Sharmila Saxena
Learning Strategy Senior Manager
Accenture Strategy & Consulting

Sharmila has over 20 years of experience in managing the global content strategy for functional and industry practices, serving as catalyst to profitable growth, industry-leading business processes and enhanced product portfolio. She is sharply focused on building offering architecture and strategic assets that differentiate the firm and the quality of its client work. Sharmila has been with Accenture for 15 years in various roles focused on building thought leadership & assets and consulting clients on learning strategy and delivery. Prior to joining Accenture she co-authored course material for MBA programs at India’s well-known business schools – the All India Management Association and the Indira Gandhi National Open University. Sharmila has an Executive Management degree in General Management from IIM Kolkata and a Bachelor’s in Psychology from Delhi University.

Varun Maheshwari
Associate Director – Digital
IndiGo (InterGlobe Aviation Ltd)

Varun is an innovation and strategy consultant professional with extensive experience across a broad spectrum of practice areas including growth strategy, new product development, strategic partnerships driving product adoption, incubating new business bets, design thinking facilitation, and cross-functional collaboration at global businesses (worked with organizations across US, Europe, and Asia).

He has worked for several high-profile companies, including Meta, EY, Adidas and currently at IndiGo.

Currently, Varun is working as an Associate Director at IndiGo, wherein he serves as a partner to the Chief Digital and Information Officer and the core Digital leadership team to drive the transformation journey underway at IndiGo.

A passionate advocate of ‘being digital’ instead of just ‘doing digital’ and helping enterprises compete in the digital era.

Sakshi Parihar
Assistant Director of Programs & International Partnerships
Harris School of Public Policy

Sakshi is a central banker turned international educator. Her educational journey spans science, business, and the liberal arts; and her professional journey is across Government, private, and international organizations. This unique combination makes it easy for her to connect with a diverse audience and create long-lasting synergy for the multiple stakeholders she works with across Asia, Europe, Oceania & Canada. She has redefined the way people think about public policy and education. She is an alumna of University of Pune and University of Chicago.

Kritika Padode Bhandari
Lawyer
Member, Founding Team
Vijaybhoomi University

A lawyer by training but an educator by heart, mind and soul. Kritika has been instrumental in setting up IFIM Law School in Bangalore and is part of the founding team of Vijaybhoomi University. She manages the entire school connect vertical along with other roles played in the Institutions.

Vaibhav Chowdhary
Partner – GDI
Professor of Practice – IIT Kanpur

Vaibhav is passionate about making a difference to the future of people by creating a more sustainable, equitable and liveable world. At senior management roles he led organizational programs and strategies into impactful public policies in the field of energy, environment, and air pollution. Over last 17 years Vaibhav had been working with institutes like Vedanta Resources Ltd; Department for International Development and British High Commission, GoUK; PricewaterhouseCoopers India Ltd; Clean Air Fund; IIT-Kanpur etc. In these roles Vaibhav engaged extensively with ministries, global philanthropies, intergovernmental organizations, banks, private businesses. Through such engagements Vaibhav designed and delivered multimillion energy and environment programs in India and abroad.
Vaibhav is an avid energy and environment enthusiast who loves to participate in policy dialogues, technical deep dives, and strategy discussions. Currently he is excited about creating skilled manpower to address the issue of climate change and growth in India and is also serving as a visiting professor of practice at IIT-Kanpur.
He is an Instrumentation Engineer with an MBA (Gold Medal) in Power Management. He undertook an executive management program from Booth School of Business, University of Chicago alongside other degrees and diplomas in energy, climate, and finance from India and abroad.

