learning environment, layering digital content and tools onto physical space in classrooms, museums, and workplaces.
Alongside his work at Blippar Education, Col is developing a pop-up digital school to help bring education to refugee camps, and offers pro-bono consulting to a range of education and innovation organisations in London. Before joining Blippar, he co-founded and exited Massolit, an e-learning content business, and before that worked in strategy consulting, corporate finance and corporate communications. He is a Governor of the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson comprehensive school in North London.
Dr. Virander Paul
Deputy High Commissioner (High Commission of India)
Bio
Virander Paul joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1991. Prior to his assignment as Deputy High Commissioner of India in London, he was Minister(Press) at the Indian Embassy in Washington D.C. Earlier, he has held diplomatic assignments in Indian Missions in Almaty, Vladivostok, Rome, St. Petersburg and Moscow. At the Ministry of External Affairs Headquarters, he has served in Europe East and Americas Divisions. He served as Director in the Prime Minister’s Office during 2007-2010. He holds a medical degree from All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
The areas of potential collaboration between the UK and India were highlighted during the recent visit of the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, to the UK.
The UK has a multiplicity of strengths across sectors and is well placed to engage with the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
Dr. Paul added another development is that Indian individuals states are coming to the UK to collaborate and competing with each other. Already 4 states have come so far such as Rajasthan, West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
On some of the concerns such as more talk and little results, Dr. Paul explained that is short sighted view. He added during last 15 months alone FDI in India has increased by 29%. India is a big country and it may take some time before results show up.
Dr. Virander Paul finally summed up his thought saying India has come a long way from Red Tape to Red Carpet.
First Secretary, T Ajungla Jamir presented Make in India presentation, the idea of 100 smart city project in India with minimum pollution and max recycling.
Dr. Virander Paul, Deputy high commissioner of India to the UK highlighted that
“Fundamentals of Indian economy remain strong and Make in India is very popular brand now. Make in India is not a single stand-alone initiative but many additional projects such as Digital India, Industrial corridor also along with it. These initiatives are all interconnected and feed into each other”.
David Richardson
Vice-Chancellor (University of East Anglia)e-mail
Bio
David Richardson is the 9th Vice-Chancellor of the University of East Anglia and took office in 2014, after 23 years at UEA. David was born and brought up near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, was educated at the University of Keele (BSc, Biochemistry) and the University of Birmingham (PhD, 1988) and undertook post-doctoral research at the University of Oxford 1988-91. He joined the University of East Anglia as a lecturer in 1991, became Professor of Bacterial Biochemistry in 2001, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) before being appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor in 2012 and Vice-Chancellor in 2014.
David was awarded the Society for General Microbiology Fleming Medal in 1999 and is a recipient of the Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. His research group is active in the area of bacterial bioenergetics, and his work has shed important light on the mechanism of greenhouse gas production by bacteria and the molecular basis and function of bacterial nanowires.
David is active in a range of national and regional HE bodies. He is also a Non-Executive Director of the Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital (NNUH), Board member of New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, Chair of the Norwich Research Partners LLP and is the President of the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association for the year 2016-17.
David and his wife Andrea, who also works at UEA as Director of Learning and Teaching, are keen art collectors and enjoy spending time on the North Norfolk coast. Originating from Newcastle, but almost naturalised to Norwich, David splits his loyalties between the Canaries and the Magpies. David and Andrea will each celebrate 25 years at UEA in 2016.
Julie Stone
Director of University of Derby Online Learning (UDOL) (University of Derby)LinkinTwittere-mail
Bio
Currently Julie Stone has responsibility for the leadership of Online Distance Learning at the University of Derby,and leads a team of staff dedicated to this business activity.
She was also involved, as Business Manager at University of Derby, in establishing the largest franchise within the HE sector and has led the Online Distance Learning project through to substantial and progressive growth.
As Head of Quality Assurance at Gloucestershire University, she helped the College of Higher Education achieve University status and gain degree of awarding powers.
Ravi Sodha
Business Development (Actelion Pharma)Linkin
Bio
Ravi Sodha studied in the UK obtaining B.Sc. in Pharmacology, Ph.D. and MBA. He spent several years in Research (London University, Zurich University Hospitals, Ciba Geigy Basel), Clinical Development (SmithKline Beecham) and Sales & Marketing (Novartis). In 1999 Ravi moved to Business Development & Licensing at Novartis, where he spent 8 years in various functions and therapeutic areas. His last responsibility at Novartis was Alliance Management for a Business Franchise and Asia-based job rotation for Business Development activities in the emerging markets, including India, China, Korea and Taiwan. Ravi joined Actelion Pharma Switzerland in 2008 as Senior Director, Business Development, where his responsibilities include structuring and negotiating licensing deals across several therapeutic areas. Ravi has three women in his life, and enjoys cooking, soccer (from the comforts of his arm chair), and spiritual reading.
Actelion Ltd. is a leading biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative drugs for diseases with significant unmet medical need. Actelion is a leader in the field of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Our portfolio of PAH treatments covers the spectrum of disease, from WHO Functional Class (FC) II through to FC IV, with oral, inhaled and intravenous medications. Although not available in all countries, Actelion has treatments approved by health authorities for a number of specialist diseases including Type 1 Gaucher disease, Niemann-Pick type C disease, Digital Ulcers in patients suffering from systemic sclerosis, and mycosis fungoides type cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Founded in late 1997, with now over 2,500 dedicated professionals covering all key markets around the world including Europe, the US, Japan, China, Russia and Mexico, Actelion has its corporate headquarters in Allschwil / Basel, Switzerland. Actelion shares are traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ticker symbol: ATLN) as part of the Swiss blue-chip index SMI (Swiss Market Index SMI). All trademarks are legally protected.
Vipul Bhargava
Educational Technology and International Schools Specialist (Department for International Trade (DIT))LinkinTwittere-mail
Bio
Vipul Bhargava leads the Education Technology and Independent Schools practice at UK Trade and Investments. He is responsible for helping UK Education technology businesses and independent schools grow internationally.
As Vice President at EF Englishtown, he was part of the senior leadership team responsible for delivering profitable growth globally. He worked with leadership teams to define strategy and business plans across Latin America (Brazil, Mexico), US, Europe and Asia ( Japan, China, Taiwan). He was also responsible for presenting quarterly and annual plans and results to the board.
Prior to Englishtown, I was at RM Education (a FTSE listed UK education technology company).
Rob Jordan
Investment Manager, Direct Equity Investments (CDC Group plc)Linkine-mail
Bio
Rob joined CDC’s Direct Equity Investments Team in 2013 to work on private equity transactions in Africa and South Asia. Rob leads on education investments within the overall Consumer Businesses team.
Prior joining to CDC, Rob worked at the UK Treasury. Rob holds an MBA from London Business School, and a Masters in International Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies.
Donald Clark
Professor, EdTech entrepreneur (WildFire Learning, PlanB Learning)LinkinTwittere-mail
Bio
Donald Clark is an EdTech entrepreneur. He was CEO and one of the original founders of Epic Group plc, which established itself as the leading company in the UK online learning market, floated on the Stock Market in 1996 and sold in 2005. As well as being the CEO of Wildfire Ltd. he also invests in, and advises, EdTech companies.
Describing himself as ‘free from the tyranny of employment’, he is a board member of Cogbooks, LearningPool, WildFire and Deputy Chair of Brighton Dome & Arts Festival. He is also a Visiting Professor and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA).
He has worked in schools, vocational, higher, corporate and adult learning, delivering real projects to real learners. These include change management, strategy, tool selection, content design and build.
Donald has over 30 years experience in online learning, games, simulations, semantic, adaptive, social media, mobile learning, virtual reality and AI projects. He has designed, delivered and advised on online learning for many global, public and private organisations. He is an evangelist for the use of technology in learning and has won many awards, including the first ‘Outstanding Achievement in E-learning Award’ and ‘Best AIM Stock Market Company’.
An award winning speaker at national and international conferences, he has delivered keynotes in Europe. US, Africa, Australia, Middle and Far East.
Prasad Vellisetty
Physician and Healthcare Executive (Global Medical and Scientific Services)LinkinTwitter
Bio
Prasad Velisetty, Physician and Healthcare Executive and MAnaging Director at Global Medical and Scientific Services. His activities includes:
• Consulting on drug development program designs.
• Accountable for the design and management of health care projects.
• Specialist Medical Advise HIV/GUM, ID &Travel medicine.
• Building and designing Medical portals
• Teaching of Pharmaceutical Medicine and Public Health
Dr. Prasad Velisetty MD has 12 years of working in clinical research including over seven years of CRO experience in Quintiles. Prasad is currently Senior Director and Global Therapeutic Strategy Head for Allergy, Respiratory, Infectious diseases and Vaccines (ARTIDV) at Quintiles. Primary responsibilities involve the line management mentoring of therapeutic strategy leads in ART & ID/V centres of excellence. Also serves as a strategic therapeutic expert in applying therapeutic knowledge to proposal strategies and drug development opportunities, influencing customers regarding clinical development approaches and decisions. He was involved as global medical monitor for over 25 clinical trials spanning from Australia to America. He participated in several feasibility/capability assessments and was also involved in scientific consultations of various compounds in clinical development. Prasad also worked with commercial teamsand contributed to the overall product strategy. Following his residency in India he worked as a research fellow in Indo-US Vaccine action programme. HIV/ID physician by practise prior to joining Quintiles he worked as clinical research fellow in HIV/GUM(genito urinary medicine) at London teaching centres participating in various HIV/GUM trials.
Sharon Bamford
Vice President (Sannam S4)Linkine-mail
Bio
Sharon was then appointed as Chief Executive of The Scottish Institute for Enterprise, a partnership of all twenty of Scotland’s higher education institutions. She was a board member of the government driven Science Enterprise Centre’s and the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship. Sharon Sharon also served as a Trustee of the Glasgow School of Art for three terms.
In 2007 she became founding chief executive of the UK India Business Council (UKIBC), where she built the foundations of the organization; creating the brand, expanding its network, developing its outreach and engagement programs and building the organisations team in the UK and India.
Sharon is also Chairman of Chynoweth Technologies, a high tech investment company and is currently on the International Business Advisory Board for Waikato Management School, New Zealand.
Sumit Munjal
Senior Medical Director, Global Patient Safety, Marketed Products (TAKEDA)Linkin
Bio
Sumit Munjal is interested in opportunities that includes Contract
– UK- General Medical Council (GMC) registered physician with license to practice and NHS-England clinical experience in both acute and primary care settings.
– Masters in Epidemiology from London School and academia experience in Pharmaco-Epidemiology.
– UK MHRA and EMA Drug Regulatory Authority experience.
– Pharmaceutical industry experience in both rapid evolving Oncology medicine and more Established medicine products portfolio.
– Working in Global matrix teams for drug development and license.
– Line/team/Therapeutic Area management.
– PV Leadership and CRO oversight experience.
– Global Safety Lead experience
– PV regulatory documents review and sign-off.
– Audit/inspection experience
– Both contract and permanent work experience.
– Experience of speaking and invlovement at various reputed pharmaceutical/healthcare international conferences.
– Background of developing country/emerging markets experience.
– Understanding of healthcare, public health priorities and people management.
Sumit Munjal currently works as Takeda Global Safety Lead ~600 Marketed licensed products and his,
Responsibility of Risk management, aggregate safety, labelling and all PV maintenance activities
Management Therapeutic Area/ Team physicians and scientists /processes
Due dilligence activities
Appraiser for company physicians, Takeda Designated body to General Medical Council UK
Reporting to Takeda VP EU-QPPV and Head of EU Compliance & Marketed Products
Madan Mohan Pant
Former Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU))Twittere-mail
Bio
Prof. Madan Mohan Pant is an internationally renowned expert specialising in pedagogy, technology and the development of tools and curricula for 21st century education. He has been known for developing, working models that enhance the pedagogy using latest available technologies. He is especially noted for his efforts in leveraging social media for improving learning and bringing the mobile into the classroom where it has been traditionally banned.
Prof. Pant’s current work and interests revolve around the development, delivery and promotion of educational products, processes and services that cater for the needs and interests of future learners, a framework that is named “Learning 221”.
His past roles include being the Former Pro-Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National OpenUniversity (IGNOU) and being on the faculty of IIT, Kanpur (the premier engineering institution in India), MLNR Engineering College and Faculty as well as Visiting Professor, University of Western Ontario, Canada.
He has been a visiting scientist at European research centres in Italy, England, Germany and Sweden. Prof. Pant is the founder of the LMP Education Trust, an organisation that promotes new age learning and supports under privileged learners.
Prof. Pant has been associated with many educational organizations as member of committees or working groups, such as the NCTE, NCERT, CBSE, NIOS, NUEPA, CEC, UGC, AICTE, AIMA and several Universities. He has been closely linked with the IIT system, having got his Ph.D from IIT, Roorkee, a faculty member at IIT, Kanpur and a member of the Board of Governors, IIT, Delhi.
Michael Kerrison
Director, Educational Innovation and Development (University of London)Linkine-mail
Bio
Michael’s role is to lead on the development of academic initiatives and update existing ones as we continue to expand our range of study programmes.
Michael was appointed to this role in February 2012, following a successful three-year appointment as Director of Education with the College of Estate Management, which operates in more than one hundred countries.
With more than twenty years experience in education, Michael started his career with KPMG, where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. His experience in education includes fourteen years with Edinburgh-based, Heriot-Watt University. There he was responsible for designing, developing and managing a suite of international undergraduate degree programmes, all designed for distance learning, in finance, accountancy and business.
Michael was also employed by the ifs School of Finance, formerly known as the Chartered Institute of Bankers (CIB), where he played a key role in securing TDAP (Taught Degree Awarding Powers) for the school.
Michael, holder of a First Class MA in Accountancy and Finance, from the University of Dundee, is experienced in teaching. He has also contributed towards the work of a number of academic bodies, as well as being widely published within his field.
Prof. Heather Tarbert
Assistant Dean Internationalisation (University of the West of Scotland)Linkine-mail
Bio
Professor Heather Tarbert is a Professor of Financial Management at the University of the West of Scotland. She is the author of many journal papers, independently rated as of internationally excellent quality in the most recent UK Research Excellence Framework exercise.
Heather has previously worked at other internationally renowned UK universities such as Heriot-Watt and has taught on the triple accredited University of Strathclyde MBA in various international locations. She is also the co-author of the book “Corporate Finance for Business” published by Oxford University Press.
Heather is also an expert in the CIMA Financial Strategy syllabus and is a visiting professor at two Chinese Universities, one of which is one is UIBE, which is widely considered to be one of the leading Chinese Universities in economics, finance and international business.
Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE
Chancellor (University of Birmingham)LinkinTwittere-mail
Bio
Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE, DL is the founder of Cobra Beer, Chairman of the Cobra Beer Partnership Limited and of Molson Coors Cobra India, both joint ventures with the global brewing company, Molson Coors.
He is the Founding Chairman of the UK India Business Council, a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London, a former Chancellor of Thames Valley University (now the University of West London); he was the youngest University Chancellor in the UK when appointed.
In 2014, he was appointed as the 7th Chancellor of the University of Birmingham and was the first Indian born Chancellor of a Russell Group University in Great Britain. Karan is Senior Non-Executive Director of the Booker Group PLC, the FTSE 250 Company of Booker Prize fame; he is one of the first two visiting entrepreneurs at the University of Cambridge; he is a founding member of the Prime Minister of India’s Global Advisory Council.
In 2006, Karan Bilimoria was appointed the Lord Bilimoria of Chelsea, making him the first ever Zoroastrian Parsi to sit in the House of Lords. In 2008 he was awarded the Pravasi Bhartiya Samman by the President of India. He is an honorary fellow of Sidney Sussex College Cambridge and Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Judge Business School, Cambridge University.
He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Ernst & Young and graduated in law from the University of Cambridge. He is also an alumnus of the Cranfield School of Management, the London Business School and the Harvard Business School. In 2015, Karan Bilimoria was appointed President of the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA).
Ajan Reginald
CEO Celixir, Executive Director and Co-Founder, (Cell Therapy Ltd)LinkinGoogle+
Bio
Ajan Reginald is a hugely accomplished and widely recognised expert in the fields of Science and Medicine. Ajan Reginald co-founded Cell Therapy Ltd (CTL) in 2009 with Professor Sir Martin Evans, Nobel Laureate 2007 and CTL is an award winning biotech company developing stem cell therapeutics with clinical programs.
CTL (Cell Therapy Limited) develops cellular medicines to treat life threatening and life altering diseases and is currently focused on CVS indications: Heart Failure and Myocardial infarction. Prior to this Ajan Reginald was Global Head of Emerging Technologies at Roche Pharmaceuticals in which he led efforts to identify and commercialise the best breakthrough life science technologies including a focus on Stem cells. Before Emerging Technologies,
Ajan completed over 30 licensing and acquisition transactions a Business Development Director at Roche. From 2003-2005 Ajan worked with the Boston Consulting Group in the USA & Zurich as a member of both the Life Sciences Practice Area and Intellectual Property Group. Ajan is a Fulbright scholar, a graduate of London Hospital School of Medicine and Dentistry and holds an MBA from the Kellogg Business School at Northwestern University. Ajan enjoys spending time with his wife and young son and in his spare time he plays competitive Hockey, representing England at the over 40’s level.
Ajan Reginald
– Executive Director Cell Therapy Limited (CTL): CTL develops cellular medicines to combat life threatening and life altering diseases.
– Ex-Global Head of Emerging Technologies, Roche
– Ex-Business Development Director, Roche
– Consultant, Boston Consulting Group
– Kellogg School of Management
– Fulbright Scholar
– University of London
Ajay Rajan Gupta
MD & GROUP CEO (INDO UK INSTITUTES OF HEALTH CONSULTANT ORTHOPAEDIC SURGEON , LONDON)Linkin
Bio
Ajay Rajan Gupta works as a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon in the National Health Service with subspeciality interest in Knees and Hip arthroplasty
The INDO UK INSTITUTE OF HEALTH MEDICITIES PROGRAMME was announced as a Joint Statement between Prime Minister of UK Mr David Cameron and Prime Minister of India Mr Narendra Modi in London on 11th November 2015.
. IUIH Company structure and Corporate governance was done by KPMG UK
. IUIH Programme Management for next 10 years – EY LLP London
. IUIH Procurement Strategy and Advisors- PwC London and Apira Consultancy
. IUIH Implementation Meetings every month at Healthcare UK (DIT/NHS/DOH)-
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/healthcare-uk
The programme celebrated its 1st year anniversary at the Indo UK Technology Summit in Delhi by Prime Minister of UK Theresa May and Prime Minister of India Mr Narendra Modi inaugurated by November 2016. Rt Hon’ble Dr Liam Fox Sec of State for Trade and Industry chaired a IUIH Roundtable to celebrate this event.
Imran Kausar
Managing Director (Haloodies (KKR Halal Ltd))Linkin
Bio
Pharma:
Imran Kausar is a Medical doctor and professional in pharmaceutical medicine (big pharma/biotech). Worked on brands as diverse as Viagra to Esbriet (orphan designated for IPF). Worked in start-ups till acquisition (InterMune).
Halal Food/Islamic Markets:
Founded Halal Food Festival in London, 2013. A 3 day consumer food show aiming to showcase the expanding halal markets [www.halalfoodfestival.com]. Co-Founded Haloodies, a premium halal meat brand in the UK. On sale via Ocado. Numerous media interviews on BBC, CNBC, The Financial Times, The Economist, The Guardian
Speaker:
World Islamic Economic Forum Cordoba Roundtable, March 2015
World Islamic Economic Forum, 9th Forum, London, 2013
Investor:
Interested in early stage funding of companies with a social entrepreneurial interest.
KKR Halal Ltd operates Haloodies (Halal Foodies) the halal food brand aimed at a new generation of halal consumers. Haloodies aims to be the first, global halal food brand by providing high quality halal products aimed at Muslim millennials.
Please find out more information at www.Haloodies.com
Imran Kausar was responsible for creating a medical department in a newly formed local affiliate of a US biotech. Responsible for creating a medical team, SOP’s, quality, education, MHRA inspections, regulatory, public affairs, KOL management, PV.
Imran Kausar had held various positions at Pfizer whose responsibilities included: Responsible for EU medical strategy for pulmonary vascular medicine including business development, label enhancement and safety management for sildenafil in pulmonary arterial hypertension.
European Pulmonary Vascular Diseases Unit.
Pulmonary Vascular Business Unit
First Line Manager
Country and European Team responsibility
Shawn Manning
Managing Director and Founder (Akesios Associates Limited)Linkin
Bio
Dr Shawn Manning is a Managing Director with Outcome Capital and manages its European operations in London. Outcome Capital is an independent investment banking firm committed to enhancing the corporate and shareholder value of innovative life science companies. Prior to joining Outcome Capital Manning founded Akesios Associates, a specialist advisory firm providing financial strategy, representation and commercial development advice to Life Science companies, with a current focus on IPOs, M&A and portfolio strategy. He has a keen interest in strategy, modelling and outcome optimisation, with a particular focus on oncology, neurology, antibodies, vaccines and the potential strategies impacting the transmission of infectious disease.
Dr Shawn Manning has over 25 years of international Life Sciences experience, including over 12 years as a rated equity analyst (with Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, SG-Cowen/ Société Generale, Bridgewell/ Landsbanki and Singer Capital Markets), covering ‘Big Pharma’, speciality/emerging pharmaceutical, and biotechnology stocks. Over 2006-2012 he helped develop one of the City of London’s leading Life Science Corporate Advisory franchises, his research and advice supporting the raising of over £400m in new funding for Life Science companies. Before entering the City, Manning spent 5 years consulting to the pharmaceutical industry, and managing Datamonitor’s Healthcare practice. In this capacity he worked alongside major European, US and Japanese pharmaceutical companies, leading consultancy projects focusing primarily on strategic product positioning, including portfolio, opportunity and pricing analysis. Manning originally specialised in infectious disease, and holds a Doctorate from the University of Oxford (Hertford College), and a BSc (Hons) and ARCS from Imperial College, London. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, a member of OBN’s Advisory Board and Chairman of OBN’s investment Special Interest Group (iSIG).
Manning is Managing Director at Outcome Capital LLP is a multifaceted technology and life sciences investment banking firm that provides middle-market growth companies with an innovative client-specific approach to private equity and merger and acquisition advisory services. We are passionate about innovation with a mission to facilitate significant positive impact on our companies. We are interested in companies that possess a portfolio of transformative assets, a bold vision and a desire to achieve excellence. We take pride in our ability to enhance value and assist our clients with aligning business objectives with strategic opportunities and transactional expertise.
Patrick Baddeley
Corporate Partner (Penningtons Manches LLP)Linkin
Bio
Patrick Baddeley a partner in our Oxford corporate team and specialise in a range of corporate transactions including mergers and acquisitions, funding rounds, joint ventures and reorganisations, plus non-transactional advice in relation to corporate constitutional issues.
Many of my clients are technology businesses, particularly in the life sciences industry. I am a member of the firm’s technology and life sciences group and I sit on the Advisory Board of OBN, the UK’s leading membership organisation which supports the UK’s emerging life science companies.
I am also highly experienced in the design and implementation of share based incentives for employees of corporate clients. I am a member of the Share Plan Lawyers group. I have a long-standing interest in India and am a member of the firm’s India group.
Penningtons Manches LLP is a leading UK law firm which provides high quality legal advice tailored to the needs of both businesses and individuals. With offices in the City of London, Basingstoke, Cambridge, Godalming, Guildford, Oxford and Reading, as well as in San Francisco, it has 115 partners and over 600 people in total. It aims to address the specific objectives of each client through its broad market insight and technical expertise, and offers a personal service founded on a strong team ethic.
The firm has established a strong reputation in a variety of sectors including technology, life sciences, education, social housing, retail and international wealth. The main areas of legal services provided are real estate, dispute resolution, corporate and commercial, private client and family.
Clients range from owner managed businesses and start-ups to multi-national corporations, public companies, professional partnerships, banks and financial institutions. The practice’s commitment to excellence is backed by a track record which dates back 300 years.
Penningtons Manches has a broad international focus and provides an integrated service for corporates, individuals and their family members wherever they live or do business. Many of its lawyers play leading roles in a range of international bodies.
Patrick Baddeley, a Penningtons Manches corporate partner, acted for Enterprise Therapeutics, a company formed in May 2014 and based at the Sussex Innovation Centre, University of Sussex. Patrick specialises in the life sciences industry and sits on the Advisory Board of OBN, the UK’s leading membership organisation which supports the UK’s emerging life science companies.
Enterprise Therapeutics’ focus is the discovery of novel disease modifying medications that target key drivers of respiratory disease pathology and progression in cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and severe asthma. These include targeting the underlying mechanisms of mucus congestion and lung dysfunction.
The additional funding will consolidate and accelerate the drug discovery and target identification programs initiated by the company earlier in 2015.
Ross Woodham
Director of Legal Affairs and Privacy Officer (Cogeco Peer 1)Linkine-mail
Bio
Ross Woodham is Director of Legal Affairs and Privacy Officer at Cogeco Peer 1, based in the UK and part of Cogeco Communications, Inc. (TSX:CCA) who are headquartered Montreal, Canada.
Cogeco Peer 1 is a multi-national hosting company with data-centers located across the United States, Canada and the UK, with further points of presence in Europe. It provides collocation, managed and cloud hosting services to some of the world’s most respected and trusted household names.
Ross has been working with hosting providers, top-tier technology companies and their clients for over 8 years, first in private practice and then later joining Cogeco Peer 1 in 2012. He is responsible for the legal and business affairs of Cogeco Peer 1’s EMEA business and its global data privacy strategy.
Rory O’Keeffe
Director of Legal Services UK (Accenture)Linkine-mail
Bio
As Director of Legal Services UK – Global Accounts (Complex Contracting), Rory O’Keeffe works on and help manage a team of transactional lawyers with a wide array of – external client facing – high value commercial matters affecting Accenture in United Kingdom and Ireland and, at times, within Europe, including: consulting, outsourcing, operations, strategy and digital.
His previous experience involved working in both in-house and private practice advising on all legal fields, especially construction, energy and commercial matters, including contracts, dispute resolution, client management (domestic and international) and training.
Anil Wali
Managing Director (FITT, IIT DELHI)Linkine-mail
Bio
Dr. Anil Wali is currently the MD at Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT) – an autonomous industry interface organization of IIT Delhi. He is managing technologies and driving innovations and enterprise at the academia besides looking at issues of concern to SMEs. He has worked in chemical industry for 19 years before taking up the present position. Besides several publications, patents and reports to his credit, he has a strategic customer and quality orientation, and brings a practical perspective to solving technical problems. He is also called upon to deliberate and participate in the area of clean technology and sustainability. His multifaceted experience towards technology innovation and management, industry partnership, project issues, entrepreneurship, IPR, education, training, etc is sought for advice / association with several committees and programmes. He is an IIT Delhi Doctorate.
Dr. Anil Wali at Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT) believes that FIIT is an industrial interface organization, established at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) as a Registered Society on 9th July 1992. Dr NC Nigam was the founding Chairman of FITT, and Dr AK Sengupta was the first full-time Managing Director. IIT Delhi’s Review Committee Report -1986, recommended the setting up of an industrial foundation to enhance the programmes of interaction and collaboration between IIT and industry. To implement this recommendation the Institute took up this initiative, with a seed grant received from government at that time, which, led to the setting up of FITT.
FITT aims to be an effective Interface with the Industry to foster, promote and sustain commercialization of Science and Technology in the Institute for mutual benefits. For over twenty years now, FITT has been an interface between the Institute and the industry and has been devising innovative ways to create partnerships and linkages with business and community to enable knowledge transfer for common good. The team at FITT and academicians from IIT Delhi has been largely responsible for the successful outreach efforts including extensive S&T collaborations.
Denise Nurse
Chief Executive Officer and co-founder (Halebury)LinkinTwittere-mail
Bio
Denise is a NewLaw pioneer and has been spearheading operational, structural and cultural change within the legal services industry since starting Halebury in 2007. Her aim: to create an entirely original business model to service the needs of clients and lawyers at the senior end of the market. Denise has persuaded many clients, who would generally look to a panel of large firms for legal advice, to try a new service delivery method. The firm now has strategic partnerships with clients such at BT and Expedia, a growing roster of clients in the TMT and FS sectors and a team of 30 senior in-house lawyers. Denise is client lead on many of these accounts and heads up both service and product innovation to continuously improve and develop Halebury’s proposition.
Denise is a gamechanger in more ways than one. She has successfully and uniquely combined her legal and television career, launching and managing Halebury whilst presenting for Sky News and BBC One’s Escape to the Country. She continues with her media career as she strongly believes that experiences outside the legal industry can enhance your legal outlook and lead to innovation. She combines both careers with raising a young family.
Denise’s vision and determination to create an alternative in the traditional legal services market is borne out by Halebury’s success, evolving business model, recognition in the marketplace, and growing roster of high quality clients. She remains passionate about collaborating with clients to anticipate and meet their requirements. Her lead on customer service within the business has led to her being asked to speak on the subject to FTSE 100 clients.
Carl Sterritt
Founder & CEO (Shield Therapeutics)Linkin
Bio
Carl Sterritt, with approximately 20 years’ of management and executive level experience in pharmaceutical development and commercialisation in both large and small company settings, Carl has led the Company as its CEO since he co-founded the Group in 2008 together with Dr.Christian Schweiger.
Carl Sterritt held senior management roles at United Therapeutics and Encysive Pharmaceuticals, working on innovative therapies for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. Carl joined United Therapeutics to establish the company’s European operations in preparation for the marketing approval of Remodulin®, running the subsidiary for six years. In collaboration with physicians in Germany, he was responsible for and holds patents related to United Therapeutics’ decision to develop and commercialise treprostinil; now successfully commercialised in the US as Tyvaso™. Carl was instrumental in the successful commercial launch of Thelin™ and the rapid growth of Encysive’s European operations. Carl founded the Group after Encysive was acquired by Pfizer Inc. for more than $300m.
Since founding Shield Therapeutics plc – a successful and growing specialty pharmaceutical company commercialising novel prescription therapies – Carl has raised close to £70m and led the team that has successfully developed Shield’s two leading assets, Feraccru® and PT20, recently resulting in the approval of Feraccru and completion of Shield’s IPO on the LSE. During this time Shield has also taken PT20 – a treatment for hyperphosphataemia – through a 1st pivotal study, leaving one study to be completed before a marketing authorisation application.
With an under/postgraduate background in life sciences and an MBA from Henley, Carl has approx. 20 years of experience in pharma. Trained in the large pharma environment, he quickly moved into orphan and specialty medicines, working for United Therapeutics as a core member of the Company’s commercialisation team that launched Remodulin® in the USA, after which he established and led the company’s European operations for 6 years. In collaboration with physicians in Germany, he was responsible for and holds patents related to the development and commercialisation of an inhaled form of treprostinil – now commercialised as Tyvaso™. This was followed by a period at Encysive Pharmaceuticals, leading European commercial operations and delivering the successful launch of Thelin™ another treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension. The company was acquired by Pfizer for over $300m in 2008, following which Carl left, eventually establishing Shield Therapeutics.
A creative, lateral thinker with proven entrepreneurial flair and a clear record of delivering shareholder value. Key strengths include business leadership experience, creation and delivery of effective business strategy, as well as effective communication and relationship building capabilities.
Outside of work Carl enjoys spending time with his family, socialising and participating in or watching a variety of sports.
David Horn Solomon
Managing Partner (Sund Capital)Linkin
Bio
David Horn Solomon has strong operational and innovation-minded Healthcare Investor, CEO, Board Member, leader, strategic thinker, and decision maker with success- and problem-solving orientation and the ability to assemble strongly motivated high-performance teams. 30 years of experience in the life sciences—biotechnology—pharmaceutical—investing industry in a range of high-level executive positions in various countries.
David Horn Solomon, President and CEO of Bionor Pharma ASA since January 2015, a publically listed healthcare company based in Oslo, Norway, with offices in Copenhagen, Denmark, and New York, NY. From 2008 to 2015 I served as President and CEO of Zealand Pharma A/S, a NASDAQ OMX Company. Before joining Zealand, I held leadership positions at several biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device companies. I have extensive experience in pharmacology research, having served as a faculty member at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, NY.
Kaushik D. Deb
Director/ CEO (DiponEd BioIntelligence)Linkin
Bio
Dr. Kaushik D. Deb, a Heath Care Biotechnology Professional working on developing solutions to unmet medical needs and personalized precision therapies. Developed technology platforms for commercialization and out licensing. Also interested in Rural health care and Clinics. DiponEd is a P4M company (preventive, predictive, participatory and personalized medicine). Merisis Therapeutics – is a fully owned SBU of DiponEd and is involved in the (R&D) development and commercialization of US FDA etc compliant cell processing units, modular clean rooms, BMT / HSCT units, Celluar Therapeutics, Immunotherapies in cancer/ pain/ allergy/ autoimmunity etc, Biologicals, Biosimilars and 3rd Generation Implantable devises and Biomaterials. Also researches in nanobiotechnology, directed stem cell trafficking technologies and integrating Regenerative and Complementary medicine. We work as technology service providers to Corporate Hospitals, Not for profit organizations and Clinics treating Unmet and No-Option medical Conditions.
Dr. Kaushik D. Deb is the founder and director of DiponEd and DiponEd is a P4M company (preventive, predictive, participatory and personalized medicine).
Merisis Therapeutics – is a fully owned SBU of DiponEd and is involved in the (R&D) development and commercialization of US FDA etc compliant cell processing units, modular clean rooms, BMT / HSCT units, Celluar Therapeutics, Immunotherapies in cancer/ pain/ allergy/ autoimmunity etc, Biologicals, Biosimilars and 3rd Generation Implantable devises and Biomaterials. Also researches in nanobiotechnology, directed stem cell trafficking technologies and integrating Regenerative and Complementary medicine. We work as technology service providers to Corporate Hospitals, Not for profit organizations and Clinics treating Unmet and No-Option medical Conditions.
The other activities of DiponEd are related to development of personalized solutions in cell based cosmetics, antiaging, wellness, sports medicine and advanced nanotechnology based FMCG and OTC personal health care products.
Stephen Minger
SENIOR CONSULTANT IN CELLULAR SCIENCES AND REGENERATIVE MEDICINE (GE HEALTHCARE)Linkin
Bio
Dr. Stephen Minger research has been at the forefront of human stem cell research. His group was the first to deposit a human ES cell line into the UK Stem Cell Bank and first to pursue Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) to generate “hybrid human embryos” for research. Besides research, Stephen has been actively involved with the UK government helping legislate the first Human Embryo Bill in 2009 and being the Stem Cell Expert and Member of the UK Gene Therapy Advisory Committee (GTAC) at the Department of Health from 2006-2012 helping also the Chinese government with Stem Cell legislature.
In 2009 he was appointed first the Global Director for Research and Development for Cell Therapies at GE Healthcare. In 2013 he was appointed Chief Scientist for Cellular Sciences to lead their research for technology development within cellular therapies and diagnostics. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Centre for the Commercialisation of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM) and Scientific Advisor for BioLamina. He also serves as the Director of SLM Blue Skies Innovations Ltd, providing expert analysis in emerging healthcare technologies for the life sciences investment community.
Harriet Fear joined One Nucleus (formerly ERBI) as CEO in February 2009. She previously worked as a Diplomat with the British Foreign Office for 21 years serving in over 17 countries around the globe. Half her career was spent in the commercial field, latterly heading UK Trade & Investments national life sciences trade team for over 5 years.
She was attracted to the role at One Nucleus because she wanted to spend time helping companies maximise their competitiveness and to lead a team which already had an excellent reputation. Since her arrival at One Nucleus, the company has redefined its membership (now life science and healthcare, not only biotech), formed strong and strategic relations with like minded US counterparts for the benefit of members and merged ERBI with London Biotechnology Network to enhance the offer to members and create a stronger critical mass on the international stage.
One Nucleus is the largest membership organisation in Europe. A not-for-profit private company, it has over 450 members including pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and diagnostic companies and associated technical and commercial service providers.
The One Nucleus mission is to maximise the global competitiveness of its members. For their science and technology-based members, this means being global leaders in the research, development and commercialisation of healthcare innovations that radically improve the quality of people’s lives around the world. For their business and professional services members, it means delivering exceptional services that significantly enhance the business performance of their clients.
Harriet Fear has accepted the Prime Ministers invitation to continue in her UK Business Ambassador role for a further two years to 2017. She continues to be Chief Executive of One Nucleus – her first priority and passion. By accepting this invitation, Harriet has agreed to undertake, in the margins of her personal or business travel, a programme of activities developed by and with the Government until July 2017. This could include for example, hosting a reception in a country she is travelling to in order to highlight UK expertise in the life science and healthcare sector, briefing UK Ministers and HM Ambassadors on key business priorities and interests as they might arise; meeting overseas Ministers and inward missions; and providing insights into how UK Trade & Investment can better deliver for business.
Jonathan Tobin
PRINCIPAL (HEALTHCARE VENTURES)Linkin
Bio
Jonathan Tobin joined Imperial Innovations in 2011 and specialises in therapeutics and diagnostics investments. He is a board director with antibacterial drug discovery company Auspherix, and diagnostics companies Abingdon Health and Molecular Vision, and a board observer with Cell Medica and Psioxus. Prior to joining Imperial Innovations he worked at MRC Technology, sourcing and evaluating new opportunities for small molecule and antibody drug discovery worldwide. He has a PhD in molecular medicine from UCL, and undertook post-doctoral research at the Cancer Research UK LRI. Jonathan has a First Class degree in Biology from Oxford University and an MBA with Distinction from Imperial College.
Jonathan Tobin is a life science specialist with experience of early and later stage venture capital deals, specialised in therapeutics and diagnostics. Board director of two specialist diagnostics companies and one drug discovery company, board observer of two biotechs and one molecular diagnostics company.
Drug discovery and business development experience; strong science background (PhD, post-doc, ten publications plus book, and numerous scientific awards and scholarships; MBA with Distinction from Imperial College; First Class degree in Biology from Oxford University.
Jonathan Tobin is a non executive director at artios and Artios is developing inhibitors of DNA Damage Repair enzymes to selectively kill cancer cells through a concept known as ‘synthetic lethality’. This has been demonstrated with the recent success of PARP inhibitors in clinical studies, and the launch of Lynparza™ (olaparib; AstraZeneca). DDR targeted products have the potential to be used in combination with other cancer agents to help prevent cancers from reoccuring.
Artios has in-licensed its lead DDR programme, PolƟ, from Cancer Research Technology (CRT), the development and commercialisation arm of Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and continues to work with CRT and other experts in the field to build its pipeline of novel DDR programmes.
In September 2016, Artios raised a £25m Series A from a syndicate including SV Life Sciences, Arix Bioscience, Imperial Innovations, Merck Ventures, Abbvie Ventures, and Sixth Element Capital.
Karin Conde-Knape
Vice President Cardiovascular and Metabolism (Johnson and Johnson Medical)Linkin
Bio
Karin Conde-Knape is Vice President of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Scientific Innovation at Johnson & Johnson Innovation, London.
Previously, Karin was Global Head of Discovery in the CVM DTA at Roche where she was responsible for all the Early Research efforts as well as the Translational Biomarker and experimental medicine group. While at Roche, Karin was directly or indirectly responsible for identifying and managing numerous external collaborations with well renowned institutions worldwide. In addition, throughout her career at Roche, she had several roles, including laboratory head, project leader, head of pharmacology and co-department head in the CV and Metabolism Disease and Translational Area, both in the US and in Switzerland. She was responsible for setting and implementing the pharmacology strategy for the portfolio in the CVM group in areas such as Diabetes, Atherosclerosis, Dyslipidemia, Kidney, and CV disease.
Karin received her PhD in Nutritional Sciences from the University of Connecticut, and completed her post-doctoral fellowship at Columbia University.
Responsible for identifying, establishing and managing External Scientific opportunities from Early research to Clinical POC in the aread of Cardiovascular and Metabolism.
Kartik Kumaramangalam
CHIEF OF GLOBAL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES (MEDGENOME)Linkin
Bio
Kartik Kumaramangalam has worked with multiple high tech startups in his career as an investor and early stage co-founder including Webex (acquired by Cisco) where he was an early founding employee. He has worked in private equity consulting at Boston Consulting Group in New York, and has been a hands on venture capital investor in several successful early stage technology companies in the US and India. Kartik’s undergraduate and master’s degrees are in Astrophysics undertaking research in solar neutrinos at Oxford University, before switching fields and completing his PhD at the London School of Economics as an Interdisciplinary Scholar for his applied mathematical research on scientific labor markets. He is currently also a Visiting Fellow at MIT.
Kartik Kumaramangalam is an active investor and advisor to start-ups and investment projects in Singapore, India and the US. He has previously worked at Boston Consulting Group in New York, been an early employee at WebEx (acquired by Cisco), advised the organization of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on economic policy and was a researcher on a Nobel Prize winning experiment in Astrophysics at Oxford University.
Kartik Kumaramangalam is also a Fellow at MIT and has taught and done research at MIT, London School of Economics and London Business School on the economics of intellectual property and tech driven economic growth. Kartik completed his PhD at the London School of Economics as an Interdisciplinary Scholar winning the Academy of Management Award for his research on scientific labor markets and the economics of ideas. He first trained as an an Astrophysicist specializing in solar neutrino physics as an undergraduate and graduate student at the University of Sussex and the University of Paris.
Kartik’s commitment to economic development comes from a strong background in public service in India with family members who have served as the Governor of Maharashtra, Chief Minister of Madras Presidency, Chief of the Indian Army, Cofounder of Air India (the national carrier) and Cabinet Ministers for Law, Education, Company Affairs, Power, Science, Technology, Coal and Mines.
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Kay Brickmann
Business Development Director (AstraZeneca)Linkin
Bio
Kay Brickmann is an experienced PhD business development and licensing professional with a significant track record of successful negotiations and completed deals. More than 17 years of post-doctoral experience in the pharmaceutical industry with scientific expertise in the field of cardiovascular R&D evidenced by author-/co-authorship of 15 research papers and 13 patents. Transactional experience with entities in Europe, USA, Japan and China, full understanding of the pharmaceutical drug development process from early discovery to marketing and a fluent German, English and Swedish speaker.
Recently, Kay Brickmann reported ethyl nicotinates as antagonists of the P2Y12 receptor, which is an important target in antiplatelet therapies. A potential liability of these compounds was their generally high in vivo clearance due to ethyl ester hydrolysis. Results: Shape and electrostatic similarity matching was used to select five-membered heterocycles to replace the ethyl ester functionality. The 5-methyl and 5-ethyl-oxazole bioisosteres retained the sub-micromolar potency levels of the parent ethyl esters. Many oxazoles showed a higher CYP450 dependent microsomal metabolism than the corresponding ethyl esters. Structure activity relationship investigations supported by ab initio calculations suggested that a correctly positioned alkyl substituent and a strong hydrogen bond acceptor were necessary structural motifs for binding. In rat pharmacokinetics, the low clearance was retained upon replacement of an ethyl ester with a 5-ethyl-oxazole. Conclusion: The use of shape and electrostatic similarity led to the successful replacement of a metabolically labile ethyl ester functionality with 5-alkyl-oxazole bioisosteres.
Keith Foster
Vice President Scientific Affairs Toxins (Syntaxin Ltd. part of the Ipsen Group)Linkin
Bio
Keith Foster, VP of Ipsen bought the biotech and its drug development platform Syntaxin for $37 million upfront with promises of about $170 million more, with most of the money pinned to the fate of a mid-stage therapy for a rare ailment. Dr Foster is a co-founder of Syntaxin, and joined Ipsen to build a botulinum toxin biology platform for new drug development covering a variety of fields. Back in 2010 Ipsen joined a consortium of investors to put $29 million into Syntaxin. The company held a 10% stake in Syntaxin at the time of the buyout.
Naveraj Gill
STRATEGIC ALLIANCE DIRECTOR (UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON)Linkin
Bio
Naveraj Gill joined the department in 2002 to complete an EngD in collaboration with HEL Ltd. The project was based on the design and characterisation of an automated miniature bioreactor system for microbial culture. Following this Nav remained in the academic field as a postdoctoral researcher at UCL. She first worked on a large Technology Strategy Board (TSB) grant in collaboration with the Health Protection Agency (HPA) and Syntaxin.
Naveraj Gill research focused on the integration of microscale technology for the rapid development of bioprocesses and design for manufacture of biotherapeutic fusion proteins. She then worked as part of the IMRC in Bioprocessing investigating ultra scale-down microwell-based techniques for studying mammalian cell culture processes for the production of biopharmaceuticals with a view to scale-up to conventional and single-use bioreactor formats. This led to a position with GE Healthcare as a Single-Use Technologies Specialist, which evolved into a wider business development role for upstream technologies covering UK and Ireland. Key responsibilities included designing in single-use technologies, devising strategies for growing the upstream business, consulting on new product developments and managing new product launches.
Naveraj Gill has now returned to UCL as the Strategic Alliance Director to support the department in forging new links with companies and to foster existing relationships, creating a platform for knowledge transfer. She manages the MBI® industrial training programme which has trained over 1,300 individuals from 300 international companies and is the Business lead for the VISION Programme for Senior Executives.
Phil Jackson previously held a range of senior positions within the Canadian healthcare system, as Director of Strategic Support and chief adviser to the Medical Officer of Health for the City of Toronto Health Department, the largest public health department in North America with 15 offices and 1,800 staff. Prior to this Phil led the development and establishment of the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, with 14 laboratories and 600 plus staff, serving as the founding Vice President of Strategy and Planning. Phil served as part of the control team for the SARS outbreak in 2003 and the H1N1 outbreak of 2009.
Phil Jackson,As Head of Research to the Expert Panel on SARS, Phil led the drafting of a major two volume expert report into Infectious Disease Control and Emergency Response (the Walker report). Phil had served as the Canadian representative to the OECD working group on New Genetic Technologies and serving as Ontario Director for Health Information and Sciences led the drafting of an internationally acclaimed report on Genetic Testing. Phil has led a wide range of major health system initiatives in his career including leading the complete red-design of Stroke prevention, treatment and rehabilitation services for a population of over 11m people, the implementation of Hospital Report Cards across 134 hospitals, the establishment of 14 Regional Infection Control Networks and multiple other initiatives. Phil is the recipient of several Canadian awards for health reform, most recently the Amethyst Award and Ace Award.
Rahul Garella
Senior Vice President, Head of International Pharmaceuticals (Endo Pharmaceuticals)Linkin
Bio
Rahul Garella is Senior Vice President, Head of International Pharmaceuticals at Endo Pharmaceuticals
– Leadership experience with full P&L responsibility for European subsidiaries.
– Top line and EBIDTA targets and overall P&L management and delivery.
– Leadership and strategy to bring differentiated generics and speciality products across Western Europe.
– Business strategy including licensing, building front ends, acquisitions and partnering
– Rich geographical experience in Europe, Asia Pacific and South America
– On the Editorial board of ‘Journal of Generic Medicines’ Past Recognitions/Awards:
– Led Glenmark, UK and achieved recognition for business performance by the London Stock Exchange group through their publication ‘1000 Companies to Inspire Britain’ (www.1000companies.com) in December’13
– Achieved recognition for Glenmark as amongst the fastest growing companies in the UK though a report by the CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) and Grant Thornton in its report ‘India meets Britain’ in March’14‘ Specialties: Business development for Generics (APIs and finished dosages) with companies in Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific.
Recognition/Awards:
– Led Glenmark, UK and achieved recognition for business performance by the London Stock Exchange group through their publication ‘1000 Companies to Inspire Britain’ (www.1000companies.com) in December’13
– Achieved recognition for Glenmark as among the fastest growing companies in the UK by the CII-Grant Thornton in their report ‘India meets Britain’ in March’14‘
Sakate Khaitan is the senior partner at Khaitan Legal Associates. Sakate divides his time between London and Mumbai.
Sakate Khaitan heads the corporate M&A, funds, restructuring and insurance practice at Khaitan Legal Associates. Sakate advises clients on inward investments into India and on an array of India-focused cross border transactions. Having started his career in litigation, Sakate has over 11 years of litigation experience advising various clients in their disputes that included high profile joint venture disputes, tax disputes and disputes with regulators. Sakate also serves on the boards of several companies as a non-executive director, lending his legal and business acumen to businesses around the globe. Sakate assists clients with pragmatic and commercially sound advice on dealing with Indian rules and regulations. His clients include multinationals, private equity funds, financial institutions, fund managers, and HNIs.
In his experience that spans over two decades Sakate Khaitan demonstrates a deep commercial understanding of several industry sectors and significant transactional insights that offer immense value to the client.
Sakate Khaitan is the alumnus of London Business School (“LBS”) and is also the co-founder of the India Business Forum (“IBF”) at LBS. The IBF is a platform that was created to build awareness and facilitate discussions on and encourage cross border investments to/from India.
Sakate Khaitan is dual qualified and is a member of the Bar Council of India and is also admitted as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. However, he exclusively practices Indian law.
S D Ravetkar
Executive Director (Serum Institute of India Limited)Linkin
Bio
Dr. S.D. Ravetkar is an Executive Director with Serum Institute of India Ltd. Apart from his Doctorate he holds degrees in Management and Finance. He has authored various research articles in national and international journals. He is also on advisory board of various national and international organizations and journals. He has more than 43 years techno-commercial experience in biotech industry in various areas like QC, production, projects planning & research. At present his major responsibility is manufacturing of Bacterial combination vaccines mainly Pentavalent and Hexavalent vaccine. He has extensively worked on microbial and bioengineering aspects of vaccinology and also has got expertise on technology transfer. He has widely traveled worldwide. He is listed amongst 15 influential figures in the Asian Vaccine Industry.
Dr S D Ravetkar, Executive Director, Serum Institute of India says that the company has put programme in place to achieve the ambitious plan to offer new vaccines
Serum Institute of India Ltd., is the worlds no. 1 producer of Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, HIB, BCG, Hepatitis B, Measles, Mumps, Rubella vaccines. It is estimated that about 60% of the children in the world receive at least one vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India Ltd.
Key focus in the coming year will be enhancing further capacities of above vaccines for which state of art plants are under various stages of completion. The growth has its own problems and challenges. Planned programme has been put in place for handling these issues.
Major thrust is also given on further strengthening quality systems by adding Process Analytical Technology (PAT) in various stages of manufacture of vaccines. More focus is given on incremental innovation than only on disruptive innovation. The technical team building by establishment of new training center is given major thrust.
Serum is also working with various Universities and Research Institutions in country and overseas, in Europe and U.S. to leverage advantage of mutual strengths in knowledge building. The development of critical knowledge mass is thus at center of various activities.
With robust pipeline of various newer vaccines in offing structured programme is carried to reduce time to market. Products on the horizon are many like Rota and Pnemococcus and HPV vaccines. This in itself is a gigantic task of putting new R & D incubators and going through entire process of germination of idea till commercialization.
Innovation is also being implemented in supplying various new vaccine administration systems and for effective measurement thereby validation of cold chain management.
These efforts will help make vaccines available at affordable cost to infant population in world. With acquisition of Bilthoven Biologicals in Netherlands Serum Institute of India Ltd., is looking for entry in Western regulated markets, In years to come as our vaccines are already manufactured in world class environment confirming to International FDA.
Stephen Shuttleworth
CHEIF SCIENTIFIC OFFICER (KARUS THERAPEUTICS)
Bio
Stephen Shuttleworth joined Karus as CSO in 2008, and is the founding scientist of the company’s PI3K-p110β/δ and HDAC6 programs. Over the last 21 years, he has established a strong track record in R&D management, and in the design and development of molecular-targeted therapeutics for cancer, immune-inflammation and metabolic diseases. Prior to Karus, Stephen held senior positions in UK and North American biotech, notably at Celltech-Chiroscience (UK), BiochemPharma-Shire (Quebec), Tularik-Amgen (California), CRUK, and Piramed (UK) where he directed the PI3K-p110α and p110δ programs, designing and leading the preclinical development of GDC-0941 (Pictilisib), currently in Phase II cancer trials, under the auspices of Roche, who acquired Piramed in 2008 for $175M.
Stephen Shuttleworth has authored over 130 publications and patents, has been an invited speaker at over 40 major international conferences, and is a recognized opinion leader in the PI3K and HDAC arenas. He obtained his BSc and PhD in Chemistry from the University of Liverpool, and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2007.
In 2014, he was appointed Professor and Honorary Chair at the University of Manchester (Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences) in recognition of his work on small molecule drugs to treat chronic human diseases.
Venkateswarlu Nelabhotla
Co-Founder & CEO, Board Member (Vyome Biosciences)LinkinTwitter
Bio
Venkateswarlu Nelabhotla comes with a very rich and global experience of successfully leading organizations in the Life sciences and Consumer Products businesses. He has held top management roles in the life sciences space in companies like Shantha Biotech (A Sanofi Company) and Aurobindo Pharma and he immensely contributed to their all-round growth. Shantha Biotech – a biosimilar and vaccine company, was eventually acquired by Sanofi for around $ 800 MN in 2010. He has been a part of significant revenue growth and significant value creation in Aurobindo Pharma in the global business segment of APIs and finished dosage form products in multiple therapy areas. He has held CEO roles in Emami and Cavinkare, CPG companies, growing them significantly with an all rounded approach. During his stint at Emami (a listed company) as CEO, the company’s market cap went up from $ 300 MN to $ 1.2 BN. The momentum thus created, has made Emami a $ 3.7 BN market cap company now. During early part of his career, he created some very successful brands in Cavinkare, a leading CPG company from India, and built the organization with a 10X revenue increase in 6 years’ time and that early momentum has made Cavinkare one of the established Consumer product companies in India. He comes with core strengths in Strategy, Innovation, Marketing, Organization building, Finance, M&A and Governance. He has been an integral part of many industrial forums in Life sciences and CPG business.
Vipul Jain
CEO at Mirage Group, Advancells (Stem Cell Therapies)Linkin
Bio
Vipul Jain is a serial entrepreneur who specialises in spotting business opportunities while they are still in nuance stage. An MBA from Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, class of 1999, I started my career by establishing a fabrics import business as an extension of the family business of Garment exports in 1999.
In 2002 I established an animation studio by the name of Mirage Animation which produces television quality animations for clients such as Warner Brothers, Disney, Channel 5 etc.
In 2003, I spotted an opportunity in Medical Tourism sector while the world was still to wake up to the phenomenon. Vipul helped founding a company called PlanetHospital and built it to be the worlds largest medical tourism company. I exited the company in 2011 to establish my own Medical Tourism business by the name of Mirage Medserv focusing on the third world countries, Russia, Africa and Mid East. Mirage is today one of the largest facilitators of patients of almost all major hospitals in the country.
In 2013, I established Advancells, which is a research based company focusing on providing cutting edge Stem Cell Therapies for patients with life threatening diseases also catering to lifestyle diseases and anti aging technology. Advancells is slowly rising to be a leader in a very small space of modern medicine and is in process of filing patents for treatment of multiple diseases.
Yvonne Naughton
Head of Business Development and New Product Planning UK and Ireland (Sanofi)Linkin
Bio
Yvonne Naughton was previously Head of Business Development and New Product Planning in the UK and Ireland for over three years, and before that held several positions at Sanofi in market access opportunities in Paria and Ireland for cardio thrombosis and arrhythmias. Before Sanofi, she was clinical safety officer at Novartis, and worked in drug safety at Quintiles. She has a PhD in Pharmacology from University College Dublin.
Yvonne Naughton was leading the UK and Irish side of our Global External Science & Partnering organisation. Our remit is to collaborate externally with academic institutions, spin-outs, start-ups, biotechs and non for profit organisations, in order to build Sanofi R&D’s early stage pipeline and accelerate the translation of innovation discovered in the UK and Ireland.
A strategic priority for Sanofi is to sustain innovation in R&D. We will increase our annual global R&D investments to €6bn by 2020, with an increased capacity for external innovation.
Our research interests and investment focus fall into 2 categories. 1: Where we would like to sustain our leadership- Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease and Genetic Rare Diseases. 2: Where we would like to build a competitive position- Immunology, Oncology and Multiple Sclerosis. We will also invest opportunistically in Neurodegeneration/Pain, Infectious Disease and Ophthalmology.
Dr Michel Baijot is Head of Cipla Global Vaccines. He is a life science executive bringing over 25 years of experience in building vaccine businesses with significant contribution in strategy, licensing, M&A, technology transfer and finance. His positions with both biotechs and big pharmas (GSK Vaccines, JnJ Crucell) and his concrete achievements in the vaccine marketplace reflect an in-depth knowledge of the vaccine environment in developed and developing countries. In his role of Head of Cipla Global Vaccines, he is leading the Cipla – Serum Institute of India partnership. He has been Chairman of the Belgian Biotech Association.
General/Business Unit Management, Healthcare, Big Pharma and Biotech,In Both Developing and DevelopedCountries,25 Years Worldwide Experience/Network in Vaccines, Mabs and Diagnostics
Navtej Sarna
HIGH COMMISSIONER OF INDIA TO THE UK (HIGH COMMISSIONER OF INDIA)Twitter
Bio
Navtej Sarna is a diplomat and author. He graduated from Delhi University in 1980 with degrees in Law and Commerce and joined the Indian Foreign Service the same year. He has served in various diplomatic capacities in Moscow, Poland, Bhutan, Geneva, Iran and Washington . His recent appointments were as the Foreign Office Spokesman and India’s Ambassador to Israel. Presently he is serving as a Secretary to Government of India in the Ministry of External Affairs.
Navtej Sarna is the author of the novels ‘We Weren’t Lovers Like That’ (Penguin India, 2003) and ‘The Exile’ (Penguin India, 2008) as well as the short story collection ‘Winter Evenings’ (Rainlight Rupa, 2012). His non-fiction works are ‘The Book of Nanak’ (Penguin India, 2003), ‘Folktales of Poland’ (Sterling 1991) and ‘Indians at Herod’s Gate’ (Rainlight Rupa, 2014). He has translated Guru Gobind Singh’s ‘Zafarnama’ (Penguin India 2011) from Persian to English as well as the Punjabi partition stories of Mohinder Singh Sarna in ‘Savage Harvest’ (Rupa, 2013). He has been contributing regularly to journals and newspapers in India and abroad including The Times Literary Supplement, London Magazine, The Hindu, India Today, Outlook and so on. His literary column Second Thoughts that appeared in The Hindu for seven years is being brought out as a collection by Harper Collins.
Keith Krasny
Senior Leader Coach & Partner at The Alexander Partnership (Meyler Campbell)LinkinTwitter
Bio
Keith Krasny is an experienced private practice and in-house lawyer who delivers effective, efficient and practical coaching. Previously, he was Acting General Counsel – UK for AOL UK / Huffington Post UK, and before that VP & General Counsel, EMEA for Expedia in London and Paris for several years. He moved to in-house teams from private practice initially at Weil Gotshal and Manges then Morrison & Foerster LLP.
Keith Krasny is an experienced private practice and in-house lawyer who delivers effective, efficient and practical coaching.
Andrew Fried
Global Industry Leader, Life Sciences (IBM)
Bio
Andrew Fried is IBM Life Sciences Leader for Europe.
Andrew helps clients address industry imperatives and save lives through the power of cognitive insights. He works with clients to advance the next generation of discovery and development, acting on insights to drive value, enhance relationships across the ecosystem and empowering people to make better decisions.
Prior to transferring to Europe in July 2015, Andrew was IBM’s Life Sciences Leader for China. While in China Andrew worked with many leading multi-national companies and several Chinese Life Sciences companies who were leaders in their respective segment.
Before joining IBM in 2000, Andrew had a successful 14-year career with a leading strategy consulting company. He graduated from Melbourne University with a Bachelor of Arts, and Monash University (Melbourne, Australia) with a Bachelor of Business. Andrew has a Masters of Business Administration from the International University of Japan and is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia. He was a three-term board member on a government enterprise with assets of over $350M. He was a founding director of a successful dot.com start-up in the early 2000s.
Andrew is an advocate of sport and fitness as a gateway to good health. He is passionate about the role of genomics in identifying both the cause of disease and personalized solutions.
Dr. James Wilkie
CEO (Alta Innovations; Birmingham Research Park)LinkinWebsite
Bio
Dr. James Wilkie is Director of Enterprise & Innovation for the University of Birmingham, CEO for Alta Innovations (the technology transfer company for the University of Birmingham), and CEO of the Birmingham Research Park, which houses two incubators including the BioHub Birmingham®, a fully equipped life sciences incubator.
Prachi Jain Windlass
Director-Indian Education (Michael & Susan Dell Foundation)
Bio
Prachi Jain Windlass heads the foundation’s India education portfolio which focuses on large scale school system transformations, assessments and high quality education service providers.
Prachi is on the board of several for-profit education companies and advisory committees to state governments and education departments. She is passionate about the area of data driven education and has spearheaded the foundation’s work in multiple ways, including: incubating service providers, creating role model states for classroom based assessments and embedding student learning based accountability in all portfolio companies.
Before joining the foundation, Prachi worked at Boston Consulting Group in Gurgaon, India and in the telecommunications sector at Qualcomm and Motorola. Prachi has over 15 years of diverse set of operational and leadership experience in India and US. Prachi has a bachelor’s in electrical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, a master’s degree from University of Southern California, Los Angeles and MBA from the University of Chicago
Prof. Noémia Certo Simões
Professor (ISEL, the Technical University of Lisbon (Portugal))Linkine-mail
Bio
Raghav Gupta
India Country Director (Coursera)Linkin
Bio
Raghav 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. Have led three consumer internet businesses in India – Coursera, BlaBlaCar and Sucré Patisserie – and successfully created new spaces in the consumer domain. Have over 19 years of experience across Coursera, BlaBlaCar, Sucré Patisserie, Booz & Co and Technopak Advisors.
Zack Karlsson
CEO & Co-Founder (Change My Path, Inc.)Linkin
Bio
Zack Karlsson is a former VP of Business Development at Capcom, a gaming company with $1.2 billion market cap, and has held executive management positions at DoubleFine, a leading independent games studio and Namco Bandai, a video game publisher.
Prof. Souvik Bhattacharyya
Senior Professor & Vice - Chancellor (BITS Pilani)e-mail
Bio
Souvik Bhattacharyya graduated from Jadavpur University, Kolkata with a Bachelor’s degree (1981), MS (1985) from University of Cincinnati, USA and PhD from Texas A&M University (1991), USA – all in Mechanical Engineering specializing in thermal sciences. After a post-doctoral research stint at TexasA&M, he joined the faculty of IIT Kharagpur in 1991 where he was Dean (Students’ Affairs) during 2009-2012 and has been a Professor of Mechanical Engineering since 2003, Professor (HAG) since 2009. He also held faculty position at University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand during 1998-2000. He served as the Vice-Chancellor of Jadavpur University, Kolkata during August 2012–October 2013 and as Deputy Director of IIT Kharagpur during 2013-2016. Currently he is the Vice-Chancellor of BITS Pilani. Prof Bhattacharyya is a Member of the Research Council of CSIR-CGCRI, the General Council & Executive Board of ISM, Dhanbad and the Civil & Mechanical Engineering Project Advisory Committee (PAC) of SERB, DST.
Dr Bhattacharyya has been on the Editorial Boards of International Journal of Power and Energy Systems and Journal of Nano Energy and Power Research. He is an Associate Editor of the international journal Alternative Energy and was on the Editorial Board of Energy Conversion and Management during 2007-2013. He was a member of the Committee on Fast track scheme for young scientists, DST during 2007 –2012. His research interests include heat transfer enhancement, thermodynamic optimization, energy engineering, natural refrigerant based transcritical heating-cooling systems, and natural circulation loops. A recipient of ASHRAE Best Paper Award, Dr Bhattacharyya has published about 220 research articles in indexed international journals and conference proceedings and is a co-author of the celebrated Heat Transfer text with J P Holman.
He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), National Academy of Science, India (NASI) and WB Academy of Science & Technology.
He is known as an adored teacher among the students of IIT Kharagpur and was the first recipient of the Outstanding Teacher Award of Indian National Academy of Engineering in its inaugural year in 2013.
Francis Joseph
Co-Founder (The School Leaders Network)
Bio
Mr. Francis Joseph has more than 20 years of Management experience in School Education; in areas that include School Operations, Human Resource, Technology, Organizational Development and Strategy Planning.
He has extensively worked in establishing and managing schools for one of India’s Largest Singly owned/managed & non-franchised Educational group as its COO in India & Middle East (till year 2011), from where he started as a Teacher in year 1993. He was also instrumental in developing many technological initiatives and revolutionary practices in Schools, both in India and abroad. Francis is also a recipient of the “Limca Book of Record” (Edition 2013) for managing the fastest School admission process (10 days) in the country; which was also appreciated by the HRD Minister of State, Government of India and then Chief Minister of Gujarat, Shri. Narendra Modi.
Francis Joseph has established and operated several prestigious schools in India and Middle East; pursuing curricula of Indian and International Boards. Francis was also selected as an emerging edupreneur in India (year 2013) for an incubator programme conducted by the Pearson Affordable Learning Fund (U.K.) for his efforts in affordable and low-cost education in smaller towns and villages. Francis is also associated with the Archdiocesan Board of Education (Mumbai) and CfBT India in their school development projects. Francis is the Vice-President of Early Childhood Association (India), a private NGO in early childhood care and education with members from all across the country. His core strengths are high-level networking, communication skills, people management, technology enabler, service oriented, grass-root level experience in establishing schools and developing strategy related to perception building, marketing and scalability.
After a 30-year stint as a professional editor and journalist that ended on April 30, 2016, Mr Narayanan Suresh formally joined ABLE on May 2, 2016 as its COO. The association was founded in 2003 to represent the interests of the fast-growing biotechnology industry.
For more than 13 years as the Editor of BioSpectrum, Mr N Suresh has worked closely with the biotech sector. Therefore, his rich experience and knowledge are expected to benefit the industry in due course of time. From being a neutral observer to the biotech industry insider, his second innings now allows him to continue the association with sector.
The journalistic journey of Mr N Suresh began exactly 30 years ago in May 1996 when he joined the Times of India in New Delhi as their first-ever Exclusive Science Reporter, after a grueling 10-month training in Social Journalism with the Times Center for Media Studies( then called The Times Research Foundation School for Social Journalism) in the very first batch.
From a writer, in 1997 he moved to CyberMedia as the Associate Editor of DATAQUEST, the country’s leading IT publication, and it was a transformation, from being just a writer to an Editor-Manager. “The Chairman of Cybermedia, Mr Pradeep Gupta as well as one of its then Directors, Mr Shyam Malhotra believed in my capabilities and gave me many challenging roles that involved creating strong publication brands, says Suresh nostalgically.
At CyberMedia, he was later involved in launching and building the BioSpectrum magazine, the only source of information for biotech industry back then. Later, he also moved on with the brand to MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications when it was acquired by the later. During his long stint as the Editor, he managed and edited various publications within these publishing houses.
Phillip D’Costa is an experienced Partner specialising in commercial, fraud, IT and financial services dispute resolution, arbitration and ADR. Phillip has been ranked as a leading individual for UK and India dispute resolution in Chambers Global 2014 and foreign expert in Chambers Global 2015.
Key areas of practice:
• Commercial – Litigation & Arbitration, jurisdictional issues, partnership/LLP, contractual claims, shareholders, Technology, director’s duties and insolvency;
• Civil Fraud – Company investigations, restitution claims, misrepresentation, asset tracing, freezing & recovery, supply chain fraud, employee fraud;
• Financial Services & Regulatory – Securitisation, asset finance, leasing, share fraud, miss-selling, derivatives and structured products, money laundering, regulatory, compliance;• Has a particular interest in arbitration and transactional work involving India and has advised on a number of disputes and transactions involving India or Indian Companies, Families and Individuals.
Specialities:
Civil Fraud – Company investigations, Freezing Orders, Fraud investigation and Asset tracing.
Commercial – Litigation & International arbitration, jurisdictional issues, partnership and LLP advice and disputes, IT & IP disputes, contractual claims, shareholders disputes, Asset Finance & Leasing, Cross border transactions, Insolvency and Licensing.
Hitesh Thakrar is a Partner of Syncona Investment Management Ltd. He is an experienced investor in the sector, having spent over 20 years investing in public global equities in the life sciences, technology and the innovation sectors.
He has worked at various institutions in equity research and Fund Management from ADIA, the sovereign wealth Fund of Abu Dhabi, JP Morgan, Aviva Group, Dresdner Bank and New Star Asset Management. He has a strong track record, rated AA manager and was also a top 1 percentile manager in global equities. He is on the Board of Desktop Genetics, a CRISPR IP library company, backed by Illumina and is an angel investor in early stage Innovation companies. He is also on the Investment Committee of the LBA Scale Up Innovation Fund.
Hitesh holds a degree in Chemistry from Kings College, London, MBA from Cranfield University and CFA, the American Association of Investment Analysts.
Marius Westhoff has more than 6 years experience across Corporate, Venture Capital & StartUp in Education & Digital Media across Europe, US and India. In charge of P&L for Verticals / Member of Founding Team to grow the venture and build careers of tomorrow.
Priya Krishnan is an MBA from London Business School and has worked in Various leadership positions with Anderson Consulting and Mphasis across Singapore, New York, London and India.Founder CEO of Founding Years Learning Solutions Pvt Ltd., India’s leading childrcare and schooling service provider with over 45 owned operated centres across Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, NCR and Chennai
She started the company with the intent of enabling women to get back to work post childbirth. With this in mind we provide high quality child care services onsite (for corporate like Unilever, ITC, L’Oreal, Johnson and Johnson, Airtel among others). We also work with corporates in near workplace models and help them with creating solutions for the employees through subsidies and underwriting (like in the case of Accenture, IBM, Flipkart etc.)
With 5 years of operations behind us and 2000+ children under our care what differentiates us is our transparency, flat organizational structure and empowered center staff.
She has worked across the world prior to moving to India to start up Klay and that experience has stood me in good stead.
Dr. Aman Puri
Consul General (Consul General of India, Birmingham)
Bio
Dr. Aman Puri assumed charge as Consul General of India, Birmingham on 22 February, 2017. He is a member of the Indian Foreign Service, having joined the service in 2003. He served at the Indian Mission to the European Union, Belgium and Luxembourg, based at Brussels, from 2005-08. He served at the Passport Office in Chandigarh for little over a year from 2009-10.
Subsequently, he held the office of Deputy Chief of the Protocol (Ceremonial) from 2010-2013, and his responsibilities included organising the foreign visits of Prime Minister of India, and the incoming visits at the level of Heads of States/Heads of Government, Vice Presidents and Foreign Ministers.
Dr. Puri was the Regional Passport Officer, New Delhi from 2013-16, during which period many citizen centric measures were implemented by the Ministry of External Affairs.
Most recently, he had brief stints as Director in the Multi-lateral Economic Relations Division, followed by the Northern Division of the Ministry of External Affairs. The Northern Division deals with India’s relations with Nepal and Bhutan.
Dr. Puri (born 1976) did his schooling from St. John’s High School, Chandigarh, and qualified as Dentist from Dental College based at Amritsar.
Andy Street, CBE (born 11 June 1963), is a British businessman and politician who was the managing director of John Lewis from 2007 to 2016. He is now the Conservative Mayor of the West Midlands, elected in the May 2017 mayoral election. As such, he is the United Kingdom’s first openly gay directly-elected metro mayor.
Dr Fiona Marston
CEO (Absynth Biologics ltd)Website
Bio
Fiona is an entrepreneurial Chief Executive who has successfully established and grown biotechnology businesses. She has led Absynth Biologics since 2008 to advance the Company’s technology platform and pipeline; comprising vaccines to prevent bacterial infections caused by S. aureus and C. difficile. Previously Fiona co-founded the anti-infectives company Novacta Biosystems and was Chief Executive until late 2007. In her early business career Fiona founded and managed Healthcare Ventures Limited, a European incubator company, for the Rothschild Bioscience Unit and J&J Development Corporation. Her broader interests are in supporting entrepreneurs with early stage businesses, working on expert panels with BBSRC, the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Biotechnology Young Entrepreneurs’ Scheme and the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst. A 2017 finalist in the InFocus Women in Innovation’s awards, Fiona has a PhD in Biochemistry (Kent) and an MBA from London Business School.
Theo Arvanitis
Professor (University of Warwick)e-mail
Bio
Theodoros N. Arvanitis is a Professor of e-Health Innovation and Head of Research at the Institute of Digital Healthcare, WMG, at University of Warwick. He also holds the post of co-Director of the West Midlands AHSN Digital Theme. He received his RT (BSc) degree (medical radiological technology) in 1990, from the Technological Educational Institute of Athens, Greece, and his DPhil (biomedical engineering) in 1997 from the University of Sussex, UK. His postdoctoral work at the University of Sussex included a lab director/research fellow post at the Trafford Centre for Medical Research (1995) and a full-time lectureship in the School of Cognitive and Computer Sciences (1995-1998). In 1998, he joined the School of Electronic, Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Birmingham, UK, as a full-time Lecturer (1998-2003), Senior Lecturer (2003-2007) and subsequently Reader in Biomedical Informatics, Signals and Systems (2007-2013). His research interests span the areas of biomedical engineering, neuroimaging and health informatics.
Professor Arvanitis has a substantial academic publication record (h-index= 24 with a total of 1727 citations @ scholar google, 1 Book; 4 Book Chapters; 2 Patent filings; 81 full papers in refereed journals; 28 abstracts in refereed journals; 165 publications in refereed conference proceedings, 58 publications/keynote talks at un-refereed conferences and events, 11 guest editorials in journals, 21 published research reports and newsletters), while he has received research funding from national (UK), European and international governmental funding agencies, charities and industry. Theo has been involved in UK (BSI) and EU (CEN) standardisation work, while he has recently contributed work in various working groups of the US National Cancer Institute Cancer Biomedical Informatics Grid (CaBIG) effort. He is a Charted Engineer (CEng), Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine (FRSM and a member of various scientific and professional groups (IET, AMIA, NYAS, RCS, ISMRM). He recently took the role of Joint Editor-in-Chief at the Digital Health open access peer-reviewed journal, published by Sage Publications, UK.
Shobha Vijayaraghavan
AVP & Head, Commercialization, Discovery Research and Services (Impetis Biosciences Ltd)Linkin
Bio
Shobha Vijayaraghavan has 20 years of business experience in Life Sciences – Identifying, building and monetizing value in the organization: from ideas to products to platforms.
Her experience and expertise include:
* Seamless and continuous integration of information and analysis of the market and clinic with in-house scientific knowledge to enhance research programs and product propositions.
* Deal-making, out-licensing and collaboration experience with large pharma and research organizations – benchmark deals with above average terms
* Valuation and value building, including strategizing for growth and funding.
* Portfolio assessment, prioritization and planning, based on intensive analysis of market and clinic as well as a thorough understanding of the strengths, differentiation and gaps in the portfolio.
Dr. BS Ajai Kumar
Chairman and CEO (HealthCare Global Enterprises Limited)
Bio
Dr. BS Ajai Kumar is the chairman and CEO of HCG. Dr. Ajai Kumar founded HCG to realize his vision of making advanced cancer care accessible to all. He has been the driving force behind HCG’s growth since inception. He has served as the CEO since 2005.
Dr. Ajai Kumar’s contribution to the field of cancer care in India as well as his successes as a first generation physician entrepreneur has been widely recognized. He has been awarded the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the CII Regional Emerging Entrepreneurs Award, and the BC Roy Award by the Indian Science Monitor. He is also a recipient of the Karnataka Rajyotsava Award.
Dr. Ajai Kumar has been a practicing oncologist in the US and India for over three decades. He completed his residency training in Radiotherapy from the MD Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute of the University of Texas, and his residency training in Oncology from the University of Virginia Hospital, Charlottesville. He received his MBBS from the St. Johns Medical College, Bangalore.
Sir John Chisholm
Executive Chair (Genomics England)
Bio
Sir John is a Cambridge graduate who started work in the automobile industry. His career took flight when he founded CAP Scientific Ltd, which grew rapidly to become a core part of the CAP Group plc and subsequently the Sema Group plc of which he was UK Managing Director.
He was then asked by the government to take on the transformation of its defence research laboratories into a commercial organisation. In due course these became an internationally successful technology services company and were floated on the LSE as QinetiQ Group plc of which Sir John became Chairman in 2006.
At the same time he was asked to take the Chair of the Medical Research Council and in 2009 he also took the Chair of Nesta. Sir John retired from QinetiQ in February 2010.
Sir John is a past president of the IET and holds a number of honorary Doctorates and Fellowships, including the Royal Academy of Engineering. He was knighted in 1999.
In charge of Quantumzyme’s science and strategy, Naveen comes with over 20 years of scientific & entrepreneurial experience in the drug discovery industry across the USA, Australia and India.
He has published several research papers and the most notable was published in Nature in July 2017 with a few more interesting discoveries in the pipeline for the year.
Naveen is an entrepreneur and hands-on executive officer with extensive knowledge of Pharma, Healthcare, regulatory and medical devices scenario in India. Solid Healthcare, Life Sciences background known for strategic and focused approach, with extensive accolades for establishing creative strategies for optimizing internal operations, financial returns, limiting risk, creating lean teams, and external customer service and output.
Prior to founding Quantumzyme, he served as the CEO of Cryo Stemcell and prior to that as Director at Philips Research, where he was associated with a portfolio of opportunities for new business creation in healthcare and energy. In his previous roles, he has risen through the ranks – from being a bench worker at an Australian research institute to heading the strategic business unit of an American drug discovery informatics company. He has conceptualized and developed novel solutions for accelerating drug discovery and directed teams consisting of experts from different domains including chemistry, proteomics and systems biology. He has been instrumental in conceiving new ideas that are the basis for the company’s patent portfolio.
Has been a speaker and presenter in several international conferences.
World Congress for Preventive and Regenerative Medicine, Taiwan.
ABLE Bioinvest
Bangalore Bio
Bio Partnering Europe, London, UK.
Bio North America, Vancouver, Canada.
Beyond Genome Conference, San Diego, USA.
IBM High Performance Computing conference, Hyderabad, India
Guest Lectures in several institutions like:
IIT Madras
University of Virginia
University of California, San Diego
Indian Business Academy, Bangalore, INDIA
Advisor – Board of Studies at:
Welingkar Institute of Management
Department of Biotechnology, SDM Group of Institutions
Previous engagements:
CEO – Cryo Stemcell
Overview of the profile:
Turnaround of the company from a Stem cell banking service provider to become a healthcare company and developed the roadmap and business plan for next level funding. Initiated PRP therapy and Hospital partnerships with new customer acquisition and sales team mobilization pan India.
Director – Philips Research Asia
Overview of the profile:
As Director Business Development at Philips Research Asia, Naveen was involved in identifying and developing technology ventures for spin-ups, spin-ins (technology acquisition) and spin-outs in Philips. He has successfully developed and managed a portfolio of opportunities for New Business Creation across Healthcare and Energy relevant for India, emerging markets and globally.
CEO – Polyclone Bioservices
Overview of the profile:
Founded Polyclone and lead the company as a CEO and successfully forged Drug Discovery Alliances, developed markets for Genomics and Proteomics services, Virtual Screening and Research Information Systems.
Responsible for developing a Govt. recognized R&D unit
Successfully raised R&D Grants from various national and international agencies
Managing research projects from start to finish in various areas of cancer genomics
Filing of the first patent for a cancer target
Principal Consultant, Life Science – SysArris Inc, USA
Overview of the profile:
Initiated and implemented Bioinformatics services for SysArris. Established niche offerings and positioned the company as a leading provider of consulting, technology, outsourcing and applied research services for pharma and biotech industry.
RESEARCH
CRC for Diagnostics Technologies (CDT) Brisbane, Australia Summary:
CDT is an A$40 million/yr. Co operative research center and a consortium of academic partners and members of Australian Diagnostics Manufacturers Association, sited at Brisbane. This Project involved developing a novel Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) based DNA diagnostic assay, utilizing the Amplification Refractory Mutation System (ARMS) principle for the detection of single gene mutations.
EDUCATION
MSc, Applied Science (Life Science) Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, AUSTRALIA BSc, Microbiology, Bangalore University, INDIA
Frank Levene
Independent Director, EMEA (Avitus Group Companies)Linkin
Bio
Dr. Frank Levene has more than 35 years successful experience as a UK and International CEO, NED, and an expert in facilitating investments into the USA. Holding dual nationality as a ‘ Brit ‘ and a USA citizen with residence in the USA for 25 years. An early career built on the best practice techniques from within the fast moving consumer industry. Pioneered, built and delivered bottom-line results by cross- fertilizing multiple disciplines in consumer goods, financial services, retail, professional services, medical insurance, healthcare and PEO services.
A proven track record of profitable corporate development, led start-ups and complete restructuring. Tested across many cultures with results delivered in diverse markets such as Africa, Asia/Pacific, Russia, UK and the USA.President Director, Allianz in various markets in Asia – India, Indonesia, South Korea, and in other roles in Australia and Russia, as General Manager, Medibank, and Managing Director, Ingosstrakh.
Within Avitus Group charged by the Chairman to help the launch Avitus in EMEA the USA enhanced offering. Targeting companies that wish to establish an investment presence in the USA. Partnered with the USA Commerce Department, Select USA in DC & EMEA, Department of International Trade, UK Export Finance, AMCHAM, BABC and multiple trade associations in general, life sciences and medical devices segments.
A trustee TLC a UK based hospice charity. A unique personal network of corporate, academic and government relationships.
Josh Balster
Executive Vice President (Avitus Group Companies)Linkin
Bio
Josh Balster is the Executive Vice President at Avitus Group and has been with the company for over 13 years. Josh studied at Rocky Mountain College and proceeded to work in a fast, upscale environment at Avitus Group; first taking care of new clients, then selling their services, and most recently running the sales team as the Vice President of Sales and growing Avitus Group’s client base over 500% in the last 4 years. Avitus Group has partnerships and locations throughout the United States, as well as globally. Josh and the International Team at Avitus Group focus on assisting business owners expand their companies into the United States by covering them from all angles as they make their US entry. Josh lives in Montana and works out of the company’s Operational Headquarters in Billings, Montana.
Kartik Maheshwari leads the Start-Up practice group at the multi-skilled, research based international law firm, Nishith Desai Associates (www.nishithdesai.com). He is a senior member of the Telecom – Media – Technology laws teams at NDA.Kartik is a leading attorney in various legal, tax and regulatory issues and works across cutting edge complex disruptive technologies / business models including M2M Communication, Internet of Things, smart cities, blockchain technology, privatization of space amongst others.He also has substantial experience in public policy matters and regularly works with the Department of Telecom, Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.He was also an integral member of the team that helped the Government of Mauritius on preparing its ‘National Innovation Framework’ and was invited by them to share his experience on using law and policy as a tool to unlock innovation at the Africa Partnership Conference, 2016.Kartik also continues to author articles and research papers on diverse legal issues which have been published by various publications.
Mr. Vaibhav Parikh is an Electronics Engineer and a Lawyer. He is the Partner in-charge of the Bangalore office of the multi-skilled, research-based international law firm, Nishith Desai Associates (www.nishithdesai.com). He also heads the Technology, M&A and Private Equity practice groups. He is a member of firm’s executive committee.
He has a wide range of experience in corporate and technology transactions. He has advised several private equity and venture capital funds in their investments, specifically in e-commerce, technology, media and life sciences industry. He also has significant experience in M&A transactions including advising on one of the India’s largest e-commerce transaction.
He has been passionately involved in setting up operations and raising finance for several start-up companies. He works closely with TiE, IVCA and Nasscom to help government on startup policy.
He is actively involved in the Intellectual Property Practice and is in charge of industry focus group for IT, Telecom, and Media. He has advised many leading Indian e-commerce companies in their operations from a legal and regulatory stand point.
He has been ranked as Leading Lawyer in Mergers and Acquisitions Practice by IFLR1000 in the year 2017Asia Pacific.
He has been nominated as one of Leading Lawyer in Private Equity Practice by IFLR1000 in the year 2013. He has also been nominated as one of the world’s leading practitioners in ‘Who’s Who Legal’ for Regulatory Communications. He is recommended by Legal 500 as an expert in TMT and competition law in 2014. He has been ranked number one for TMT by Chambers and Partners in 2015.
Vaibhav Parikh is regularly sought after for his extensive experience in advising on technology matters, with an emphasis on corporate transactions.
He has authored several papers and lectured at several prestigious gatherings on a worldwide basis. He has also been acknowledged as a ‘Highly Recommended Lawyer’ for Outsourcing, and Telecom and IT and ‘Recommended Lawyer’ for Intellectual Property by the PLC Which Lawyer? 2009. He has represented NASSCOM at a WTO symposium at Geneva for presenting a paper on ‘Movement of Natural Persons’ in 2001.He is a Charter Member of TiE, Bangalore Chapter and is also on the executive council of the Franchising Association of India.
Lars Dahle
Founder and CEO (Dignio)
Bio
Lars Dahle is the Founder, and has been CEO of Digno since its inception in 2012. He is a thought-leader in the use of Telehealth and Remote Patient Monitoring in Norway and is an advisor to health care policymakers in the parliament of Norway. Government agencies and LocaL Mnicipal bodies. His focus is on understanding and overcoming the organisational inhibitors of telecare providers to start and then scale up the use of Telehealth/Remote Patient Monitoring.
Before Dignio, Mr Dahle held senior management positions in Telecom operators and IT-vendors, such as HP. He holds a MS in Computer Science from the Technical University of Norway (NTNU) and a MS in Management from MIT, Solan School of Management.
Urvashi Prasad
Public Policy at Niti Aayog, Office of Vice Chairman (Niti Aayog, Government of India)Linkin
Bio
Urvashi Prasad is a public policy specialist at NITI Aayog, the Indian Government’s premier think tank. She is also the founder of Every Voice, a platform that highlights the perspectives, needs, challenges and aspirations of people living in poverty in their own words. Urvashi was previously a Director at Operation ASHA, one of India’s largest tuberculosis control NGOs. She also led the health portfolio of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation in India for five years. Urvashi is on the governing board of Partnership for TB Care & Control, the largest tuberculosis network in India. She completed her Bachelors in Genetics from University of Birmingham, UK, followed by a Masters in Bioscience Enterprise from University of Cambridge, UK and a Masters in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Urvashi is passionate about gender-related and animal welfare issues. She is also a blogger and writes extensively for several platforms including the Huffington Post and Nextbillion.net.
Rajlakshmi Borthakur (Raji) is the founder and CEO of TerraBlue XT, which is an award-winning healthcare startup based out of Bangalore. She has about 18 years of experience in IT and has worked at Infosys, Ernst & Young, Sapient and Virtusa before starting her own venture in 2015. She has recently won the Innovate for Digital India Challenge 1.0 that saw participation from 1900+ individuals and startups from all across India. Currently, Raji and her team of experts are working on an innovative patent-pending solution called TJay for the prediction, detection and proactive management of epilepsy.
Mahesh Kandula
Managing Director (Cellix Bio Private Limited)Linkin
Bio
Mahesh Kandula is an entrepreneur with a proven record of founding and managing life sciences-oriented ventures from an idea into advanced clinical trials and commercialization. Inventor of several potential novel molecular entities in various therapeutic areas including Thrombosis, Lipid Disorders, Diabetes, CNS, Asthma, Cancer, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Hypertension and Liver Cirrhosis.
Sole inventor of more than 100 novel drug molecules and are currently at various stages of non-clinical and clinical development and, are also under strategic collaboration with multinationals in different geographies for advancing the lead candidates to obtain global regulatory approvals for marketing.
Experience in deal-related activities in all fields of life science businesses. Highly motivated individual with an ability for multi-tasking both individually and as part of a team.
John Whittaker
Vice President, Target Sciences (Glaxo Smith Kline Phramceuticals)Linkin
Bio
Anthony Finbow
Executive Chairman and CEO (Eagle Genomics)Linkin
Bio
Anthony Finbow has achieved success over many years as a CEO of technology businesses. Having occupied every seat at the board table: Chairman, CEO, CFO, NXD and Investor Director (for both public and private companies), he is uniquely qualified to assist Leaders and their management teams in meeting and overcoming the most significant challenges that they will encounter on their journey.
He helps Leaders across Europe by providing enlightened and creative coaching support and advice. In addition to coaching services, he provides Leadership education, training and strategy consulting services to independent businesses in the “scale up” phase, to large corporations engaged in significant change and to government.
Brandi Davis-Dusenbery
CEO (Seven Bridges Genomics)Linkin
Bio
Brandi is the Chief Executive Officer of Seven Bridges. She previously served as Senior Vice President of Product & Science and in that capacity led product strategy, managed the product organization, and oversaw the company’s largest scientific projects. Notably, she guided the creation of the first National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Genomics Cloud pilot, which now supports the analytic needs of about 1,500 researchers investigating petabytes of genomic data collected in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).
Brandi is a co-chair and founding member of the Blood Profiling Atlas in Cancer project, which started as a part of Vice President Joe Biden’s Cancer Moonshot. She leads the data working group, where she supports approximately 30 pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies, along with academic partners and regulators, in accelerating the development of safe, reliable, and accurate liquid biopsies.
Brandi is an active member of multiple professional organizations including the Common Workflow Language working group (since 2014), the International Cancer Genome Consortium (since 2015), the Pan Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes project (since 2015), and the American Association for Cancer Research (since 2016). Previously, she was an active member of the American Heart Association (2008-2010).
Prior to joining Seven Bridges, Brandi was a Postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University, where she focused on uncovering differences in small RNA and protein coding RNA expression, splicing, and editing in purified human motor neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells from healthy controls or ALS patients. As a graduate student at Tufts University, Brandi’s research helped explain the molecular mechanisms of vascular smooth muscle regulation by microRNAs, and lead to the identification of a novel post-transcriptional mode of microRNA regulation.
Brandi holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Tufts Sackler School of Medicine and a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Rochester. Her work has been published in Nature, Cell, Molecular Cell and other leading journals.
Charlie Davie
Managing Director (UCLPartners)Linkin
Bio
Charlie Davie is Managing Director of UCLPartners and a practising Consultant Neurologist at the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
Charlie has played an integral leadership role in UCLPartners since 2009, when he was the Stroke Lead during the reconfiguration of services and establishment of Hyper Acute Stroke Units in London. Charlie subsequently became Programme Director for Neurosciences, before taking on the role of Managing Director of the Academic Health Science Network in 2014. During this time, Charlie has taken the AHSN from strength-to-strength and provided strategic direction for high profile initiatives including: NHS Test Beds, NHS Innovation Accelerator and DigitalHealth.London.
Charlie has held a number of important national advisory roles, most recently as a member of the Accelerated Access Review Implementation Group working with the Office of Life Sciences and NHS England, and as a member of Rt Hon George Freeman’s Life Sciences Cabinet. He is member of several boards, including: DigitalHealth.London, the UCL Institute of Digital Health, London Strategic Clinical Network Neuroscience Board, and the Scottish Innovative Healthcare Delivery Programme Advisory Group. Charlie represents London’s AHSNs as a member of the London Clinical Senate.
Charlie has been an Associate Editor of the European Journal of Neurology for over 10 years and has published extensively in several areas of clinical neurology. He has previously been a substantive Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience at UCL (1999-2004), and guest lectured at Harvard Business School on value-based healthcare delivery.
As a researcher, Charlie has been principal investigator on several research studies and successfully obtained significant grant funding in areas including, multiple sclerosis, atrial fibrillation and the delivery of 24/7 healthcare. He is an NIHR reviewer and clinical expert, and served on the NICE National Clinical Guidelines Group for stroke.
Charlie has over 30 years’ continuous clinical service in the NHS and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.