Chetan Pathak
Lead – Policy Advocacy & Strategic Partnership
SUN Mobility

Chetan has 10+ years of experience in Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), Non-Wired Alternatives, Renewable Energy Generation & Electricity Distribution Companies. His present focus area Greening the Grid (GTG) Projects, Round-the-Clock (RTC) Green Energy, Battery Energy Storage Solutions for Grid Scale, Climate Finance, e- Mobility (with fixed and battery swapping stations) & Telecom Sector Applications in his recent assignments with Sun Mobility & Log9 Materials. Before joining Log 9 Materials Scientific Pvt. Ltd. as Assistant Vice President, he had worked in Electricity Distribution Sector for BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL), New Delhi (A Power Distribution Licensee & a JV company of Reliance Infrastructure and Govt. Of Delhi, India) & IntelliSmart (EESL & NIIF JV) prior to this he had worked with Power Generation Companies for Billion Dollar Groups (Reliance, Azure Power, ACME) as Business Development Manager for Renewable Generation Companies and had been responsible for setting up of approx. 2 GW of Solar PV and Wind Power Projects in India. Key Areas of Expertise are Integration of DER’s (Distributed Energy Resources) to Electricity Distribution Infrastructure (i.e., Renewable Integration, Rooftop Solar PV Net Metering, Grid level Energy Storage Solutions, setting up Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure), Regulatory Affairs, Energy Efficiency & Demand Side Management, Smart Metering, Inventory Management, New Product Development.

Dr Praveen Singh
Director
Prayag Policy Research and Innovation Institute

Dr. Praveen Singh, the Khetibadiwala is an agriculture professional with 20 years of experience in different fields of the agriculture sector ranging from rural development, academic research, agri-business, hi-tech farming and urban farming i.e. Hydroponics.
He is a founder director for Prayag Policy Research and Innovation Institute (PPRII – https://www.pprii.com/ ) and extending his technical support to the urban commercial farms and home growers.
Started his career as a consultant to the European Commission project and followed by the British High Commission project in the field of Rural Development. From Rural development, he has diversified his professional journey and joined Tata Chemicals Ltd. Where he has served in different roles and locations for ensuring the desired outcome for different projects/responsibilities. He was one of the founder members of the customized fertilizer team and contributed significantly to the development of customized fertilizer, branded compost, and outsourced farm services.
His professional journey also includes exposure to Africa, where he was responsible for Corporate Farming and leased 25,000 ha of land from the Ethiopian Government. He has worked with the National Horticulture Research and Development Foundation as Joint Director and was responsible for the seed business & Development activities.
Past 8-10 years, he has been significantly contributing to the development of the Vertical/Hydroponic growing system in India. He has started his Hydroponics/vertical farming journey with DS Group and delivered a hydroponic project for growing essential oil-bearing crops like Jasmine Grandiflorum, Jasmin Sambac, Damas rose. After the DS group, he delivered a successful project for Dabur Group to grow exotic vegetables like Lettuce, Kale, Basil, Arugula, Rocket, capsicum, Tomato and Cucumber. He worked on NFT, Soilless, and Dutch bucket hydroponic growing systems.
He is a proud Khetibadiwala and puts his best effort in developing a Hydroponic growing system as a successful growing system for meeting the needs of the Urban Population in India. He is associated with around 3000 hydroponic practitioners and shares his knowledge for the development of the Hydroponic sector in India and other countries. He is extending his consulting services on hydroponic projects in India, Africa, and Bangladesh. In India, he is extending his services to 3 farms in Delhi, one farm in Mumbai and one farm in Assam.
He is also associated with virtual Hydroponic training platforms. On Rocket Skills platform he has trained around 2000 hydroponic aspirants and on The Better India, he has uploaded an on-line virtual course for Hydroponic aspirants.
He also working as advisor/mentor with Kaze Living, New Delhi, Aua Almus Farms, New Delhi, Woolly Farms Private Limited, Bengaluru and Satsumi Farms, New Delhi. These farms are engaged in production of high value agriculture crops.