Salman Rahman
CEO & Co-founder (VASGEN LIMITED)Linkin
Bio
Salman Rahman has a career in biomedical research spanning over 25 years working at some of the UK’s leading academic and biomedical research institutions. Salman began his research career studying the biochemistry of gap junctions at the National Institute for Medical Research (MRC) using targeted antibody technology to elucidate the structure-function of connexins leading to his PhD in 1991. Following post-doctoral posts at the Thrombosis Research Institute London and at the Centre for Thrombosis and Haemostasis at St Thomas’ Hospital, where he studied the structure-function of disintegrins, Dr Rahman was appointed as Lecturer at King’s College London between 1999-2009 where he investigated the role of the extracellular matrix and disintegrin-metalloproteinase (ADAMs) in regulating vascular cell signalling in the context of angiogenesis and cardiovascular disease. His research with colleagues during this period led to discoveries that would underpin the development of Vasgen.
Dr Rahman has published over 30 papers with esteemed colleagues from the UK, US and China and holds an Honorary Senior Lectureship in the Dept. Cell Biology at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology. In 2011, he co-founded Vasgen, where he is currently the CEO, in order to develop novel therapeutic technologies.
Narasimha Rao Nedunuri
CEO (Clonz Biotech Pvt Ltd)Linkine-mail
Bio
The Managing Director of Clonz, Narasimha is one of the key founding members of the company. His passion and vision combined with his academic and industrial experience in the world of Proteins (Proteomics) is the driving force of the company towards developing affordable bio therapeutics.
Narasimha’s Research experience in Cancer Biology at CCMB (Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology) helped him to contribute through his work at a USA based MNC as Product Manager for its Indian subsidiary and also as a Group Leader – Proteomics & Genomics for a reputed CRO, prior to the birth of Clonz.
His wide exposure to countries like Malaysia, Korea, Thailand, China, France, Germany, Switzerland, and USA on various business assignments is also helping in positioning the company.
Dr. Vishwas Joshi
Managing Director (Seagull BioSolutions Pvt. Ltd)
Bio
Dr. Vishwas is a molecular virologist with over 18 yrs experience in bio/pharmaceutical discovery research at leading Indian pharmaceutical companies. He was associated with the discovery & pre-clinical development of 2 NCEs and also helped establish the protein therapeutics research center of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals at Neuchatel, Switzerland. Dr. Vishwas has concieved & developed the eSAME technology platform of Seagull BioSolutions.
Tony Hickson
Managing Director, Technology Transfer, (Imperial Innovations)Linkin
Bio
Tony Hickson BSc, MBA, CLP, RTTP is Managing Director of Imperial Innovations and an Executive Director on the board of Touchstone Innovations plc. Tony is responsible for intellectual property sourcing, licensing and spin-out creation for technologies arising from Imperial College London. Prior to joining the company in 2002, Tony had acquired 15 years of commercial and business development experience in bioscience companies including Wellcome Group, Murex Biotech, Abbott Laboratories and Kalibrant Limited.
He has been a board director or observer for a number of start-up companies including Emcision, Polytherics (now Abzena) and Catapult Therapy TCR Limited, and was instrumental in the creation of companies such as Thiakis (sold to Wyeth, now Pfizer, in 2008), Respivert (sold to J&J in 2010), Circassia (floated on LSE in 2014) and Cell Medica (in advanced clinical studies). Tony is a Certified Licensing Professional, a board director of PraxisUnico and until recently acted as Chairman of the Intellectual Property Board of the European Institute of Technology Climate Change KIC.
Fred Kemp
Deputy Head of Technology Transfer - E-Health and Bioinformatics (Oxford University Innovation Ltd )e-mail
Bio
After a degree and PhD in Biochemistry & Physiology from the University of Reading, Fred continued as a research fellow, focusing on the use of Surface Plasmon Resonance technology in molecular kinetics, and developing it into a successful commercial service, which later became an integral part of the University’s Biocentre facility. During this time, he was also responsible for developing and supporting several bioinformatics tools, workflows and content management systems for the University. He became involved with a start-up company focusing on the development of real-time silicon nanowire-based biosensors for the Healthcare, Oil & Gas and Defence sectors. In 2008 he won an EPSRC KTA award and became CSO in 2009, covering all aspects of the technology development, including assay development and surface chemistries, along with chip, electronics and software design, as well as becoming heavily involved in the business development aspects of growing a start-up.
Following this, he joined GE Healthcare as an Application Specialist, supporting Biacore and Microcal LFIA Technologies, providing specialist support and training to new and existing users in the South West and Ireland, consolidating his standing as an expert in the field. More recently he acted as a consultant to Genzyme UK, managing the integration and validation of Biacore technology into their suite of GMP pharmaceutical release assays. Fred joined Oxford University Innovation as a Senior Technology Transfer Manager in June 2013, with a particular focus on software commercialisation
Andrew Davies
Director Market Access (Association of British Healthcare Industries (ABHI))
Bio
Andrew has responsibility for ensuring that processes are aligned and optimised to support the introduction and uptake of technologies and best practices. This entails creating an on going dialogue between industry and policy makers to ensure efficient and effective access and payment structures are created and maintained.
In addition to the Market Access portfolio Andrew also leads on the ABHI Ethics and Compliance program. This includes credentialing, Code of Business Practice and Human Rights.
Having graduated with a degree in Applied Physics, Andrew entered the commercial environment and has gained over 20 years experience in the medical devices industry having worked within medical technology divisions of household names such as Thorn EMI, Philips and Bristol-Myers Squibb. He has held roles covering UK and international marketing, market access and business development working with both capital and consumable equipment.
Ms. Anu Acharya is the CEO of Mapmygenome India, a Genomics company whose vision is “To touch 100 million lives”. In 2013, she introduced the concept of improved healthcare through personal genomics in India. Ever since, she has successfully pioneered the company through growing product lines, expanding affiliate network and has received funding from stalwarts like Mr. Ratan Tata and Mr. Rajan Anandan and more. She is a distinguished alumna from IIT Kharagpur.
Under her able leadership, the company has won several awards and honors: ETStartup Awards 2015 – Women Ahead, Nasscom Emerge 50 – League of 10, Emerging Company of the Year 2015– Govt. of Karnataka, SMART CEO List of Top 50 Startups, VCCircle Innovative Healthcare Startup 2015, Wall Street Journal’s top global startups 2016, Red Herring Asia and Global 2016, and more.
From 2000 until April 2013, Ms. Anu Acharya was the CEO of Ocimum Biosolutions, a global genomics outsourcing partner for discovery, development and diagnostics, a company that began as a pure Bioinformatics company. Since co-founding the company in 2000, she has led the company through three strategic international acquisitions, two capital raises for equity investments and launch of several innovative products, solutions and services through its proprietary platform called RaaS (Research as a Service). An author of several research papers published in major journals, various articles for journals like Nature, Ms. Anu Acharya recently received early publication approval for her patent for SNaPpy – the genetic risk prediction algorithm developed in-house at Mapmygenome. She has been invited to various institutions globally (academia as well as commercial) to share her knowledge, expertise and experience in the fields of genomics and entrepreneurship.
Books authored: (list not exhaustive)
Software Innovations in Clinical Drug Development and Safety (link)
In May 2016, Women Economic Forum honored Mapmygenome her with the award Iconic Innovative Trailblazers of the Decade. In 2015, she won the Women Ahead category and made it to the top 5 innovators list in the Economic Times Startup Awards. In October 2015, Anu Acharya received the FICCI FLO Women Achiever’s Award in the category Innovation through Technology. She was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum for its class of 2011. The British High Commission also named her part of the “Young Leaders Forum” in 2013.
She was selected by Red Herring Magazine to the list of 25 Tech Titans under 35 in 2006. She was named Biospectrum Entrepreneur of the Year for 2008 and received the Astia Life Science Innovators Award in the same year.
Past Positions & Education
Prior to founding Ocimum Biosolutions, Ms. Acharya has had rich experience in the Telecom, IT and entrepreneurship arenas. She worked for a start-up in the telecommunications space called Mantiss Information and a consulting firm called SEI Information where she helped create a social networking site for entrepreneurs. Her experience is backed by education at premier institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur, India (IIT) and University of Illinois where she has two Postgraduate degrees in Physics and MIS.
Supriya Kanetkar along with Sushama Kanetkar Represent the State of Pennsylvania in India since 2001. They were appointed as Pennsylvania’s Trade & Investment Representative by the Office of International Business Development at DCED, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
In her role to promote Pennsylvania’s exports to India, Supriya works with Pennsylvania based companies to expand their reach, capacity and global competitiveness by providing various inputs to facilitate exports to India.
Since 2008, Supriya works for foreign direct investment attraction program of Pennsylvania. In her capacity to attract the FDI into Pennsylvania, she works with Indian companies and assists them set up facilities in Pennsylvania.
Supriya has a diverse professional experience from teaching, journalism, consulting MNCs on Corporate Social Responsibility to research and recommending market opportunities & entry strategies to numerous foreign companies.
Prior to taking over the responsibilities of Pennsylvania’s India Representative office, Supriya worked as a Project Coordinator for a New Delhi based business coalition (the Indian arm of Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum UK), which works towards promoting the practice of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and was engaged in evolving Corporate Partnerships for Sustainable Development. Supriya began her career as a Lecturer in Senior College at Mumbai University and freelanced as political analyst for print media.
Supriya has a Bachelor’s degree in Arts from Lady Shri Ram College at Delhi University, a Master’s degree in Political Science and M. Phil. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. In her Pre-doctoral research Supriya dealt with changing political trends and emergence of regionalism in Indian politics.
In 2006, Supriya did the The Global Village for Future Leaders of Business and Industry program at Iacocca Institute at Lehigh University, Pennsylvania. She has also been facilitator at Global Village and Global Village on The Move.
Shafaq Uraizee Sapre
Executive Partner (Lakshmikumaran and Sridharan)Linkin
Bio
Ms. Shafaq Uraizee Sapre is an Executive Partner in Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan and heads the Corporate Practice for the Western and Southern India region. She has around 17 years of experience and her practice includes a variety of domestic and international transactions with a focus on providing an integrated solution to clients. She specialises in Mergers and Acquisitions, Joint Ventures and Private Equity investments.
She has assisted several Indian and foreign clients in forming joint ventures, strategic collaborations including technology transfers, franchise and outsourcing arrangements and advised from an Indian legal and regulatory perspective. She has advised major international businesses with their investment strategies, structuring and setting up of their operations in India. She has represented large and medium size companies from Germany and other European countries, in structuring their India business strategies and setting up of their operations in India.
She has advised large domestic and international companies in their inbound and outbound mergers and acquisitions. She has assisted several international and domestic venture capital and private equity funds with respect to the legal aspects of structuring and restructuring investments in India and globally across a multitude of sectors. She has led several legal due diligence teams and renders opinions on issues concerning litigation, arbitration, doing business in India and on contract laws. She has advised clients in relation to transactions involving structured finance in sectors such as infrastructure, manufacturing, logistics and real estate.
Shafaq has spoken at several Indian and foreign conferences such as at the conferences organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry, VCCircle, CIDCO, General Counsel Summits and the Munich Private Equity Training 2010 (MUPET 2010). She actively writes for publications such as the International Financial Law Review (IFLR), Practical Law Guide by Thomson Reuters, Indian Business Law Journal (IBLJ), and Indian Venture Capital Journal (IVCJ).
Sudish Sharma
Executive Partner (Lakshmikumaran and Sridharan)Linkin
Bio
Mr. Sudish Sharma is the Executive Partner in Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan. Sudish has worked with leading Indian law firms and has an extensive experience of more than seventeen years in rendering legal advice to corporate, Government and quasi-government authorities. He has advised and assisted various leading Indian and multinational corporations across diverse sectors on matters pertaining to joint ventures, mergers, demergers, acquisitions, private equity, legal due diligence, foreign direct investment and entry strategies, restructurings including global restructurings of various multinational companies, regulatory approvals, setting up of industrial plants in India, sale of businesses, distributorship and commercial advisory agreements in India, real estate, employment, compliances, ESOP schemes, drafting, vetting and negotiating of commercial contracts and other corporate transactional work.
Sudish’s skill set includes a deep transactional understanding as well as significant industry expertise across sectors as diverse as education, engineering, fashion, pharmaceuticals, service providers, infrastructure, manufacturing and real estate and he has a commendable track record of advising international and national corporations on complex joint ventures, cross border acquisitions, private equity investments, financing arrangements, international commercial arrangements including in the pharmaceutical sector, various power projects including the setting-up and operations of thermal based power plants and aspects relating to the structuring, documentation, regulatory compliance etc.
Further, Sudish has also advised numerous foreign investors on issues pertaining to joint ventures and acquisition deals. Apart from drafting and negotiating the terms of the required documentation, he has expertise in conducting due diligence and also pre and post investment compliances in line with Indian statutes and regulations.
Dr. Sonal Minocha
Chief Partnerships Officer (Nexford University)TwitterWebsite
Bio
Dr. Sonal Minocha is currently the Chief Partnerships Officer at Nexford University. She had joined Bournemouth University in June 2014 as its lead for Global Engagement, which encompasses global recruitment, partnership, staff and student mobility and a global profile raising agenda for the university.Her appointment as Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Global Engagement brought with it a re-energised institutional approach towards comprehensive internationalisation and the creation of a long-term vision for a Global BU that is anchored to, and complementary to, the university’s wider strategic vision. Among the key areas of work Sonal has led at BU have been the fusing of employability with internationalisation through the pioneering Global Talent Programme to enhance student experience and employability, the innovative Hubs of Practice for a highly profiled presence in the Indian, Chinese and ASEAN markets and the successful Global Festival of Learning – a simultaneous celebration of learning across three continents. This early traction has been demonstrably recognised through the recent nomination for the Outstanding International Strategy category at the 2016 THELMA Awards.Sonal has more than ten years of senior management experience across the public and private sectors in global Higher Education, having begun her career as a business graduate before moving into an academic career which started at the UK’s University of Northumbria.Before joining BU, Sonal was Executive Dean at the University of Bedfordshire Business School. In this role, she led the largest faculty at the university (approximately £36 million) comprising a range of departments including the Law School. In this role, she incepted and implemented a practice-led vision for the faculty that resulted in a number of expressions of this vision. These included a refreshed new course portfolio, innovative ‘mini internships’ called practice weeks, a refreshed infrastructure with creative practice driven ‘wall art’, more than 30 new productive relationships with regional employers – thus reprofiling to establish a truly business-facing Business School.In her executive portfolio, Sonal led the design and development of an exciting new employability proposition for the university: Education + Experience = UOB Employability commitment leading to a number of awards for the framework and its projects including AGCAS awards for two consecutive years for the innovative ‘Hire Me’ scheme.Alongside strong academic credentials in the broad area of international commerce and business, Sonal holds a Fellowship of the RSA, Higher Education Academy and the Strategic Planning Society. Her main teaching and research interests lie in the areas of global higher education, graduate employability, management education and practice, strategic creativity and organisational learning. As well as management education, she has a special interest in film and related international creative industries and her work has been disseminated via a range of outlets including books, articles and refereed papers.Sonal’s practice expertise has led to the design, development and delivery of innovative programmes for a range of corporate and international clients throughout her career (including Harrods, Ridgeons, Basildon Hospital and Severstal).
Sonal’s key external appointments include External Examiner at Ulster University, UKCISA Board of Trustees, International Academic Advisory Council for QS Conferences and Governor at Poole Hospitals NHS Trust.
Sonal is a passionate advocate for innovative approaches to teaching and learning, internationalisation of the ‘home’ experience, close university-industry interaction for a brand of HE that is integrated with policy and practice – regionally, nationally and internationally.
Chris Shelley
Partner (Penningtons Manches)Linkine-mail
Bio
Chris is a partner in the Oxford office who specialises in intellectual property and commercial law, and EU and UK competition laws. He trained at a multinational law firm, qualifying into the commercial department in 1986. He joined the firm in 1990 and became a partner in 1992. Chris is particularly known for his work in the life sciences, publishing and engineering sectors, and for universities, research councils and their spin-out companies.
One of only ten UK lawyers who are highly recommended for patent licensing in IAM 1000: The World’s Leading Patent Practitioners, Chris is described as ‘extremely strong’ and as having ‘an assured command of the life sciences, publishing and engineering sectors’. He is also a Chambers UK leading expert and is rated in band 1 for intellectual property by both Chambers UK and The Legal 500. Client quotes in Chambers UK 2017 describe Chris as having ‘a brilliant grasp of commercial IP matters’.
Chris chairs the life sciences stream of the new IP Transactions: Law and Practice course run by the UCL Institute of Brand & Innovation Law, for which he delivers the patent licensing seminar. This course was highly commended in the Law Society Excellence Awards 2013.
Sabeena Kalla
Scientific and Evaluation Director, (Eurasanté)
Bio
Sabeena Kalla is the Scientific & Evaluation Director of Eurasanté.
For more than 10 years, she has been actively involved in the creation of more than 50 companies (SME) based on cutting edge technologies from regional laboratories & companies involved in the healthcare and nutrition sector. She helps regional and European entrepreneurs to develop and bring to market innovative products, services and processes which have a strong environmental value and can be replicated and multiplied across the EU and at an international level.
Mrs Kalla began her career in 1992 at the LFB, an international player in the plasma-derived medicinal products area, with recognized expertise in plasma fractionation. She has been developing numerous projects relative to purification of Immunoglobulins from plasma fractionation.
She is a postgraduate in Cellular and Molecular Engineering, in Macromolecular Chemistry and has a Master of Business Administration. She led research Programs at the Pasteur Institute of Lille (peptide synthesis) and at the LFB (Immunoglobulins).
Dr. Vijay Agarwal
CMO and Senior Consultant Medical Oncologist/Cancer Specialist (HealthCare Global Enterprises)
Bio
Dr. Vijay Agarwal is a Senior Consultant Medical Oncologist with over 12 years of experience in Oncology. Prior to joining HCG he was working as a Consultant in Medical Oncology at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK.
Having completed his training in Medicine (MD) at Manipal Academy of Higher Education, he travelled to England to specialise in Medical Oncology and worked in various prestigious institutes such as the Royal Marsden Hospital, London; Kings College Hospital, London, Leeds teaching Hospital, Leeds and Queens Centre for Oncology, Hull, and completed his MRCP and Specialist training in oncology (CCT).
Due to his keen interest in Medical research, he took some time out and devoted himself to cancer research which led to the award of a PhD by Hull York Medical School, UK. He has authored various papers that have been published in peer reviewed international journals and he has presented at conferences around the world.
He specialises in delivering chemotherapy and targeted therapy in solid tumours and strongly believes in practising evidence based medicine with patient centred approach. He keeps himself abreast with the latest developments in Oncology and aspires to deliver the best possible treatment and care to all his patients.
Jon Mowles
Sector Specialist – Life Sciences Organisation (Department for International Trade)
Bio
Jon has 30 years experience working in the life sciences, during which he has undertaken a wide range of roles in industry and academia. These included co-founding CTM BioTech, which offered a range of contract services from early-stage process development and pre-clinical produc – tion to later-stage project management, and working for several years as a life sciences management consultant.
Jon holds a BSc in Microbiology with Genetics and an MSc in Medical Microbiology from the University of London, and an MBA from the Open University. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Medical Laboratory Sciences in Bacteriology.
Prasun Chakrabarti
Territory Sales Head Trade Forex (HDFC Bank)Linkin
Bio
Rajesh S.Nair
Vice President - Retail Trade and Forex Services (HDFC Bank)Linkin
Bio
Kamal Kakkad
VP & Regional Sales Head - Retail Trade Services & Fx (HDFC Bank)
Bio
Dr. Joanna Newman MBE FRSA
Secretary General (Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU))e-mail
Bio
Dr. Joanna Newman is Chief Executive and Secretary General of the ACU. She joined the ACU in April 2017 and is responsible for fostering and promoting the aims of the ACU, as defined by its membership, in developing inter-Commonwealth relations in the field of higher education.
Before joining the ACU, Joanna was the Vice-Principal (International) at King’s College London where she was responsible for all international matters for the university. In previous positions, Joanna represented the UK higher education sector as Director of the UK Higher Education International Unit (now known as Universities UK International) where she negotiated the UK’s role in Brazil’s Science without Borders mobility scheme, launched HE Global and initiated a number of international partnerships on behalf of the UK HE sector. Before this, she was Head of Higher Education at the British Library where she commissioned the Google Generation report and was responsible for introducing researchers to one of the world’s greatest research libraries.
Joanna is a Senior Research Fellow in the History Faculty at King’s and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Southampton and has taught history at University College London and the University of Warwick. In 2014, she was honoured as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in recognition of her work promoting British higher education internationally.
Joanna is on the board of the School of Advanced Studies, University of London International Academy, University of London; The Conversation UK and the VITAE external advisory board. She has been a judge on the Times Higher Education Awards. She regularly speaks at conferences, roundtables and on international platforms representing the UK on issues relating to Higher Education and internationalisation.
Richard Everitt
Regional Director, Education and Society, Wider Europe (British Council)
Bio
Richard Everitt is Director Education, British Council India, responsible for the strategic direction of the education portfolio. Richard studied at the University of Leeds, the University of South Florida and the John’s Hopkins University (School of Advanced International Studies). Richard is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and The Norwich Society and given the 2012 Outstanding Achievement Award from the Institute of International Education. He is Chair of the International Education Research Consortium.
Other British Council postings include: USA as Deputy Director; China -managing the HSBC funded UK-China School Links Programme; Colombia, heading arts, education, governance, and creative industries projects and Poland – responsible for a European sports education programme. Richard previously worked at Channel 5 Television, London and as a teacher of English in Uganda.
Nabil Sultan
Professor and Dean of the College of Business Administration (A’Sharqiyah University, Ibra, Oman)
Bio
Nabil Sultan is Professor and Dean of the College of Business Administration at A’Sharqiyah University, Ibra, Oman. Prior to that he was Professor of Innovation Management and Leadership (a Personal Chair from the University of Essex) and Head of Division of Management, Business and Enterprise at University Campus Suffolk (UCS) which is jointly owned by two leading British Universities: University of East Anglia and the University of Essex. He is internationally recognised for his publications in the fields of information management, knowledge management, leadership cloud computing, renewable energy and Arab Gulf’s socio–economic affairs. He is UK-educated and has 28 years of work experience, 17 years of which were in British higher education. He has developed strong skills in undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum development, accreditation, research and developing people’s skills and careers and widening community participation. He has extensive knowledge of the Middle East (especially the Arabian peninsula and Gulf region) gained through experience and research and demonstrated through journal and book writings.
During his tenure at UCS, Professor Sultan was responsible for the leadership and management of this division including staff, budget, development of curriculum, enterprise, the delivery of recruitment and retention targets and quality standards and the development of relevant networks within and beyond the university. He was also Director of Research and PhD Provision where he was responsible for promoting the Business School’s multi-disciplinary research in the areas of management, business and enterprise and the vetting of prospective PhD students. Moreover, he was Director (and founder) of the Middle East Research Centre (MERC) and Editor-in-Chief (and founder) of the peer-reviewed journal “Review of Management and Enterprise Studies” (REAMS).
Professor Sultan is also a Visiting Professor at the Servant-Leadership Centre for Research and Education at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Vrije Universiteit is one of Europe’s prestigious universities and is ranked 136th in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings of 2014/15. Since 1999 and up to 2012 Professor Sultan worked for Liverpool Hope University and was Award Director of its International MBA. During that tenure, he was awarded the Rector’s High Commendation for Teaching Excellence Award (2009) and Hope Business School’s Research Excellence Award (2010 – 2011).
Dr. Manpreet Singh Manna
Director (Admin & SWAYAM) (All India Council for Technical Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development)
Bio
Dr. Manpreet Singh Manna, born on 14th March, 1971 at Patiala, Punjab (India), graduated in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from Mysore University, Mysore in the year 1993. He did his Master of Engineering in Power & Machines from Thapar University, Patiala and Ph.D. in Electrical and Instrumentation Engineering from SLIET (A Centrally Funded Deemed University established by Govt. of India), Longowal. Starting his teaching profession as Lecturer from SLIET in the year 1997, Dr. Manna is Director (Administration) and SWAYAM Project Cell Incharge. Apart from discharge of day to day administrative functions, Dr. Manna with his persistent efforts and devotion under the able guidance of his Seniors at MHRD and AICTE, developed and made “SWAYAM PLATFORM” go-live for public well within a record time. For his pioneering and outstanding performance, the Shri Pranab Mukherjee, the Hon’ble President of India felicitated Dr. Manna with the “COMMENDATION AWARD”on 9th July, 2017 during the Launch of “SWAYAM Platform”, one of the important digital initiatives of MHRD during 3 Days’ National Convention held during 8th July, 2017 to 10th July, 2017 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. Prior to this, Dr. Manna successfully organised the inauguration of “HACKATHON” on 9th November, 2016 at Teen Murti Bhavan, New Delhi under the benign Chairmanship of Hon’ble Union Minister for Human Resource Development in the presence of eminent academicians and intellectuals from all over the Country.
Dr. Manna, a Senior Member of IEEE has visited as an Associate Professor sponsored by Ministry of HRD to AIT, Bangkok during 2012 session. He is a Fellow of Institutions of Engineers (India) and ISQEM, UK. He is Dr. Manna is also Life Member of ISTE India, IACSIT Singapore and member of Advisory Council of CEGR India. Dr. Manna has published about 140 Research Publications for leading National and International Journals and attended a number of Conferences in the field of Engineering and Technology. Dr. Manna has been nominated as member of the various committees like J & K state fee Structure Committee and BOGs; Member of Divisional Railway User Consultative Committee (DRUCC); Member of National Executive Council of Centre of Education Growth and Research for Two years; Honorary Advisor on the Board of CMAI; Member of Advisory Board of Confederation in Education Excellence, New Delhi and Expert Member for School Board of Engineering & Technology, Central University of Kashmir. Dr. Manna has been elected as President of the CEGR Core Committee for Two years upto 31.12.2017.
Dr. Manna has been conferred with the “Commendation Award” by the Hon’ble President of India; ‘Bharat Excellence Award’ with ‘Gold Medal’ by the Former Election Commissioner of India at IIC, New Delhi in 2014. Dr. Manna is also recipient of ‘Shreshth Aacharya Award-2011’,‘Best Citizens of India Award-2014’ from FFI, New Delhi, ‘Outstanding Faculty Award-2015 VIFFA’ at Chennai and ‘Rashtriya Shiksha Gaurav Puraskar-2015’ from CEGR, New Delhi. He is also recipient of Innovative Policy Maker -2017 Award from News India & GESA, India.
Thijs van Vugt is Director Analytics and Consulting Team at StudyPortals since 2015 and partner of iE&D Solutions BV since 2006. Some of his recent clients are: University of London, University of Nottingham, Karolinska Institute, University of Groningen, Utrecht University, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and Sciences Po. From 1989 until 2005 Thijs worked for Tilburg University (14 yrs; NL), the ERASMUS Bureau in Brussels and for Sheffield Hallam University (1.5 yrs; UK).
Thijs is the founder of the Expert Community Marketing & Recruitment of the European Association for International Education (EAIE). He was the chair of M&R from 2002 until 2008 and was a member of EAIE’s Executive Board from 2004 until 2008. In 2006 he published a book on The Impact of Tuition Fees on International Student Recruitment and in September 2009, Thijs was awarded the Bo Gregersen Award for Best Practice of the EAIE.
Together with his business partner, René Lenssen, Thijs was partner & director of StudyWorld (Netherlands), the Netherlands’ leading student recruitment agency and one of two IELTS test centres in the Netherlands, from 2006 until 2009, when it was sold to Kilroy Education.
Thijs has a Master’s degree in Economics from Tilburg University, a post-graduate certificate in Public Management from Tias Business School, and a post-graduate certificate in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) from Beeckestijn Business School.
Robert Carthy
Director of International Development (Northumbria University)LinkinTwitter
Bio
Robert Carthy is BUILA’s Lead for Regional Interest Groups and Training. He is also Director of the International Development Service at Northumbria University. He leads a team of over 80 staff based in six locations across the globe, working on the recruitment and admissions of International Students, development of International Partnerships, and student mobility. In addition he has oversight of the University’s Language Centre, delivering in-session and pre-sessional English, as well as credit-bearing modern Foreign languages.
Rob joined Northumbria University in 2003 and moved to the International Office in 2005. He has held various roles in the team since then, including Partnerships Manager and Deputy Director, and took over as the Director of International Development in November 2013. He has held executive roles on BUTEX, the UK-Saudi Interest Group, and has worked closely with the BUILA senior team. He was elected onto the BUILA executive in 2016.
Nick Hillman
Director (Higher Education Policy Institute)
Bio
Nick Hillman has been the Director of HEPI since January 2014. He worked for the Rt Hon David Willetts MP, now Lord Willetts, the Minister for Universities and Science, from 2007 until the end of 2013, as Chief of Staff and then Special Adviser in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Previously, he was a History teacher and worked at the Association of British Insurers. At the 2010 general election, he was the runner-up in Cambridge.
He has written for a range of think tanks and journals. His more recent writings include articles on the Coalition’s higher education reforms for the Oxford Review of Education(2016), on access to schools and selective universities for Higher Education Review(2014) and on the fifty-year history of student loans for Contemporary British History(2013). He also wrote the authoritative account of being a special adviser for the Institute of Government (2014).
I’m Jisc’s resident futurist. My job is to keep an eye open for emerging trends and new technologies, and see what we can do across the FE, HE and skills sector to exploit and embrace them – or mitigate against them.Prior to joining Jisc I set up a supercomputer centre for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), and have a particular interest in how we can share these kinds of capital intensive facilities between institutions and also with industry.
You might think that being a futurist is all about jet packs and flying cars – and to an extent it is. However, I also spend a lot of my time looking out for things that are emerging from the research lab that we can trial or prototype.The idea is that some of these will go on to become part of Jisc’s portfolio of solutions. Sometimes these are commercial products, but there are also a lot of interesting things happening at colleges and universities that have wide applicability and are potentially transferable with a little central support.
Wasif Rizvi
President (Habib University)
Bio
Mr. Wasif Rizvi is the founding President of Habib University. He was also the first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Habib University Foundation (HUF), a not-for-profit organization created in 2006. Under the umbrella of HUF, he led the conceptualization of Pakistan’s first undergraduate Liberal Arts and Science University, based on an in-depth analysis of the higher education system in Pakistan and the need for robust engagement with the youth of the country.
Two years since the beginning of operation, Habib University, under the leadership of Mr. Rizvi, has become a globally recognized and appreciated university with established collaborations with leading global institutions including Carnegie Mellon University and Texas A&M University at Qatar, Stanford University, University of Michigan and Pitzer College. His achievements are visible by the distinguished faculty, well recognized curriculum and an innovative campus design that received accolade through the Social for College and University Planning by being awarded the SCUP Excellence in Planning for New Campus, Merit Award in 2010.
As CEO of HUF, he also worked with a community of public and private partners both locally and internationally for the execution of innovative youth development projects.
Prior to his association with HUF, Mr. Rizvi was the head of the Aga Khan Education Services Pakistan (AKESP), spearheading the conceptualizing, designing and implementation of educational programs across numerous schools. He is also one of the founding members of both The Institute for Development Practice in Quetta, Pakistan as well as ‘Shikshantar’ in India: the latter set up to rethink foundations of education and development in South Asia.
Mr. Rizvi holds a Master’s degree in International Education from Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
Alejandra Cortés Pascual
Director, Education Innovation Chair (University of Zaragoza)LinkinWebsite
Bio
Full Professor of the Faculty of Education, at the University of Zaragoza. She is a permanent researcher of the UNESCO Chair on Values and Communication, Director of the first Juan de Lanuza Educational Innovation Chair at her university, and is Director of the Consolidated Research Group Coaching and entrepreneurship for the personal and professional development of the Government of Aragon (code 262121/1).
She is participating in two R&D projects with the Ministry of Education and Science, as well as in a European project. She directs the Master’s Degree in Social-Emotional Education for personal and professional development and the University Master’s Degree in Lifelong Learning: Initiation to Research at the Faculty of Education, both from the University of Zaragoza.
She also has the academic direction of the Integral Model of Educational Coaching in expansion in Aragón, Spain and Europe. She is an Education Expert in the European Union. She is a founding partner of the Coaching Education Education Association, and currently President. She is a personal and executive coach (CA172 by AECOP) and systemic teams (by ICF).
She won the prize for Educational Innovation from the Social Council of the University of Zaragoza in 2012 and on the use of innovative technologies in training 2016.
She has been shortlisted as one of the top ten teachers in Spain in 2017, the only one from Zaragoza to gain this accolade.
Dr.Rajeev Singh has been appointed as the Director General, Indian Chamber of Commerce, Kolkata with effect from 1st September, 2006.
Prior to his appointment as Director General, Dr. Singh was actively involved with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for more than 5 years as Regional Director, posted in Chandigarh & Ahmedabad and subsequently in Kolkata. He has done extensive work in the fields of Central & State Policy Advocacy, Service Sector, Agro Business, Taxation and Bio-Technology.
In a period spanning over 18 years, Dr.Singh began his career with Rajasthan Oil Federation as Deputy Manager. He was later associated with corporate houses like Arvind Mills Limited, etc.
Dr.Singh has done his PhD in Management and has also been associated with academics as Professor in Management with Specialization in Marketing.
Dr. Singh is a sports enthusiast and enjoys getting involved with social developmental activities. He is married with two children.
Taimur Khan
Leading education reformer; former Partner, McKinsey & Company (Pakistan)LinkinWebsite
Bio
Taimur was until recently Partner at McKinsey and Company in Dubai and one of the founding members of their Pakistan office. He headed McKinsey’s Public, Social Sector, and Healthcare practices in Pakistan and co-headed their Education Practice in the Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region.
The education reform work he led in Pakistan between 2011 and 2017 was recently quoted in The Economist as “reforming at a pace rarely seen anywhere in the world”, and includes several innovations including partnerships with the private sector, the use of data to drive system level decisions, and the re-engineering of curriculum and textbook development processes to be fit for purpose, all in a school system, which with 52,000 schools and 11 million students, is one of the largest, if not the largest in the world.
David Lock
Secretary-General (Magna Carta Observatory)Linkin
Bio
David Lock has had a varied career in international higher education and university leadership.
As Director of International Projects at the UK’s Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, David was responsible for instigating and delivering projects with over 30 different countries, some at Governmental level. Projects have included major programmes for Rectors and Ministry Officials to implement national HE reform and autonomy strategies over several years and building partnerships between universities in different countries.
Until October 2007 David was the founding Registrar and Acting Chief Executive of the British University in Dubai where he structured, built and then led the University following its legal creation by the Ruler of Dubai as a not-for-profit provider of Higher Education to UK standards.
Prior to going to Dubai David was Secretary to the University of Huddersfield and Registrar and Secretary to the University of Hull in the UK for a total of 14 years. A teacher and Chartered Secretary by background, David has served on a number of international bodies and undertaken a range of consultancy assignments including international development and UK HE governance projects. He is Chairman of the Gulf Education Conference and serves on the International Advisory Committee of the British Council.
He has been appointed Secretary General of the Magna Charta Observatory in September 2014.
Paul Rosen
Partner (Katten Muchin Rosenman UK LLP)
Bio
Paul Rosen is a partner in the Corporate practice at Katten Muchin Rosenman UK LLP. Paul undertakes a range of matters, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity, corporate finance and capital markets. He also has experience advising on regulatory issues and public takeovers, and regularly leads complex cross-border transactions for international clients.
Prior to joining Katten, Paul was at Clyde & Co LLP.
Cathryn Clary
Global Head, Patient Affairs and Policy, Chief Medical Office (Novartis (US))
Bio
Cathryn M. Clary, MD is Global Head of Patient Affairs and Policy in the Chief Medical & Patient Safety Office, Novartis Global Drug Development. In this role, Cathryn is responsible for ensuring the implementation of Patient Focused Drug Development across Novartis and developing and implementing patient centered policies.
Cathryn received her MD degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia and completed psychiatric residency training at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She practiced psychiatry for 13 years in Delaware, staying actively engaged in clinical research through her membership in the University of Pennsylvania Psychopharmacology Research group.
After receiving an MBA degree from the University of Delaware, Cathryn joined Pfizer in 1996 as Medical Director. Her 13 year career at Pfizer was one of continued advancement and in her last four years, she served as SVP of the US Medical group.. supporting a large portfolio. After leaving Pfizer, Cathryn took a role as Head, US Clinical Development and Medical Affairs at Ipsen, a French biopharmaceutical company, for three years, before joining Novartis.
Throughout her career, Cathryn has been interested and engaged in public affairs and public speaking on behalf of patients. This has led to engagements such as Congressional testimony on publications of pharmaceutical sponsored research in 2004 and presentations before the Institute of Medicine. She is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Cathryn has also published widely, mainly in psychiatric journals.
Dr. Karthick Sridhar
Vice Chairman (Indian Centre for Academic Rankings & Excellence Pvt Ltd (ICARE))
Bio
In a career spanning over a decade, Karthick Sridhar has served in the areas of Assessments, Rankings, Ratings & Accreditation in Higher Education, Information Technology, Retail, Healthcare, Social Entrepreneurship and Policy Formulation in Higher Education.
Karthick is currently the Vice Chairman of the Indian Centre for Academic Rankings & Excellence (ICARE), India’s pioneering Global Rankings Advisory Services Company. As an architect of India’s first Government approved Assessment & Ratings agency, he is acknowledged as a thought leader in the Indian Higher Education sector. With his keen interest & aspiration to building world class universities in India, Karthick is one of India’s most respected names and an accomplished expert with wealth of knowledge and experience of having worked with and advised prestigious global ranking & accreditation agencies and some of India’s prestigious institutions such as the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, IIT Delhi & Madras, BITS Pilani, Manipal and Amrita Universities and several State Governments.
Karthick has been invited for consultative meetings and discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee on multiple occasions which have led to development and launch of the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF), the Institution of Eminence (IOE) initiative and the appointment of Nodal Officers for mandatory Data Submission at all 116 Central Universities.
A global citizen, yet a true Indian at heart, the single most imperative goal Karthick wishes to achieve is ‘to witness the inclusion of at least 5 of India’s prestigious Universities in the Top 200 of the World University Rankings by 2025’.
In 2016, CNBC TV18 awarded him as the ‘Most Inspirational Young Entrepreneur of the Year’.
Dr. Archana Mantri
Pro Vice Chancellor (Chitkara university)
Bio
Dr. Archana Mantri is PhD in Electronics and Communication Engineering with 28 years of experience in Research, Development, Training, Academics and Administration of Institutes of Higher Technical Education. Her areas of expertise are Project Management, Problem and Project Based Learning, Curriculum Design & Development, Pedagogical Innovation and Management. Her areas of interest include Change Management, Education Technology, Cognitive Sciences, Predictive Analysis, Technical Writing, Assessment Technologies, Augmented Reality (AR) and Electronics & Communication Engineering. She is on the board of international experts in Indo-Universal Collaboration of Engineering Education (IUCEE) and advises in the areas of Pedagogical Innovations. She has worked on various contract research assignments in the areas of Innovation Management, Accreditation and Quality Enhancements. Currently, she is supervising several PhD Scholars in the areas of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). In her leisure time, she spends time with her family and reads and writes Urdu and Hindi poetry.
Parul Kumar
Global Head Patient and Stakeholder Engagement (UCB)
Bio
Sean Thomas
UK&I Managing Counsel - Corporate, Hardware & Services (Hewlett Packard Enterprise)Linkin
Bio
Sean Thomas lead a team of lawyers in the UK&I providing legal services to HPE’S USD 2.5B hardware (networking, storage and servers) and services business and manage UK&I legal support for corporate transactions (M&A, dividends and internal group restructurings), corporate governance and compliance / regulatory matters.
Sean has worked on a broad range on legal matters and transactions including a number of $100 million+ corporate and outsourcing deals, internal corporate group restructurings, competition law matters and regulatory filings.
Earlier, Sean was associate in the corporate department at Norton Rose Fulbright. Primarily advised a number of UK and international corporations on UK corporate matters and multi-jurisdictional mergers & acquisitions including multiple shareholder disputes for UK listed companies, BMW on a number of major M&A transactions, Nestlé on a number private company acquisitions in the UK and F&C Asset Management plc on a number of strategic transactions.
Sean provided regular advice on the Disclosure and Transparency Rules, Listing Rules, conflicts of interest, directors’ duties and company secretarial matters as well as advising UK private and listed companies on commercial matters, including commercial contracts, supply and purchase agreements, distribution agreements, investment agreements, leasing agreements, customer contracts and standard terms.
Adedayo Banwo
Senior Counsel (Deutsche Bank AG)
Bio
Adedayo is a Legal Counsel and Vice President at Deutsche Bank AG London Branch. Previously he was Counsel in the Office of General Counsel at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington and before that, an Associate at Simpson Thacher & Barlett LLP in New York. Adedayo is Co-Chair of the American Bar Association Task Force on Financial Engineering for Economic Development and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Michael Ellis
Group General Counsel (Abercrombie & Kent)Linkin
Bio
Michael Ellis is the Group General Counsel, Company Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer of the international luxury travel company Abercrombie & Kent (“A&K”). Mr. Ellis is responsible for the legal, risk, compliance and regulatory matters for the global business which encompasses 50 offices across all continents. Prior to joining A&K Mr Ellis was acting Group General Counsel of the offshore law firm Appleby and was based in the British Virgin Islands. Mr Ellis started his legal career in the London office of US law firm Dewey Ballantine before leaving to join GlobeOp Financial Services as their first European General Counsel.
Mr Ellis received his undergraduate degree in law and industrial psychology from the University of Natal, Durban, South Africa and his postgraduate degrees from Guildhall University, London and The College of Law, London. Mr Ellis was awarded General Counsel of the Year at the Luxury Law awards in 2015.
Dilip Chenoy*
Secretary-General (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry)
Bio
Dilip Chenoy is the Secretary General of FICCI. Dilip was till recently, Managing Director & CEO of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). The NSDC is a Public Private Partnership whose objective is to skill 150 million people in India by 2022 by fostering private sector investment and initiatives in training and skill development in 20 high growth sectors and the unorganized segment.
During his over five years at NSDC, the NSDC approved the funding of over 250 organisations and 38 Sector Councils. He is Chairman of the Board of Management of the Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology and also on the Governing Council of a Management School. Prior to NSDC, Dilip was Director General of the advocacy group for the automobile industry in India, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Chenoy has been a key influencer in the auto industry. He also represented SIAM on various Government Committees as well as on the board of the National Skill Development Corporation and the Steering Committee of the International Motorcycle Manufacturers Association.
Before joining SIAM, Dilip was Deputy Director General responsible for Industry Sectors and Associations Council (ASCON) covering, Agriculture, Life sciences and ICT in the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Dilip was the CII spokesperson and coordinated CII’s international work relating to the ASEAN.
Prior to his last assignment in CII, Dilip was part of an India team working on the competitiveness of Indian industry with Professor Michael Porter, Harvard Business School. He worked in industry prior to joining CII.
Kishan Chandarana
Head of Legal (The London Metal Exchange)Linkin
Bio
Kishan is the Head of Leagal for The London Metal Exchange. Immediately before joining The LME, Kish was Vice President of Business Development & Strategic Partnerships at Barclays Bank in London. Prior to this, Kishan was a Vice President in the Barclays Bank legal team for three years. Kishan trained as a solicitor at Clifford Chance during which time, he worked at the firm’s London, Warsaw and Amsterdam offices.
Kishan has a first class honours degree in law from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. While at university, Kishan worked as registered door supervisor (bouncer) as well as being a senior student in his university’s student halls of residence. Kishan was also president of the university law society and in his final year, the winner of the Company Law Prize. In 2009, Kishan received The Society of Asian Lawyers, Young Lawyer of the Year award.
Outside of work, Kishan enjoys theatre, playing squash and travelling to unusual destinations with friends.
Dr Maruthi Viswanathan
CEO (RxPrism Health Systems)Linkin
Bio
Dr Maruthi Viswanathan is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of a digital startup RxPrism Health Systems located in the Silicon Valley of India. A physician by education, Dr Maruthi is a dynamic visionary with international expertise in scientific education, medico-marketing communication, medical simulations, mobile applications, and innovative healthcare systems for patients and healthcare providers alike. Dr Maruthi has developed a unique 3-D software for scientific visualization and has several copyrights to his credit. An innovator par excellence, he has ideated, designed, and deployed a multitude of digital options for the top pharmaceutical companies worldwide.
Amit is the Country Head – India for edX – A joint venture of MIT & Harvard University that provides online courses from world’s top Institutes such as MIT, Harvard, Oxford, Columbia, IIT, IIM etc. for free, with a vision to provide free access to high quality education for everyone on this planet. He has hands on experience launching million dollar products in Ed-Tech and Telco/OEM in companies across UK, Europe and India. Amit is a firm believer of frugal innovation and his profile includes projects that attained significant limelight and disrupted the market. Amit has managed MHRD’s Aakash Tablet project, dubbed as Cheapest Tablet PC of the World as VP-Platform Strategy with Datawind, he then headed Fin-Tech and Education Solutions Business for Samsung India.
He has also tasted start-up failure as a founder of an E-learning company in UK. Unfortunately, the boot-strapped company was ahead of its time and had to close. Amit is now applying all his learning in his current role at EDX. Amit holds a MBA from Oxford Brookes University-Oxford.
David Eveleigh
Group General Counsel and Company Secretary (Serco)LinkinWebsite
Bio
David is a highly accomplished senior executive with over 20 years extensive experience operating at board level in a number of European and US multinational organizations. A strong lawyer, company secretary and experienced global general counsel who has shaped, implemented and driven BT’s global legal vision and strategy and has been based in both the UK and US he has joined the board of Serco as Group GC and company secretary. He has helped guide the board and raised £2bn by way of a rights issue and refinancing to help put the company on more solid financial ground.
He is a skilled negotiator and project manager; he is an expert at analysing proposed business initiatives and structuring them to optimise financial benefits and mitigate risk. He has a proven track record of managing transformational change both functionally and for the wider business, utilising robust governance and compliance programmes.
He is a charismatic and natural leader with an energetic and open approach and proven ability to build, motivate and lead a diverse worldwide team covering complex and diverse legal, regulatory and compliance issues delivering constant results.
Shobana Iyer
Barrister; Member, IT Panel Committee (The Bar Council)LinkinWebsite
Bio
Shobana is a Qualified Practising Barrister, called to the Bar of England and Wales in 1998 and completed pupillages in commercial (domestic & international practice) & chancery law in October 2002. She is also an accredited tutor for the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Her appointments include being an elected Member of the Bar Council. Shobana sits on the Bar Council’s Legal Services Committee and the IT Panel Committee and plays an active role in deciding on key issues affecting the profession and the wider community particularly in relation to the implementation of IT developments, Data Protection/Security and AI.
She was called to the Bar on23 July 1998 by the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn
Richard Tromans
Founder (Artificial Lawyer)
Bio
Richard Tomans has spent over 18 years working in the legal sector focused on the UK and global legal markets.
Since launching Tromans Consulting in 2015, Richard has advised many law firms and several law firm networks on a variety of strategic and innovation projects.
Richard previously worked at Jomati Consultants LLP in London as a Strategy Consultant and as the firm’s Head of Research, covering a variety of advisory work, initially in support and then directly, for clients across a wide range of jurisdictions and sector focuses. This included law firms, barristers chambers and litigation funders.
Prior to that, he has worked at US-based, Hildebrandt International, as Report Editor in its Strategic Intelligence Group, then the largest legal sector consultancy in the world. It was here where he also began my career as a consultant to law firms after being asked to contribute to client advisory projects.
T S V Ramana
CEO (CodeTantra)
Bio
Ramana has over 18 years of extensive product development experience in Java and J2EE technologies. Worked as Product Engineer with Pramati Technologies Pvt. Ltd., for 3 years and was one of the key architects of Pramati Studio, the world’s first complete J2EE IDE, which won many awards including “Product of the Year Award” from HYSEA in 2002.
He later joined IVY Comptech Pvt. Ltd., where he worked at various capacities from being a Sr. System Analyst to a Technology Architect. During his time at IVY Comptech, as a technology architect he was instrumental in building one of the most advanced and scalable online gaming platforms for PartyPoker.com.
He is an independent Technology Consultant, Technology Teacher, Motivational Speaker and is an active volunteer with many NGOs and social organizations. Has was formerly a co-founder at TalentSprint.
He is currently the founder CEO of CodeTantra a Hyderabad based technology startup which is revolutionizing the way programming is taught in colleges and universities across the country, through its cloud-hosted interactive teaching platform.
CodeTantra for its product Cloud-based Interactive Learning platform has been selected as one of Hyderabad’s top 10 Hot Startups, by HYSEA (Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association) during its annual awards in March 2016.
In the same year, NASSCOM has selected CodeTantra as one of India’s 140+ most innovative product companies during its NPC (National Product Conclave) in Bangalore.
Michael Barker
General Counsel (The Behavioural Insights Team )Linkin
Bio
An experienced legal, strategy and business development professional, Michael Barker is currently General Counsel (interim) with the Behavioural Insights Team, a social purpose company that is helping governments, NGOs and private sector institutions tackle some of the world’s most complex public policy challenges using behavioural sciences.
Prior to joining BIT, Michael Barker spent more than a decade working in top-tier international law firms, and have worked on a wide variety of cross-border M&A and restructuring transactions while based in London and Sydney. Michael Barker has completed bachelor’s degrees in law and information technology, and an MBA from London Business School, and have significant experience in the financial services, technology, media, energy and infrastructure sectors.
Michael Barker is interested in connecting with anyone working at the intersection of law and technology, or who just wants to discuss Australian sporting successes.
Natalie Abou-Alwan has over 15 years of experience in the global commodities trading industry, working in private practice (UK and US Wall Street), US investment bank, commodities trading house and oil major. Businesses leverage my legal and commercial expertise to support them in generating profits by harnessing their capabilities and driving them forward to realise their goals. Natalie Abou-Alwan has proven track record of advising on both the legal and commercial aspects of global commodities markets: crude oil, oil products, natural gas, LNG, power, emissions, coal, as well as softs and agricultural products. Her strengths in particular lie in advising on structured transactions, combining deep knowledge and experience of both physical and financial commodities markets, entrepreneurial financing structures and security packages. Most recently working with oil and gas producers, traders, originators, financiers and strategic partners. She was named as a Rising Star: Energy in the UK GC Powerlist 2017. Transferable skills, management and leadership experience and looking to diversify into non-executive and trustee roles.
Marie-Anne Birken
General Counsel (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development)Linkin
Bio
Marie-Anne Birken was appointed General Counsel at the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in June 2014. She is responsible for the Office of the General Counsel which includes the Legal department, the Operations and Administration Department and the Procurement Department. Ms Birken is a member of the Executive Committee and various other committees of the Bank such as the Operations Committee, Risk Committee and Strategy Planning Committee. Ms Birken joined EBRD from the Asian Development Bank where she was The Secretary and previously served as Deputy General Counsel and as Assistant General Counsel responsible for private sector operations. Ms Birken has extensive emerging markets experience and lived and worked in Asia from 1995 until 2014. She was previously a partner in two international law firms and held the position of regional general counsel at Barclays Bank where she supported corporate banking activities in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Ms Birken is a Dutch national; she has a Master’s degree in law from the University of Utrecht and also qualified as a solicitor in England & Wales.
Sophia Adams Bhatti
Director of Legal and Regulatory Policy (The Law Society)
Bio
Sophia Adams Bhatti is a public policy and regulation expert, having spent over 15 years in the regulatory and policy arena, working across a range of sectors, including legal services, financial services, economic regulation and healthcare. Sophia joined the Law Society in July 2016 where, as the Director, she leads the Society’s legal and regulatory policy team.
Dr Elin Haf Davies has combined her career in paediatric health and her passion for sport and extreme adventure.
Elin Haf Davies began her career as a Paediatric Nurse at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London before going on to gain a PhD from University College London. After eight years of clinical experience Elin moved to research and spent six years managing clinical and academic drug trials, in metabolic, neurology, endocrinology and pain. Her PhD was based on the development of age-appropriate and disease specific biomarkers and clinical endpoints in neurometabolic, with a focus on ataxia and gait.
In 2007 Elin moved to work at the European Medicine Agency Paediatric Team where, amongst other projects she evaluated over a 100 Paediatric Investigation Plans of drug trials in children during her six years there.
In 2014 Elin founded aparito – a digital health social enterprise using wearable technology and smart phone apps to monitor patients remotely.
In her free time Elin has a passion for extreme adventure to raise money for charities close to her heart. In 2007-2008 she rowed across the 2600 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, raising £190,000 for metabolic research at Great Ormond Street Hospital. Money that funded a PhD project that identified the value of Vitamin B6 for managing neonatal seizures, an area that Elin is now actively supporting in her professional capacity.
In 2009 Elin was part of the first all female crew to ever row across the Indian Ocean. The 3500 miles took 78 days to complete, but secured a place for the girls in the 2011 Guinness Book of Records. The challenge also raised over £26,000 for Breast Cancer Care.
In 2012 Elin completed her hat-trick of oceans by sailing 6000 miles across the north Pacific, in 30 days. This time raising money for Noah’s Arch that aims to establish the first children’s hospital in Wales.
Elin’s adventures over the years have raised over £250,000 for charities. She has been acknowledged by the Welsh Assembly for Services to Wales, published an honest and gritty account of her experiences “On Tempestuous Seas”, and was selected to carry the 2012 Olympic Torch.
Petra Jantzer
Managing Director (Life Science Organization, Accenture)Linkin
Bio
Dr. Petra Jantzer is a Managing Director in Accenture’s Life Science Organization.
Petra Jantzer is the CEO for LifeSciences in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, responsible for Accenture’s global services to our Pharmaceuticals and MedTech clients based in this geography. Petra also leads our European Accelerated R&D Services, helping our clients across the world to bring cutting edge innovation to patients in need.
Petra has more than 20 years’ experience in R&D, both as a consultant in the (bio)pharmaceuticals sector and as a researcher. Petra combines profound industry and R&D knowledge, deep business process understanding, and more than a decade of C-level counseling experience to help clients (digitally) transform their businesses.
Petra holds a PhD in immunology and an honors degree in molecular biology.
Suraj Sapra is a competent and passionate professional with a total of 10 years of experience in Digital Ad Sales, SAAS Sales, Key Account Management & Client Servicing.
Suraj Sapra is currently driving sales for NoPaperForms (SAAS cloud Based Platform for management of end to end admissions cycle for educational institutions) in the capacity of a Vice President responsible for business growth through market penetration and client acquisition.
His last assignment was with Shiksha.com (Info Edge India Ltd) as a Sr. Manager Sales & Client servicing – Key Accounts, for around 7 years.
Key member in building & creating awareness of shiksha.com since its inception through vast area coverage and effective sales presentations.
He has expertise in conceptualization of performance and branding solutions using Cost Per Measure (CPM), Cost Per Click (CPC), Cost Per Lead (CPL), Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) methods.
Suraj Sapra is proactive planner with expertise in devising effective strategies for augmenting business, identifying and penetrating new market segments, promoting products for business excellence.
Gemma Estrada Bertran
Director Digital Health & Technology (Ferrer)Linkin
Bio
Gemma Estrada Bertan is an Executive with solid background in Clinical Research as well as in Science who is committed to reimagine Pharma companies by leveraging “digital” on behalf of patients, doctors, payers, partners and employees to make sustainable impact on healthcare.
Gemma is happy to bridge and integrate different cultural environments for transnational projects. Gemma has the ability to drive the vision, enhance performance and effectively frame problems when they arise. Gemma relate to all team members, build trust and create the right spirit that ultimately allows the project to thrive.
Currently, Gemma is Director Digital Health and technology at Ferrer, a privately owned pharmaceutical and chemical company headquartered in Barcelona. Previously, Gemma developed the Harrison Clinical Research operation (HCR) in Spain and was its Managing Director during 12 years. Following the merger of Synteract, Inc with HCR, Gemma grew into the position of Regional Director of South Europe, Israel and Latin America.
Gemma’s major professional achievement was the establishment of the legal and financial infrastructure to operate in Argentina and Spain where we enabled 11 years of continuous growth.
Past experience also includes managing the Barcelona Clinical Trials Platform (BCTP), a strategic instrument promoted by the Health Department of the Catalan Government to strengthen clinical research capacity in the region.
As a young professional Gemma was monitor and project manager at J. Uriach & Cía (1995-1997) and Sanofi (1997-2000), as well as a research fellow at the Universitat de Barcelona (1989-1991), at the New England Medical Center -Tufts university, Boston, MA, (1992-1994), and an invited researcher at the Academish Medish Centrum – Universitat van Amsterdam (1993).
With regards to publications Gemma has contributed 20 articles in peer review journals and non indexed magazines.
Gemma cultivate an active network of relationships across multiple organizations and academia.
B. Muthuraman
Chairman (PanIIT Alumni Reach For Jharkhand Foundation.)
Bio
Mr. B. Muthuraman was the Vice Chairman of Tata Steel and Chairman of Tata International. He has held various leadership positions and has been a Director on Board of several companies. He has been conferred with prestigious “Padma Bhushan” award in 2012 from Government of India for his significant contribution to Indian Trade & Industry. He also served as Chairman on the Boards of IIT Kharagpur, XLRI Jamshedpur and NIT Jamshedpur. He has a Bachelor of Technology degree from IITM and has a Postgraduate degree in Management from XLRI Jamshedpur.
David J. Lewis
CMO Patient Safety (Novartis Pharma AG)Linkin
Bio
Dr David Lewis joined Patient Safety at Novartis in March 2007. He was EU QPPV from April 2009 then became Global Head of Pharmacovigilance Systems and Data Management. He has been Global Head of Pharmacovigilance since February 2011. Dr Lewis has experience of working in country affiliates and in a variety of global safety and risk management functions with both investigational and marketed products, as well as in roles concerned with systems and processes. Previous experience was gained at Shire Pharmaceuticals and at GSK. Dr Lewis is the author of papers on drug safety as well as research papers on neuropharmacology. He has a number of academic links, including being named Visiting Senior Fellow, Faculty of Health and Human Sciences, University of Hertfordshire. Dr Lewis is Project Coordinator for the WEB-RADR consortium @http://www.web-radr.eu. Outside of his scientific work Dave runs a smallholding and maintains an interest in retaining his advanced driving licence. He actively participates in various sports, having played cricket and hockey at representative level. He maintains that he will retire from competitive cricket when either of his sons, aged 24 and 26, end the season with a higher batting average and having taken more catches. Performances in 2016 have allowed him to look forward to playing again in the summer of 2017.
Rupert is Head of Insight at uMotif and has lead analytics projects across many different industries including digital health, media, public sector and financial services. He has a wide range of experience covering technologies for data mining, visualisation and programming and has a passion for making complex data analysis accessible.
Graeme Chapman
Health and Life Sciences Industry Solutions Executive (Microsoft)Linkin
Bio
Graeme Chapman is an experienced industry solutions professional delivering digital transformation to healthcare and pharmaceutical organisations in the UK.
Graeme also has experience in Central Government, Retail Banking, Insurance, Manufacturing and Utilities.
Graeme holds a Masters degree in Engineering and post graduate qualifications in Management and Marketing.
Anupam Razdan
Head of eDisclosure & Technology Innovation (RBS Legal)
Bio
Anupam Razdan is head of eDisclosure at The Royal Bank of Scotland. He and his team are responsible for all eDisclosure/eDiscovery activites at the bank. Anupam is a U.S. qualified attorney and a former engineer. His practice encompasses the disparate areas of law, technology and economics. He has represented both corporate and vendors in eDisclosure.
Abhijit Mukhopadhyay
President (Legal) & General Counsel at Hinduja Group (Hinduja Group)LinkinWebsite
Bio
Head of Legal and Company Secretary in several public / private sectors / Multinationals in India in thepositions of Chief General Manager, Director and Senior Vice President (one-step below Board level) andcurrently President (Legal) and General Counsel in Hinduja Group, London.
Abhijit Mukhopadhyay has done Graduations in Commerce (Honours) and Law from India and the UK. He is a qualified Company Secretary from India and Chartered Secretary from the UK and is a Fellow Member of The Institute of Company Secretaries of India and The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, UK.
Abhijit worked in India as Head of Legal and Company Secretary in six big public and private sector / multinational companies as Chief General Manager, Director and Senior Vice President (one step below Board level). Currently working as the President (Legal) and Company Secretary in Hinduja Group in London, ,Abhijit is involved in the Group’s worldwide legal matters covering international mediation/ arbitration, international litigation, strategic alliances, compliance of international sanctions, corporate governance and Board / Shareholder related issues, Intellectual Property Rights, M&A, negotiating international contracts, company structuring, Joint Ventures, anti-competition, etc. Abhijit was Company Secretary of a listed limited company in the UK and is a non-executive Director in Companies in five countries (Hinduja Group is a USD 15 billion Group with 80,000 people in 40 countries engaged in automobile, foundry, lubricant, power, banking, healthcare, defence, chemicals, explosives, media and BPO, thro’ its listed public and private companies). Abhijit is involved with many international organizations in various capacities as detailed below. Abhijit speaks in many international seminars globally and has written many articles in reputed international magazines.
In India, he was associated with the activities of apex Chambers of Commerce as Committee Members, Member of the Secretarial Standards Board of The Institute of Company Secretaries of India and was in the Guest Faculties of several Indian Universities. In 2010 in India Abhijit was listed as one of the top 50 legal professionals and in 2013, he was a nominee of Global General Counsel of India award.
James Batchelor
Director Clinical Informatics Research Unit, Faculty of Medicine (University of Southampton)
Bio
Professor James Batchelor is the Professorial Fellow of Clinical Informatics and Healthcare Innovation at the University of Southampton. He is also the Director of the Clinical Informatics Research Unit and the EDGE Programme, which is a collaborative group of NHS hospitals and research organisations working together to support and improve the Research and Development process through the development of the EDGE Software. James is also a Committee member and advisor to the Republic of Ireland e-Health Programme as well as being involved in the development of clinical research standards, Genomics and Integrated BioMedical Informatics Platforms. James has worked in this area of research for over 19 years and is well-known within the research community, both in the United Kingdom and overseas.
Dr. Ranjan Banerjee
Dean (S. P. Jain Institute of Management & Research )
Bio
Dr. Ranjan Banerjee’s research interests lie in the areas of agency theory applications to marketing channels and sales force management, structural models, field experiments related to the impact of incentives and payment systems, behavioural economics etc. His pedagogical research centers around the faculty student relationship and the impact of experiential learning methods.
His teaching interests center around innovation and design thinking, behavioural economics, sensory branding, long tail marketing. Pedagogy related teaching interests center around learning to learn, and teaching with simulations.
Deepak Menon
Regional Director, Emerging Markets ( Village Capital)Linkin
Bio
Deepak Menon comes to Village Capital after 5 years with mDhil Health Info Services, a health startup based in Bangalore, India, where he served as the COO. Prior to mDhil, he spent 18 months with Quest Alliance, a non-profit focused on education & vocational training, where he worked primarily on program evaluation & partnership management. Before Quest, he spent 4 years with Microsoft- during this period, he was part of a team where the mandate was to build partnerships & run programs with non-profits as well as social enterprises working in health, education or financial inclusion. The goal of these pilots was essentially to explore the role of technology in improving mission outcomes for these organizations.Deepak has also worked in the non-profit / social impact space in the early years of his career, before joining Microsoft. He holds a BA degree from Bangalore University & an MBA from T.A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal.
Dr. Rupamanjari Ghosh is the second Vice-Chancellor of Shiv Nadar University. Her term as the Vice-Chancellor began on February 1, 2016. In addition, she has the charge of Dean of Research and is the head of the Faculty Development Center.
Dr. Ghosh joined the University in July, 2012, as the Founding Director of the School of Natural Sciences (SoNS) and the Dean of Research and Graduate Studies. She has played a key role in shaping the vision and mission of the School.
Prior to joining the University, Dr. Ghosh has served as the Dean of School of Physical Sciences at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, along with many other important academic and administrative positions. She has held several visiting faculty/scientist positions on invitation abroad and delivered numerous invited research seminars. Recipient of the Stree Shakti Science Samman for her ‘original contribution to Science’, she serves as an expert on the Department of Science and technology (DST), Government of India committees in Physical Sciences; and in many central and state universities and institutes. Having contributed to science research and training from the university to the school level, she has also served as the Chief Advisor for the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) Science textbooks for Classes IX and X, developed afresh under the National Curriculum Framework – 2005.
Dr. Ghosh has a Masters of Science degree in Physics from the University of Calcutta, India, and Ph.D. from the University of Rochester, NY, where she worked as a Rush Rhees Fellow, selected for ‘outstanding scholarly ability and the promise of exceptional contributions to scholarship and teaching.’ Her pioneering work with Prof. L. Mandel on two-photon interference (using the nonlinear optical process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion) has yielded new direction in quantum optics and quantum information in the creation and use of a source of entangled photon pairs, and of single photons, is at the forefront of research today
Her research interests include Experimental and Theoretical Quantum Optics’ Laser Physics; Nonlinear Optics and Quantum Information. As a researcher; teacher; orator and an academic administrator par excellence, Dr. Ghosh is well known for her stand and efforts to support the cause of gender justice and environment consciousness in the higher education system.
Zeshan Ghory
Vice President of Strategy (Antidote)
Bio
Zeshan Ghory is Vice President of Strategy at Antidote, the online platform for matching patients to clinical trials. A major part of his role is taking a data-driven approach to measure and deliver successful outcomes for patients, trial sponsors and partners.
He has over 15 years experience building and investing in technology and data solutions across Europe, Japan, and the US, including projects for several leading life science companies such as Novartis, Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, and Baxter Healthcare.
Zeshan has a degree in Mathematics from Imperial College, London and an MBA from INSEAD, France.
Madhuri Parti
Head (Lakshmipat Singhania Education Foundation)Linkin
Bio
Madhuri Parti is a visionary and futuristic educationist. She has a vast experience in setting start-up schools and has spearheaded various schools Pan India and played a vital role in the evolution of the learning experience. She has joined Shri Ram New Horizon as a Group Director and has previously worked with Educomp as Director- Education. With an experience of over two decades she has been actively involved in building learning environments, developing out of the box curriculum and promoting hands on learning. Her expertise in the field of Education spans a spectrum of specializations setting up new schools, branding & positioning, planning, rollout & operations support, teacher recruitment & training, curriculum design & development (Indian & International curricula), class room transactions, assessment, institutional audits and quality control.
She has also brought a paradigm shift in the learning framework and has executed the 21st century learning methodology, which includes collaborative learning adding creativity and innovation and honing the critical thinking and problem solving skills of students. She supports learning in a safe environment, promotes media and technology literacy in classroom, and is focused on producing creative and innovative thinkers for global competition. She has been honored at national and international levels –
• Received the International Professional of the Year award by the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England
• Featured in the Marquis Who’s Who book, honoring successful individuals from different spheres of life
• Received the Doors to Diplomacy Platinum Award by the U.S. State Department for facilitating an international project on International Relations and Diplomacy
• Presented the Rajiv Gandhi Award for Excellence in Education by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation
• Received the Congressional Youth Leadership Award by the Global Youth Leadership Conference, Chicago
• Received the Most Innovative Principal Award by AuroYouth for pioneering a range of educational experiments
She believes that children can be moulded the way we want to, we just have to let them experience the joy of learning.
P. B. Kotur is a General Manager and Global Head – Higher Education, Talent Transformation, Wipro Limited, Bangalore.
Work Experience
In his 24+ years of overall IT career, he has been involved in teaching, training, evangelizing campus programs, creating and implementing the Work-Integrated Learning Programs and development activities.
He has been associated with Wipro for the last 18+ years and spearheaded several game changing academic and business initiatives in the Organization.
Prior to joining Wipro, he worked as a Faculty in the Department of Computer Science, Basaveshwar Engineering College, Bagalkot, Karnataka. He has worked on Internet Security Algorithms at Motorola India during his dissertation work.
Qualification
He got the FIRST RANK in his the Master’s degree in Engineering from Bangalore University.
He has done General Management Program (GMP) from IIM Bangalore under a Wipro-IIM Bangalore Collaborative Program.
He completed the “Leadership and Change Management” Training at IIM Ahmedabad
Leadership and Initiatives
Currently, Mr. Kotur is the Head of the following initiatives in Wipro:
* Global Freshers Engagement – As the Head of the Global Freshers Program, he is responsible for Design, Development and Deployment of technical training programs for all the freshers joining Wipro. He has trained over 100,000 freshers in the last one decade and transformed them to be successful Professionals in the organization.
* Localization Programs – He has been heading the global skills development programs across the US, UK, Australia, France, Germany, China, Japan, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Singapore and Middle East as part localization drive.
* TalentNext – He launched this Corporate Social Responsibility Initiate in pursuit of excellence in Engineering Education in India, where the Professors of Engineering Colleges are trained on Digital Skills at Wipro. Over 200 Professors from 60 Engineering Colleges are provided the Digital skills training and they in turn have trained over 10,000 students.
* Pre-Joining Program (PJP) – He designed and developed PJP program to prepare the Premier Schools recruits with Project required skills while they are in their final semester and take up the online and proctored assessments before joining. Over 5,000 students who had Wipro Offers are trained.
* WASE (Wipro Academy of Software Engineering) – an Industry Academia collaboration with BITS Pilani (Rajasthan) to nurture science graduates on industry-ready skills. He has guided over 14,000 graduates over a decade. This initiative got a global recognition CUX (Corporate University Exchange, USA) award for its innovative methodologies and excellence in developing new generation skills in the industry. Currently over 6,000 fresh science graduates are pursuing their higher studies in this academy.
* WiSTA (Wipro Software Technology Academy) – He is also responsible for launching another industry academia collaborative learning program with VIT, Vellore (TN), for providing Masters degree in Data Science, VLSI & Embedded, Information Technology (IT) and Systems and Design Engineering. Currently over 5,000 fresh science graduates are pursuing their higher studies in this academy.
* NOTCH UP – He designed this higher education program for senior employees of the organization to provide them the management program
in collaboration with Symbiosis University, Pune to provide the Management, Sales & Marketing, Finance & Leadership skills.
* Foreign Language Academy (FLA) – As a Leader of this Academy, he is responsible for enabling cross-culture and language proficiency amongst the employees, who will be traveling onsite or work with customers with specific language needs.
Advisory Role
Mr. Kotur has been associated with many Institutes and Universities as an Industry Advisor and the member of the Governing Council. He helped Universities to create the Industry Ready Curriculum towards enhancing the learnability and employability.
Mr. Kotur represented Wipro in the NASSCOM Governing Council, New Delhi.
He also provided his able guidance to the Committee of Special Projects, Govt of Maharashtra towards creating employability for non-engineering graduates.
He served as the Advisory member, ADVANCED CENTRE FOR RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT & TRAINING IN CYBER LAW & FORENSICS, National Law School of India University, Bangalore (https://www.nls.ac.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=257&Itemid=94 )
He was also member of the India Advisory Council of New York University, which was established under the eminent advice of Dr. Sam Pitroda.
Technical Publications
Mr Kotur has authored several technical books on Computers and Information Technology. Some of them are university prescribed textbooks.
1. Object Oriented Programming with C++
2. Computer Concepts and C Programming
3. Data Structures with C
4. C Programming and Data Structure
5. Computer Science for First Year PUC
6. Computer Science for Second Year PUC
7. Computer Thilivalike, Bangalore University Publication
8. Computer Ellarigagi, Sapna Book House, Bangalore
9. Computer Shikshana-I, for first year D.Ed, Govt of Karnataka
10. Computer Shikshana-II, for second year D.Ed, Govt of Karnataka,
11. Basic Programming and Computer Applications, for secondary schools in Karnataka, DESRT, Bangalore
12. Computer Jnana, for secondary schools in Karnataka, DESRT, Bangalore
Non-Technical Publications
Mr Kotur has published two non- technical books (poetry)
1. Kavyanjali
2. Bhakti Kudal Bhava sangama
Research Papers
Some of his scholarly articles and interviews on “Education and Technology” are published in Times of India, The Hindu, DNA, Deccan Herald, Prajavani and Samyukta Karnataka.
He has presented several research papers at various National and International conferences.
Media Featuring
All India Radio (AIR), Dharwad had broadcast his talks on science and Information Technology
CNBC TV18 broadcast his interview on corporate programs.
TV7, one of the top TV Channels in Orissa state in India broadcast his interview on Internship and industry engagement
Social Media
Mr. Kotur is an active Social media member on Yammer, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. He is followed by thousands of people across the world.
Raghav Podar is at the steering wheel of India’s highly acclaimed Podar Education Group.
As Chairman Podar Schools, he is a path-breaking educationist and a thought leader on constructing optimal learning environments. His multi-city, multi-brand schools have presence across geographies.
Helming such a revered institution, the Podar group of schools on his young shoulders, is a tall order. Especially, a legacy handed down from the first President of his trust, Mahatma Gandhi.
Mr. Raghav Podar’s contribution to the field of education and society is commendable and he has been bestowed with many awards for his contributions in the field of education and nation building including:
The Bhaskar – Pride of India Award in 2012
The Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 – Education Industry
“Gem of India” and “Arch of Excellency Award” for Education at the All India Achievers Conference 2014
“Global Achievers Award” by His Excellency, Indian Ambassador to UAE in 2016
“Glory of India Award” by His Excellency, Deputy PM of Thailand in 2016
The University of Texas and University of Warwick educated Raghav Podar makes a strong distinction between educationist-run schools and businessman-led schools, also personally supports the Impacct Foundation that focuses on improving paediatric cancer treatment and care for the poor.
Priyank Narayan
Director – Entrepreneurship Programs (Ashoka University)Linkin
Bio
Priyank Narayan is the Founding Director of the Centre for Entrepreneurship at Ashoka University, a leading liberal Arts University based in Delhi NCR, India. As an educator, researcher, eco-system builder and an entrepreneur, he has contributed significantly in building a culture of entrepreneurship in India.
Priyank started his career with IBM. Prior to Joining Ashoka University, Priyank was an entrepreneur and continues to mentor a number of startups. As an educator, he has held a teaching position at the IIT Delhi and been a guest faculty in a number of management institutes in the country. Priyank has been instrumental on bridging global entrepreneurship eco-systems with India. In the last few years he has represented India in a number of global forums on entrepreneurship and education.
An alumnus of AIM, Manila and IIM Ahmedabad, Priyank is an avid golfer and a licensed scuba diver. He is also trained in Indian classical music.
Sonu Raina
Senior Operations Leader (GE Healthcare)Linkin
Bio
Sonu Raina is a senior leader in GE Healthcare presently is responsible for directing execution of all skilling programs of GE Healthcare. She has a post graduate engineering degree from Germany and have 16 years of international & domestic experience. She has rich experience of creation, development and growth of businesses while helping external & internal customers gain greater value through solutions and effective performance driven implementation.
4 years ago, She got an opportunity to work on a new GE Healthcare initiative focused on healthcare education. The mission of this initiative is to educate, engage and empower the youth of our country and then to scale this to all developing regions. In her existing role, we have been able to bring an innovative model to skilling in India, where we have partnered with Tata Trusts. This program has charted a path for innumerable youth from rural pockets of the country in need of direction in their careers. What they are trying to do in broad terms, is to transform lives of individuals and families, improve patient care and ensure better patient outcome.
Michael Mullane
Innovation Lead (NIHR Clinical Research Network)
Bio
Michael Mullane has worked in digital for over 25 years. Mick has a track record in delivering innovative solutions built on technology, from working with some of the first educational broadband and networks in the 1990’s, to early online and social learning systems in the 2000’s. pioneering the use of SMS text, podcast solutions 10 years ago to a more recently leading the shift of the NIHR onto a collaborative cloud based computing platform, and designing the first NIHR research ‘app’ involving a complete consent process.
Mick is a firm believer in the ability of technology to provide an individual with more choice, facilities and importantly more control over their own lives, personal networks and data.
Mick is currently working to bring ‘apps’ into mainstream research, to give the patient and participant a greater voice in research, and to connect researchers and patients to the right research. With a strong belief in putting the patient at the very centre of the experience.
Mick lives on the Yorkshire Coast and can be found either on a bike, on a boat, or walking his dog, Bramble.
Sally Rennison
Business Development and Procurement Lead (Patients Know Best®)
Bio
With 5 years experience in electronic patient records, Sally moved to Patients Know Best to join a more patient centric company. As part of the Business Team at PKB she is am responsible for business growth and retention for Scotland, the North West, West Midlands and Wales . Sally also oversees all procurement activities within the organisation.
Sarah Cooper
Business Development Manager (NIHR Clinical Research Network)
Bio
Sarah Cooper is the Business Development Manager (Commercial) for the NIHR Clinical Research Network. Sarah facilitate key discussions between industry and Clinical Research Network and Sarah is a point of contact for life sciences companies engaging with the Clinical Research Network. Sarah provide advice to companies on how they are able to tap in to the Clinical Research Network services to ensure clinical studies are set up quickly, efficiently and ensure they recruit to time and target.
With a degree in Medical Biochemistry, Master in Human Nutrition and PhD in Clinical Nutrition Sarah Cooper has worked with the Clinical Research Network for the past 6 years. Sarah’s first role with the network was to support the national clinical leads across a range of therapeutic areas. Prior to working with the network Sarah worked as a Clinical Researcher for over 10 years delivering a range of studies in both community and hospital settings. Sarah has several peer review published articles.
Prof. (Dr.) Pankaj Gupta, Ph.D is a Fulbright Fellow, CMA, GCPCL (Harvard), Fellow of ICAI and an alumnus of Lucknow University and IIM Ahmedabad.
He has over 25 years’ professional experience to his credit and a very successful track record as an academic and an exceptional Institution Builder with several top organizations such as IMT Ghaziabad, SIBM (Symbiosis) Bangalore, Educomp Raffles / JRE, IIM Kozhikode, University of Washington (USA), SP Jain (Dubai and Singapore), IIM Raipur, IIM Rohtak, Jaipuria Group, ICSI among others.
Under leadership of Prof. Gupta, both SIBM Bangalore and JRE School of Management became one of the leading B-Schools in India in a short span of time. IIM Ahmedabad is writing a Case Study on Jaipuria Group on its transformation journey.
He has written several books and research papers and has delivered guest talks/ invited presentations in several Top Business Schools in India and abroad. He has been a resource person with British Council, Fulbright Commission, UPSC, Planning Commission, PHD Chamber, UPPSC, AIT, Zensar etc.
He has conducted several Executive Education Programs / Consulting. Some of the organizations which have benefited from training / consulting of Prof. Gupta include Maruti, Dabur, GE Capital, Ericsson, Electrolux, NTPC, LIC, Genpact, Bry Air, Samtel, Elin Electronics, Shriram Pistons, IREDA, NEC Corp, CBI, Indian Navy etc.
He has won several honors including ‘Fulbright Fellowship’, ‘Valuable Contribution to Profession Award’ by ICAI, ‘Most innovative idea in management education award’ etc
Selected Specialties: Financial Accounting, Management Accounting, Strategic Cost Management, Management Control Systems, New Business Development, Management Education, Transformational Leadership and Turnaround Management, Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility, Academic Audit, Academic Quality Assurance System, International Collaborations, International Accreditations such as AACSB, AMBA, EQUIS etc.
Steph Meleck
Operational Account Manager (uMotif)
Bio
Steph is Operational Accounts Manager at uMotif. Previously she has worked in the NHS within psychological therapies and in account management across advertising, market research and a technology startup within the healthcare industry.
Satish Iyer is Yet Another Computer Cog who believes that while the future is digital, life will remain analog. In a diverse career that began 22 years ago with his B.Tech final year project on “Character Recognition using Artificial Network Networks” Satish has donned many hats – defining the technology roadmap for large clients, implementing solutions, managing complex projects, building and managing large teams, consulting for portfolio rationalization, process consulting and managing customer support. Currently, as the Chief Technology Officer of the Indian School of Business (ISB), he is driving the Digital Transformation at the institution towards a unique, differentiated experience for all its stakeholders, particularly its students. Satish lives in Hyderabad with his wife Lakshmi and daughters, Samyukta & Sanjana. He writes short stories atsatishkvasan.wordpress.com.
Dr. Ranendra N Saha
Director (BITS Pilani-Dubai Campus)
Bio
Dr. Ranendra Narayan Saha is Shri B K Birla & Shrimati Sarala Birla Chair Professor (Senior Professor of Pharmacy) and Director of BITS Pilani Dubai Campus. In 2011 he has been awarded Shri B. K. Birla and Shrimati Sarala Birla Chair Professorship at BITS Pilani for contributions in teaching and research. He has vast experience in the field of Pharmacy especially in Pharmaceutics, novel drug delivery systems and Pharmacokinetics. He received “Pharmacy Professional of the Year 2013” Award given by Indian Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and Technologists. He is also recipient of “The Best Pharmacy Teacher Award” for the year 2005, awarded by Association of Pharmaceuticals Teachers if India (APTI), in recognition of his contribution in teaching and research in the field of Pharmacy.
He has more than 33 years of teaching, research and administrative experience. He is also a Senate and Research Board Member of BITS, Pilani. Has hold several administrative position before being appointed Director of BITS Pilani Dubai Campus. He was Head, Dept of Phramcy, In-charge of Doctoral Programme, Dean of Faculty, Dean of Educational Development Division, Deputy Director (Administration) of BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus, Deputy Director (Research and Educational Development) of BITS Pilani (university) and driving research agendas for all 4 campuses of BITS Pilani.
Dr. Ranendra N Saha has successfully completed several projects funded by industries and government funding agencies. He has transferred 5 product technologies to Pharma industries. One controlled release product designed by Dr. Saha has been granted Indian Patent and commercialized and launched to Indian market from 2005 by Ipca Laboratories limited, Mumbai by the name Zerodol CR and Movon CR. Presently he is working on projects sponsored by Industries and Government agencies.
He has already guided 16 doctoral students and is currently supervising 8 doctoral candidates. He has guided about 100 M.Pharm Dissertation Projects and many project students in various laboratory oriented, study oriented, and special projects in the undergraduate and post graduate level.
Dr. Ranendra N Saha is on advisory board and selection committee member of a number of Universities in India and abroad. He has published more than 90 papers in international, national journals and presented more than 100 papers in Conferences/ Seminars/ Symposiums. He has also delivered several invited lectures at Seminars and Conferences, Universities in India and abroad.
He has visited abroad on several occasions on invitation from universities and associations to deliver lectures. He has organized several national and international conferences. He organized one International Symposium on Advances in Drug Delivery Systems at Damascus, Syria on invitation from ASST (Arab Societies of Science and Technology, Syria).
He is also member of many scientific associations and societies like Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India (APTI); Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA); Indian Society of Technical Education (ISTE); Controlled Release Society Inc., USA; American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), USA; American Chemical Society, USA; Controlled Release Society, Indian Chapter.
Shrikant Sinha
CEO (NASSCOM Foundation)
Bio
As the CEO of NASSCOM Foundation, the social development arm of the Indian IT-BPM industry body –NASSCOM, Shrikant Sinha is leading the technology for good movement in the country. Through his unique perspective and diverse and rich experience spanning over 28 years, he has taken NASSCOM Foundation to newer heights and helped it create much larger impact. His involvement in the gamut of programs also gives him a chance to interact with numerous NGOs, leaders from the CSR space, policy makers from across the government, youth innovators and early stage social start-ups.
Shrikant has also been championing the cause of collaborative CSR, where corporates can join hands for a common cause, with government and non-government entities to solve social issues and create large scale impact.
As a respected leader in the space, Shrikant serves as a member of the technology advisory group for ‘Girls in IT’, and in also a part of the working group of ‘Technology Development for Indian Languages Program’ run by the Government of India He is also the head for the strategy group for Pro-Bono Volunteering at CII’s India@75 initiative.
Earlier in his career, Shrikant has played a pivotal role in the success of APTECH both in India as well as in Latin America & the Middle East. Prior to joining NASSCOM Foundation, he was based out of Malaysia, working as Head Corporate learning, APAC and MENA, at GlobalNxt University (formerly U21Global), an Online Graduate School, helping thousands of people working in corporates across the Asia-pacific, Middle-east and North African regions with limited or no access to good quality academic opportunities.
Utkarsh Amitabh works at Microsoft and is the Founder of Network Capital, a global peer mentoring and career navigation community serving over 32000 young leaders in 104 countries. He is a World Economic Forum Global Shaper who represented the community at Davos. Utkarsh graduated as the Andy Burgess Scholar for Social Entrepreneurship from INSEAD. He is a TEDx speaker, Penn Social Impact House Fellow and a Young India Fellow. Utkarsh’s articles have been published by the World Economic Forum, Quartz, Indian Express and Scroll. Utkarsh is also a trained actor and played “Major Metcalf” in the world’s longest running play.
Ashwin Fernandes
Regional Director – Middle East, North Africa & South Asia (QS World University Rankings)
Bio
Ashwin Fernandes is Regional Director for Middle East, North Africa & South Asia at QS Intelligence Unit. He has been with the QS Quacquarelli Symonds group since 2012, initially starting off from the regional office in Singapore. QS Intelligence Unit (QSIU) is an autonomous department of QS, headquartered in London, and is an independent source of global intelligence about the higher education sector. QSIU is also responsible for compiling the various university rankings that QS is widely known for and offers a range of business intelligence and evaluation services.
Ashwin works closely with universities in the region in order to understand their current and future plans and help them optimise their resources. His role is to advise and consult with them on ways to improve their quality, internationalise themselves and create a global brand for their university.
He is also responsible to liaise with governmental and public agencies in these regions to create a strong affiliation with QS, which would help in better understanding the local institutions and helping them promote their country as a whole. In the course of his work, he has met with senior leaders from the region
Ashwin is also the CEO and board member for QS’s India venture, QS IGAUGE, which is India’s first nationwide higher education rating system for colleges and universities. He is currently pursuing his PhD on the topic of branding and academic reputation in university rankings. He has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Marketing degree along with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Financial Accounting, Auditing & Taxation.
Gerald Jaideep
CEO (Medvarsity)
Bio
Mr. Gerald Jaideep is the Chief Executive Officer of Medvarsity Online Ltd. Prior to this, he was the Chief Operating Officer of Simplilearn Solutions Private Limited since November 2014. A startup specialist, Jaideep has worked for most of his 21-year career
in the startup sector. He started his career with an entrepreneurial venture and founded his own company called as Quadrant Creations and in 2012 his second venture Colorshots.
Apart from being a startup evangelist, Jaideep has also worked with established companies like Logica PLC (a CGI Company) in India &UK , mobile application services provider Ducont.com in the Middle East as a principal consultant and as an innovation strategist with Erehwon Innovation Consulting Pvt. Ltd. In the education field he
was also associated with NIIT, one of the leading learning enablement company and was heading the India operations for Elementk/Skillsoft, one of the largest learning companies globally.
Sandeep Mishra
Country Director – India (Stir Education)Linkin
Bio
Sandeep Mishra is Country Director of STIR in India. He manages STIR’s overall operations in different states of the country with truly committed team of 80+ professionals based in 5 different locations of the country. He has over a decade and half experience working on issues related with Child Protection, Education and Basic Human rights and has been associated with organizations like Save the Children, Azim Premji Foundation, USAID-SDPP, and National Coalition for Education prior to STIR. He holds advance post graduate degrees in Philosophy, Education and Education Financing. He believes that teachers are key agents of change and investing in teachers’ professional capacity could exponentially increase the rate of returns in the form of student learning.
Sidharth Agarwal
Director, Organizational Development - Asia Pacific , Africa and Middle East (Teach For All)Linkin
Bio
Sidharth Agarwal serves as the Director, Organizational Development at Teach For All and supports partners in the MENA and Asia Pacific region. Prior to joining Teach For All, Sidharth served as the City Director of Pune at Teach For India for 3 years and grew the site to a strength of 180 Fellows across 45 schools and drove critical strategic decisions as part of TFI’s leadership team. He also headed Teach For India’s National Alumni Impact team as its interim director. Before that he was a participant in Teach For India’s founding cohort of 2009 and taught 3rd and 4th grades in a government school in Pune. Prior to joining Teach For India, Sidharth worked at GE as a Senior Consultant in the Lean and Six Sigma practice where he helped various GE businesses in process reengineering. Sidharth has a Bachelors in Economics from Fergusson College, Pune and an MBA from S.P. Jain, Mumbai/Dubai.
Raphael Nolden is the CEO and founder of Jaipuna, a New Zealand company which is creating an AI based private tutor for maths called Amy. Amy is different to other online math software because she understands the students and teaches them like a human. Raphael studied medical physics and history and developed a patent in medical technology before he became a lecturer of mathematical modelling. He was heavily involved in the tech startup ecosystem and sat on the board of Canterbury Angel Investors before Founding Jaipuna.
S. K. Rathor
Founder, Chairman & MD (Sanfort Group of Schools)
Bio
SK Rathor, M.Sc. & M. Phil. in Physics and MBA in marketing started his career as Computer Engineer in one of the top IT Company of the country in 1991. After four and half years of his services he started his own Computer Company and he started first preschool in 1999. He travelled to several countries to understand different preschool education systems and adopted U. K. Concept for his preschools.
Vijay Chadda
CEO (Bharti Foundation)
Bio
Vijay Chadda is the Chief Executive Officer of Bharti Foundation, the development arm of Bharti Enterprises, one of India’s leading business groups with interests in telecom, agri business, financial services, retail, realty, and communication & media devices.
Bharti Foundation was set up in 2000 with a vision ‘to help underprivileged children and young people of our country realize their potential’. The Satya Bharti School Program was launched as its flagship initiative, aiming to provide quality education, free of cost, to underprivileged children in rural India, with a special focus on the girl child. Continuing on the tradition of contributing towards the nation’s agenda, the Foundation has recently announced ‘Satya Bharti Abhiyan’, an initiative to improve rural household sanitation facilities.
As the CEO of Bharti Foundation, Vijay has played a key role in project expansion and enhancement of quality standards and system efficiency, while constantly keeping the team morale high to deliver their best in challenging circumstances. He has led the development of the organization and its education programs at primary, elementary and senior secondary standards. Through his experience, clear vision and strategic thinking, he has also been able to establish a successful and replicable model of Public Private Partnership. The Satya Bharti School Program provides free quality education to over 42,000* children from marginalized communities in rural areas, through its 254 schools (249 primary/elementary and five senior secondary schools) across six Indian states.
Under Vijay’s leadership, learnings and best practices of the Satya Bharti School Program have been taken to the Government schools, under the aegis of the Quality Support Program, to improve the overall quality of the schooling experience. He has guided the organization to broaden its scope from running its own schools to engaging deeply with the Government and mentoring Government schools to enhance the quality of education through need-based interventions.
In an endeavour to constantly expand Bharti Foundation’s horizons and impact on education, Vijay has led the organisation to participate in a prestigious international initiative through the Satya Bharti Learning Centres Program. Under this, Bharti Foundation has joined hands with Educate a Child, a new global initiative launched by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser of Doha, Qatar, to bring out of school children back into schools and ensure continued quality education for children. Bharti Foundation has been chosen as one its four global strategic partners.
He is spearheading the ‘Satya Bharti Abhiyan’ initiative, which is under implementation in the focus area of rural Ludhiana. Through this initiative the Foundation aims to improve rural household sanitation facilities and build toilets for girls in government schools in the villages of Ludhiana, where no such facility exists. Till now over 13,000* Individual toilets have been handed over to beneficiaries, and 14 girls’ toilets have been built in government schools in the villages of Ludhiana.