Dr. Neetika Chhabra
Fellow, Strategic Communication for Sustainability
The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI)

Dr Neetika W. Chhabra is doctorate from the Department of Botany, University of Delhi. She has published a number of National and International papers in peer-reviewed journals. She worked in The Energy and Resources Institute for over 14 years in the Biotechnology and Bioresources Division. Her area of work has been plant micropropagation, biopesticides and biofertilizers production and agri-extension. She has worked with over 2000 farmers in selected districts of Himachal Pradesh and Assam. Thereafter, she co-founded a company in 2019 and worked towards smart Urban Organic farming. She headed the Centre for Agriculture and Bioresources Division (CARD), an NGO which works closely with Farmer Producer Organizations, agripreneurs, industry and government bodies. Currently, she is working with The Energy and Resources Institute as Fellow in Environment Education and Awareness Division.

Gagandeep Singh
Founder
Hello Excellence Consulting

Gagandeep is the founder of Hello Excellence Consulting. He is an organizational psychologist, a behavioral trainer, and an elite performance coach. His credentials include a masters in performance psychology, an MBA in HR, a bachelors in engineering, and more than a decade of corporate work experience. He is an engineer + HR + psychologist! Having studied and worked in both the US and India, he brings a unique cultural perspective to human behavior. He has assisted clients across all six continents including fortune 500 companies and professional athletes. He is an expert at human behavior, and through his workshops and leadership development programs, helps companies in reaching their peak potential.

Dhriti Mittal
Research and Youth Coordinator
Sangath

Dhriti is a mental health researcher with a background in psychology. Her expertise lies in developing mental health awareness materials through research and engagement with young people. Presently she is working as a research coordinator at Sangath, a mental health research organization, where her most recent work includes authoring a “DIY” (Do-It-Yourself) youth advocacy toolkit for youth in low-and-middle-income settings and supporting research activities for Outlive, a national suicide prevention campaign. She is currently working as a Youth and Research Coordinator in Baatcheet, a new digital mental health intervention for youth with depression and anxiety which is supported by Grand Challenges Canada. She plans to continue working on mental health interventions centred around lived experience of mental health and following a participatory action approach.

Meenu Arora
Associate Director, Outreach
Krea University

Meenu Arora is Associate Director of Outreach at Krea University with a passion to counsel students to make informed career decisions and how to be prepared for industry 4.0. She is a Counseling Psychologist and a Life Skill Trainer having experience of more than 25 years in dealing with students, parents and teachers in school sector as well as higher education. She has played an active role in spreading awareness about the significance of Liberal Arts among students and parents. A trained counselor from NCERT and having done Masters in Education, Masters in Psychology, Diploma in Training and Development, she specializes in parental counseling, educational counseling, career and college counseling. She conducts workshops for students, parents, teachers and designs curriculum for counsellor’s training program.

John Thangaraj
Group Chief Strategy Officer
FCB Group India

In a career spanning over twenty two years, John has worked across the entire spectrum of marketing communications, from PR and research to media and advertising. He has worked across categories and has been instrumental in building some of India’s most iconic brands, including Pepsi, Horlicks, Bacardi, BMW, Domino’s, Vistara, Google, Uber, Whirlpool, LG, Vivo and Honda, to name just a few. In his spare time he reads comic books, watches Formula One, takes his dog for long walks and plays the bass guitar (badly).

Karan Bhandari
Managing Director of Integrated Media
Weber Shandwick

He is the Managing Director of Integrated Media, leading a talented and diverse team of creative experts, media strategists, analysts, and program managers. With extensive experience in the media industry, he is currently incubating a project for the APAC region, aimed at transforming resources and capabilities with the support of creative, content, and data analytics.

He takes immense pride in being recognized for his contributions to the industry. In 2018, he had the honor of being nominated as PR Professional of the Year at PR Week Asia. Furthermore, the World Marketing Congress acknowledged him as one of the 100 Smartest Digital Marketing Leaders. Currently, he is serving on the Digital Advisory Board of the IIB Council.