Vijay has over forty years of professional experience in different fields. He has served in the Indian Army for twenty years and has headed some of the leading corporates in the travel and hospitality industry. It was his innate desire to contribute to society in a meaningful and substantive way that drew him from the corporate world to the Foundation. His army background has inspired many processes and events to inculcate a sense of patriotism and integrity within the school program.
A graduate from the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, Pune, India and the Canadian Forces Command and Staff College Toronto, Canada; Vijay has also completed his M.Sc. in Defence Studies from Madras University.
Vijay has served on the board of significant Travel & Tourism Associations and is a part of various National Committees in the area of Education, Skill Development and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). He has represented the organization at various renowned national forums. Vijay is a member of the India – Malaysia CEOs Forum (CII) and is also on the Advisory Committee of leading schools and educational institutions.
K.Thiagarajan
COO (Agastya International Foundation)
Bio
Mr. K.Thiagarajan heads the operations of Agastya International Foundation, a non profit which runs world’s largest hands-on Mobile Science Lab program serving the education needs of economically backward school children. Besides operations, he is involved with Policy, Scaling & replication, Funding, People development and Innovations in products and services for the foundation.
A Chemical Engineer from IIT Madras, he holds an MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad and has spent 33 years working in corporate sector serving diverse sectors such as Engineering, IT, IT Enabled Services and Infrastructure as President, MD & CEO before moving to the social sector 9 years ago, with Agastya.
He has lectured in leading Business Schools including the IIMs, Indian School of Business in India and Global schools such as Yale School of Management, London Business School and Kellogg in Northwestern.
He is well travelled and has a wide range of interests in Sports and Indian classical music.
Vinesh Menon
CEO- Education, Consulting & Skilling Services (Vibgyor Group of Schools)LinkinTwitter
Bio
Vinesh Menon is a seasoned professional with over 25 years of value delivery to diverse industries behind him. He has served organizations like ABN, AMRO Bank, Bajaj Capital and Fullerton India across the spectrum of the consumer finance products in various senior management capacities. He is VIBGYOR group of schools CEO for Education, Skilling & Consulting services with a focus on enhancing vocational training & education services in line with the state and central government initiatives in these domains.
Tristha Ramamurthy
VP (CMR Group of Institutions)
Bio
Ms. Tristha Ramamurthy founded Ekya Schools to bring pedagogically sound, research-based learning experiences to India. She spearheads K-12 initiatives under the CMR Group, overseeing state board, CBSE, ICSE and pre-university institutes, with an overall strength of 7500 students. Ms. Ramamurthy brings cutting edge educational advancements to Ekya through her exposure to the principles of the Project Zero Classroom from Harvard University, inquiry based learning from the Reggio Emilia approach in Italy, and design thinking from the Stanford d.school.
Ms. Ramamurthy holds a Bachelor’s degree from Singapore Management University and a Master’s degree from the Stanford University School of Graduate Education. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Education from King’s College, London. Her past research has focused on topics including educational equity, teacher motivation, education policy and curriculum construction.
Tamal Chowdhury is a distinguished AI Executive and CTO with extensive experience in AI-powered product & platform engineering, cognitive automation, data science & machine learning, digital transformation, and next-generation technology research & development. He specializes in building global innovation structures for large-scale IP generation; transforming organizations through state-of-the-art technologies; and commercializing new ideas to fuel business growth. He is a futurist and technology strategist, and is passionate about leveraging Artificial Intelligence to solve complex challenges of the real world.
Tamal currently serves as SVP and Head of Artificial Intelligence and Engineering at Course5. In this role, he is responsible for defining and executing the overall AI and technology vision of the company. Previously, he served as the Senior Director and Head of India Development Center of a large technology division at Oracle, a Fortune 100 company. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematical Statistics, an MBA in Finance & Systems, a Master’s degree in Economics, and a Master’s degree in Business Law.
Mr. Srikanth Iyer joined the Unitus Ventures upon formation in 2013 and leads the firm’s efforts to invest in the best education startups that have potential to serve low-income populations at scale. He is also Co-Founder and CEO of HomeLane, a home improvement services company.
As a seasoned information technology entrepreneur with over 23 years of experience, Mr. Srikanth brings experience in sales, operations and strategic depth to the table. Previously, he was CEO of Pearson India, responsible for growing its revenue 30-fold in four years and making Pearson a leading player in Indian K-12 education. Mr. Iyer brings over 20 years of experience in IT entrepreneurship, including as Co-Founder of Edurite Technologies (eventually acquired by Pearson). He holds a post-graduate diploma in software engineering from Harvard University (DCE) and a BE degree in Computer Science from R.V College of Engineering.
Varun Rangarajan is the Chief Growth Officer for Social Policy implementation NGO called Indus Action. They currently work in 11 states in implementing Section 12(1)(c) of the RTE. He is in charge of Fundraising, Recruitment, and Communications.
Previously, he was with Ashoka Innovators for the Public setting up their Changemaker schools project and prior to that, he was managing projects in the Educational Leadership and Management team at the Azim Premji Foundation. He was in charge of creating learning experiences for Head Masters at Government primary schools and worked for a year with a group of schools in Tonk, Rajasthan. In his tech avatar he worked in TCS for 8 years for various International Financial firms.
He is also co-founder of NGO called Dream India which works with urban poor children on education.
Vivek Jain
Chief Business Officer (Shiksha.com, Naukri Learning and Naukri FastForward)
Bio
Proven leader in the online space, Vivek Jain is spearheading Team Shiksha towards our next phase of growth and profitability, with an aim to make it the default platform for prospective students to research and decide about careers and colleges related to higher education in India or abroad. Vivek is part of Info Edge family from past 9 years and have been involved in building businesses from scratch. Vivek brings with him strong product and consulting experience with leading firms like Naukri.com, Adobe Systems and IBM Research.
Shivaam Sharma
Founder and CEO (Trans Neuron Technologies)Linkin
Bio
Shivaam Sharma is a competent and ambitious professional with about two decades of experience in Technology, Sales & Marketing; creating out of the box innovative ideas to develop markets. He holds an Engineering degree from Bangalore University. Having a strong track record of building successful businesses from scratch, scaling and exiting; he has established companies in healthcare and technology domain. Possessing a strong understanding of Ecosystem play and Technology, Shivam founded Trans Neuron Technologies Pvt. Ltd. in 2015, a leading SkillTech & EdTech company; with an aim to solve the challenges faced by the Skills and Education sectors.
His passion and dedication towards his areas of interests – Technology, Innovation and Ecosystem, has helped him succeed towards innovating platforms and products for the Education and Skilling sectors, benefitting the society on a whole.
> Shivam’s first product “NetOffice – Office on Intranet” was nominated for Global Excellence Awards in SFO in 2001 by IBM
> His company, Trans Neuron was recognized as one of the 50 startups to work for in India and has won many awards including the prestigious Karnataka Govt Elevate 100.
Chaitanya G
Head of Marketing (SRM University)
Bio
I, Chaitanya G did my M.B.A at India’s best institution SRM School of Management Studies in the year 2003 – 2005 made a first step in career at Media Direction as Media Planner for 35 Months focusing on Media Planning, Media Buying, Media Strategy, Marketing Mix, Digital Marketing, Advertising, Social Media Marketing, SEO, SEM, and Econometry.
Later stepped up as Business Manager at Mindshare one of the leading Marketing company having presence at 116 offices in 86 countries managing various top level management activities for various big brands across the globe. My role during this period of 18 Months at Mindshare
1. Providing service leadership related to Marketing and Communications of business.
2. Ensuring that high-quality services are delivered effectively, efficiently and consistently, whether it is direct or indirect communications.
3. To Make sure that the businesses marketing communications promote the right message to maintain a good brand image.
4. Problem solving was the big part of job at Mindshare.
Sapna Ravindran is a professional Social Worker , with an experience of over 23 years in the development sector. Has done Bachelor in Eng Lit from MG University, followed by MSW (Social Work)from Mahatma University & Post Graduate Diploma in Personnel Management from Annamalai University,Currently working as the VicePresident : Resources & Sustainability with Smile Foundation.
The earlier assignments have been:
1] Advisor to Smart Cities India Foundation ,strategically inputting into their visioning exercise and facilitating the roadmap development process.
2] Director -Program Implementation’ at ChildFund International-, where headed their India Program Implementation overseeing the implementation of the entire country programs of the organisation spread across 16 states in India
3] Prior to this was with Population Services International (‘PSI’) for close to 12 years in various capacities. Last was heading their Karnataka State Operations as well as was the Chief of Party for PSI for 2 of their programs.
Some of the areas, where demonstrated expertise are: Project Management, Resource Mobilization, PPP Interventions, Corporate Partnerships, Partner Management, Communication Strategy & Development, Social Marketing &Social Franchising, Cost Centre management, Behaviour Change Communication, Monitoring &Evaluation, and Technical Assistance etc.
Have the experience of working with multiple & varied thematic areas and target groups, ranging from Street children & youth, Urban Slum Population, Women & children , Child Development, Community Development, Key Risk& Bridge Populations for HIV, Health Care Providers, Marketing Distribution Network, Govt key stakeholders Authorities & Officials, various Industrial Associations &Regulatory bodies etc.
Naveen Goyal
Founder & CEO (NoPaperForms)
Bio
Naveen Goyal is the Founder & CEO of NoPaperForms, is a SaaS based Enrolment Automation Platform. It seeks to fundamentally alter the admission process in Indian Education institutions. Using deep insights gained over a decade of deep involvement in the higher education space, Naveen and his team are on a mission to onboard significant percentage of Indian institutions into the digital way.
The entrepreneurial bug bit Naveen quite early in his life. Even while doing his B.Tech he spent every spare hour working for a startup. He left a corporate career at Honeywell with in a year of graduation to be an entrepreneur with Entrancecorner.com. When externalities prevented it’s blooming, he went on to take up the challenge of reframing Careers360, a magazine into its current digital avatar over five years. His tenure saw careers360 emerge as a pre-eminent player in the student discovery space and be a dominant player. He was instrumental in helping the company raise funding from Manipal Group.
But the chance to fundamentally change the way India admits its students, the call of enabling #Paperless Enrolment in Education space in India was too tempting for him and he is at again at NoPaperForms
Dharmendra Saxena
CTO (Transneuron Technologies)
Bio
With 35 years of new product development, business planning, strategic initiative and execution experience in IT industry, Dharmendra Saxena is an accomplished professional. He specializes in setting up and handling large business units. He holds a MCA degree from Delhi University and MBA from NIBM. Having a strong Technical background with knowledge of current technologies, he demonstrates ability to innovate and think outside-the-box in order to deliver timely and effective solutions.
He has a strong track record of innovation and risk taking, which has got him recognition of a creative thinker and one who can contribute at several levels in the organization.
> Has built and managed several Large Development Centers – PeopleSoft, Fidelity
> Has worked in and designed OS, Compilers, Networks
> Part of Advisory Board of APEX centers of ITI, Under DGT
Sreekanth Kakaraparthy
Chief Architect (IBM)
Bio
Sreekanth Kakaraparthy is the Chief Architect in IBM Watson Education division at IBM India Software labs. In his current role, Sreekanth is responsible for solution architecture and maturing the technology capability for IBM Watson Education offerings.He provides architectural direction to data architects, solution architects and system developers in designing and implementation of IT solutions. Sreekanth is a thought leader and adept in working closely with Business and IT leaders in bridging the gap and improving business flexibility and agility, able to translate business requirements into technical solutions using approaches such as Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Hybrid cloud platforms.
Sreekanth’s 21 years of experience in IT spans across design, development, implementation and testing of IT solutions across various businesses and technical units in the areas of supply chain, Insurance, banking, healthcare and content management and Education. Competency is Solution architecture, Data architecture,Technical support, Technical training and Client advocacy.
Sreekanth is a well respected and passionate mentor and has been mentoring several of IBM’s technical community. An accomplished public speaker, having spoken at various technical conferences and workshops internationally. As other interests, Sreekanth is very actively involved in community events and volunteerism.
Dr. Nagendra V. Chowdary
VP & Head of Academics (Times Centre for Learning Ltd.)
Bio
More than 20 years of experience in Teaching, Training, Business Research (including managing large and diverse teams consisting of more than 100 members) and establishing and managing Academic Institutions independently. Has always been the best rated faculty in MBA, Executive MBA, Ph. D Programs, and FDPs & MDPs. He has designed and delivered World’s First Ever Distributed-MBA and India’s First-ever Case Clearing House through ET Cases. Has been and loves to be an Institutional Builder. Designed and Delivered The World’s First Institute of Customer Experience Management’s 15- months PGPBM (in association with IIM Indore & SQC Singapore) and setup India’s First Ever Cross Shoring Team.
Founded IBSCDC (June 2003 –Aug 30th 2010) in 2003 and made it the 5h Biggest Case Study contributor in the world with a total case base of 2600 Case Studies, 1050 Teaching Notes, 850 Structured Assignments. Has created three new Pedagogical instruments (Executive Briefs, Structured Assignments and Movie-based Case Studies) for the first in the World. Has been a Consulting Editor of IUP’s flagship magazine Effective Executive. (Available on www.ecch.com & www.ibscdc.org)
Neeraj Saxena
MD & CEO (Auxilo)
Bio
Neeraj Saxena has an intrinsic vision of creating an ecosystem where young minds can shape up their dreams without worrying about financial availability, in making a better society. As a passionate Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, he is committed to establish ‘Auxilo Finserve’ as a next-generation educational financing company of India.
On a regular basis, he essentially meets up with as many students, educators and institutions to understand contemporary needs, and motivates them with equipping convenient financial solutions at Auxilo.
He has spent nearly two decades of time in conceptualizing high-end businesses across retail, consulting & finance sectors, towards leading them into successful ventures.
In his last stint, he served as CEO with Avanse Financial Services Ltd. Prior to this, he has played an active role in establishing a joint venture between DHFL & IFC to launch – Aadhar Housing Finance Ltd.
He has gained rich experience in diversified areas of businesses while working with retail giants – Tata Retail Enterprise (Trent), Piramal Retail, Wadhawan Retail and Ernst & Young.
For his scholastic, he has earned his Post Graduate in Management from NIFT, Bangalore, after completing his Graduation in Science.
When he is not working, he enjoys reading anything from politics to sports to global affairs. He loves cricket, so much that he tries not to miss out any India playing match, and gives his heart to cinema.
Rangarajan Ganesan
Advisor Quality & Training ( Pan IIT Reach For India)Linkin
Bio
Rangarajan Ganesan is a mechanical engineer from IIT Chennai , ‘82 batch. Having put in 36 years in Indian manufacturing industries , spanning automotive tyres, auto components, batteries, inverters & Ups systems, he has gained rich experience in Setting up green field & brown field projects and turn around operations.
Occupying senior positions, He has played a key role in establishing & sustaining a Continuous Improvement culture through implementation of TQM, TPM & Six Sigma initiatives. Being an ardent canvasser for sustainable manufacturing & Green Buildings , he is a LEED accredited professional in Building Design & Construction ( US Green building Council ) and a certified EDGE expert by IFC.
As Advisor Quality & Training, he is proudly associated with PARFI ( PanIIT Reach for India ) which is doing phenomenal service of providing vocational training & education to thousands of under-privileged boys & girls from Rural India.
Manoj Shetty
Sales & Product Head (Auxillo)
Bio
Manoj Shetty is skilled in Business Planning, Data Analysis, Strategic Planning, Business Development, and BusinessStrategy. He is strong sales professional with a Masters in finance focused in Accounting and Finance from Queen’s University Belfast.
Santhosh Karnananda
Head – Client Relations (QS I·GAUGE)
Bio
Santhosh Karnananda is the Head of Client Relations at QS I.Gauge. He has been instrumental in He is an alumnus of Loyola College, Chennai & Mudra Institute of Communication, Ahmedabad. He started his career at Google. Later, he quit his job at Google to pursue entrepreneurship. He is the founder of MyGmat, MyGre, and MeraEnglish.com – Education companies. Post the acquisition of his companies, Santhosh joined QS-ERA India Private Limited as the Head of Client Relations. He is part of the founding team of QS IGAUGE in India. He has visited over 250 higher educational institutions across India and addressed over 50,000 people. His interviews and articles have been featured by leading media houses in India.
Manish Srivastava
Vice President - Corporate Alliances (BCCL - TPL Corporate Training & Strategic Alliances)
Bio
Manish Srivastava, has been in Education & Training Business for more than 22 Years. With core expertise on Business Strategy & modeling, he has been instrumental in setting up most successful business units in India and abroad. He has strong technical & business background and worked on varied businesses from Finance to Advance technology solutions like Data Science. He has worked in different functions of Product Development, Sales & Channel Distribution, Marketing & operations in Education Space. A finance Post Graduate from Kolkata University, he has been part of Leading Education & Training entities like Aptech & NIIT in past and now with Times Professional Learning – An Education Initiative of Times Group.
Yashraj Singh
Founder & CEO (Time Of Sports)
Bio
Yashraj Singh, the founder,(Founder & CEO – Time Of Sports, In Country Coordinator – F1 in Schools™), a sports enthusiast-cum-entrepreneur is a telecom engineer who graduated in 2009. He has always been passionate about Sports. He is 32 and was born and brought up in Meerut. He completed his schooling from Meerut itself. After that, he went on to pursue B.Tech in Electronics and Telecommunication from Amity, Noida. He worked with Nokia for some time post his engineering before starting Time of Sports.
F1 in SchoolsTM is one such educational initiative that Time of Sports launched in India. It is the largest technology challenge for the school students across the world.
Eric Zimmerman
Director of Research Support Office & Global Engagement (The Interdisciplinary Centre (IDC), Israel)Linkin
Bio
Dr. Eric Zimmerman was born (1962) and raised in New York City, Eric studied for his undergraduate and graduate studies at Brooklyn College, majoring in Judaic Studies. Following a brief stint in Jewish community work, he moved to Israel with his wife in 1988. Initially living on a kibbutz and working as an irrigation manager in the orchards, Eric began his career in higher education management in 1993 when he joined Bar-Ilan University’s Research Authority. Today, Eric is Director of Research and Global Engagement at IDC Herzliya. Eric, and his wife Sharon, have five children and reside in a residential community in the Greater Tel Aviv area. Sharon, an economist by education (Barnard) is a partner in a consultancy firm specializing in managing multi-partner international research and development consortia.
Professional Statement
Working together with the President and Provost, Dr Zimmerman established and directed (for eight years) the Academic Affairs, International Engagement and Research Support Offices at the Interdisciplinary Centre (IDC), Herzliya. Recruited in 2006, Dr. Zimmerman now provides leadership and service to faculty, staff, and students, assisting in implementing policy and decisions of the IDC academic and governing committees relating to research and global engagement. His wide portfolio includes responsibility for all competitive research and program grants and the protection of the institutional intellectual property; developing global partnerships and managing all institutional internationalization agreements, including student exchange, summer and study abroad programs; managing the development of double degree MA-level programs; and the development of joint doctoral programs.
Dr. Zimmerman has been a member of several national and international committees, most recently a Higher Education Reform Expert (HERE) of the European Commission, and is a past leader of a task group within the largest European professional association of research administrators (EARMA), a founding board member of a European-based association on research information management (euroCRIS), the force behind the development of the Israel National Database of Academic Research and Development (INDARD), and party to other national and global initiatives. He regularly writes and lectures on internationalization, entrepreneurship education, research management, academic productivity and Israel and advises organizations on information management and work flow practices as they effect academics and administrators at institutions of higher education.
Eric coordinates the TeachEx project.
Prior to joining the leadership team of IDC Herzliya, Dr. Zimmerman served as the assistant director of the Bar-Ilan University (Israel) research support office, coordinating efforts to secure competitive grants in the STEM, social sciences and the humanities.
Ashok Pandey
Principal (Ahlcon International School)Linkin
Bio
Mr Ashok Pandey is working in the School sector for the past three decades. He did Masters in Physics from Allahabad University and in Consultancy Management from BITS, Pilani. The Ahlcon International School that Mr Pandey heads for the past 15 years is ranked among the best Schools in the country. He recently completed a two-year term as Chairman, National Progressive Schools’ Conference (NPSC). He has worked, in the past, with Mayo College, Ajmer, Delhi Public School, Jammu and Indian Embassy School, Saudi Arabia, among others. Author of several articles, research papers and projects, his book, The Pedagogical Life-Essays in Educating india was published alst year.
Mr Pandey is a recipient of several national and international awards including ‘National Award for Teacher’ (2012) and ‘CBSE Award’ (2009) for his contribution to education. He has a keen interest in School transformation, professional development of teachers, technology integration, and Sustainable Development Goals. Widely travelled to Germany, Singapore, Sri Lanka, UAE, Thailand, Vietnam and Tanzania, he has led Principals’ delegations to the University of Malta in Europe, the University of Rice in Houston, USA and to the Institute of Leadership, Nottingham, UK. He participated in India-Australia Leadership dialogue in Melbourne Australia.
Mr. Arunabh Singh is a committed School Principal, Educationist, Innovator and promotor of Nehru World School, Ghaziabad. An Alumnus of Kings College London and Hindu College, Delhi University, Arunabh has been honoured with a national award for “Exceptional contribution to the field of Education” by Independent School Federation of India in 2010.
He has also been awarded “Innovation in Progress” Fellowships for two consecutive years at World Round Table Conference for Educational Leadership and “Global Teacher Accreditation” award from Cambridge Foundation for his Action Research on Continuing Professional Development of Teachers.
Mr. Singh is Co-chair of FICCI ARISE for UP West and a British Council School Ambassador. Alongside he is associated with other International Organisations such as Goethe Institute, Tony Blair Faith Foundation and CBSE. He frequently participates in TV debates and speaks on various national and international forums across the globe on topics primarily concerning education and progressive learning.
Along with his passion in the field of PK-12 education space he also a visiting faculty at the CBI Academy where he has trained officers from Central Bureau of Investigation, National Investigation Agency, Narcotics Control Bureau and Police forces to name a few.
Passionate about innovation, technology, entrepreneurship and igniting young minds, he is a proponent of distributed leadership model and firmly believes “Technology may not replace teachers, but teachers who use technology effectively will replace those, who don’t.”
Dr. BS Ajaikumar
Chairman and CEO (HealthCare Global Enterprises)
Bio
Dr. Ajaikumar is a doctorpeneur and the Chairman & CEO of HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd. He is a radiation and medical oncologist with over 40 years of experience.
Learning The Ropes
After completing his MBBS from St John’s Medical College, Bangalore, he went on to complete his residency training in oncology from the University of Virginia Hospital in Charlottesville. Dr. Ajaikumar completed his fellowship in radiation and medical oncology from the renowned MD Anderson Hospital in Houston, Texas.
While he had the opportunity to continue to practice at MD Anderson, he chose to start a cancer center west of Chicago in 1979. This center grew well; however, Dr. Ajaikumar was also interested in looking at building a cancer care facility in India. He used to spend several months in the year monitoring the status of cancer care in India.
As he continued to build his practice in the US, Dr. Ajaikumar also founded a not-for-profit hospital in Mysore, Bharath Hospital and Institute of Oncology in 1989. This was largely to meet the needs of patients in Mysore and its surrounding areas.
At the same time, along with a group of oncologists, he started the Bangalore Institute of Oncology (BIO). As this center grew, it helped Dr. Ajaikumar understand the nuances of cancer care in India. The requirement was very clear: there was a great unmet demand. The need of the day was accessibility, affordability, and high quality of cancer care treatment.
Scaling The Dream
With this in mind, he moved back to India with his family in 2003 with a vision of expanding the services offered in Bangalore. Dr. Ajaikumar believed in bringing the hub-and-spoke model to create multiple centers across India to make cancer care affordable, at the same time, bringing high quality care by introducing linear accelerators even in Tier2/Tier3 cities. Also, the cornerstone of his vision was the belief that cancer can be treated only one way: the right way, the first time.
HCG was instrumental in introducing high-end technologies like CyberKnife™ and TrueBeam™. It also brought in advanced bone marrow transplant therapies as well as molecular imaging.
Dr. Ajaikumar also had his eye on the end-to-end delivery of cancer care, and knew molecular diagnostics was an important part of cancer therapies. With this in mind, Dr. Ajaikumar acquired Triesta, which was a molecular diagnostic lab. Today, HCG is at the forefront of molecular diagnostics and incorporating genomics to facilitate precision medicine.
Another area of interest for Dr. Ajaikumar has also been fertility in India. He partnered with Dr. Kamini Rao, under the Milann brand name, and has established multiple centers across India.
Today, HCG is rapidly expanding and will soon have 26 comprehensive cancer care centers from its present number, 17. Milan will grow to 8-10 centers.
With this success, Dr. Ajaikumar is deeply energized and hopeful to spread this model globally. He eagerly seeks to help patients achieve longer and better lives by providing them the best accessible cancer care treatment. He continues to pursue his passion of increasing and strengthening the network of comprehensive cancer centers across the world; beginning in Africa.
Fulfilling A Vision
As a doctorpreneur, his vision has been to focus on good patient outcomes, patient safety and make treatment affordable and accessible. Among his other achievements, he has been awarded the prestigious E&Y Start-Up Entrepreneur of the Year Award as well as the Asian Health Care Leadership Awards. Harvard Business School has done several case studies on HCG and Dr. Ajaikumar has given several talks at Harvard Business School and Babson Business School. His goal has also been to encourage and mentor other doctors and entrepreneurs in their own specialties.
Today, under his leadership, cancer care in India has seen a paradigm shift, and cancer care has been redefined as a chronic disease.
Consciously Giving Back
He is a social entrepreneur and has started several NGOs, which have done tremendous developmental work in the Gundlupet district, Karnataka. His organizations have worked on providing financial aid for needy cancer patients, the empowerment of 20,000 women through microfinance, educating 550 children by providing a local school over the last 20 years, and addressing social ills in society.
Apart from his charitable work, he enjoys being a marathon runner and is a voracious reader.
Prashant Tandon Co-Founded 1MG Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and serves as its Chief Executive. Previously, Prashant Tandon served at McKinsey & Co., Hindustan Lever Ltd., and MapMyIndia. He holds B.Tech from IIT-Delhi and MBA from Stanford University.
Krishnamurthy
CEO and Director (Voice Snap)FacebookLinkin
Bio
Krishnamurthy (Nats), Director and CEO, is an Engineer by qualification and has over 27 plus years of experience that straddles Manufacturing, BPO and IT industries. He has held several Executive Leadership roles in leading organizations such as, TI Group, HCL, Accenture, Wipro and Cognizant.
He has a proven track record of setting up and running business units that span across markets as well as extensive Marketing and Distribution Networks.
He combines a deep knowledge of Business Process Re-engineering, Financial Deal Structuring, Operations and Technology that provides Voice Snap with a clear edge in markets and a firm foundation for Technology Innovations.
Manish is responsible for providing a strategic vision to NSDC in ensuring that the team moves cohesively in one direction towards achievement of the Prime Minister’s Skill India Mission. Manish also represents NSDC at domestic and international fora. He is also the official spokesperson for NSDC.
Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao
Director (IIT Delhi)LinkinTwitter
Bio
Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao is currently the Director, IIT Delhi. Before joining IIT Delhi as the Director in April 2016, Dr. Rao served as a P. K. Kelkar Chair Professor for Nanotechnology in the Department of Electrical Engineering and as the Chief Investigator for the Centre of Excellence in Nanoelectronics project at IIT Bombay.
Dr. Rao has over 450 research publications in the area of nano-scale devices & Nanoelectronics and is an inventor on 40 patents and patent applications, which include 15 issued US patents. Eleven of his patents have been licensed to industries for commercialization.
Prof. Rao is a co-founder of two deep technology startups at IIT Bombay (Nanosniff & Soilsens) which are developing products of relevance to the society. Dr. Rao is a Fellow of IEEE, a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, the Indian Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Indian National Science Academy.
Prof. Rao’s work is recognized with many awards and honors in the country and abroad. He is a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Engineering Sciences in 2005 and the Infosys Prize in 2013. Dr. Rao also received the Swarnajayanti Fellowship award from the Department of Science & Technology, IBM Faculty award, Best Research award from the Intel Asia Academic Forum, TechnoMentor award from the Indian Semiconductor Association, DAE-SRC Outstanding Research Investigator award, NASI-Reliance Platinum Jubilee award, J.C.Bose National Fellowship, Prof. C.N.R.Rao National Nanoscience award, VASVIK Award and the Excellence in Research Award from IIT Bombay. Prof. Rao was an Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices during 2003-2012 for the CMOS Devices and Technology area and currently serves on the Editorial boards of other journals.
He is a Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Electron Devices Society and interacts closely with many semiconductor industries both in India and abroad. Dr. Rao served as the Chairman, IEEE AP/ED Bombay Chapter and as a Vice-Chairman, IEEE Asia Pacific Regions/Chapters sub-committee for two terms. He was the first elected Chairman for the India section, American Nano Society during 2013-2015.
For more information about Prof. Rao’s current research interests and a list of publications
visit: http://www.ee.iitb.ac.in/~rrao/.
Dr. Vikram Venkateshwaran
Founder (Healthcare India)LinkinTwitter
Bio
Dr Vikram Venkateswaran is the founder and editor of Healthcare India, a social movement for better health. He is an author and speaker at business forums, a marketing leader and digital evangelist. Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Research, B.D.S in Dental Surgery, & MBA in Strategy. He has worked for and advised Global companies in the healthcare, Life sciences and Technology industries.
Sowmyanarayan Srinivasan
Managing Director – Life Sciences (Accenture Solutions Private Limited)FacebookLinkin
Bio
Sowmya is an accomplished Life Sciences Executive with over 20 years of business experience and extensive leadership in driving new solutions and competencies, product management and business development for both large and start-up organizations in the Life Sciences industry. In his current role at Accenture, he is the Life Sciences Industry Lead. In this role, Sowmya is responsible for industry platforms, thought leadership and solution development for emerging technologies.
In his last role, as a Leader of the R&D Centers of Excellence, he held responsibility for solutions for non-linear growth and thought leadership. He also drove transformation initiatives around digital solutions impacting R&D.
Prior to that, Sowmya was a part of the management team of a bioinformatics startup, Strand Life Sciences, a product development company.
Sowmya is actively associated with industry forums like DIA, Pistoia Alliance and tranSMART Foundation
Anil Swarup
Former Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy (Government of India)LinkinTwitter
Bio
Anil Swarup, Former Secretary, School Education and Literacy, Government of India
During his careers spanning 38 years, Anil Swarup attempted to “make it happen”. Born in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, he earned his Master’s degree in Political Science from Allahabad University in 1978 where he was also awarded the Chancellor’s Gold Medal for being the Best All Round Student. Before joining the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), he served the Indian Police Service for a year. He won the Director’s Gold Medal for the Best Officer Trainee at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration amongst the officers of his batch. As a civil servant, he held various assignments within both the State (Uttar Pradesh) and Central Government. During the final years of his career, he served as Secretary to Government of India in the Ministry of Coal where he handled the aftermath of the coal scam. Thereafter, he served as the Secretary, School Education and Literacy where he attempted to foster public private partnership to improve quality of school education.
As a strategic thinker and an innovative leader, he won several other awards and nominations, the prominent ones being: Nominated as one of the Policy Change Agent by The Economic Times during the years 2010, 2012, 2015 & 2016. He was selected as one of the 35 Action Heroes in India Today’s 35th Annual Edition.
Dr. Raajiv Singhal
Managing Director - Head of Healthcare Operations (India The Abraaj Group)LinkinTwitter
Bio
A Graduate and Postgraduate of the prestigious Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC), Pune and an alumnus of IIM, Ahmedabad, with a rich and varied experience of over 22 years in the healthcare industry. Before joining the corporate world, worked in the Indian Army as General Surgeon and operated on hundreds of gunshot/splinter injuries while serving in the toughest terrains of Siachin and the jungles of North east.
Avin Agarwal is the Co-Founder of Cardiotrack. He has worked for 5 years in Oracle Financial Services Software Limited, Netherlands as a senior consultant for Oracle’s core banking solution Flexcube. Avin was part of several successful implementation projects including implementing the solution for Antwerp Diamond Bank, Belgium, SNS Bank and Friesland Bank, Netherlands, Akbank, Malta and Mediobanca, Milan. After moving back to India in 2011 Avin founded Nestingbits Technologies. Under Nestingbits Avin worked on several research projects with St. John’s Research Institute including Whole Body Indirect Calorimeter, Neonatal Incubator for Sepsis Detection and Hand Hygiene Compliance Solution for Critical Care Units. Avin also received a grant from the prestigious Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID for diagnostics research.
Avin has won several innovation awards and is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Champion of Change Healthcare Cohort”. Avin has rich experience in Medical Electronics, Database Management, Native Mobile Applications, Cloud Computing, Operation Management, Customer Interface, Customer Support, Software and Hardware Development Life Cycle, Medical Device Manufacturing, Medical Device Regulatory Environment, Organisational Infrastructure, Project and People Management.
Neeraj Lal
Cluster Head and Vice President (Rainbow Hospitals)Linkin
Bio
Neeraj Lal has more than 17 Years experience in Healthcare Management. He has studied Masters of Hospital Administration( MHA) from TISS Mumbai. Specialist in Healthcare Operations Excellence, P & L, Business Development, Strategy & Quality. Approved as a Surveyor for ISQua’s International Accreditation Programme ( IAP). Have held senior positions in Indian Hospitals for a number of years. Certified Internal auditor for NABH, NABL and ISO 9001. Guest faculty with many Indian Universities and Business schools for teaching programs in Hospital Administration & healthcare quality.
He is the member of Regional Gujarat Chapter of Academy of Hospital Administration & QCI New Delhi, Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) Ahmedabad, Academy of Hospital Administration (AHA) Noida and Asian Society for Quality in Healthcare.
He was the validation panel member for Saudi Central Board for Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions(CBAHI) Kingdom of Saudi Arabia along with Dr Lena Low, Executive Director Corporate & Surveyor Workforce, The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards too.
Arijit Ghosh
Vice President (Education Quality Foundation of India)
Bio
Arijit has been associated with the K-12 education domain for over 16 years now. Having a rich experience in the fields of policy advocacy, academic research, teacher training, teacher audits, curriculum design on 21st century skills and digital innovation in work space, his strengths lie in mentoring action researchers to bring change in the classrooms and guiding leaders to bring about systemic changes in the schools. He has successfully managed several capacity-building programmes, mainly in the area of 21st-century skills involving organisations like DfID, MacArthur Foundation, UNICEF and state governments.
A M.Sc. in Marine Science and a MBA in Human Resources, Arijit has also been a professional quizmaster and has conducted various quizzes at school and corporate levels. He was awarded with the global teacher accreditation award by Cambridge Foundation in 2014 for his work on quizzing.
Having started his career as a teacher, he has held senior positions at Macmillan Publishers India Limited, Pearson Education and British Council India. He is currently the Vice President at Education Quality Foundation of India, where he works towards helping institutions improve their quality of teaching-learning.
Ashim’s technology journey has crisscrossed countries and continents and he brings diversity and depth of experience to his role of co-founder and CEO of uber Diagnostics. Ashim did his BE in Electronics and Electrical Engineering from BITS, Pilani; Masters from IIT, Delhi and PhD from the University of Adelaide. He has spent about 24 years in the telecom world most of it in the US and holds several patents. He has been an adjunct professor at Catholic University, Washington DC.
Ashim revels in the challenges and highs of the start-up world and is a fierce proponent of technology that benefits the under-served masses.
Dr. Raj Singh
Vice Chancellor (Ansal University)Linkin
Bio
Dr. Raj Singh is the Vice Chancellor of Ansal University and Hony. Vice Chairman of Education India Foundation at New Delhi. Till recently, he was Vice Chancellor of Rayat-Bahra University (RBU) Mohali. Prior to RBU, he was the first Vice Chancellor of the G D Goenka University, Gurgaon, first Vice-Chancellor of Ansal University, Gurgaon and first Vice Chancellor of Amity University Madhya Pradesh at Gwalior.
He has been the Vice Chancellor at Amity University, Jaipur and Pro-Vice Chancellor at Amity University Uttar Pradesh, NOIDA. He was also the Director General of Amity Business School, NOIDA, Director of ICFAI Business School (IBS) New Delhi from inception in 1995. He joined Indian Air Force in 1981 at the age of 16 ½ and served there for about 14 years prior to entering the field of education in 1994.
A Postgraduate in Economics and Doctorate in Strategic Cost Management, he was topper of the coveted Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program from the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) and has had an exemplary career spanning 36 years. A strong proponent of Flexible, Inter-disciplinary and Trans-disciplinary learning, he has a unique leadership style that has significantly contributed towards the establishment and growth of some of the finest Universities in the country.
A rare blend of academics and administration, he is highly regarded for his oratory skills. Dr. Singh is known for designing innovative programs in collaboration with foreign Universities from the US, UK, Australia, Italy and France and industry.
An avid researcher, acclaimed teacher, astute administrator and Institution builder, he has been a trainer and consultant in areas of Corporate Governance and Change Management. His clients include both Indian and Multinational companies like TATA, Air India, Telecom Consultants of India Ltd., Denso India, ANZ Grindlays, NTPC, GAIL, SAIL and others. He has trained over 4000 teachers in school as well as higher education.
Dr. Singh has published and presented many research papers and delivered keynote addresses in over 80 national and international conferences and has been a panelist in many TV shows, featured as one of the movers and shakers on the Daily World Post and “My Icon” on FM channel in 2016 and 2017. He represented India at the International Design Summit held in Milan, Italy in 2013 and is a TEDx speaker.
Widely travelled, he has been a visiting Professor at IIT-Delhi and Delhi School of Economics. He has been on advisory boards of many Institutions and University Departments, Education Promotion Society for India (EPSI) and was the Vice Chairman of Quality Committee on Education of QCI, Govt. of India. He regularly chairs the expert committees of National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and was member of the first Governing Council of the Rajasthan Science Congress. He has been conferred Awards for exemplary Education Leadership in 2012, 2016 and 2017.
Aditya Malkani
South Asia Representative (The Association of Commonwealth Universities)LinkinTwitter
Bio
Aditya Vinod Malkani is the South Asia Representative for The Association of Commonwealth Universities – the world’s first international university network established in 1913, with 500+ members across more than 50 Commonwealth countries. The ACU supports the development of higher education as a power for good across the Commonwealth and beyond. Aditya is responsible for the development of new initiatives in the region and to further engage with the membership to increase the ACU’s impact in South Asia.
Aditya is also Managing Partner at Think Education Advisory Services and has developed the Corporate Education and Student Mobility Business for the firm, having worked closely with leading international universities and corporations to develop immersion programmes for their students and executives to experience India through its ‘Go India Initiative’.
He has robust international links and a thorough understanding of both schooling and higher education systems in the following countries: United Kingdom, United States of America, Australia, Russia, South Africa, Singapore, UAE, and Japan.
Aditya had worked as “The India Country Head” at “King’s College London” for more than three years with the overall responsibility of developing and delivering the university’s strategy in India. Representing King’s College London as the India Country Head, he promoted the King’s brand in India through the delivery of large-scale programmes such as summer schools, development of multilevel partnerships, fostering research partnerships, engagement with industry, strengthening of links with alumni and more.
Mrs. Avnita Bir, Director Principal, R N Podar School, Mumbai, is an internationally known personality in the education sector. A graduate in Economics from Lady Shri Ram College and Post-Graduate in Economics from Delhi School of Economics, Mrs. Bir has worked in the field of Education for over 3 decades. She has served as a member of the Governing Body of CBSE, the leading education board of the country. She has been a member of Education Reforms Committee. Ms. Bir was also a member of the India Jurisdiction at the Global Education Leaders Programme (GELP). Her dedication to the cause of good education propelled her to author two books on Economics. In the early years of her career, she was appointed to give special lessons in Economics to the children (Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra) of the late Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.
Mrs. Avnita Bir is the recipient of the prestigious National Award for Teachers (2009) conferred by the Hon’ble President of India. She has also received the EQFI India Education Awards 2008 for Excellence in Education. She has also been honored by the President of Singapore for her contribution to the education sector. She was awarded the Microsoft Mentor School Award for Innovation in Education. She also received the FICCI Outstanding Woman Achiever Award for her work in the field of education. More recently she was invited to Google, to speak at the Google Global Education Symposium at the Google HQ in Mountain View. She has been appointed as a member of the Advisory Board of Google’s GlobalEDU.org initiative. Mrs. Bir has been driving change at R N Podar School and it has been selected as the Ashoka ChangeMaker School in the first cohort of Ashoka ChangeMaker Schools in India. Mrs. Bir is known for her guest column on parenting for the Times of India group and has been covered widely in media like BBC, New York Times, Times of India, Times Now for her thoughts on education.
Ramanan Ramanathan
Mission Director ( Atal Innovation Mission)LinkinTwitter
Bio
R Ramanan is the Mission Director of the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) – a flagship national Innovation initiative of the Prime Minister and the Government of India of India under the NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India). AIM’s goals are to establish and promote a vibrant culture of innovation and entrepreneurship nationwide.
As the Mission Director of AIM, Ramanan has been instrumental to date in the launch and execution of several nationwide innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives resulting in:
– 5441 Atal Tinkering Labs being established in schools nationwide with 2000+ operational in 650+ districts and over 2 million students having access to innovative tools and technologies like 3d printers, robotics, miniaturised electronics do it yourself kits
– 101 Atal Incubation Centers being established in Univ / industry fostering Startups
– 24 Atal New India Challenges to stimulate product innovations along with Ministries of India
– one of the largest mentorship networks with over 10000+ registrations nationwide AIM iNNONET to mentor young school students and Startups in the Tinkering Labs and the Incubators
R Ramanan was previously Managing Director & CEO of CMC Ltd, a subsidiary of the globally acclaimed Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Ramanan led CMC’s rapid transformation from a domestic government organization to a global IT private sector organization. Under his leadership CMC share price grew over 2100% between October 2001 to 2014, its operating profits over 1338%, 72% of its business coming from the overseas markets and leading to its successful amalgamation into TCS in 2015.
Ramanan’s joined TCS in 1981 after graduating from IIT Mumbai in Electrical Engg and played an instrumental role in the growth of TCS with a variety of responsibilities ranging from product development, technical marketing, global business development, and general management of large centers of TCS.
Gaurav Loria
Group Head- Quality & Administration (Apollo Hospitals Group)
Bio
Gaurav Loria is a healthcare management professional with over 11 years of experience in hospitals, ambulatory care clinics, healthcare IT and consultancy projects. He is well experienced in leading the successful completion of real-time 29 JCI and 20 NABH surveys at the various hospital. Championed special cost efficiency, revenue generation and process improvement projects across all the departments in the hospital. The additional responsibility of being the Group Coordinator for Quality Systems for Apollo Group of Hospitals and is a JCI auditor. He had completed his MBA from Hult International Business School, US and MHA from Apollo Institute of Hospital Administration
Prof. Anil Dattatraya Sahasrabudhe, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati joined All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) as Chairman on 17th July 2015. Prof. Anil D. Sahasrabudhe graduated from BVB College of Engineering and Technology, Hubli affiliated to Karnataka University, Dharwad, Karnataka in Mechanical Engineering with First Rank and Gold medal in 1980. Subsequently, he obtained Master’s and Doctoral (with UGC Fellowship) degrees from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore in 1982 and 1989 respectively.
Prof. Anil D. Sahasrabudhe in his illustrious career of 31 years held several important Academic, Research and Administrative positions. He started his career as Scientific Officer, at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1983 and moved to Tata Consulting Engineers (TCE) as Engineer in the same year. He served as Lecturer and Assistant Professor at North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST), Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh) from 1987-1988 & again from 1989-1995, before joining IIT Guwahati as Associate Professor in 1995 and has been serving as Professor since 1999. Also, he served as Director, College of Engineering, Pune (CoEP) since 2006 on deputation from IIT, Guwahati prior to joining as AICTE Chairman. As an Academician and Researcher in NERIST and IIT Guwahati, and as an Administrator in the capacity of Director, CoEP, he has taken up several new initiatives for Academic, Curricular & Co-curricular activities, Entrepreneurship, Research and Good Governance.
Prof. Anil D. Sahasrabudhe is presently working as Chairman & Expert Member on various National Level Committees. Some of these include; Chairman, Basic Scientific Research (BSR), Empowered Committee of UGC, SWAYAM Board and Chairman BOG of NIT Itanagar. As a Member/Fellow he is actively involved in the activities of many Professional Bodies/Societies, such as ISTE, ASME, ASEE, ASI, IET, Institution of Engineers (IE).
He was awarded with “Maha-Intrapreneur Award-2011” of Praj Industries, Pune for his Leadership and Innovative abilities in the area of Technology Development and Entrepreneurship initiatives.
Havovi Wadia
Director (Impact at Magic Bus India Foundation )LinkinTwitter
Bio
Havovi Wadia is Director, Impact at Magic Bus India Foundation. She has 18 years of experience across diverse sectors including academics, banking and finance and development. She is committed to the rights of children and to an understanding of childhoods. In recent years, her work has focused on research and measurement and she focuses on finding ways to make these relevant to programmes.
Havovi Wadia is a leader, researcher, and writer committed to the rights of children and young people. Her particular interests include childhoods, gender, and education. Her academic qualifications are varied – an MPhil in English Literature, a Diploma in Women’s Studies and three papers completed towards an abandoned Business Diploma from the University of Auckland. She has over 18 years of work experience in the development, finance and academic sectors.
Her work includes evaluating programmes, designing outcome and log frameworks, developing programmes and interrogating mainstream ideas of childhood and gender. Prior to Magic Bus, she has worked with rights-based organisations including CRY (Child Rights and You) and Praxis – Institute for Participatory Practices.
At Magic Bus, she is Director, Impact responsible primarily for the gathering and presentation of evidence that provides proof of concept for the Magic Bus programme. In this role, she has established and built a separate function for measurement in the organisation and has co-anchored key projects including the first ever Magic Bus Youth Barometer. She is also the Child Protection Officer for the organisation, building ways to make the organisation more aware of and responsive to safeguarding requirements for its primary stakeholders.
Dr. Neeta Bali
Principal (G D Goenka World School)Linkin
Bio
Dr Neeta Bali is a seasoned educator with over 34 years of experience in the field of education. She started her career with Mater Dei School in Delhi as Head of department, English and served for over 18 years. Subsequently, she was the Vice- Principal., Apeejay School, NOIDA for 6 years. From May 2008 to December 2014, she is the Principal and Head of School at G D Goenka World School.
From January 2015 to May 2017, she headed Kasiga School- a residential School in Dehradun that now ranks among the top residential schools in the country followed by a brief tenure as Head of Podar International School- Powai, Mumbai. She is an eloquent speaker, Trainer and has been frequently invited to speak at various prominent educational conferences all over the country. Her repertoire includes various curricula, ICSE and ISC, CBSE, IBO Accredited programmes- PYP and IB-DP, Cambridge accredited programmes – IGCSE and AS and A Levels. She has spearheaded partnerships with some leading schools in Scotland – Oban High School and Wasatch Academy- Utah – USA. She has worked intensively with the British Council as a BCSA- British Council School Ambassador in promoting the spirit of international mindedness. Apart from this, she has authored English Language books for Frank Educational Aids and a book of Essays for Madhuban. Her forte’ is English Language teaching, teaching of Psychology and Career, as well as Psychological Counselling and she, is a trained counsellor.
Other programmes promoted by her during her various assignments are the IAYP and the Interact Club –an offshoot of the Rotary club. She is on the apex advisory of many leading organizations like Univariety and Cogito Hub and is an editorial advisor for leading educational publications like ‘Scoonews’. She has written several articles for widely read Educational magazines like ‘Teacher’ brought out by Australian Council for Educational Research and ‘Mentor’. Her conviction and passion are to promote the Academic, emotional and social well being of all pupils under her care and she believes in working in synergy with the parent community as well as her colleagues. She is the recipient of ‘Jean Lawrie International Grant ‘and award conferred on her by IASL in the year 2015 and ‘Inspiring Educator’s Award’ conferred by Rocksport and received from Dr Kiran Bedi as well as ‘Exemplary Educator’s Award ‘by Productivity Council of India in addition to the ‘Uttarakhand Rattan Award ‘conferred on her in 2015 by PPSA- Dehradun.
Presently a co-founder at SkillSanta – a startup functional in NCR and Lucknow that upskills software engineering grads through a combination of optimized content delivery and pre-screened tutors, Nishant is an alumnus of NIT Prayagraj B.tech Computer Science and Engineering 2014 batch. Prior to SkillSanta, Nishant worked as a Software Engineer for Redmart – an online grocery based out of Singapore which was later acquired by Alibaba backed Lazada, where he was a key member of the Supply Chain Team. Nishant’s experience as a fairly recent graduate, software engineer and now as an edupreneur gives him a unique view of the higher education system. Nishant will be talking about how competency mapping fares into the future of higher education and how college education can be aligned with industry requirements.
Rita Singh
Group Director and Principal (Indirapuram Group Of Institutions)Linkin
Bio
The Group Director and Principal of Indirapuram Group Of Institutions of, Rita Singh is known for her hands-on approach to the management of the institutions. With her finger constantly on the pulse of the organization and her availability to provide support at any given time, she remains the soul of the Indirapuram Group. Holding dual Master’s degrees in Education and Mathematics apart from an M.B.A, she supervises the running of all the institutions under the Indirapuram banner.
Dr. Swati Popat Vats
President (Podar Education Network)LinkinTwitter
Bio
Swati Popat Vats is the President of Podar Education Network and Early Childhood Association- India. She spearheads Podar Jumbo Kids Plus and Podar Institute of Education as its founder Director. She has over 30 years of experience and that is why she is acknowledged as an icon in the field of early childhood education, both Nationally and Internationally She has authored several books for children and parents. She is a parenting mentor and founder of Born Smart, India’s first brain based parent toddler program.
She is Nursery Director of Little Wonders Nursery (UAE) that has branches in Jumeirah and Sharjah. She has received many accolades and awards for her contribution to Early Childhood Education and has been conferred the Fellowship of Honor from the New Zealand Tertiary College. She was the founder consultant for the Euro Kids preschool project in India and helped set up TATASKY’s children’s television activity channel- ACTVE WHIZKIDS. She is the founder expert on the world’s first video-based parenting website www.born-smart.com that helps parents understand and nurture brain development in the first 1000 days.
Swati has authored many books for parents and children and is a strong advocate of nature-based learning in the early years and promotes brain research-based teaching and parenting in her workshops across the globe. Swati tweets and blogs on education and parenting and can be followed on @swatipopat or www.kiducationswatipvats.blogspot.in
Gaurav Kumar
VP, Head of Strategy - Special Initiatives (Reliance Jio)Linkin
Bio
Gaurav leads strategy for special initiatives at Jio and with education as key part of his portfolio. His mandate at Jio includes developing shared vision with public agencies for transforming educational landscape in India across the value chain. He is also a technology enthusiast and is currently leading product development for a mobile based edtech solution. In his previous avatar, Gaurav worked with PwC and KPMG in India in leadership roles advising private and public stakeholders in education on policy, investments, partnerships, market intelligence, large scale program design & rollout among other priority areas.
Prof. HP Singh
Dean International Relations (University of Delhi )
Bio
Prof. HP Singh is currently the Dean, International Relations (S&T), University of Delhi and the Director of Cluster Innovation Centre, University of Delhi. He has a long and illustrious research carrier behind him. Prof. Singh has a particular expertise in stellar physics, automated data analysis and astronomy instrumentation.
Previous Positions
1984-1990 Lecturer, Dept. of Physics, Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi
1990-1992 DAAD Fellow, University of Kiel, Germany
1992-1994 Research Associate, Queen Mary University of London
1994-1997 Senior Lecturer, Dept. of Physics, Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi
1997-2003 Reader, Dept. of Physics, Sri Venkateswara College, University of Delhi
2003-2005 Reader, Department of Physics & Astrophysics, University of Delhi
2005- Professor, Department of Physics & Astrophysics, University of Delhi
Affiliations
Dean, International Relations (S&T), University of Delhi
Director, Cluster Innovation Centre, University of Delhi
Fellow, Royal Astronomical Society, London since 1999
Member, International Astronomical Union, Paris since 1985
Member, Astronomical Society of India since 2005
Member, India-Japan Science Council, Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India since Feb. 2016
Chair, IIA-TAC (Indian Institute of Astrophysics -Time Allocation Committee) 2018-2021
Visiting Associate, IUCAA, Pune since 1995
Former Affiliations
Director, Centre for Science Education & Communication, University of Delhi (2010-2012)
Proctor, University of Delhi (2010-2012)
Dean (Examinations) University of Delhi (2012)
Member, Governing Council, IUCAA (2012-14)
Vice President, Astronomical Society of India (2013-16)
Member, Editorial Board, Bulletin of Astronomical Society of India (2010-2016)
Member, Planning & Programming Committee, National Science Centre, New Delhi (2012-14)
Visiting Faculty, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology 1995, 1997, 2001, 2015
Visiting Faculty, Queen Mary University of London, 1999, 2000
Visiting Faculty, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA 2000, 2002; Aspen Center for Physics, 2015
Visiting Faculty, State University of New York at Oswego 2014, 2015, 2016
JSPS Visiting Fellow, Kinki University, Osaka, Japan, 2005 ; Tokyo University 2015, 2016, 2017
Visiting Professor, University of Stuttgart and MPI for Astrophysics Heidelberg, Germany 2007, Uni.-Marburg 2015, 2017
Invited Professor, Lyon Observatory, Claude Bernard University, France 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2018
Visiting Professor, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea 2009-10
Guest Observer, Kitt Peak National Observatory, Tucson, Arizona, 2000-2003
Guest Observer, Mt. Wilson Observatory (Caltech), Califiornia, USA 2000
Councilor, Astronomical Society of India, 2007-2009
Member, Users Committee, IUCAA, Pune, 2007-2009
Manit Jain
Founder and Director (The Heritage Schools)Linkin
Bio
Alumnus of Harvard University and Co-chair of FICCI’s School Education Committee – FICCI Arise.
Manit championed the cause of experiential learning launching it successfully in the mainstream environment in the country. Co-founder and Director of The Heritage Group of Schools which has consistently ranked amongst the top 10 schools in India for the past 3 years, Manit also features amongst the 22 Extraordinary Education Innovators (EW April 2015 issue) for transforming schools into activity hubs where students and teachers learn-teach through hands-on experiences and real-life projects.
An empathetic change-maker with a robust investment of practice and perfection in education, Manit continues to found new ventures like ‘I am a Teacher’, a Post graduate diploma in learning and teaching that is changing the paradigm of Teaching in India.
Manit Jain has been actively involved with Heritage Xperiential Learning School in an advisory capacity on several strategic issues including infrastructure development, talent attraction, curriculum design, teacher capability development, parent engagement, systems, processes and standard operational procedures. He has personally championed and led several change initiatives to transform the school into an experiential learning school. He is also the co-founder of I am a Teacher, an initiative that is developing a model for practice-based teacher education in collaboration with Boston Teacher Residency.
Noora Fatima Noushad
Lead - Design & Technology (The Heritage Schools)
Bio
Noora joined “The Heritage Schools” from “The University of Pennsylvania” where she holds an M.S.Ed in Learning Sciences and Technology.
At Heritage Xperiential Learning School, she pioneers Design Thinking and Maker Mindset as part of the curriculum, further driving the school’s experiential and project-based pedagogy. She is a published learning scientist who has led multiple initiatives on imparting mobile computing skills to middle school students across public and private schools in the United States of America. She has led research on the Milken-funded project, Code for Philadelphia, a curriculum that focused on building students’ engagement in STEM through the creation of mobile apps. Her work has been presented at Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Conference in London and published in the International Journal of Learning Sciences.
Poonam Heryani
Director - Teacher Training and Education (TAITO Education Sharjah, UAE.)LinkinTwittere-mailWebsite
Bio
Poonam Heryani is the Director – Teacher Training and Education, TAITO Education Sharjah, UAE. She is a much sought after speaker and trainer, she has led and conducted numerous workshops for school educators in India and the Middle East. Having completed her MSED Research in Teacher Leadership from Richard Riley College of Education, Walden University, USA, currently Poonam’s area of interest is “How leadership practices in a school can impact the learning and achievement of students”. Poonam provides Instructional leadership and teacher training, supports curriculum design that addresses what students must know factually, understand conceptually and be able to do in skills and processes, she addresses critical issues of improving instruction that develops conceptual thinking along with critical, creative and reflective thinking. Having spent twenty eight years as an educator, Principal and school administrator, Poonam Heryani has become widely recognised as an ambassador for progressive education with a focus on designing and delivering curriculum, practices pertaining to curriculum reform, instructional strategies that encourage critical thinking and strategic planning.
Prof. A.K. Bakhshi
Vice-Chancellor (PDM University)
Bio
Prof. A.K.Bakhshi is the Founder Vice-Chancellor of PDM University. He was Executive Director of Tertiary Education Commission (TEC), Mauritius (a post equivalent to that of Chairman, UGC in India) during October 2013 – February 2015. He was selected for this prestigious position through an international selection in 2013. Prior to joining TEC, he has been Vice-Chancellor of U.P. Rajarshi Tandon Open University (UPRTOU), Allahabad for more than two years (2011–13). Prof. Bakhshi held the prestigious Sir Shankar Lal Chair of Chemistry in the University of Delhi for more than two decades and was also Head, Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi during May 2010– August 2011.
Prof Bakhshi is also Chairman of Centre for e-Learning as well as Chairman of Guru Angad Dev Teaching – Learning Centre (a Centre of the MHRD Govt. of India) both located at SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi. These centres are based on two national projects in the field of e-Learning worth more than Rs. 10 crores. Prof. Bakhshi is also the Chairman of the National Resource Centre of Chemistry of the MHRD. He was also Chairman of the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) project in Chemistry of the CSIR. Prof. Bakhshi has also been a Member of the Standing Committee of the National Mission on Education through ICT (NMEICT). He was also the Chairman of the Content Advisory Committee for Chemistry for SAKSHAT portal of the MHRD, Govt. of India which was launched on 30th October 2006 by the then President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.
A double gold medalist of Delhi University, Dr. Bakhshi did his post-doctoral training at the University of Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany with Prof. J. Ladik and at the Kyoto University and the Institute of Fundamental Chemistry, Kyoto, Japan with Professor K. Fukui, the Nobel Laureate and Prof. T.Yamabe. He has also been a Visiting Scientist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangaluru.
Prof. Bakhshi’s research interests include theoretical polymer chemistry with special reference to electrically conducting polymers and biopolymers. He is the author/coauthor of about 170 research and education articles etc., and one patent. He has to his credit eleven books as author/co-author and many as editor/chairman/ convener of the working group. Many students have obtained their Ph.D / M.Phil under his guidance. His other interests include innovation in science education, ICT in higher education, e-Learning and MOOCs.
Prof.Bakhshi has been the recipient of several awards and academic honours. These include amongst others : World Education Award, Haryana Ratan Award, Bharat Jyoti Award, Fellowship of the IUPAC; Lifetime Achievement Award by IAEWP, Guest of Honour at the 26th IGNOU Convocation at Varanasi, Felicitation at the Centenary Celebration of Vigyan Parishad Prayag, Distinguished Teacher Award; National Education Award by Headlines Today News Channel; Bioved Honorary Fellowship, Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) Medal; Fellowship of the National Academy of Sciences (FNASc); JSPS Fellowship; DAAD Fellowship; INSA Research Fellowship; UGC Career Award; Prof. P.K.Bose Memorial Award of the Indian Chemical Society, Best Paper Award in the field of Chemical Sciences from DAAD; Young Chemist Award; Dr. Krishan Rao Gold Medal, Dr. R. D. Desai Award of the Indian Chemical Society, Prof. R.P. Mitra Gold Medal, ISCA Best Poster Awards of the Indian Science Congress Association for the years 2012 and 2015. India Didactics Association (IDA) 2014 Special Award for excellence in Digital Content in Education for our template etc. Prof Bakhshi was awarded Capital Foundation National Award for distinctive and outstanding contribution to Education by former President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam (December 2011).
Prof. Bakhshi has also been elected as the President of the section of the Chemical Sciences of the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) for the year 2011-12. Prof. Bakhshi has been the member of the editorial board of the Indian Journal of Chemistry (Section A). He has also been a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research published by the CSIR and also the Chief-Editor of the UGC-sponsored journal Chemistry Education Review. He was also a co-guest editor of the special issue of the Indian Journal of Chemistry on Conducting Polymers. Prof. Bakhshi is recognised as one of the best teachers of Chemistry in the country.
Prof. Bakhshi has delivered many Talks / Plenary Lectures / Keynote Addresses at various conferences and seminars both in India and abroad. He has also Chaired Technical Sessions at various national/international conferences. He has also been very actively involved in the organization of many conferences, workshops and seminars at the national/international level.
Prof. Bakhshi has also been the Director of the Institute of Lifelong Learning (ILLL), University of Delhi and the Centre for Professional Development in Higher Education (CPDHE), a UGC Academic Staff College of the University of Delhi for about three years (2008 – 2010). In his capacity as Director ILLL, he spearheaded the process of e-transformation of the University of Delhi.
Prof. Bakhshi was felicitated (September 2009) by the Former President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam for his contributions in the e-transformation of the University of Delhi, as Director ILLL. Prof. Bakhshi is presently very actively engaged at the national level in the development of e-content and MOOCs under Digital India initiative of the Govt. of India. He is one of the leading e-Learning experts of India.
Last but not the least, Prof. Bakhshi has also the distinction of being one of the first persons from the Universities in India to have been selected as the Member Scientist of the “Third Indian Research Expedition to Antarctica” in 1984.
Dr. Pankaj Mittal
Additional Secretary (UGC)LinkinTwitter
Bio
Dr(Mrs) Pankaj Mittal, Additional Secretary, UGC is a Fulbright Scholar and has been a topper in MSc and PhD in Agricultural Statistics from IARI, New Delhi. She has a wide-ranging experience of more than three decades in Higher Education in the fields of Policy Planning and Management of Higher Education including Promotion of Access, Equity, Relevance, Quality and Human Resource Management.
Dr Mittal was appointed by the Government of Haryana as the first regular Vice-Chancellor of Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya, the first rural women university of North India, in 2008, at a young age of 44 years, to undertake an onerous task of building up a tiny Gurukul into an institution of repute. Dr Mittal introduced a series of innovative practices and reforms as the Vice Chancellor of the only rural, residential, multi-faculty, women state university of the country which imparts education to 7000 girls from KG till PhD level in a holistic manner.
Within a short span of about six years, spanning over two terms as the Vice-Chancellor, Dr Mittal transformed the Gurukul into a university which is now on the international map with collaborations with universities like University of Baltimore, USA, St Catherine University, USA, Nottingham Trent University, UK and University of Cambridge ESOL, UK and is frequented by many international experts, teachers and students. Her contributions in Institution Building coupled with the blending of traditional and modern education is an exemplary contribution towards the promotion of rural women folk in a unique manner. The Social Impact of the Kanya Gurukul and the BPS Women University on the surroundings is evident from the Census 2011 figures of Sex Ratio of Khanpur Village, which stands at 1378 females per 1000 males in the state like Haryana which is known for adverse sex ratio (879 for Haryana and 940 for India). Similarly, the Female Literacy for Khanpur village is 76%, 10% higher than the national and state average (65.46% in India and 65.94% in Haryana).
Dr Mittal has visited a number of countries like USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, South Korea, Spain, Germany, South Africa, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mauritius and Philippines to name a few, for academic purposes for presenting papers in international conferences and for academic exchanges on behalf of UGC and the university. Dr Mittal had led a delegation of 15 Vice Chancellors to UK for academic collaborations.
Dr Mittal is also the proud recipient of following Awards and Honours:
Fulbright Nehru Scholarship grant for Educational administrators
President of India Award in 2017 for Digital Initiatives in Higher education
Honorary Doctorate-D. Litt. (Honoris Causa) from Karnataka State Women’s University, Bijapur, Karnataka
First Padam Shri Subhashini Devi Award 2018 for contributions in Societal Development and Community Engagement from the Chief Minister of Haryana.
Qimpro Gold Standard Award for leadership in Education for the year 2018
Dr. Mittal has been a member of various High Powered Committees and Professional Bodies including Programme Advisory Board and HRM Network Steering Committee on Human Resource Management of Association of Common Wealth Universities, London, Pay Committee for teachers in the State of Haryana, Search Committee for selection of Vice Chancellor, CDLU, Sirsa, Haryana, Board of Governors, Kerala State Council for Higher Education, Visitor’s nominee on Board of Management of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Central University, Lucknow, Central Counseling Board, All India Engineering Entrance Examination, Rehabilitation Council of India, Indian Institute of Public Administration, Board of Governors, Vellalar College for Women, Coimbatore,Programme Advisory Committee of Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, Haryana State Council for Higher Education, Haryana Innovation Council, Steering Committee of Planning Commission for formulation of XII Plan for Higher Education, Sub-Committee of Planning Commission on Leadership and Institutional Governance and Member-Convenor of Sub Committee of Planning Commission on Community Engagement of Higher EducationInstitutions etc.
She has published a number of papers, articles, occasional papers and reports on issues relating to higher education and women empowermentin national and international journals.
Dr. Vimal Rarh
Joint Director, (Teaching-Learning Centre of the MHRD)
Bio
Dr. Vimal Rarh, is a Senior Chemistry Faculty at Department of Chemistry, SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi and has around 15 years of teaching experience in Chemistry. She has experience of mentoring and guiding UG, PG as well as research scholars. She has done her doctorate from the University of Delhi and submitted thesis entitled: “Synthetic studies on chalcones and dihydrochalcones”. She has done her post-doctorate at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi in the project entitled “Studies towards the enantioselective synthesis of prenylated quinolinone alkaloids”.
She has her research interest in Organic Chemistry, e-Learning and Forensic Science. She has to her credit many research papers, a patent, books, presentations and invited talks at National and International platforms. She has guided one M.Phil student and currently guiding a Ph.D student.
Presently, she is the Principal Investigator for Chemistry project worth Rs 1.12 crore and is guiding the technical team at the Centre of e-Learning as Technical coordinator for 6 subjects. She is also the Principal Investigator for a project worth Rs 4.81 crores under the Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers and Training (PMMMNMTT) of the MHRD, Govt. of India at SGTB Khalsa College.
Apart from her teaching responsibilities, she is guiding a full-time team of around 40 academic, technical and office staff along with overall coordination with around 800 academicians across the country as Deputy Director of the Centre for e-Learning and the Joint Director of Guru Angad Dev Teaching Learning Centre both located at the SGTB Khalsa College.
Dr Vimal Rarh has authored the following multimedia enriched e-content as Author/co-Author
Around 120 modules (e-Text, Self-Learn, Self –assessment, Learn More) and Video lectures in Chemistry and Forensic Science for ePG Pathshala project
Two e-Books, National Science Digital Library, NISCARE, a division of CSIR, with the active collaboration of UGC and Ministry of HRD, 2008.
ILLL, DU Portal:Chapter “Stereochemistry”, 200 e-Quizzes, 5 Organic Chemistry e-Labs and One e-Lecture.
She has to her name various awards and honors. She is a Member of
e-Governance Committee for the development of software for automation of UGC’s schemes at National level for Universities, Colleges and individuals; and also of the Task Force Committee for development of MOOCs for ePGPathshala programme at National
Level (for all 77 subjects) by UGC .
She has been a recipient of Best Innovation award at Antardhwani-2015 under the DU Innovation projects, entitled“Identification of weapon holders in crime cases” as co-Investigator and IDA-2014 special award for the category“Digital content in education” at the International conference cum exhibition “WORLD DIDAC- 2014”.
Sethuraman T A
Co-Founder (Jungroo Learning)Linkin
Bio
Sethuraman is currently the Co-Founder of an Ed-tech organization called Jungroo Learning with a vision to leverage technology to cater to the unique learning needs of each and every individual child.
Jungroo is an AI that locates the learner at a very micro level and creates the shortest path to mastery for the learner. Jungroo is a B2B SAAS enterprise.
Sethu is a Masters in computer science graduate. He was part of a Rotaract club in college days and spent most of his college time organizing events, volunteering, teaching at orphanages, helping special and underprivileged kids with their education.
After working as a Business Technology Analyst for a year in Deloitte US-India Consulting, he decided to quit corporate to understand education inequity in India.
He went on to do his Teach for India fellowship in a corporation government school in Chennai where he was leading a bunch of 75 kids towards excellence in academics, values and mindsets and providing them with much-needed access and exposure. Getting Immersed in school system gave him a micro level insight on the problems faced by the community in large and education system in particular. His role as a Fellow at Teach for India, adapting the ‘Teaching as Leadership’ framework, impacted a class of 75 students directly and 300+ other stakeholders – parents, teachers, other students and the school management – indirectly.
After the fellowship, he has worked under various capacities as a school transformation associate and curriculum developer in education firms to understand the ecosystem and its stakeholders better.
He has interned with the Directorate of school education, Kashmir and helped them build a monitoring and evaluation tool to be used in government schools across Kashmir.
Prof. Rajesh Khanna
Dean of Student Affairs and Professor of Chemical Engineering ( Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi)Linkin
Bio
Rajesh Khanna is currently Professor of Chemical Engineering and Dean of Student Affairs at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He has long experience of teaching and interaction with students. He has served as the Head of Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty Incharge for Sports, Faculty Advisor for Student Society and mentor to countless number of students. He is also the National Coordinator for AICTE-MHRD perspective plan for Higher Technical Education and served as Vice-Chairman of Joint Entrance Examination. He has designed many new courses to teach soft materials and technology to chemical engineering students. He has also advised many institutes in developing their chemical engineering curriculum.
Rajesh Khanna has made pioneering contributions in establishing a theoretical, experimental and computational framework to study the breakup of thin films. Specifically, he has con-tributed in establishing a model experimental system, numerical methods to handle three phase contact line, features of rate of dewetting, effect of hydrodynamic slippage, reconciliation of patterns and the intermolecular force field and universality in coarsening dynamics of droplets. He has also shown that particles agglomerating in fluidized beds follow a universal dynamics. Recently, he has shown that the morpho-logical phase separation in thin films is much different from other phase separation processes. He has also initiated a new framework to understand hydrodynamics of trickle bed and nutrient mist reactors. His research has been well received by the scientific community with more than 2000 citations.
Rajesh Khanna did his schooling from Colvin Taluqdar’s College in Lucknow and studied Chemical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. He did post doctoral research at Institut de Chimie des Surfaces et Interfaces – CNRS Mulhouse, France and was an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow, University of New South Wales, Sydney.
Rajesh Khanna has been an accomplished Sportsman, Sports Administrator, Pigeon fancier and enjoys photography, nature and music.
Kakul is an IIM Bangalore alumnus currently working as the COO-India for Arc Skills Academy, A Dubai based Skill and Education Group.
In her 2 decades of experience, she has been an advocate for impact – based skilling across communities of students, job aspirants and professionals. She has worked in both developed and developing economies with the public and private sector to drive this passion.
Kakul has led innovative models to drive behaviour change and skilling for sectors such as Education, Telecom, Aviation, Financial Services and Vocational Skilling.. Her leading projects have impacted key development and business outcomes for the stakeholders, right from concept to delivery stage. She was instrumental in setting up the ecosystem at IGI Airport to drive service excellence making it #1 Airport globally and that academy continues to function till date. In her last tenure with a leading NBFC, she led the skills development for the bank launch which won the prestigious global award of Brandon hall for Best Learning Program Supporting a Change Transformation Business Strategy. She has closely worked with government and international agencies on driving capacity-building engagements in health & family welfare, education and skilling.
She has been the founding team member of large companies such as Centum Learning, Tata Docomo, contributing to their growth and expansion. As an entrepreneur, Kakul set up a skills organization in Allied Healthcare space, getting global skills standards to India.
Her body of work encompasses working with diverse stakeholders across countries and states within India. She has led teams in domains of planning & strategy, business development, program management and operations.
She is a certified assessor from the Australian Institute of Management.
She is an avid reader and enjoys swimming. She lives in Delhi with her two kids and husband.
Kyle Edwards has been a member of Vega since its inception. He is an expert in Project Based Learning (PBL) and the iLEAD process that Vega embeds within it’s pedagogy. He leads Learning Leader training in understanding and implementing of PBL. With a Bachelors of Science Degree in Excercise Physiology, Kyle also heads the Vega SPEED (Physical Education) program.
Kyle started his professional career working in civic engagement and Youth Leadership in Korogocho and Mathare slums in Nairobi, as well as the facilitator of the iLEAD program at Ngunyumu Primary School, Korogocho. He was also on the board of Ignitus Worldwide (Youth Leadership NGO), where he networked youth leadership programs across the world, primarily in 19 African nations. His work took him to the UN African Headquarters, UN Safer Cities Programe, as well as USAID Nairobi. After his experiences at UN, he knew that teaching and coaching leadership education was something he wanted to be connected with at a more profound level.
He then moved on to teach and coach at St. Gilgen International School, one of the top tier boarding IB schools in Europe, in Sankt Gilgen, Austria. Through his growth in learning and coaching, Kyle moved on to Tauranga, New Zealand to live out his dream as an International Rugby player and as a strength & conditioning coach. He has also worked throughout his professional career as a consultant for Edwards Education Services in teacher training and facilitation of the iLEAD leadership curriculum. This consultancy has taken him to both public and private schools, as well as educational leadership programs around the world.
Kyle knows that the best trait for a teacher is to be a student. He firmly believes that throughout his experiences he has learned far more from the people he has met and the surrounding environment. One of his favourite experiences has been working as a Alligator ‘relocator’ in South Carolina, USA. He goes on to say that “Working with alligators, is a lot like being with children. They can sense your emotions without even saying a word, so you have to be patient, relaxed, and most importantly respectful.”
Having lived on four continents and travelled extensively to more than 36 countries around the world. Kyle is now proud to call India his home. He is fascinated with Indian culture and history, studied Hindi and coaches the Delhi Hurricanes Rugby Men’s senior team. He aspires to write a book on his life and experiences, as well as continue to pursue his studies in cultural anthropology. Kyle is extremely passionate about Vega, what it stands for, and wants to do his part in making Vega the most innovative school in the World
Kautilya Bansal
Director (Abhinav Global School)Linkin
Bio
An innovator and entrepreneur, Kautilya Bansal is the Director of Abhinav Global School, Sector-13, Dwarka, Delhi, India. With a mission to educate future young generation for the future rather than past, he founded, ‘The CHANG 1.7’, an educational model, which transfers the right skill to students for the same.
He represented India in International Young Innovators Summit, 2018, in Tokyo, Japan and presented his innovation ‘The CHANG 1.7’ and won the Best Solution Innovation Award and also felicitated by ‘Special Award’ from Norton University, Cambodia.
Passionate to meet like-minded people and organisations, he actively takes part in educational conferences around the globe.
Also he is selected as Delegate for 23rd Session of The Youth Assembly, New York, Ambassador for International Youth Math Challenge, Germany and The Great Kindness Challenge, Kids for Peace
Bani Paintal Dhawan
Head of Education, India and South Asia (Google Cloud India Pvt. Ltd)Linkin
Bio
Bani Paintal Dhawan heads Google for Education in India. She has been with Google for over 9 years and her focus is to enable a large ecosystem to impact learning outcomes through Google’s products and platforms specifically designed for students and educators. Google’s mission is to provide quality education to everyone in the world by organizing the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful.
With over 18 years of experience, Bani has spearheaded many program at Google impacting student learning and teacher professional development. Prior to Google, Bani was heading global communication at Infosys.
A seasoned leader with over 18 years of experience, Divya Lal has created a special niche for herself in the Education industry. Passionate about creating innovative school solutions, she is perfect at creating harmony between academic support, training & operations. Her abilities in the domain of customer relationship management are exemplary and she nurtures these relationships with dedication. At Ebix Smartclass Educational Services, her role as Managing Director provides her with the unique opportunity to bring all her skills on board as she leads a team of over 1000 people. In the process, managing 6000 schools and impacting over 3 million students.
Divya feels strongly about bridging the digital divide that currently exists in the Indian Education system and is happy to work towards creating 21st-century Future-ready schools. For her, the purpose of technology in Education goes far beyond just utilizing existing tools to augment learning. Technology needs to blend in with a comprehensive approach to learning that includes the application of scientific knowledge as also leveraging assistive devices in the classroom. She looks at Education as an opportunity to not just contribute to but to shape the future of the country.
Awards & Accolades Won –
Exemplary Contribution in K-12 Digital learning at 13th World Education Summit, Mumbai‘Woman of the Year – Smartclass Education’ at Global Leaders Awards 2018 ‘Innovation In Education Awards’ at Inspiration Festival 2018 by Mindmingle
Vivek Pathak Leads SRJNA on Strategic and operational activities, focusing on establishing and enhancing an ecosystem of gen-next K-12 education. An experienced dot com boom IT Guy, Has worked with Hp Labs, Wipro technologies, HCL technologies before starting SRJNA with other 3 co-founders in 2015 April at IIT Delhi. Represented SRJNA at many national and International events as a Guest speaker, Participant, and Panelist in India and Abroad. In 2016, received the Fellow from RAE London for the educational initiatives taken by SRJNA, above 10 shortlisted nations. Vast experience gained at IIT and XLRI Jamshedpur helping him to eradicate rote learning through SRJNA pedagogy.
Padmaja Mashal
MD and Operations Head (Laz Digital Learning India)
Bio
Padmaja Mashal – has an Engineering Degree . Tech Savy , and has worked on Various Projects on “Social Innovation and Technology” and “Global Immersion in Innovation and Entrepreneurship” at University of Massachusetts, USA . She is a chronic reader and never fails to emphasize on the importance of reading Skills. She tirelessly works to develop and implement products that help teachers and students reach their full potential.
She firmly believes that Teachers are and always will be an integral part of education system and works extensily towards empowering teachers. She is a Curriculum and Instruction specialist. She is involved in many projects connected to public education, and works as a mentor to K-12 Teachers . With a background in evidence-based instructional design and 5+ years of experience serving the K-12 market, she is committed to promoting literacy for all students. Padmaja is also a seasoned Educational Professional dedicated to establishing strong, longlasting relationships with schools and Institutions/Colleges. Her experience in coordinating large-scale implementations and leading productive sales teams is always an added advantage to the team and with Currently Leading the Core Team from Chennai Office, taking care of Operations day to day. Her Contributions is always an Asset to the organization. She believes great products begin with simple ideas and even Simpler people.
Padmaja is also the Managing Director and Operations Head for LAZ DIGITAL LEARNING PVT LTD – INDIA.
Alok Agarwal
Head of Marketing (Orient Bell Limited)
Bio
Alok Agarwal heads Marketing at Orient Bell Limited, an Indian leader in the manufacturing of Ceramic and Vitrified tiles.
His session would focus on redesigning schools for the new generation. Orientbell’s efforts to turn classrooms into learning studios and innovating education experiences that encourage both informal and peer-to-peer learning has brought stupendous results so far. The focus of Orientbell team is to make learning more interactive and fun.
Alok is driving digital transformation in the construction Industry and spearheading award-winning campaigns.
He is a marketing veteran who has built brands across India and abroad, and was recognized as the “Digital Marketer of the year” by the Internet & Mobile Association of India in 2017.
An IIT Bombay & IIM Bangalore alumnus with two decades of experience, he has led new product development, evangelized digital marketing, and created shopper marketing solutions for retail outlets. His career has seen him in marketing leadership roles at Unilever, GSK Consumer Healthcare, Saralee, AsiaPac and Ebay India in his early years.
Prof. Madhu Vij
Professor of Finance (Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi)Linkin
Bio
Dr Madhu Vij is a Professor of Finance at the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi where she has been teaching for over three decades. Her professional and teaching interests include the areas of International Finance, Risk Management, Banking and Financial Services, Corporate Finance and Accounting. She has received the Alumni Excellence award from Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi. Dr Vij has participated and attended the Global Colloquium on ‘Participant-Centered Learning’ at Harvard Business School, Boston, USA. Prof Vij was on the Panel of Judges for the award of PM’s trophy for selecting the best steel plant for 2 years (2011-2013) and has also been a member of Ad-Hoc Task Force, Results Framework Document (2011-2013). Dr Madhu Vij has been an Independent Director of MOIL Limited. Currently, she is an Independent Director for four private limited companies.
Prof Vij’s research interests include asset liability management, country risk analysis, derivatives, foreign exchange risk management, treasury management, corporate valuation, credit ratings and financial crisis, currency correlation and corporate governance. She has completed a number of projects sanctioned by National bodies like UGC, RBI, ICSSR, SAIL and Delhi University. She serves on the editorial board and is also a reviewer for several academic journals, national and international conferences.
Prof Vij had been the Director, Women’s Studies and Development Centre, University of Delhi for one year (June 2012 to July 2013). She is actively involved in working on Gender issues, has delivered special talks in this area and has also worked on a project on ‘Microfinance and Gender’.
She has published several research papers in International and national Journals of repute and has presented papers globally in the field of banking and finance. She has authored four books namely Multinational Financial Management, Management Accounting, Management of Financial Institutions and a book on Corporate Finance for NIIT for MBA participants for ITT, USA. She has also co-authored two books – one on ‘Merchant Banking and Financial Services’ and the second one on ‘Women’s Studies in India: A Journey of 25 Years.
Dr Vij is … actively involved in research, consultancy and training for several leading public and private organizations in the areas of Project Management, Strategic Financial Management, Case-based method of learning and teaching, Finance for Non-finance managers.
Ashok Pamidi
CEO (NASSCOM Foundation)
Bio
A purpose driven leader who works towards accomplishing organisation goals, by aligning, scaling and sustaining initiatives and programs that translate into accomplishing the final outcomes. At NASSCOM, over a period of 5 years he has scaled SME vertical to newer heights taking it global locations, strategized regional member outreach to become the strongest value add to the organization, and transformed non-performing assets into performing trends for IT BPM industry ecosystem, initiated disruptive initiatives to strengthen NASSCOM’s Skilling and reskilling goals.
With over 30 years of experience of working with IBM as a Geo Expansion Leader, and HP/Compaq/Digital as a transformation leader, he has the acumen of building and nurturing teams that hold up the vision of the organisations.
He is a member of the IT High power committee of GOVT of Kerala and in the board of ICT skills academy Karnataka and the NAIN (New age incubation network) board member of the Govt of Karnataka. He is also in the advisory board in numerous consulting firms in the areas of leadership and D&I.
Lee Lee Ong
Project Director, International Investments (Hamburg Invest)Linkin
Bio
Vipul Redey
Head – School Enablement (Khan Academy)LinkinTwitter
Bio
Vipul Redey is the Head – School Enablement at Khan Academy. An alumnus of Stanford University, he helps schools make the most of Khan Academy’s online learning resources in their classrooms.
He has also worked for Cisco, managing a large part of their multi dollar IT training and professional certifications portfolio. As a CXO at Global Discovery Schools and Director of Academics at Pearson Schools India, he has designed the daily classroom experience of thousands of students nationally. He is a multifaceted personality.
He is an educator, writer, lover, fighter, saint, sinner, an ice-cream-holic and a “wannabe engine driver” – as his Twitter bio says. He is also a TED-Ed Innovative Educator and a TEDx Colombo speaker.
Transforming the classroom learning experience and the education system from a race to resource is his IKIGAI.
Ritika Subhash
Director of Schools, Indian Subcontinent (Mangahigh)Linkin
Bio
Ritika has over 10 years of experience in various sectors and responsibilities, including IT change management, implementation of personalized e-learning tools and managing sales, human resources and operations. She has a passion for improving the quality of learning and education and making learning more meaningful and joyful for everyone, including children, teachers as well as parents.
She has authored “Let’s talk about my feelings” – a rhyming book for children (reading level 7+ yrs) that is a one-of-its-kind on building emotional vocabulary. It is a collection of 12 short stories, each urging the child to express their emotions around difficult topics, such as bullying, gender stereotypes, friendship dynamics, chores and even abuse.
Natasha Joshi
Education Lead (Tata Trusts)
Bio
Natasha Joshi leads the education Systems Strengthening vertical at Tata Trusts, and oversees projects in Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Tripura. She holds a Master’s in Education from Harvard University, and has worked in the policy implementation space with UNICEF for a number of years, and more recently at NITI Aayog. Her views on different topics in education have been carried by periodicals like India Development Review, The Ken and Swarajya Magazine.
Rajiv Sikka
Head of Information Technology (Medanta hospital)Linkin
Bio
Raviganesh Venkataraman
CEO (Cloudnine Group of Hospitals)Linkin
Bio
Raviganesh Venkataraman is the Cheif Executive Officer at Cloudnine Group of Hospital. He is a Business Leader with Strategic and Operational experience – along the full value chain from Procurement to Sales, Strategy development to M&A – across varied Industries and geographies in India and Asia.
Koti Venkata Rao
MD & CEO (Erfolg Life Sciences)
Bio
CO FOUNDER, MD & CEO: KOTI VENKATA RAO ( KV)
It’s as if providence had planned for KV (as he is popularly known) to prepare all his life to head an organization like Erfolg Life Sciences. A science graduate with a management degree, KV started his career as a medical representative with Alkem Laboratories. Though brief, the stint introduced him to what has today become critical knowledge in driving growth and business at Erfolg. With over 15 years working in leading banks like Grindlays and Standard Chartered, , KV went on to join Sundaram Housing where his exposure to rural India began. In 2007, he joined SKS Microfinance where he led operations. A successful IPO followed by the crisis that struck the microfinance industry in 2010, he saw the company through its revival and rebirth as Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd. These years gave him a deep understanding of the Indian rural markets and the importance of being agile and responsive to operational crises.
In 2018, he joined hands with Ramesh and Nitesh to redefine the business model for Erfolg Life Sciences with a definite rural focus. KV’s professional strength is his thoroughness with execution. He is a team player and is able to motivate and drive large teams across geographies.
He is passionate about music and is devoted to his two daughters.
Dr Chikkanna Manohar
Education & Entrepreneurship Evangelist ()Linkin
Bio
Dr Manohar has extensive experience of over three decades in industry, government, b-schools, research and consulting organizations, industry bodies and international development agencies.
Senior Director at International School of Business & Research, Advisor & Executive Coach at Nitte School of Management & Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology, a visiting faculty to European Universities, Chairman of Board of Studies at Management & Technical Institutions, Director & Founder of Business Entities, Dr Manohar has contributed to Leadership Development, Strategic Development Initiatives, Governance, Affiliations & Accreditations, Partnerships, Research & Consulting.
Highly networked in business and professional bodies, National Executive Board Member of Association of Indian Management Schools (AIMS); Chaired Karnataka Chapter of Institute of Management Consultants of India, now serving on the national Executive Board; Former Secretary/CEO of Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce & Industry, now serving on Management Boards and Governing Councils of organizations, ASSOCHAM (Co-Chairman, National Council on Higher Education), Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (Vice Chairman, Education & Skill Development Council), Bangalore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (Management Committee); Indo French Chamber of Commerce (Governing Council); Indo Italian Chamber of Commerce (Regional Board of Management); Member of CII, NIPM, NHRD, QCFI, AMDISA and others.
Co-Founder of Parentof.Com, Chief Mentor of StartUp Forum Bangalore. NonExecutive Chairman of Consortium of Data Science in Education. Consulted for World Bank/UNDP Projects, designed and implemented capacity building projects in Asia, Africa & Europe. Widely traveled on scholastic missions and trade delegations, Dr Manohar has a passion for visioning, institution building and talent development.
Dr. Alexander Thomas
President (Association of Healthcare Providers)Linkin
Bio
Dr. Thomas has served the healthcare sector for over 30 years, and holds positions in several national associations that address issues within the healthcare sector: he is the , Founder-Member and President of the Association of National Board Accredited Institutions (ANBAI), Founder-President (2012-2017) and Patron of the Consortium of Accredited Healthcare Organizations (CAHO). He played a significant part in incorporating healthcare communication among the NABH Accreditation Standards for Hospitals (4th Edition), introducing communication skills within the MBBS and PG curricula for medical students across India, rolling back the service tax for the health sector and making assaults on doctors a non-bailable offence. Due to his efforts, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) of India made entry-level accreditation mandatory for the empanelment of hospitals, which will result in mandatory empanelment (currently numbering 33,000 hospitals). Dr. Thomas led the expert group on medical education for the National Education Policy (2019) headed by Dr. Kasturirangan. He initiated the creation of a national Think Tank on Health at the National Law School of India University (NLSIU).At the State level, Dr. Thomas played an important role in developing the State Public Health Policy as the Member-Secretary of its Task Force. He has led committees for NABH accreditation of government hospitals in Karnataka, the implementation of NBE accreditation for DNB courses in district hospitals of Karnataka, and working towards a tobacco-free Karnataka.Dr Thomas co-edited the Handbook of Healthcare Quality (2016). Other important publications led by Dr. Thomas are the Guidebook for Pre-Accreditation Entry-Level Standards for Small Healthcare Organizations (2015) supported by the World Bank and NABH; Dr. Thomas was awarded the Emeritus Teacher Award by NBE for his distinguished achievements and contributions to the field of Medical Education (2014).
Dr. Ashish Jain
CEO (Healthcare Sector Skill Council)Linkin
Bio
Dr. Ashish Jain is the CEO at Healthcare Sector Skill Council. His key strengths are in Relationship Building, External Relations, Policy Advocacy, Communication, Strategy and Planning. He also has strong skills in maintaining and building relations with government ministries and department, institutions, academia and media. An effective communicator with excellent people management & leadership abilities.
Dr. Preeti Bajaj
Principal (G. H. Raisoni College of Engineering)Linkin
Bio
Dr. Preeti Bajaj is an Electronics Engineer Graduated in 1991, Post graduate in year 1998 and awarded as doctorate in year 2004. She has 25 year of academic experience. Currently she is Director of G.H. Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur. Her research interest includes Intelligent Transportation system, Soft Computing, Hybrid Intelligent Systems & Applications of Fuzzy logic in areas of Intelligent Transportation Systems. Her professional society affiliation includes Fellow- Institute of Engineers, Fellow IETE, Senior Member- IEEE. She is active volunteer of IEEE and handled many key activities like being Secretary of IEEE India Council 2017, 2018, founding Chair of IEEE Nagpur Subsection chair 2017- 2018, Vice Chair students activities IEEE India Council 2012-2016. Member CGAA EAB 2016- 2017, Member India Strategic Initiative 2017 -18 Committee appointed by President IEEE, R-10 Students Retention India, Member MGA SAC 2017-2018 and now on BoG of IEEE HKN. She has chaired many session in international conferences in India & abroad. She is founder General Chair of ICETET series of IEEE Conferences and organized and hosted 7 ICETET conferences in India and Abroad. Six Doctoral students have been awarded PhD & 25 have done Masters under her. She has authored & co-authored three book chapters & 100 plus reviewed Publications. Her major contribution is in design and development of driver assistance systems -drivers fatigue detection system, driver’s action and emotion detection system, driver’s behavior modeling. She is founder General Chair of ICETET series of Seven IEEE Conferences.
Dr. Bajaj holds several awards like Best Teacher award, “Bhaskar Woman’s Award” for
year 2010 and “Faculty of Month” for September 2011, by Teacher Academy,
Hyderabad. She is also been recognized as resource person by National board of
accreditation for creating awareness of Outcome Based Education and Outcome
Based Accreditation System and conducted workshops at Jaipur, Hyderabad, Nagpur,
Bangalore etc. She was In-charge of official Nodal Center of National Board of
accreditation for imparting Training on OBE. She was on General Council of National
Board of accreditation. She has visited countries like Singapore, Hong Kong, UK,
Japan, Malaysia, Mauritius, USA and gulf countries for presenting her research work.