As an innovative and results-driven professional, his commitment lies in leading his team to success while staying ahead of industry trends and advancements. His deep-rooted passion for the media industry constantly fuels his desire to seek new challenges and seize opportunities for personal growth and development. He is eager to continue making meaningful contributions to the field.

Currently, he is deeply engaged in the implementation of AI across the India business.

Charuvi Agrawal
Director
Charuvi Design Labs Pvt. Ltd (CDL)

Charuvi is an award-winning animation film director, producer, and immersive artist based in Gurgaon. She blends Indian mythology with cutting-edge technology to create visually opulent and technically ambitious animation content and artwork. Her films have been screened at festivals worldwide, and her artwork has been displayed at public forums and private collections across India. In 2021, her animated series “The Legend of Hanuman,” produced by Graphic India, premiered on Disney+Hotstar to critical acclaim. Charuvi has been honored twice in Limca Books of World Records, was a featured artist at the “Incredible India @60” festival in New York, and has spoken at multiple platforms, including TEDx , Edinburgh University and SIGGRAPH.

Somak Ghoshal
Vice-President, Curriculum and Learning
Harappa

Somak was educated in Kolkata and Oxford, where he read English Literature on a Rhodes Scholarship. After graduating, he returned to India to work as a journalist. He has been with The Telegraph, Mint, and HuffPost India in this time. Somak also spent 3 years in book publishing, working with Penguin India and HarperCollins India. At Harappa, he leads curriculum design for enterprise learners.

Yaser Siddiqui
Country Manager – India
Bio Concepts Australia

Proactive and dedicated professional with over ten years of experience in International Business Development. Switched industries and public sector to private sector in these ten years. Before moving to private sector as the Country Manager for Australian company Bio Concepts Pty Ltd, Yaser has worked with several trade commissions in South Asia including the Australian High Commission in building strategic partnerships, and business development across industry sectors. An effective communicator with excellent relationship building & interpersonal skills.

Gayatri Vishwakarma
Lead Biostatistician
The George Institute for Global Health

Gayatri Vishwakarma is an experienced Biostatistician having 15+ years of post-PhD (Statistics) work experience in academics and research. She worked as Biostatistician in several organizations including hospitals and clinical research organizations. She was Visiting Scientist at University of Texas Health Science Center, Tyler TX, USA. She started her career as Assistant Statistician in J.N. Agriculture University, Jabalpur moving on to teaching Statistics and SAS programming at Amity University, Noida. She also worked as Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist in Woodward Charitable Foundation, Ethiopia. Gayatri has organized many workshops on various popular topics of research & data analysis. She has more than 30 research publications in peer reviewed journals.

Dr. Santha Muller, Msc, PhD Deputy Dean – Pre.Clinical & Research
upGrad Institute of Medical Sciences (UIMS)

Dr. Santha Muller, Msc, PhD, is a viral Immunologist who possesses vast experience in the field of medical education and administration. Her expertise lies in biomedical education, teaching, research, and administration. She has worked in various countries, including India, the United States, and Fiji. At the College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Fiji National University (FNU), she held the position of Director of the Department of Pathology and Medical Research. She has also served as the Acting Deputy Dean for the School of Medicine at the University of Fiji, where she played a crucial role in establishing the Medical School as an inaugural faculty member at a senior level.

Seema Chowdhry
Chief Learning Officer
Harappa School of Leadership (HSoL)

Seema Chowdhry has over 20 years of experience in journalism, education, and public policy. She holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, a postgraduate diploma in Media Studies from Sophia College, University of Mumbai and a BA from Lady Shri Ram College, University of Delhi. She was formerly the assistant editor, of Mint newspaper and edited the Business of Life, the Philanthropy and Corporate Social Responsibility sections.
As the Chief Learning Officer at Harappa School of Leadership, she leads product design, revenue growth, faculty management, and marketing. Her mission is to empower learners with the skills, knowledge, and mindsets they need to succeed in the 21st century.