She is intensely engaged in shaping the students to build skilled-based India and
actively involved in promoting entrepreneurship activities and stat ups in the campus
She is renowned assessor for the NAAC(National assessment and accreditation
council)
Dr Hari Krishna Maram
Vice Chancellor (Universal Digital University)Linkin
Bio
Dr. Hari Krishna Maram is the Vice Chancellor at Universal Digital University-USA, Digital Brand Ambassador- Vision Digital India, Chairman and Founder CEO, Imperial Group Trust and Imperial College, Bangalore. A highly motivated, experienced creative communicator with proven ability to “Achieve beyond Expectation”. He is specialized in concept development, market research, marketing, brand positioning, sales, sales training, educational consulting, university/AICTE/UGC guidelines, Institutional building, international marketing. He had been the Digital Brand Ambassador, Vision Digital India. He is also the Chairman and Founder- CEO of Imperial College. He has been a visiting professor at ICRI Group and Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal. He has done his B. Pharmacy from Gulbarga University, PGDIBO in International Business and EEDC in Management from Indian School of Business. He has his articles published on Data Science and Scenario of Indian Higher Education.
Dr. Mudit Saxena
Partner, Managing Director & CEO (Ovum Hospitals - India)Linkin
Bio
Dr. Mudit Saxena is a clinician who started his career at a primary health center in rural India. He then trained to be an administrator with a Masters in Hospital Administration and MBA from IIM Bangalore. He pursued and successfully completed his academics with Johns Hopkins University, U.S.A. and Singapore Management University. He is currently serving as Managing Director & CEO with Ovum Hospitals – a well-known chain of Birthing Hospitals. Prior to this he served as Group CEO for CARE Hospitals – the fifth largest chain of hospitals in India; he was also the COO for HCG Enterprises Ltd. – the leading Cancer Chain of Hospitals and Program Director at Fortis, Gurgaon. With over 22 years of experience in leadership roles in corporate, trust and public sector healthcare organizations, he is recognized for his deep and incisive knowledge on Indian Healthcare at both National and International platforms. Dr. Mudit has served as Chairperson, Key Speaker and Panelist at various international and national healthcare forums such as Chairman at the Healthcare World Asia Conference Singapore, Key Speaker at UK India Healthcare Summit at UK Parliament, London. He is one of the Mentors at HealthPod – an incubator which focuses specifically on healthcare start-ups from the seed stage onwards. Dr. Mudit has been awarded by ASIA One as the World’s Greatest Leaders in Asia and GCC (Healthcare) at Dubai in May 2017. He was also adjudged the Indian Affairs Health Administrator of the year 2017 at India Leadership Conclave, Mumbai in August 2017.
Mr. Shankha Banerjee is the Chief Growth Officer of Dr Lal Path Labs. He is an alumnus of Delhi College of Engineering and SP Jain Institute of Management & Research, Mumbai. He has also done ‘BP Sales and Marketing Leadership Development Course’ at Kellogs, USA. He worked for Castrol India Limited & BP Lubricants for 14 years and went on to become Global Market Space Manager. Later he joined Pidilite Industry Limited as President – Sales & Marketing:Middle East & Africa He joined Dr Lal PathLabs in July 2014 as Chief Operating Officer-Region II For his extraordinary performance, Mr. Shankha Banerjee has won several awards. He was felicitated with the BP Group Marketing Beacon Award for Best Advertising and Promotion Campaign in 2004, and was twice commended in the Annual BP Group Helios Award.
Intercell is the brain child of Arunabh Varma, a sales, digital & marketing expert and a seasoned professional. He has been associated with luxury automotive brands like Audi, Harley Davidson and BMW in the past. A versatile work experience of 15 years in Telecom, IT, Real Estate and Automobiles. Now an Entrepreneur.
As a marketing enthusiast and master’s degree holder in advertising and marketing management, Arunabh Varma has 15 years of successful results in luxury and premium marketing planning and executing brand strategy activities in customer-focused market. His entire work experience is enriched with product promotional projects carried out in teams where mostly he has worked in the leading position. This includes, but not limited to, launching various types of new successful brand initiatives.
Moreover, Arunabh has advanced analytical skills which can be proven by his ability to handle large and varied amounts of data, extracting business insights and customer buying habits, interpreting and analysing marketing research information as well as using the analyses and formulating business strategies and suggestions.
Throughout his professional career, he has demonstrated a keen ability to effectively influence internal and external stakeholders across the business with his exemplary communication skills. Also, has effectively managed budget and respective performance, product sales and consumer reactions.
Nilesh Patel
Co-Founder and CEO (LeadSquared)
Bio
Nilesh Patel is the Co-Founder and CEO of LeadSquared, an Enrolment Accelerator for Schools, Colleges and Universities. He is focused on helping businesses in high velocity, high volume sales to improve their sales execution and increase sales efficiencies. In the education space, he is on a mission to build LeadSquared as a student enrolment and management system of choice, for colleges and universities, and he firmly believes that an awesome product and great customer service are both central to making that happen. He brings his decade long experience in sales and marketing to the team. Previously, Nilesh was the founder of Proteans, a recognized leader in software product development services space.
Shikha Nag
Founder and Director (Indian Academy of Public Speaking)Linkin
Bio
Shikha Nag is the Founder and Director of Indian Academy of Public Speaking. She is a management graduate with corporate work experience across hospitality, tours and travels, education, training and exhibitions industry. The stage has been her first love, which she expresses through her efforts in Indian Academy of Public Speaking, corporate presentations & anchoring, motivational speeches, personality & image development.
· Founder and Director of Indian Academy of Public Speaking
· 2 times TEDx Speaker
· Author of the book “Tear the Fear – 3D Approach to Public Speaking” available on Amazon
· Ex-President Bangalore Chapter – Image Management Professional Association (IMPA)
· Certified soft skills training by the Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA)
· Train the trainer certification from National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (NABET), Internationally Certified Image Consultant from ICBI & Conselle Institute of Image Management, USA
· Mrs. India-World 2016, 2nd Runners up.
Mr. Saket Jalan
Founder and CEO (Campus Students Communities)Linkin
Bio
Mr. Saket Jalan is the founder of Campus Students Communities Pvt. Ltd. and holds the position of Managing Director. He possesses post graduate diploma (PGDBA) from ISB Hyderabad and CFA from ICFAI. Prior to the formation of CSC, he served as Proprietor for Jain College Hostels since 2001. He collaborated with Mr. Chenraj Roychand Jain (Chairman, Jain Group of Institutions and also a board of director of CSC) for hostel services in Jain College.
Dr. Sunil Sharma
Dean (Indian Spinal Injuries Center)Linkin
Bio
Dr Sunil Sharma is Dean, Indian Spinal Injuries Center, Vasant Kunj. He is pioneer in infectious diseases/clinical microbiology with special expertise in establishing hospital infection control program. He was earlier HOD Clinical Microbiology and infection control at Medanta the medicity and Escorts Heart Institute. He was trained in infectious diseases at NYU Medical Center, New York and also worked as research associate at George Washington Univ Medical Center, Washington DC. Earlier he was head of public health laboratory of Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He has delivered several talks on National TV and Radio. Dr Sharma has been guest speaker at various national and international forums. He has published several papers in national and international journals.
Vivek Rajagopal
Vice President (Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital)Linkin
Bio
Vivek Rajagopal heads the Advanced Analytics & AI vertical at Narayana Health (NH). He carries an experience of 11 years pioneering data analytics, technology and innovation. He has been associated with NH for the last 8 years.
Vivek joined NH as VP-Strategy & Planning, working with the Group CEO to spearhead NH’s acquisitions and operational takeovers for close to 4 years. He put in place, structured financial analysis frameworks, valuation models for planning, evaluating and executing strategic expansions. He was pivotal in NH rapidly expanding its footprint during this period, with 2 major acquisitions adding close to 600 beds to consolidate its position in Eastern India and launching its first 250-bed hospital in Northern India.
Vivek, then undertook extensive efforts to create a separate vertical for Business Analytics. He single-handedly conceived, designed and developed the first version of the group’s real-time, fully automated, Business Intelligence system. Over the last 4 years, the vertical he created, has grown into a comprehensive advanced data analytics vertical covering Business Analytics, Clinical Analytics & AI. All the systems under his leadership have been completely developed in-house with a highly driven team of analysts, developers and statisticians. The analytics platform lies at the core of NH’s data-driven decision making and has resulted in significant monetary savings in addition to major improvements in processes across the group.
Rashie Jain is the Co-Founder & CEO at Onco.com. Onco.com provides cancer treatment services for breast cancer, lung cancer, brain tumor, prostate cancer and other cancer types from expert cancer specialists. Onco.com We are building a virtual care platform for cancer patients.
Ranjit Madan
CEO (Life Sciences Sector Skill Development Council)Linkin
Bio
Ranjit Madan is the Chief Executive Officer at Life Sciences Sector Skill Development Council.
Dr. Santanu Chattopadhyay
Head, Provider & Hospital Businesses (1mg Technologies)
Bio
Dr Santanu Chattopadhyay is an alumnus of INSEAD, Fontainebleau (2003) and Royal College of Physicians of London (1997) and holds a Master’s Degree in Internal Medicine from PGIMER, Chandigarh (1995). His career spans over two and half decades, spent in clinical medicine, healthcare start-ups, hospital administration and pharmaceuticals in India and abroad. He currently leads the hospital and provider businesses and artificial intelligence projects in 1mg.
During his tenure in the National Health Service (NHS), UK, Santanu worked as a Registrar at Barts & the London Medical School, as a Lecturer in Medicine at Queen Mary’s College and later as the Specialist Registrar in Gastroenterology at the University Hospital of Leicester. After returning to India he founded NationWide, a award winning VC- funded chain of Primary care clinics. He was also an investor and founding chairman of Ovum hospitals, a chain of mother and child hospitals. In his last assignment he led two well-known hospitals of Kolkata (CMRI and BM Birla) as COO and Group Medical Director for CK Birla Hospitals.
Santanu has been listed as one of the top-25 Healthcare Influencers in India by Healthcare Executive, a well-known Indian healthcare industry publication in their January 2015 edition. He is passionate about application of technology for more affordable and accessible healthcare.
Dr DB Bhaaskara
Director (Roerich Healthcare India)Linkin
Bio
Dr DB Bhaaskara is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at Roerich Healthcare Pvt Ltd India. Roerich Healthcare (a B2B Healthcare group) has World Wide Business Connections, is a Multi nation company founded in 2008 and acts as international sales department for several pharmaceutical companies. Their goal is to expand the horizons of our partners by introducing them to strategic and successful distributors.
Srinivasa Rao K
VP - Business Development (Campus Students Communities)Linkin
Bio
Srinivasa Rao K is the Vice President – Business Development at Campus Students Communities. The sole objective of the enterprise is to cater the finest housing experience for students and developing organized living spaces & great amenities.
He is MBA from Andhra University and has 16 years of experience in sales and Marketing in service industry.
Dr Naresh Shetty
President (Ramaiah Memorial Hospital)
Bio
Dr Naresh Shetty is an orthopedic surgeon specialized in trauma and arthroplasty for the past 21 years. With an aptitude in administration, he was the Medical Director at M S Ramaiah Medical Teaching Hospital from 1998-2003 and at Ramaiah Memorial Hospital from 2004 to 2011. He is now the President for International Program and Strategic Alliance at Ramaiah Memorial Hospital. He is the member of Board of Studies in Medical (PG) – (Clinical) – Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences and President for Orthopedic Association of South Indian States for the year 2012 – 2013. He has been conferred with International Youth Exchange Programme Award by the Rotary International in 1993 and Howmedica Fellowship in 1993, HongKong.
Manisha Kumar
Hospital Head and General Manager (Columbia Asia Hospital)
Bio
Manisha Kumar is the Hospital Head and General Manager of Columbia Asia Hospital Sarjapur Road. From commissioning the hospital from scratch to turning it profitable in 11 months to winning Indian Express award for Operational excellence this June – She has played a key role in starting up and shaping up the hospital with most cutting edge and state of art facility and turning it into an advanced quaternary care centre. She Heads the group flagship Hospital, which is Columbia Asia’s Largest Hospital in India.
Manisha has won many awards including 2 FICCI Healthcare awards for ideating and implementing processes that achieved quantum improvements in patient safety and service delivery standards of the hospital. She has over 10 years of experience in P&L management, Operations, and Strategy, and was earlier heading the flagship and largest MAX hospital in Saket, New Delhi.
She is an alumni of Indian School of Business, with major in business strategy and finance; she has authored papers and case studies on cost management and profitability in healthcare delivery and also mentors B school students on pursuing career in General Management.
Prabhdeep Singh
Co-Founder and CEO (StanPlus)Linkin
Bio
Prabhdeep leads StanPlus as its CEO. He was born in Chandigarh, India. He is a trained pharmacist and finished his first MBA from NMIMS, Mumbai post which he worked for 5 years in Glenmark Pharmaceuticals. At Glenmark, he was part of the Global Corporate Strategy group and was quickly promoted to be EA to the Chairman. This role took him to Brazil, Mexico, and USA for strategic projects across healthcare segments.
Post Glenmark, Prabhdeep did his MBA from INSEAD, France; and graduated with an offer to join Boston Consulting Group in Brazil. However, the call for entrepreneurship brought him to Hyderabad where he co-founded StanPlus with two of his INSEAD batchmates.
Prabhdeep’s colleagues appreciate him for his leadership, analytical problem solving, and his calmness during chaos.
He is part of Forbes 30 under 30 list for 2018, and Entrepreneur Magazine’s 35 under 35 list for 2018. He was selected by the Yunus Foundation to be part of the Impact Accelerator in 2017.
Kumar Sankaran
CEO (Leucine Rich Bio)
Bio
Kumar Sankaran is the Chief Executive Office of Leucine Rich Bio. He is a business leader with Healthcare Research and Delivery experience. In his current rolehe is spearheading the growth and innovation in the Microbiome domain for the Asian market. He is passionate about driving the paradigm shift from “sick care” to “health care”.
Bhupesh C.Kewalramani
Managing Director (KK Cambridge International School)
Bio
Managing Director at KK Cambridge International School – Bhupesh has studied Masters in International Business Management from Kinston University, London, MA in Education and Bachelors in Mass Communication from Mumbai University.
KK Cambridge is one of the initial few schools when Cambridge entered India back in late 2000.
The School set a benchmark in the area as we jumped directly onto International education even when there was hardly any CBSE School in the city.
KK Cambridge is still the only International School in Amravati, first of the only two in Vidarbha and takes pride in showing a positive growth chart and running an international curriculum in a Tier-III Indian city. The credit goes to my family and staff for dedicating their lives to setting up the School.
Presently handling the finance of the group,
Teaching and training is very dear to Bhupesh and is something he always makes time for and enjoys doing.
Rishi Kapal
Global EdTech Specialist (EDUGILD Global Edtech Accelerator)LinkinTwitter
Bio
Rishi is the CEO of Edugild Global EdTech Program and Venture Partner of Global Scaleup Singapore. He is a Stanford LEAD alumni having already authored three books in academia, management and fiction genres. Rishi advises education technology companies all around the world to make relevant solutions, coaches professionals for higher order transitions and advises institutes to develop innovative programs and ecosystems. Prior to his own journey in academia, Rishi has been in leadership roles with Fortune 500s companies like Sony, Qualcomm, Ericsson and BP/Castrol to name a few. He has a dual masters degree in management with a graduation in engineering and law. Now based in Pune, Rishi travels extensively to meet and greet edtech founders, educational institutions and leaders.
Dr Shivananda C S
Principal (Global Indian International School)Linkin
Bio
Dr Shivananda C S is the principal at Global Indian International School- a pioneering K12 CBSE School. He has been a Principal for the last 13 years with CBSE, ICSE and IGCSE schools in Indiaand holds amazing track record of fuelling exponential growth of schools he has worked for.
Rupam Das is the Founder and CEO at Acculi Labs. Acculi Labs (Accurate Life Intelligence) brings down complex pathology tests to the pocket of clinicians and patients by replacing complexity with the help of mathematics and algorithms.
Natarajan Krishnamurthy
Director (Voicesnap)
Bio
Natarajan Krishnamurthy (Nats), Director is an engineer by qualification and has over 27 plus years of experience that straddles Manufacturing. BPO and IT industries. He held several Executive Leadership roles in leading organizations such as TI Group, HCL, Accenture, Wipro and cognizant.
He has a proven track record of setting up and running business units that span across markets as well as extensive Marketing and Distribution Networks. He combines a deep knowledge of business process Re-engineering, financial Deal structuring, Operations and technology that provides Voice Snap with a clear edge in our markets and a firm foundation for our Technology Innovations.
Nats look after Operations, Business Development, HR, and Administration in voice snap.
Dr. Subhasish Sircar
Founder & CEO (Health Vectors)
Bio
Life delivered Dr. Subhasish Sircar a jolt, prompting him to start work in preventive healthcare. A seemingly healthy close friend, who participated in health checks regularly, died of cardiovascular complications at just 32! Thus Health Vectors was born, dedicated to making the world a healthier place – one individual at a time.
Today Health Vectors has become a full-fledged digital product company in the personal health analytics space. Health Vectors is constantly building a best in class personal health analytics AI engine. The outputs of the engine, whether Smart Health Reports, Business Insights, or Smart Diet Planner, are being consumed at scale by businesses (hospitals, diagnostic labs, insurance companies) as a B2B2C offering.
Prior to Health Vectors, Subhasish held leadership positions with organizations like GE, Alcoa, NASA. He holds a PhD in Materials Science and an MBA from Wharton Business School. He also holds 20+ international patents in various verticals.
Dr Rahul Mehra
Executive Chairman (Tarang Health Alliance)Linkin
Bio
Rahul was born in Delhi. He received his bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and his PhD in Bio-Medical Engineering in USA in 1975. He worked as a research scientist in hospitals and then in medical industry. He was granted over 75 patents on various medical technologies and has authored over 90 manuscripts and 24 book chapters.
Simran Ballani
Associate Director (Little Millennium)
Bio
Simran’s pre-school journey began from a mother’s heart. First step was to pursue Diploma in Early childcare education to understand this pedagogy in-depth. Obtaining the gold medal was a cue to move further in the world of kindergarten. Journey with ever evolving Little Millennium team has been very exciting for her. At LM, she believes that every child learns best with play way method and multiple-intelligence. Curriculum is now designed to encourage overall development of a child. Her Etiquette Learning & Public Speaking curriculum has recently won her Best Practices Award 2019. Simran’s carefully prepared environment is designed to complement the activities and encourage the teachers towards holistic development. Keeping this in mind, she fosters program like cross learning, teacher development training, employee engagement etc. She firmly believes – that a nurtured teacher can have trickle effect on the children she educates! Teachers regularly inspire, whether they are aware of it or not. But sometime they struggle under the weight of doubt and anxiety! She has chosen to empower her teachers with two things – First, we believe in you, and second, you are the best. Her career spans from early beginnings with Education, Client Servicing to Talent Acquisition, Learning & Development for APAC and US markets. In last 20 years of her career – she has gained many skills that fall outside the traditional genre of Pedagogy. Her goals have always centred on using skills to improve the lives of those who she works with, as well as create value for her internal & external customers. She has often been told, “You don’t seem to fit the stereotype Education specialist person”. She actually takes that as a compliment, because it meant -she is meeting a personal goal to provide a linkage between people and business!
Murali Krishna
Director of Sales (LeadSquared)Linkin
Bio
Murali heads the education vertical at LeadSquared. In the last 5 years he has worked with Byju’s, Vedantu, Amity University, ITM Group of Institutions, BML Munjal and many more to implement a successful admission acceleration plan and now he is focussed on making LeadSquared the #1 choice for admission and marketing teams.
Manju Balasubramanyam
Principal (Delhi Public School Bangalore)
Bio
Manju Balasubramanyam is a post graduate teacher and principal of Delhi Public School. She holds a professional experience of over 25 years in teaching. She is also the city coordinator for CBSE Evaluation and Assessment since 2012. She has also been the Mentor for British Council GTA programme-2012, 13 and 14.
If anyone has ever heard someone say that two Masters’ degrees in High Energy Physics sets people up to be fantastic teachers, nothing is further from the truth than that.
In Jyoti’s life, she proudly claims that she was taught by the best tutors on the planet … her students. She dived into teaching in Zambia and later moved between India and Kenya. Apart from convincing her to become a forever – teacher, this also made her a diehard wildlife enthusiast. She also made forays into teaching herself and her fellow-teachers new curricula and current teaching skills. This was a good beginning.
When she retired for all of 9 hours, it descended on Jyoti’s psyche that the only way education can be made equitable is by starting at the bottom of the pyramid of students. So she did, by founding and being the trustee of Meghshala Trust in 2014. Today, five years later, she stands of the lip of a solution that looks very close to being able to work successfully, especially if the government steps up and walks by the Meghshala’s side. There she is, right in the middle of the minefield that is national education, but in the meaningful space of the bottom of the pyramid of students. So as Meghshala grows easily and rapidly, she is thinking of new venues to grow through.
Prof N R Shetty
Chancellor (Central University of Karnataka)
Bio
Prof N R Shetty is the Chancellor at the Central University of Karnataka. He is a former Vice Chancellor of the Bangalore University and Former Member Secretary at Indira Gandhi National Center of Arts. He has served Karnataka Regional Engineering College ( now NIT) from 1960 to 1963.
Sanjay Sahay, IPS
Additional Director General of Police (Government of Karnataka)Linkin
Bio
Sanjay is the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) in the Police Computer Wing of the Government of Karnataka. He is a well-recognized Cyber Security expert in the country and has delivered dozens of lectures on all well established forums and institutions in the country from IITs, IIMs, to FICCI, CII, eGov India, Express Technology Sabha and the like. He is an experienced police officer, a technology evangelist and a professional public speaker on cyber security topics.
Shiva Prasad G
Director India Operations (AUGVER Digital Solutions)Linkin
Bio
A Software Engineer with over 27 years of industry experience. Currently heading India Operations as Director for Augver Digital Solutions Pvt Ltd, which is the India Subsidiary of EON Reality Singapore. Specializes in Operations & Resource Management, Project & People Management. Was managing Banking customers in Africa for more than 7 years. Currently managing AUGVER following passion to bring in change in the way education segment is being operated and focused on making children/students use mobiles for learning than playing games.
M. V. Kalidas has over 33 years of experience leading Senior Management teams spanning IT Products and Services in organizations like Wipro, HCL, Microsoft, and E-Dictate. Currently heading Sales & Marketing at Inpods, an Edu Tech startup. He has helped over 30 Higher Education institutions and Universities implement technology to deliver Outcome-Based Education (OBE). In his previous role in HCL and Wipro he has led business growth and transformation initiatives involving Customer Acquisition, Cost Improvements, M&A Transition and People Process across product lines and geographies. Experience in scaling a start-up U.S. Healthcare, E-Dictate, from scratch to 600+ by successfully implementing Home Based Employee model.
Kalidas is a 1985 graduate from National Institute of Technology, Srinagar. He is a certified Black Belt in Six Sigma. On the weekends he mentors MBA students at Indira School of Business Studies.
Dr Gitanjali Narayanan
Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology (NIMHANS, Bangalore)
Bio
Dr Gitanjali Narayanan is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology and a Consultant in the Centre for Addiction Medicine at National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore. After completing her MPhil and PhD in Clinical Psychology from NIMHANS, she did her Post-Doctoral fellowship at Washington University in Saint Louis, US. With over fifteen years of clinical experience, her expertise lies in addressing personality related difficulties, addictions, particularly cannabis use among the youth, and social media. She also has expertise in the area of personality disorders. Recently, she established PEDRA (Personality and Emotions Division of Research and Applications) in the psychology department of NIMHANS. She is also a qualified Dialectical Behaviour Therapist though which she works on training people to be mindful, be effective in interpersonal situations, handle distressing circumstances and regulate their moods.
Swathi has been in the Skill Development space for the last 7 years. She headed Business & Communication at Tata Institute of Social Sciences – School of Vocational Education and then at Labournet where she was focussed on a Hybrid (Hub & Spoke model) for bridging the skill and employment gap. Bringing together continuous learning from a center and work-integrated learning at the workplace giving a great career progression. Post which is started Sixerclass, primarily to bring Technology into the skill space.
Prior to her work in the Skill Space, Swathi was working as a Product & Quality Lead in the US at Johnson & Johnson Healthcare Systems, New Jersey.
She has a Masters in Bioengineering from The University of Texas at Arlington and a Bachelors in Instrumentation from JNTU.
Rohan Mahimkar
Co-CEO (Prodigy Education)
Bio
Rohan Mahimkar is the Co-CEO of Prodigy Education, where the mission is to help every student in the world to love learning. Prodigy strives to transform education by making education content more engaging, effective, and accessible. In addition to overseeing the marketing and sales of high-quality educational products, Rohan invests a great deal of time into the organization’s extraordinary culture, which was a critical component in Prodigy being named the fastest-growing software company in Canada.
Rohan is driven by the belief that every child deserves access to high-quality educational content, thereby setting them up for successful futures with educated voices, a strong growth mindset, and the capability to be part of a generation of innovators who have discovered their unlimited potential and are using it to make our world a better place.
Dr Rajkumar Khatri
Additional Chief Secretary to Government (Department of Higher Education)
Bio
Dr. Khatri holds a medical degree from University College of Medical Sciences,
Delhi and MBA from University of Birmingham, U.K. He joined Indian
Administrative Service (IAS) in 1988.
He has rich experience of working with the Central Government, State
Government and elected local bodies. He has served in the Government of
India as the Director, Ministry of Mines during 1999-03. He served as State
Project Director, Sarva Shikshana Abhiyana Mission during 2003-06. He has
been closely associated with the implementation of projects supported by
International agencies such as USAID (Use of ICT in Education), UNICEF (Swasth
Plus).
During his tenure as the Commissioner for Industrial Development and
Director of Industries and Commerce (May-2006 to May-2011), he played a
pivotal role in organizing the Global Investors Meet-2010 in which
around 7000 International and Domestic Industrialists participated. The State
Government signed Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) for 389 projects
with an investment of Rs. 3.92 lakh crores [US $87 billion].
He has worked as the Secretary to Government, Infrastructure Development
Department and Managing Director, Karnataka State Industrial &
Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited [KSIIDC]. He was responsible
for implementation of infrastructure projects including projects on Public
Private Partnership [PPP] basis.
Dr. Khatri has also worked in the Education sector as the Principal Secretary,
to the Government of Karnataka wherein he made several services available
online.
At present he is working as Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue Department,
Government of Karnataka. He has recently initiated Drone Based Land Survey
of Rural & Urban Lands. He is keen on application of Geo-Spatial Technologies
in improving the Governance and Delivery of Services to the Public.
Articles and case studies written by him have been published by India Institute
of Public Administration & National Institute of Rural Development.
Teju Nageswari
CEO (nSmiles)
Bio
One among “100 Most Impactful Healthcare Leaders (Global Listing)
In her own words, she builds scalable digital solutions to assist people in their quest to be the happier, healthier and start achieving more. Speaker on TEDx, Television, global events and Radio on managing stress effectively, personal well-being and mental health care.
Currently the CEO of nSmiles, her goal through nSmiles is to help enhance mental health & wellbeing of students, employees and home makers to feel happier and perform to one’s best potential.
Also founder of Sahayog trhough she helps under privileged children impacting 6000+ kids since last 6 years. Helped more than 1200 people from lower stratum to get jobs.
Varadarajan Sridharan
Head of Technology (NTTF (Nettur Technical Training Foundation))Linkin
Bio
Varadarajan is Head of Technology for NTTF, where he is driving EdTech digital transformation for this 60year old premier Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institution. Prior to NTTF, Varadarajan headed Cognizant pre-onboarding training, for fresh graduate hires. Varadarajan instituted Cognizant’s Hi-Pot talent identification and nurturing program.
As an EdTech expert, he also runs Chennai EdTech Club and Bengaluru EdTech Club, which are peer learning communities for EdTech enthusiasts and progressive educators. Varadarajan mentors early stage EdTech startups, driving from his own failed startup experience. As a BITS Pilani alum, Varadu believes in holistic transformation of every human being through our temples of learning.
Karan Bhola
Director, Outreach and Admissions- Young India Fellowship (Ashoka University)Linkin
Bio
Karan Bhola is a higher education, leadership development and institution building professional. He is currently the Director of Graduate (YIF) Outreach and Admissions at Ashoka University. He has previously worked on several initiatives in higher education, including a project to establish India’s first university for the transportation sector, as well as projects in ed-tech. He was the founding President of the Ashoka University Alumni Association.
Karan is an alumnus of Harvard University (where he was a Fulbright Scholar), Ashoka University (where he was a Young India Fellow), and Loyola College (where he received an undergraduate degree in Economics).
Karan bears a lifelong commitment towards contributing to higher education transformation in India and is fascinated by the power of collaboration.
K Vinod Cartic
CEO (3H Catalyst)
Bio
Vinod have been a Gold Medalist in his B.Tech ( Chem. Engg.) from IIT Madras and a Gold Medalist in his MBA from SSSIHL.
He is a serial entrepreneur involved in founding/ co-founding various organizations like Sai Krushna Charitable Trust, SpouseUp and 3H Catalyst. He has also had the opportunity to train and consult for some of the world’s most reputed organizations like Hitachi Ltd, Mitsubishi Ltd, Frost & Sullivan, McKinsey, Unilever and Mordor Intelligence to name a few. he is a passionate trainer and coach and believe in the power of effective upskilling for greater employability.
Dr S Rangarajan
Advisor & Mentor (3H Catalyst)
Bio
Dr S Rangarajan have worked for the last 45 years in successive leadership roles in India and in the US. For most of this period, he has worked on a variety of space applications, and the development of innovations that seek to provide better quality and affordable solutions for rural and remote regions of the world.
He was instrumental in creating a satellite-enabled tablet for direct content delivery to students and just in time coaching for teachers in Africa. He pioneered the first satellite‐based tele-medicine project in India.
He was with ISRO, holding important executive positions like Director INSAT, Director MCF –Hassan etc.
At 3H Catalyst, he is keenly associated with enhancing the quality and reach of higher education across rural India. He sees technology as providing a key dimension to the issue of affordable and good quality education.
Sathish V.
Regional Director (National Institute of Open Schooling)
Bio
Sathish V. is presently the Regional Director at The National Institute of Open Schooling, Regional Centre,Bengaluru. He has been in the field of education since two decades. He has also been an Academic Officer (Paramedical Sciences) involved in Development in
curriculum and course material for paramedical courses of NIOS. Sathish specialized in working with children with disabilities and preparation of course
curriculum and Learning materials for Vocational Courses.
Shruthi Lakshmi
Curriculum & Creative Director (Trileaves Group of Schools)Linkin
Bio
Shruthi Lakshmi works at the intersection of design, technology, and learning science to envision and create compelling learning experiences across different channels: physical and digital. After a Master’s in Education from Harvard University and a brief stint at the World Bank in Washington D.C, she returned to India with a passion for designing and developing 21st Century learning environments that will maximize student potential and set the stage for growth. As an Architect, she is constantly striving to push the boundaries of education by integrating design and innovation in every aspect of teaching and learning. She recently founded the design and educational consulting firm Third-i Learning. Third-i designs and develops engaging and empowering content, learning environments, curriculum and e-learning experiences for PreK-12, higher education, and adult learning.
Senthil Kumar G
Young India Fellow (Ashoka University)Linkin
Bio
Senthil is a passionate teacher at heart, and designs board games with a vision to inspire learning. He is a graduate from College of engineering Guindy, and the recipient of prestigious Young India Fellowship. He is also certified by Harvard Business school in HBx-CORe. He is a published researcher, and has worked with several disruptive startups before he started MADIEE.
Y V Karthik
Founder & CEO (Wexpound Technologies)
Bio
Karthik is a passionate entrepreneur and a Tedx speaker and he will be speaking about different techniques of teaching. He believes that the orthodox methodology still hold good but a little tweaks will make the profession much more colorful and educative. Technology implementation on the enhancement of brain knowledge.
Vinay Kumar Apparaju
Director (NMIMS Bengaluru)Linkin
Bio
Vinay Kumar Apparaju is the Director at NMIMS Bengaluru. He has more than 14 years of experience in various positions at Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow. His publications have appeared in The Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance, The South Asian Journal of Management and Vikalpa.
Prof Dhirendra Deshpande is the Vice Chancellor at ISBM University, Raipur. He has a professional experience of more than four decades in the filed of Higher Education- Research, Teaching and Administration.
Dr K N Subramanya
Principal (R. V. College of Engineering)
Bio
Dr K N Subramanya is presently working as Principal, R V College of Engineering, Bengaluru. Served the Institution in various capacities including Lecturer, Sr. Lecturer, Assistant Professor, Director (Administration), Professor & Head of the Department of IEM and Vice Principal. Worked as Lecturer in the Dept. of Industrial Engineering & Management, Dayananda Sagar College of Engineering-Bengaluru for a period of 4½ years.
Dr.K S Badarinarayan
Principal (M S Engineering College, Bangalore)
Bio
Dr.K S Badarinarayan is presently working as Principal of M S Engineering College, Bangalore. Dr. K S Badarinarayan was conferred with most prestigious “Eminent Engineer” Award in view of his achievement in the field of Education during the 31st National Convention of Production Engineers ” conducted by the Institution of Engineers on the theme “India Emerging as a Manufacturing Hub of the World by 2020 – Prospects and Pathwayson 6-7 May 2016.
Dr Shradha Kanwar
Chief Learning Officer (iNurture Education Solutions)
Bio
Chief Learning Officer at iNurture Education Solutions, Dr Shradha Kanwar MPhil, Ph.D. is an academic professional with over 23 years’ experience in learning innovation leadership, interdisciplinary knowledge building, future-work integration, strategic performance and 21st century metacompetence development.
Dr Kanwar’s core areas of research and work is around futuristic education strategies including, development of hybrid research-based inventive learning solutions, establishment and direction of performance and talent enhancement systems, design and set-up Learning Centres of Excellence for future work environments, and process-centric, information-driven and action oriented academic excellence programs. Currently, her focus is into institutionalizing futuristic and innovative concept called ‘Learning Studio’ at iNurture, a pioneering organization in the higher education space, in India.
She drives the strategic vision for the company’s unique academic positioning and business model innovation along with instituting strategies and processes for continuous improvement in academic excellence and student learning experiences. She has done her Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) degree in Child Psychology, Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.), Master of Arts in English, M.Phil. and Ph.D. She has also done certifications in the following areas: Teaching certificate from University of Cambridge, Leadership in 21st Century Organizations from University of Copenhagen and Measuring Learning Effectiveness from Commonwealth Education Trust.
Dr Kanwar is the author of numerous research publications, and has presented papers at international conferences and seminars. As a research scholar, she is focussed on changing paradigm of education in the techno-cognitive era, ranging from teacher development to technological interventions in pedagogy, and finally to the emerging spheres of Learning Science.
Neetasha Joshi
India Head (XSEED Education)
Bio
Neetasha is the India head for XSEED Education. Neetasha joined XSEED following a successful stint at Cafe Coffee Day, where she consolidated the business and delivered higher profitability. Earlier for Royal Sundaram insurance, she built their agency business from scratch. An IIM Calcutta alumna, Neetasha has over two decades of rich experience across diverse industries spanning FMCG (Cadbury & Coke), BFSI (Tata AIG), and retail operations.
Vinay K
Founder and CxO (PiRuby)
Bio
Vinay, Founder of PiRuby.com, is a passionate entrepreneur who leverages technology to make an impact on the society. Vinay comes with 20+ years of Product & Technology experience in India and US. Vinay has worked for companies like Microsoft & Texas Instruments in the US. Vinay is an IIT Bombay alumni and was Top 30 in Indian National Math Olympiad. Vinay has been featured in Brainfeed Magazine and is an invited speaker in distinguished conferences.
Puneeth Chaithanya
Business Lead - Edtech (Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions)
Bio
Puneeth is an innovation addict with diverse skills in Technology, Business, Design Thinking, obsessed with adding value.
With more than 12 years of experience with a Global Innovation Powerhouse and a global Geographic footprint, he enjoys working with diverse people to solve worthy challenges.
At Bosch, I help create Innovation Strategy for new areas of Innovations for Bosch.
Santosh Abraham
Vice President (NASSCOM Foundation)
Bio
Development Professional with 14+ years of hands-on experience in Development Sector Consulting, Capacity Building, Stakeholder Engagement, Communications & Public Relations, Fundraising & Partnership Management, Program & Project Management in International and National NGOs and the social arm of a the IT-BPM Industry trade body.
Extensive experience of working in the areas of Youth & other at-risk communities, Livelihoods & Employability, Digital Literacy/Computer/IT Skills & Skill Development Programs, Mental & Reproductive Health.
Dr. D.N.S. Kumar
Vice Chancellor (Ansal University)
Bio
Dr. D.N.S. Kumar is currently serving as the Vice-Chancellor of Ansal University Gurgaon.
Prof. SushmaYadav, M.A., (Gold Medalist) M.Phil., Ph.D, University of Delhi, is the Vice Chancellor of Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyala. Prior to this, she was Reader (Associate Professor), at Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, University of Delhi. Recipient of Rai Bahadur Gori Shankar Memorial Medal and Maharshi Karve Memorial prize, she has been awarded ICSSR short term Doctoral Fellowship and Inter University Associateship at Indian Institute of Advance Studies, Shimla. Besides, she served as a member of Academic Council of University of Delhi during 1996-2000 and a member, Executive Committee Delhi Regional Branch of IIPA during 1994-1996 and 2002-2004.
With an experience of over 30 years of teaching and research, she has authored/edited/co authored/ co edited around ten books, including Centre-State Relations (1986); Secularism and Indian Tradition (1988); Political Culture in Post-Independent India (1989); Issues in Indian Politics (1994); Culture and Politics (1998), Indian State: Origin and Development (2000); Patterns of Gender Violence (2002); Gender Issues in India (2003); Jal : Kal Aaj Aur Kal (2005); Gandhian Alternative: Social and Political Structure( 2005); Social Justice: Ambedkar’s Vision(2006); along with a number of articles published in books and reputed journals. She has also presented a number of papers in National and International Seminars/ Conferences and delivered Memorial and Special Lectures. A paper on “The Gonds of India: A Search for Identity and Justice”, has been accepted for publication in Blackwell Campanion to Religion and Social Justice edited by Michael D. Palmer, School of Divinity, Regent University.
At IIPA, she prepared and introduced a core course on Social Justice for 32nd APPPA Participants 2006-2007 as well as a module on Social Justice for most of the in house training programs. Besides, she has been the Course Director of the 35th and 37th MDP course in 2006. She also directed the First Two INDIA MODULES of the FOUNDATION TRAINING PROGRAMME for the BANGLADESH CIVIL SERVANTS during 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 sponsored by Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre. Also coordinated I & II Workshop on RTI sponsored by DOPT in November 2006 and January 2007 and IV Workshops on RTI sponsored by ONGC; a seminar on Leadership in Excellence in February 2007 and Advance Leadership Training programs (3/5 days) during 2007-2010. She attended the Case Study Validation Workshop at LBSNAA Mussoorie as an expert on Social Sector in Feb. 2007 and organized the Validation Workshop for the Case Study Training Program (sponsored by DOPT) in March 2007 and October 2009 at IIPA.
She has also successfully undergone “Direct Trainer Skills on Experiential Learning Tools” (A Training of Trainers Programme), sponsored by IIPA; Conference on “Administrative Reforms and Ethics in Governance” organized by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Refresher Training of Trainers Workshop on “Gender Budgeting”, organized by Ministry of Women and Child Development at NIPCCD; International Conclave on “Case Study Teaching and Faculty Development” conducted by the Harvard Business School at Indian School of Business at Hyderabad; South Asian Regional Competence Development Program in “Federal Governance in Plural Societies”, organized at the Centre for Federal Studies, Jamia Hamdard in collaboration with Berghoff Foundation, Germany; Training of Trainers Workshop on “Gender Budgeting” Organized by Ministry of Women and Child Development with support from UNDP and UNIFEM at IIPA; “Direct Training Skills: A Training of Trainers Programme” on at the Indian Institute of Public Administration.
She also had an opportunity to represent IIPA as an intervener in the Regional Training Seminar organized by French National School of Administration (ENA) and the China Executive Leadership Academy of Pudong (CELAP) at Shanghai for the experts of the region to enhance their professional skills wherein a paper on “Decentralization and Deconcentration: Indian Model of Local Self Government” was presented on June 9, 2006. Also represented IIPA at the Asian Public Administration Reform Forum organized by the International Institute of Administrative Science and Ministry of Personnel of the People’s Republic of China on Trend and Development of Public Administration Reform in Asian Counties at Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. At this forum, a paper on “Public Administration, Transparency and People’s Participation: A Social Justice Paradigm” was presented on April 27, 2006.
Recently, Prof. Yadav was one of the members of IIPA’s five member Delegation who visited CELAP for a workshop on “China India Forum “sponsored by the China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong, Shanghai from September 19 to 26, 2009, where she made a presentation on “Indian Multi-Culturism and the Harmony of Religions” also attended the ‘21st World Congress of the International Political Science Association held at Santiago (Chile)’ from July 12-16, 2009. At the congress, she has been elected the Vice Chairperson of the Research Committee (RC) 04 on ‘Public Bureaucracies in Developing Societies’ and the secretary of RC 35 on ‘Technology and Development’ for the next 03 years. She also attended the South –Asia Regional Workshop on “Towards More Open and Transparent Governance in South Asia” organized by IIPA in collaboration with the World Bank; “National Meet of Rehabilitation Experts” organized by the Rehabilitation Council of India at Chetana College, Bhubaneshwar and International Conference on “International Comparison of Civil Service Training” organized by Shanghai Administrative Institute (SAI) at Shanghai, China.
Presently, she is working on the philosophy of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar along with the issues of Social Justice with reference to Good Governance, Human Rights and Empowerment of the Depressed Sections of Society including women for Inclusive Growth and Development.
Prof. Dr. Sudhir U. Meshram
Vice Chancellor (G H Raisoni University)
Bio
Prof. Sudhir U. Meshram hold Ph.D. (Microbiology) from IARI, New Delhi & Post Doctorate from Holland having administrative experience and 34 years an epitome of professional success. As Principal Investigator he completed 8 Major R&D sponsored Projects (DBT, DNES, ICAR & DST) and acquired 2 patents. He has several R&D publication in National reputed & International reviewed & peers Journals. Ably he organized know-how developed low-cost ‘Lab to Land’ & ‘Land to Industry’ sustainable indigenous environmental friendly biotechnology & post monitoring several R&D Transfer of Technology/Biotechnology Training Programmes for the benefit of SC/ST/OBC/Rural/Tribal Farmers and Fishermen both men & women of Vidarbha & Khandesh Region of Maharashtra, India. Successfully he guided 23 Ph.D. aspirants. For the benefit of PG students he developed new teaching methods like Audio-Visual Aids, CDs, field Demos, Group discussions and so on. Also he periodically revised the PG curricula in order to keep pace with changing trends. He has established Rajiv Gandhi Biotechnology Centre in R.T.M. Nagpur University. He was Coordinator of M.Sc. (Biotechnology) DBT-RGVBC Support Programme on all India basis sponsored by Min. of Sci. & Tech., Govt. of India, New Delhi. He is associated with a number of professional bodies as an Advisor and Expert (UPSC), Advisor-cum-Expert on Planning Commission of Govt. of India and also Chairman & Member of Expert Committee set up by UGC, NIT’s & NBA (AICTE), NAAC and Expert Member on Ministry of (SJ&E), Govt. of India. Also, Nominated by President of India as Visitors Nominee in NIT’s at selection and promotion of academic staff. He was Member of Academic Council, Senate and Vigilance squad for smooth Conducts of Exams. He is fellow member of Maharashtra Academic Sciences, Member of New York Academy Sciences (USA) ID No. #11306897, Member of National Academy of Biological Sciences (NABS) Chennai, India & Chief Patron of Global Biotech Forum. He was the Former Vice-Chancellor of North Maharashtra University and earlier he served as Sr. Most Professor & HOD, P.G. Department of Microbiology and Founder Director of Rajiv Gandhi Biotechnology Centre, RTM Nagpur University, Nagpur (M.S.) India. He is a founder of ‘Tribal Academy’ at Nandurbar in Maharashtra for the welfare of tribal community. He has organized several National & International well-known Global Biotech Congress Conferences as a Chairman of organizing committee. He led the delegation in abroad for international collaboration & delivered Key Note addresses in Japan, USA and Mexico. He has received several awards including ‘Best Teacher’ award by the Govt. of Maharashtra, India. Acted as Advisor to 12th Plan Steering Committee of Planning Commission, Govt. of India, New Delhi, Hon. Member of Maharashtra State Audit Advisory Board, as per comptroller & Auditor General of India. Expert Member on Standing Research Advisory Committee, Min. of S.J.& E., Govt. of India, New Delhi for Research Projects. Nominated Member on General Body of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Foundation, by Min. of S.J.& E., Govt. of India, New Delhi. Outstanding National Educational Leadership Award by Lokmat Group and Stars the Industry Group at Mumbai. Received Lifetime Achievement Award in the International Conference on “Biotechnology for Better Tomorrow” organized by Florida Ag Research (USA) in collaboration with Microbiologist Society of India for vast contribution to the advancement of Science (2015 USA). For his meritorious contribution in the field of Life Sciences received ‘GLOBAL BIOTECH EXCELLENCE AWARD’ with Rs. 1 Lac & Citation (GBF, India 2018).
Prof.(Dr.) Jayasankar E Variyar
Pro-Vice Chancellor (G.D. Goenka University)
Bio
After his academics, Prof.(Dr.) Jayasankar E Variyar joined IIT, Kharagpur in the Department of Chemistry. After 2 years in Academia, he moved on as a Research Engineer in Adarsh Chemicals & Fertilisers where he lead the R&D on hydrocarbon downstream products from Butane feedstock. In 1996, he joined ICI managing the Analytical Group of ICI’s corporate research center in India. He was also involved in simulation of gas dispersion during accidental releases and explosions.
In 2000 he moved to Unilever, where I was responsible for Project Clean in India and was a lead scientist in the development of Detergents and Laundry Soap. He moved to the business side as a development manager and was responsible for laundry soap development. I also developed metrics for measuring R&D effectiveness and set up the Claims Management Cell for Unilever HPC-Asia.
In 2005, as VP (R&D) of Cholayil Pvt Ltd, he was responsible for the new product development and established their production facilities in Haridwar from a greenfield site, which produced 12,000 tonnes of finished soap. He was also responsible for the launches of Deodorants under the Cuticura brand name and variants of Medimix (Dry Skin/ Blemish Free)
In 2008, after a short stint with SuperMax group of industries as their Global R&D Head and Business Unit Head and moved in 2009 as a Professor at VIT University, Vellore. His responsibilities at VIT included Division Chair of Chemical Engineering and Assistant Dean of Academics.
In 2016 he moved to Galogtias University as the Pro VC(Acad) and was responsible for the Academics of diverse Schools including Engineering, Law, Medical Sciences, Education and Media.
He moved back to the VIT Bhopal in August 2018 as Executive Director(Academics).
My research interests are Simulation of Argon-like particles in the condensed phases using Molecular Dynamics and Monte Carlo methods and Development of personal care products
Prof. (Dr.) S. Shanthakumar
Vice Chancellor (Gujarat National Law University)
Bio
Prof. (Dr.) S. Shanthakumar is the Director, Gujarat National Law University with about 27 years of teaching experience at prestigious universities including Hidayatullah National Law University.
He is an alumnus of Madras University, Chennai, where he earned his graduation, post-graduation and doctorate degree in law. Before joining the legal academia, he had practiced at the Madras High Court for seven years.
His areas of specialization are Environmental Law, Human Rights Law, International Law and Constitutional Law. He has authored 3 books on Environmental Law and 2 books on Human Rights Law published by LexisNexis, National Law School of India University (CEERA), Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University, etc. He has published a number of research articles on contemporary legal issues in various national and international journals and edited volumes. He has presented papers and delivered key note addresses in many national and international conferences in India and abroad.
Recently he was elected to represent South and West Asia at the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law. Currently, he is the Chair of Environmental Law Study Group of the International Association of Law Schools and Member of the Teaching and Capacity Building Committee of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law. He is also serving as the Country Focal Point for India for the Asian Development Bank project on Environment and Climate Change Law.
He had executed the Environmental Law Capacity Building Project funded by the World Bank through CEERA, NLSIU; the Law Teaching and Legal Research Skills Project of the British Council and Cardiff University, U.K.
He is also the recipient of prestigious awards like the Environmental Law Champions Development Award from Asian Development Bank, Philippines and the Best Social Scientist Award from the Indian Society of Criminology.
He had travelled around the globe extensively and had the privilege of being invited to deliver lectures at 23 premier Universities in various countries.
Prof. Dr. T.G.Sitharam
Director (Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati)
Bio
Prof. Dr. T.G.Sitharam has taken over as the Director, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati on July 01, 2019. He was a Senior Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India (On deputation from IISc from July 01, 2019). He was formerly a Chair professor in the area of Energy and Mechanical Sciences at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), a premier research and education Institute in India. He was former founder Chairman of a Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transport and Urban Planning (CiSTUP) at IISc, Bengaluru. Presently, he is the Honorary Professorial Fellow at University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia from 2019 to 2022 and Distinguished professor at Hankou University International Innovation Centre, China. Presently, He is the Chairman, Research Council, CSIR-Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee. He is the chairman, Executive council of Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum Bangalore India.
He is governing council member of National council for Science Museums (NCSM), Govt of India and EC member of AICTE, Govt of India, New Delhi. He is the founder President of International Association for Coastal Reservoir Research (IACRR), registered in NSW, Australia. He is the President, Indian Society for Earthquake Technology (ISET), Roorkee. He is presently the Chairman, AICTE South western zonal committee, Regional office at Bengaluru. Formerly, he was a visiting professor at Dalhousie University, Canada; Yamaguchi University, Japan; Indian School of Mines (IIT-ISM), Dhanbad; and William Mong fellow at University of Hongkong, Hongkong. He was the vice president of Indian Society for Earthquake Technology (ISET) and Vice President of Indian Society of Earthquake Science (ISES). He obtained his bachelor’s in civil engineering from Mysore University, India, master’s in civil engineering from Indian Institute of Science, India (1986) and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada (1991). Further, he served as a Research Scientist (for his post-doctoral work) at centre for earth sciences and engineering in the Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, Texas, USA until 1994. During this time, he has lead research on sand production, wellbore stability and hydraulic fracturing in petroleum wells supported by many oil companies. Earlier to that, He served as a lecturer for six months in 1991 at University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and he taught Geotechnical engineering.
Over the last 35 years, he has carried out research and development extensively in the area of geotechnical and infrastructure engineering, and has developed innovative technologies in the area of fracturing and geotechnical applications, leading to about 500 technical papers, 12 books with an H-index of 38 and I-10 index 101with >4375 citations. He has 5 patents, more than 120 consulting projects and 2 startup companies to his credit. He is responsible for designing, restoration and expansion of several earth dams for raw water ponds, tailing ponds, ash ponds and red mud ponds across India. He has guided 30 Ph.D. students at IISc and 30 Masters Students and trained several postdoctoral and several thousand industry professionals and teachers through continuing education workshops. Presently he has another 9 Ph D students at IISc, Bangalore. He is the chief editor of international journal of Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, (IJGEE), PA, USA. He is the Editor-in-chief, Springer Transactions in Civil and Environmental Engg series, Book Series, Singapore. He is also fellow of many societies and actively engaged in socially relevant projects. He has received many awards and credits. In 2015, he is a recipient of IGS Kuckleman Award for his life time contributions in Geotechnical Engineering. In 2014, he is a recipient of Prof. Gopal Ranjan research award from IIT Roorkee for his excellent contributions to Geotechnical Engineering in the country. This was given to Prof. Sitharam for his pioneering work in Geotechnical engineering. Amulya and Vimala Reddy Lecture Award at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in the field of Sustainable Development for the year 2014 was conferred on Prof. Sitharam. Earlier, he is recipient of Sir C.V. Raman State Award for Young Scientists, Government of Karnataka, in the year 2002 in recognition and appreciation of exceptional contributions to Engineering Sciences. He was also the recipient of 1998 S.P. Research award (SAARC) from SP research foundation, USA for his contributions to geotechnical Engineering in SAARC countries. He has also received many best paper awards for his papers published in conferences and journals.
Prof. Ajit K. Chaturvedi
Director (Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee)
Bio
Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi received the B.Tech., M.Tech., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in 1986, 1988, and 1995, respectively. He served the Department of Electronics Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi from 1994 to 1996. Subsequently, he joined the faculty of the Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee. In 1999, he moved to Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur where he also held the positions of Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering, Dean of Research & Development and Deputy Director. He is now the Director of IIT Roorkee. Prof. Chaturvedi was the Coordinator of the BSNL-IITK Telecom Centre of Excellence which has done a large number of projects for the Indian telecom sector. He is a recipient of the INSA Teachers award, the Distinguished Teacher award of IIT Kanpur and Tan Chin Tuan Fellowship of Nanyang Technical University, Singapore. He is a founding member of the Telecom Standards Development Society of India (TSDSI). Prof. Chaturvedi was a member of the DoT committee which recommended criteria for spectrum allocation to telecom operators, in 2008. His research interests are in communication theory and wireless communications.
Prof. Ranjan Bose
Director (Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology)
Bio
Ranjan Bose received his B.Tech. degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),Kanpur, India in 1992 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA in 1993 and 1995, respectively. He worked at Alliance Semiconductor Inc., San Jose, CA, as a Senior Design Engineer from 1996 to 1997. Since November 1997 he has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, where he was the Microsoft Chair Professor and headed the Wireless Research Lab. His research interests lie in the areas of secure communications, coding theory, ultra-wideband (UWB) communications, broadband wireless access and wireless security. He is currently the Director of IIIT Delhi.
Prof. (Dr.) H.N. Verma
Vice-Chancellor / President (Jaipur National University)
Bio
Prof. H. N. Verma is the Vice-Chancellor at Jaipur National University, Earlier he was the Professor of Botany, Dean and Pro-Vice-Chancellor at the Lucknow University. His main teaching / research interests are Microbiology, Molecular Biology. Biotechnology, including plant tissue culture. Professor Verma has lectured in Germany, France, USA and China. He has done extensive work on Diagnosis, Characterization of Viruses and Management of Virus Diseases of economically important plants. Prof. Verma was invited by the Infosys to be a member of their. Nomination Council to nominate a candidate for the coveted Infosys Prize of Rs. 50 Lakhs. The prize is awarded to a person who has raised the prestige of Science in India and has inspired others in his/her respective fields of study and research. Prof. Verma has been a member of various Academic bodies. Prof. Verma is a Fellow of the National Academy of Science (FN.A. Sc.). He is a recipient of Birbal Sahni Gold Medal and several other covetes awards. He is the author of more than 150 research papers, published in national and international journals of repute, Prof. Verma has also authored three books. He has successfully completed twelve research projects funded by major funding agencies of India, such as DST, DER CSIR, ICAR, UGC etc. Prof. Verma has supervised more than 50 Ph. D. students, who presently hold high positions in universities and research organizations. Under the joint leadership of Professor H.N. verma and Prof. Malik, the school of Sciences at JNU, Jaipur was adjudged the number one Department in Rajasthan.
Prof. G.R.C. Reddy
Vice Chancellor (Sharda University)
Bio
Prof. G R C Reddy is the Vice-Chancellor of Sharda University. Prior to the current position, he was the Director of NIT Calicut, NIT Goa, Mentor Director of NIT Sikkim, Mentor Director of IIIT Kottayam, NIT Andhra Pradesh and also Director In-charge of NIT, Warangal during the period 2005-2017.
Prof.Reddy graduated from Osmania University with majors in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry. He obtained his M.Sc. (Tech) in Engineering Physics and Ph.D from Faculty of Engineering and Technology, REC (NIT) Warangal. His research area focuses on Optical Information Processing. He joined as a faculty in the Department of Physics at NIT Warangal in 1979 and became full Professor in 1995. He was the principal investigator in a number of research projects sanctioned by CSIR, MHRD, and DRDO etc. He published over 80 research papers in various National and International journals/Conference proceedings. He is a Fellow of Optical Society of India, Member of SPIE and OSA. He is also Fellow of Telangana Academy of Sciences.
Dr. N.K. Ahuja
Vice Chancellor (Swami Vivekanand Subharti University)
Bio
Prof. (Dr.) N. K. Ahuja (MDS, PGDHHM, FICD, FWFO, FPFA, FICCDE) an alumni of King George Medical College, Lucknow. After having one year of experience in AIIMS, New Delhi, he joined Army Dental Corps as a Direct Permanent Commission Officer in July, 1970 & served the length and breadth of the country on variety of assignments including Bangladesh operations and faced militancy in Nagaland and J & K.
Army Chief duly decorated him with “Commendation Card” for dedication, loyalty, sincerity and setting an example for others, while serving at Pune (1983 – 1989). During this period, he was not only teaching at AFMC but had a privilege of starting the Post-Graduation in the field of Orthodontics. He took premature retirement in Nov, 1993 and got in full time teaching in Dental Colleges.
Served Subharti Dental College for more than 11 years as HOD-Orthodontics & as a Principal. Thereafter, on attaining the age of superannuation took over as “Pro-Vice Chancellor” of Swami Vivekanand Subharti University in September- 2011.
“Meerut Ratan” was conferred on him by All India Conference of Intellectuals and also decorated with “Rajiv Gandhi Shiromani” award by National Integration & Economic Council, New Delhi.
He was bieng unanimously elected as the “President” of Indian Orthodontic Society for the year 2010-11.
On Academic front, he have been Lecturing Nationally Internationally and have large number of research paper to credit. I was decorated as the first “Professor Emeritus” of the Swami Vivekanand Subharti University in 2010.
Due to the eve of retirement as Pro-Vice Chancellor, for dedication and acumen. Diversified experience and astute administrative capabilities & a dynamic administrator in April 2014, took over as Director – General Administration of the Swami Vivekanand Subharti University.
International Forum of Defence Services (Dental) awarded “Lifetime Achievement”, this Award given to him by Chairman, Maj. Gen. Yimin Zhao on 09th Sept. 2014.
He was duly selected to take over the reins of Swami Vivekanand Subharti University, Meerut as “Vice-Chancellor” by the Search Committee and appointed by Hon’ble Chancellor in the month of April, 2015.
Indian Orthodontic Society conferred the “Outstanding Professor” award to me during the Golden Jubilee celebration year of I.O.S. held at Hyderabad on 11th December, 2015.
He was also awarded “Lifetime Achievement” Award by Army Chief, General Dalbir Singh Suhag in year 2016 and distinguish Alumni KGMC, award – April 2016.
Another feather in the cap was added, recognizing his Governance & Leadership Quality by National Assessment & Accreditation Council by grading Swami Vivekanand Subharti University as “A” grade. It is huge achievement for any young multi specialty University (13 Faculties) to be rated as “A” Grade.
Prof. Dr. Muddu Vinay
Vice Chancellor (The ICFAI University, Dehradun)
Bio
Professor Dr. Muddu Vinay is the Dean, IBS & Pro Vice Chancellor at the ICFAI University Dehradun. He has around three decades of rich experience in the field of Education, Training, Planning, Management and Consultancy. He is acknowledged not only for establishing Institutions but also leading them to excellence in Academics and Research with his path breaking initiatives. Dr. Muddu Vinay has held several positions of eminence in professional bodies in the field of education both globally and in India. These include Chairman IQAC(Internal Quality Assessment Cell), Proctor, University of California, Berkeley Extension. He has spearheaded and pioneered various programmes in the field of higher education especially in postgraduate studies in collaboration with reputed schools in India, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Singapore and Malaysia. He is the present expert peer committee member, National Board of Accreditation, Govt. of India, New Delhi.
He has also been the expert member for various professional organizations that include Higher Education UK India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI), World Bank and MHRD. He has been conferred with ‘Award of Excellence- Eminent Educationists’ in the IndoAmerican summit 2016, MTC Global Award for Excellence 2013 in ‘Innovation in Teaching Pedagogy’, ‘NESA Fellowship Award 2012’ and ‘Leadership and Responsibility Award’ by Presidency Group of Institutions, along with many other awards and accolades in his illustrious career. He has personally trained more than 30,000 individuals undertaking undergraduate, post graduate studies as well as research scholars, University teachers and teaching staff. He is widely acclaimed for creating successful business models in the education sector without compromising on the ethical dimensions of teaching as a profession.
Dr. Anand A Samuel
Vice Chancellor (VIT University)
Bio
Dr. Anand A Samuel completed his Bachelors in Engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy and went on pursue his Masters in IIT Madras and his PhD in Anna University. His wide array of experience includes a couple of years serving in the Industry and with over 20 years of experience in teaching in Anna University. He has been a part of VIT for the past 13 years and he has been the Vice- Chancellor since 2014. He is a recipient of Life Time Achievement Award from QCFI. He has published more than 90 research papers in Journals and Conference, written a book on Total Quality Management, completed 5 funded research projects and has organised more than 20 Faculty Development Programmes in our University.
Dr Priti Ojha
Principal (Delhi International School Dwarka)Linkin
Bio
Her professional journey began when she started teaching computer science in the classroom, it became more interesting when she started integrating multiple subjects within a topic/theme. Computers is not a subject but a tool to teach various subjects, which helped her to understand and achieve various skills of different subjects for all almost all the grades.
The major transition came into her profile when she started inculcating globalisation in my teaching and learning method. During this process in 2007, my interaction with staff to improve the teaching methodology, was welcomed by my colleagues and institution.
During this process they received International school Award, British Council twice. Her journey to enhance globalisation has not been for one school but to many as she was trained to be trainer and the British Council school ambassador for the same.
I have been instrumental to help more than 600 schools for the International school award, and more than 100 teachers for promoting Core Skills in the subjects.
British council took me as a consultant for teacher training, during which my exposure was not limited to north India but she was still travelling and training teachers all over India as well as outside India. Training private as well as government teachers has been a special opportunity and my fortune.
She was soon identified for the administrative post by the school management, Chinmaya Vidyalaya she was always interested in planning curriculum, staff recruitment and training, overall academics, school operations and she observed the plans prepared from the pre- primary till the senior level was successfully working at various stages of teaching learning in school.
Worked for Amatir, a girls residential school for almost 2 years. The positivity in each member of the school is extremely high. It helps each one of Amatir to be outstanding in their skill contribution.
Manju Gupta
Principal (Kothari International School)
Bio
She is a strong advocate of high, sustainable educational standards and for corporate responsibility in the management of schools. Her experiences include educational leadership, teacher professional learning, educational reforms & the scholarship of teaching. She is dedicated to turning challenges into opportunities and to activate emancipation as a process to empower people to develop themselves.
Sonya Ghandy Mehta
School Director (Pathways World School Aravali)Linkin
Bio
Ms Sonya Ghandy Mehta, an alumnus of the University of San Diego, USA believes that education should be based on three essential aspects:
1 Relevancy and Application: Education should surpass the classroom and infuse practical knowledge in sync with the contemporary World.
2 The Law of Expectation: School is the best time to learn. The more opportunities and challenges the more the child will grow.
3 Promoting Respect: The children should learn to respect not only individuals but also the environment and inanimate objects.
Saket Jalan
Founder & CEO (Campus Students Communities)Linkin
Bio
Mr. Saket Jalan is the Founder & CEO of Campus Students Communities Pvt. Ltd.
Prof. Dr. Sharmila J. Dua
Dean (Academics) (National Institute of Fashion Technology)
Mahesh Verma is an Indian prosthodontist and the Director and Principal of Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences. He is the Vice Chancellor of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University. The Government of India awarded him, in 2014, with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for his contributions to the fields of medicine.
Verma has received the State Award from the Government of Delhi in 2001,the B. C. Roy Award in 2007, and the civilian award of Padma Shri in 2014, when he was included in the Republic Day honours. He was the Health Personality of the Year for 2012, an honour from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
He is also a recipient of Rotary Vashishat Sewa Samman in 2002 Dr. P. N. Behl Foundation Award of the Delhi Medical Association in 2006, Dr. B. C. Shroff Oration Award of the Indian Prosthodontic Society Annual Conference in 2007, Commendation by the Vice Chief of Army Staff in 2009 and Commonwealth Dental Association Oration Award in 2010. He has been designated a fellow of several organizations, including the American College Of Dentists, the International College of Dentists, the Pierre Fauchard Academy, the American Academy of Implant Dentistry, the National Academy of Medical Sciences,the International Medical Sciences Academy, the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and the Royal College of Surgeons, Faculty of General Dentistry Practice.
Prof. Manoj Pant
Director (IIFT)
Bio
Prof. Manoj Pant is teaching Economics for the last 40 years at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University. Visiting faculty at IIM, Lucknow; IIT, Delhi and Southern Methodist University, USA.
Manoj Pant is an Indian expert in International Trade. He is the Director of Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, since August 2017. Previously, he was a full-time professor at the Centre for International Trade and Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University, where he taught international trade theory. Before that he taught economics at Delhi University.
Prof. Tankeswar Kumar
Vice Chancellor (Guru Jambheshwar University)
Bio
Prof Tankeshwar Kumar is currently serving as the Vice-Chancellor of Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology (GJUST)
Prof. Dr. Seyed Ehtesham Hasnain
Vice Chancellor (Jamia Hamdard University)
Bio
Dr. Seyed Ehtesham Hasnain, joined Jamia Hamdard (Hamdard University) as Vice Chancellor on September 02, 2016.
Professor Seyed E. Hasnain (DoB: April 13, 1954), Ph.D. (JNU, Delhi), D.Sc. (h.c.), D.Med.Sc. (h.c), is a Padma Shri and received Germany’s Highest Civilian Award – The Order of Merit (Das Verdienstkreuz, 1.Klasse), from the President of Germany, equivalent of India’s Bharat Ratna, the only Indian so far and one of the very few persons globally. The prestigious American Academy of Microbiology, USA elected him as Fellow. He was recently conferred with the ICMR’s BR Ambedkar Award, the highest award for excellence in Biomedical research.
Hasnain was a Member (2004-2009, 2009-2014) of Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (SAC-PM) and was a Member of Scientific Advisory Committee to the Union Cabinet. He was Chairman of Biotech Advisory Council, Government of Andhra Pradesh for several years and a Member of Biotech Advisory Council of many other State Governments, including Gujarat.
He received Humboldt Research Prize (Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation, Germany); the very exclusive Robert Koch Fellowship (the ONLY Indian so far), of the Robert Koch Institute, Berlin; is the first Indian elected as a Member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and youngest to be elected as a Fellow of TWAS, Trieste.
Hasnain is also recipient of many prestigious Indian Awards such as G.D. Birla Award, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, FICCI Award, J.C. Bose National Fellow Award, Ranbaxy Research Award, Goyal Award, Bhasin Award etc. and is an elected Fellow of all the major Science Academies of India (FNA, FASc, FNASc). He is a recipient of honorary Degrees from Universities in India and abroad and is the 3rd Indian (Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, 2009, Dr Amartya Sen, 2010) to receive an Honorary Doctorate (2011) from the Queen’s University, UK.
Hasnain is a scientist, an institution builder, policy maker, and an administrator. He taught at Delhi University, worked at the National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi and was the first Director of Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Govt of India and made CDFD a gold standard for DNA based crime investigations in the country.
As the Vice Chancellor of the prestigious University of Hyderabad, he made it the #1 University of India displacing JNU and DU for which the Prime Minister of India gave the PURSE Award.
Hasnain was the Chairman of the Academic Committee of the prestigious Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGI, Chandigarh) and Member of the PGI Institute Body and Governing Council and is a Member of the Research Advisory Committee of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. He is/was Member of the University Grants Commission (UGC); Governing Councils of Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla; Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; IIM, Khozikode; IISER-Bhopal and several other institutions; policy-making bodies of the Ministries of S&T, MHRD, Health and Defense. He is a member of the Board of Directors/Audit Committees/Remuneration Committees of a number of Companies.
He is well known internationally for his research on Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the TB causing bacterium, and has >250 publications in peer-reviewed journals of high impact, and >dozen patents globally. He has travelled widely in all the continents of the world and has given invited lectures at top Institutions such as Oxford, Cambridge (UK), Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Univ of California, Salk Inst (USA), Institute Pasteur (France), Max Planck Inst, Frei Univ, Koln Univ (Germany), NUS (Singapore), Univ of Canberra (Australia), China, Thailand, Brazil, Senegal, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Canada, etc.
Professor Hasnain taught at the University of Delhi and after his return to India in 1987 joined the National Institute of Immunology (an Institute of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of India), and is currently an Invited Professor IIT Delhi where he teaches, has a laboratory and is currently supervising ~dozen PhD students.
Dr. Parvinder Kaushal
Vice Chancellor (Dr. Yaswant Singh Parmar University of Horticulture & Forestry, Nauni)
Bio
Dr. Parvinder Kaushal was born on 01.04.1957 at Village Kahnani. Tehsil Nalagarh, Distt. Solan, Himachal Pradesh. He is presently working as Vice-Chancellor at Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry (UHF), Nauni Solan. Before joining UHF, he was serving as the Vice-Chancellor of Birsa Agricultural University, Ranchi, Jharkhand. An alumnus of UHF Nauni, Dr Kaushal has completed his M Sc Forestry from the University. He got his doctorate in Forestry from University of Nancy, France.
He has been actively involved in teaching, research and development, extension and administration for the past 35 years during which he served different institutions and universities in different capacities. Prominent among these are Indian Council for Forestry Research and Education Dehradun (1979-1981), Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (1981-1992) as Assistant and Associate Professor and as Dean, Faculty of Forestry at Birsa Agriculture University, Ranchi, Jharkhand (2005-2009). He is recipient of National Award for young scientist in 1989 and Himachal Shri Award in 2014 and Birsa Munda Krishi Award in 2019. He was also awarded French Govt. Fellowship for Doctoral research 1984.
Dr Kaushal has published more than 100 research papers and technical reports, and has authored over 13 books chapters/manuals. He has participated in 26 world congresses and international conferences and has handled 63 projects. In addition, he has visited several countries including France, Italy, United Kingdom, Mexico, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Belgium, Holland, Spain, Estonia, Canada, Finland, Turkey, Malaysia and Sri Lanka for presentation of papers and in exposure visits.
International Leadership in Research: Served as Deputy Leader of International Union of Forest Research. Organizations (IUFRO), H.Q. Vienna. Research Group on ‘Forest Stand Establishment Operations and Techniques’ (2000-05). He had been Chairman of IUFRO Working Party on Plantations Establishment (1990-2000).
National/International level committees: Dr. Parvinder Kaushal has served as member of various important committees and groups including Regional Deans’ Committee for South Asia 2009; Member of National Core Group (ICAR) to review and restructure PG course curricula in Agricultural Sciences; Convener of Broad Subject Matter Area Committee (BSMA) in Forestry ICAR 2007; Member of Quinquennial Review Team (QRT), ICAR for Indian Institute of Natural Resins and Gums (IINRG) for the period 2001-2007; member of the Peer Review Team (ICAR Accreditation Board) for accreditation of Sher-e-kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences & Technology, Srinagar (2008); Member various UGC expert committees on Agriculture, Horticulture and Forestry, Environment, Skill development etc. 2013-2016; Member Research Advisory Committee constituted by Indian Council For Agricultural Research for ICAR-Central Agro-forestry Research Institute Jhansi. UP (2015-17). Dr Kaushal has served as Deputy Leader of International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), Research Group on ‘Forest Stand Establishment Operations and Techniques’ (2000-05). He had been Chairman of IUFRO Working Party on Plantations Establishment (1990-2000).
Prof. (Dr.) Navin Sheth
Vice Chancellor (Gujarat Technological University)
Bio
Prof. (Dr.) Navin Sheth is the Vice-Chancellor of the Gujarat Technological University from December 31, 2016. A renowned educationist and administrator, Prof. Sheth started his academic career way back in 1979 and during the course of time, emerged as a tireless academician and herbal scientist.
Prof. Sheth had his early education in his hometown. He obtained his B.Pharm. and M. Pharm degrees from L. M. College of Pharmacy, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, the oldest pharmacy college of India. He was awarded the National Merit Scholarship for his graduation studies. He obtained Ph.D. degree from the Saurashtra University, Rajkot.
A distinguished academician, staunch disciplinarian and an efficient administrator, has served as the Member and Chairman of the various Committees of UGC/ AICTE /DST/ GUJCOST and several Universities in India. He had been the Advisor and later on, Member of the GPSC. Prof. Sheth is member of the Board of Pharmacy Education, AICTE and Chairman, Education Regulations Committee (ERC), PCI
Prof. Sheth has attended many national and international conferences in India and abroad. His research interests include Traditional Drugs, Herbal Drugs and Standardization, Herbal formulations. His exuberant involvement in R&D has been recognized by his 100+ publications including 65 technical papers in renowned research journals, 42 papers in National Conferences 21 papers in the International Conferences.
Till date 28 research scholars had successfully completed their doctoral research under his guidance. At present, 4 research scholars are pursuing their Ph.D under his supervision.
Prof. Sheth is awarded by Life Time Achievement Award at KLE University, Karnataka during 20th National Conference of ISP at Belgaum, Karnatak, World Education Convention 2017 at New Delhi, Prestigious Indo-Nepal Samrasta Award on February 18, 2018, Swami Vivekananda Excellence Award by Indian Institute of Oriental Heritage on 9th March, 2019 and received Academic Excellence Award by The Textile Association (India) Ahmedabad Unit on 9th April, 2019. He has visited, Poland, Germany, US, China, Switzerland, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and Australia for paper presentation and as resource person.
Prof. Sourav Pal
Director (Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata)
Bio
Dr. Sourav Pal is presently Director of Indian Institute of Science Education and
Research Kolkata from Oct 12, 2017 on deputation from Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT) Bombay. He joined IIT Bombay on June 1, 2015. He was formerly the
Director of CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune. He worked at NCL Pune
for almost 33 years and was Director of NCL from 1st December, 2010 till May 31,
2015. He has also been the Head, Physical and Materials Chemistry Division at NCL
and has been instrumental in setting up Electronic Structure Theory Group, which is
established as a major research group in India and well known globally. Dr. Pal is a
distinguished theoretical chemist and has contributed to diverse areas of theoretical
chemistry including the challenging aspects of methodological and conceptual
developments. He has contributed significantly to the many-body theory of
molecular electronic structure and properties using coupled-cluster methods and is
well recognized in India and abroad. He has also contributed significantly to the area
of chemical reactivity and density functional theory response. In recent years, he
has contributed to the catalytic and hydrogen storage materials using
computational material science. In addition to his scientific contributions,
Dr. Sourav Pal obtained his integrated masters degree in Chemistry from Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur in 1977. He received his Ph.D. degree from
Calcutta University and joined NCL in 1982. He was a post-doctoral fellow at the
University of Florida, Gainesville, USA (1986-87) and has been Alexander von
Humboldt Fellow at the University of Heidelberg, Germany (1987). He was a visiting
Professor at the University of Arizona, Tucson, USA (1995) and the Institute for
Molecular Sciences, Okazaki, Japan (1997). He is currently also an adjunct Professor
at Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune and is appointed
as Distinguished Visiting Professor, IIT Kharagpur for fve years. He has been a
Visiting Professor in University of Torun, Poland. He served as the President of
Chemical Research Society of India for a tenure of three years from April 1, 2014. He
is a member of Executive Council of Federation of Asian Chemical Societies and is
Chairman of Chemical Division Council of Bureau of Indian Standards and serves in
several important scientific committee in the country. He is presently a member of
the Council of Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi.
Dr. Pal has been recognized by several awards and honors for his contribution to
science and technology including the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in
Chemical Sciences in 2000. He is recipient of SASTRA-CNR Rao Award in Chemistry
& Materials Science for the year 2014. He is a Fellow of The Indian National Science
Academy (2003), Indian Academy of Sciences (1996) and National Academy of
Sciences (1998). He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2011), the
Maharashtra Academy of Sciences (1994), J.C. Bose National Fellow of Department
of Science and Technology from 2008, Dai-ichi Karkaria Endowment fellow of ICT,
Mumbai, 2004-05 and Fellow of West Bengal Academy of Science & Technology
(WAST) (2011). He is a recipient of the Prof. Sadhan Basu Memorial Lecture Award
of INSA (2014), RPG Life Sciences Padma Vibhushan Prof MM Sharma Medal and
Chemcon Distinguished Speaker Award (2014), Prof. R. P. Mitra Memorial Lecture
Award, Delhi University, 2010, INSA Dr Jagdish Shankar Memorial lecture Award,
2006, Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) Silver Medal, 2009, as well as INSA
and CSIR Young Scientist Awards in 1987 and 1989, respectively amongst others. He
was invited to deliver the prestigious Charles A. Coulson Lecture (2014) at the
Center for Computational Quantum Chemistry, University of Georgia.
Dr. Pal serves on the editorial boards of several international and national journals in
chemistry and has guided about 32 Ph.D thesis. He is in the Editorial Advisory Board
of the Journal of Physical Chemistry. He has published about 270 papers in
International peer reviewed journals. He has authored a book titled “Mathematics in
Chemistry” and contributed to chapters in several books. He has been invited to
deliver plenary / keynote / highlighted lectures in several institutions and
international conferences of repute over the years.
Prof.Pal is a distinguished theoretical chemist. He has contributed to diverse areas
of theoretical chemistry including the challenging aspects of methodological and
conceptual developments. Dr. Sourav Pal obtained his integrated masters degree in
Chemistry from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur in 1977. He received his
Ph.D. degree from Calcutta University. He was post-doctoral fellow at the University
of Florida, Gainesville, USA (1986-87) and has been Alexander von Humboldt Fellow
at the University of Heldelbert, Germany (1987). He was a visiting Professor at the
University of Arizona, Tucson, USA (1995) and the Institute for Molecular Sciences,
Okazaki, Japan (1997).
Prof. Pal has been recognized by several awards and honours for his contribution to
science and technology including the prestigious Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in
Chemical Science in 2000. He is recipient of SASTRA-CNR Rao Award in Chemistry
& Materials Science for the year 2014. He is recipient of the Prof. R P Mitra
Memorial Lecture Award, Delhi University, 2010, INSA, Dr. Jagdish Shankar Memorial
lecture Award, 2006, chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) Silver Medal, 2009,
as well as INSA and CSIR Young Scientist Awards in 1987 and 1989. He is a fellow
of the Indian National Science Academy (2003), Indian Academy of Sciences (1996)
and National Academy of Sciences (1998). He is also a fellow of the Royal Society of
Chemistry (2011), the Maharashtra Academy of Sciences (1994), J. C.Bose National
Fellow of Department of Science and Technology from 2008, Daichi Karkaria
Endowment fellow of ICT, Mumbai, 2004-05 and Fellow of West Bengal Academy of
Science & Technology (WAST) (2011).
Dr. Pal serves on the editorial boards of several international and national journals in
chemistry and has guided over 20 Ph.D thesis. He has published about 200 papers
in international peer reviewed journals. He has authored a book titled ‘Mathematics
in Chemistry’ and contributed to chapters in several books
Prof. M. K. SURAPPA
Vice Chancellor (Anna University)
Bio
Prof. M. K. Surappa, born on 5th Dec. 1951 in an agricultural family in Mirle, in Mysore District. He completed his school education in Mirle in Kannada medium Government. schools. He obtained BSc degree (1970) from Yuvaraja’s College of Mysore University. He joined the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1970 and received BE degree in Metallurgy in 1973, M.S and Ph. D degrees from the faculty of Engineering in 1976 and 1980 respectively.
Prof. Surappa joined then newly established Regional Laboratory, Trivandrum in 1979 as senior scientist and worked there for two years. During 1981-87, he was Research Associate/Engineer at Drexel University (USA), Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge (UK) and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Switzerland). He returned to the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, as an Assistant Professor in 1987 and rose to the position of Professor in 1998. He was Honorary Secretary of Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology during 2004-09. He was Visiting Professor to Sir M. Visveswaraya Chair, University of Mysore (2003-04). He has served as Founder Director of Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar for a period of six years (2009-15). He served as Dean, Faculty of Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science during the year 2016-2017. He assumed the post of Vice Chancellor of Anna University on 12th April 2018. He is also Honorary Professor at the Indian Institute of Science.
Prof. Surappa has made outstanding R&D contributions to the Science and Technology of Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs). For over three decades, he has pursued many innovative investigations on synthesis, processing-microstructure-property correlation and application development of MMCs based on light alloy matrices. These include : (a) Development of “Stir Cast Process” for the fabrication of aluminium matrix composites. Process developed by Prof. Surappa at the Indian Institute of Science is often hailed as an Indian Innovation by MMC producers across the world. (b) Development of innovative technique for synthesis of metal-ceramic nano composites by in-situ pyrolysis of polymer pre-cursors in the liquid melt. He has carried out all his research work entirely in India. Prof. Surappa has published 100 research papers in International journals and presented nearly 150 papers in national and international conferences and has authored a book. He has secured one US and 3 Indian patents.
Prof. Surappa nurtured IIT Ropar as an Institution of Excellence in Research and Governance. In the 2016 National Ranking of Institutions, IIT Ropar stands number 9 amongst top 100 Engineering Institutions. It is very heartening to note that IIT Ropar ranked number one in two parameters used in ranking exercise, namely (a) Teaching, learning and Resources (TLR) and (b) Graduation Outcome (GO) amongst 16 IITs. This is testimony to the inspiring, dynamic and visionary leadership of Prof. Surappa.
Professor was bestowed with Sir. M. Visvesvaraya award for his Life time contributions in Science and Technology from the Government of Karnataka for the year 2015. Prof. Surappa is a Fellow of Indian National Science Academy (INSA) and Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE). In the year 2015, Karnataka State Open University honored him by awarding him Honorary degree of Doctor of Literature (D.Litt). He received Suvarna Karnataka Rajyotsava Award by the Government of Karnataka in 2006 and Prof. Rustum Choksi Award for Excellence in Research and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science in 2007. He received AMULYA Award for Innovation in 2012 by the Government of Karnataka. He has been bestowed with Metallurgist of the Year award for the year 1998 by the Government of India. He is the recipient of MRSI Medal for the year 1997 from the Materials Research Society of India.
Prof. Ravi Kant
Director (All India Institute of Medical Sciences Rishikesh)
Bio
Awarded Padma Shri by Government of India in 2016; Dr B C Roy Award 2014 as Eminent Medical Teacher; Awarded Yash Bharti (highest civil award by Govt of Uttar Pradesh) along with cash price of Rs. 11 lakhs, Citation & Rs 50,000 pm Pension for life by Government of Uttar Pradesh in 2016; Awarded Delhi State Government award for Excellence 2003 by cheque, citation and scroll; Seva Bharti Award-2016 from NGO (Handed over by Governor of Uttar Pradesh) Excellent Medical Service Award 2016 from NGO (Handed over by Governor of Uttar Pradesh). Awarded Resident Research Award for the best paper in Gastroenterology by American Society of Lasers in Surgery and Medicine at Orlando (USA), Awarded Young Surgeons award by Japanese Surgical Society at Sendai (Japan), WHO fellowship award in Cancer at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA and WHO fellowship award in Cancer at National Institute of Cancer, Milan, Italy. Commonwealth Clinical Fellow in Cancer & Laser at University of London at University College Hospital, London; and Middlesex Hospital, & National Medical Laser Center, UK. Lucknow Management Association Transformation Leadership Award-2015. Ethicon Visiting Professorship Award by Association of Surgeons of India.
2- Previously Vice Chancellor, King George’s Medical University, Lucknow.
3- Chair of the Bioethics Nodal Centre of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics.
4- Visiting Surgeon- Mayo Clinic, USA, University of London UK, National Cancer Institute, Tokyo, Japan; National Cancer Institute, Milan, Italy, Northwestern University, Chicago, USA; University of Sydney, Australia.
5-President of Indian Association of Surgical Oncology 2006 (earlier Secretary IASO 2001-2002 & Editorial Secretary 1999-2000).
6- Earlier: Professor of Surgery, Head of Department of Surgery & Head of Department of Trauma & Emergency at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhopal, MP, India – An Institute of National Importance (INI) & Professor of Surgery at Maulana Azad Medical College, University of Delhi since 1995 (>20 years as Professor of Surgery). Teaching experience UG=36 years, PG =32 years.
7- Member of faculty in the University since 1984.
8- Fellow of Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, UK, Fellow of Royal College of Surgeons of Glasgow, UK, Fellow of Royal College of Surgeons of England, UK, Fellow of Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland, Fellow of American College of Surgeons, Fellow of International College of Surgeons (Surgical Oncology), Fellow of Association of Surgeons of India, Fellow of National Academy of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
9- Examiner Intercollegiate MRCS Examination of Royal College of Surgeons of UK, Examiner, Saudi Commission for Health Specialties- Board for Post Graduate Examination of Surgery (SCHS), University of Dammam and Arabian Gulf University, Bahrain, Examiner of PhD (Surgical Oncology), MCh (Surgical Oncology), Postgraduates and undergraduates in many universities.
10-Member of the Medical Council of India (2004-2007) & Honorary Inspector and Member of Indian Laser Society.
11- Diplomate of National Board of Examinations.
12- Expert on selection board of many Government Organizations.
13- Presidential Oration (Smt. Radha Devi Oration) of Indian Association of Surgical Oncology 2007, Best paper award at Indian Association of Surgical Oncology 2001, Best paper award at Delhi State Chapter of Association of Surgeons of India 2001 and Special award at Indian Association of Surgical Oncology 2002.
14- Organized several international meetings on Cancer in India.
15- More than 422 presentations / invited lectures / publications / invited talks to credit.
16- Original research in Lasers, Molecular and Genetics of Cancer Breast.
17- Earlier, Governing Council Member of Association of Surgeons of India 2003 to 2006.
Prof. Dr. K.S. RANA
Vice Chancellor (Kumaun University)
Bio
He has earlier been the “expert advisor” at Union Ministry of Environment & Forest Govt. of India and the vice chancellor of Nalanda State Open University, Patna, KVS University, Arrah (Bihar) and Monad University, Hapur.
Rana holds a masters’ degree in Law and a doctorate in hydro-biology. He was also awarded director of Science in 1996 for his work on how pollution was affecting fishery and public health in Yamuna.
Prof. (Dr.) A. K. Bakhshi
Vice Chancellor (PDM University, Bahadurgarh)
Bio
Prof. A.K.Bakhshi is the Founder Vice-Chancellor of PDM University. He was Executive Director of Tertiary Education Commission (TEC), Mauritius (a post equivalent to that of Chairman, UGC in India) during October 2013 – February 2015. He was selected for this prestigious position through an international selection in 2013. Prior to joining TEC, he has been Vice-Chancellor of U.P. Rajarshi Tandon Open University (UPRTOU), Allahabad for more than two years (2011–13). Prof. Bakhshi held the prestigious Sir Shankar Lal Chair of Chemistry in the University of Delhi for more than two decades and was also Head, Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi during May 2010– August 2011.
Prof. A.K.Bakhshi is the Founder Vice-Chancellor of PDM University. He was Executive Director of Tertiary Education Commission (TEC), Mauritius (a post equivalent to that of Chairman, UGC in India) during October 2013 – February 2015. He was selected for this prestigious position through an international selection in 2013. Prior to joining TEC, he has been Vice-Chancellor of U.P. Rajarshi Tandon Open University (UPRTOU), Allahabad for more than two years (2011–13). Prof. Bakhshi held the prestigious Sir Shankar Lal Chair of Chemistry in the University of Delhi for more than two decades and was also Head, Department of Chemistry, University of Delhi during May 2010– August 2011.
Prof Bakhshi is also Chairman of Centre for e-Learning as well as Chairman of Guru Angad Dev Teaching – Learning Centre (a Centre of the MHRD Govt. of India) both located at SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi. These centres are based on two national projects in the field of e-Learning worth more than Rs. 10 crores. Prof. Bakhshi is also the Chairman of the National Resource Centre of Chemistry of the MHRD. He was also Chairman of the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) project in Chemistry of the CSIR. Prof. Bakhshi has also been a Member of the Standing Committee of the National Mission on Education through ICT (NMEICT). He was also the Chairman of the Content Advisory Committee for Chemistry for SAKSHAT portal of the MHRD, Govt. of India which was launched on 30th October 2006 by the then President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.
A double gold medalist of Delhi University, Dr. Bakhshi did his post-doctoral training at the University of Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany with Prof. J. Ladik and at the Kyoto University and the Institute of Fundamental Chemistry, Kyoto, Japan with Professor K. Fukui, the Nobel Laureate and Prof. T.Yamabe. He has also been a Visiting Scientist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangaluru.
Prof. Bakhshi’s research interests include theoretical polymer chemistry with special reference to electrically conducting polymers and biopolymers. He is the author/coauthor of about 170 research and education articles etc., and one patent. He has to his credit eleven books as author/co-author and many as editor/chairman/ convener of the working group. Many students have obtained their Ph.D / M.Phil under his guidance. His other interests include innovation in science education, ICT in higher education, e-Learning and MOOCs.
Prof.Bakhshi has been recipient of several awards and academic honours. These include amongst others : World Education Award, Haryana Ratan Award, Bharat Jyoti Award, Fellowship of the IUPAC; Lifetime Achievement Award by IAEWP, Guest of Honour at the 26th IGNOU Convocation at Varanasi, Felicitation at the Centenary Celebration of Vigyan Parishad Prayag, Distinguished Teacher Award; National Education Award by Headlines Today News Channel; Bioved Honorary Fellowship, Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) Medal; Fellowship of the National Academy of Sciences (FNASc); JSPS Fellowship; DAAD Fellowship; INSA Research Fellowship; UGC Career Award; Prof. P.K.Bose Memorial Award of the Indian Chemical Society, Best Paper Award in the field of Chemical Sciences from DAAD; Young Chemist Award; Dr. Krishan Rao Gold Medal, Dr. R. D. Desai Award of the Indian Chemical Society, Prof. R.P. Mitra Gold Medal, ISCA Best Poster Awards of the Indian Science Congress Association for the years 2012 and 2015. India Didactics Association (IDA) 2014 Special Award for excellence in Digital Content in Education for our template etc. Prof Bakhshi was awarded Capital Foundation National Award for distinctive and outstanding contribution to Education by former President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam (December 2011).
Prof. Bakhshi has also been elected as the President of the section of the Chemical Sciences of the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) for the year 2011-12. Prof. Bakhshi has been member of the editorial board of the Indian Journal of Chemistry (Section A). He has also been the member of the editorial board of the Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research published by the CSIR and also the Chief-Editor of the UGC-sponsored journal Chemistry Education Review. He was also co-guest editor of the special issue of the Indian Journal of Chemistry on Conducting Polymers. Prof. Bakhshi is recognised as one of the best teachers of Chemistry in the country.
Prof. Bakhshi has delivered many Talks / Plenary Lectures / Keynote Addresses at various conferences and seminars both in India and abroad. He has also Chaired Technical Sessions at various national/international conferences. He has also been very actively involved in the organization of many conferences, workshops and seminars at the national / international level.
Prof. Bakhshi has also been the Director of the Institute of Lifelong Learning (ILLL), University of Delhi and the Centre for Professional Development in Higher Education (CPDHE), a UGC Academic Staff College of the University of Delhi for about three years (2008 – 2010). In his capacity as Director ILLL, he spearheaded the process of e-transformation of the University of Delhi.
Prof. Bakhshi was felicitated (September 2009) by the Former President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam for his contributions in the e-transformation of the University of Delhi, as Director ILLL. Prof. Bakhshi is presently very actively engaged at the national level in the development of e-content and MOOCs under Digital India initiative of the Govt. of India. He is one of the leading e-Learning experts of India.
Last but not the least, Prof. Bakhshi has also the distinction of being one of the first persons from the Universities in India to have been selected as the Member Scientist of the “Third Indian Research Expedition to Antarctica” in 1984.