Kartik Bharat Ram a graduate from Santa Clara University and MBA from Cornell University, New York has assumed various responsibilities across different verticals in SRF ever since he joined the company in 1993. As Deputy Managing Director of SRF Limited since February 2007, he is largely involved in creation and strengthening of TQM as SRF way of management, driving aspirations of the company through value-based leadership and building SRF into a trusted corporate brand - one that is respected for its commitment to deliver sustainable growth through total excellence. As Vice President in SRF, Kartik was instrumental in integrating HR, IT and TQM functions across the organisation.

A prominent figure in the Indian manufacturing industry, Mahendra Singhi is Group CEO-Cement, for Dalmia Cement (www.dalmiacement.com). Over the last 35 years Mr. Singhi has played a prominent role in the growth and development of the country’s Cement sector.  Beginning in 1978 with Century Cement, he has held leadership positions with major cement companies: Shree Digvijay Cement, Ultratech Cement, and Shree Cement, in various capacities. He led Shree Cement as President from 1995 to 2002 and then as Executive Director, before his present appointment. Mr. Singhi’s entrepreneurial abilities and deep knowledge of the cement business have helped these corporates chart new growth territories and achieve market leadership. His expertise lies in driving and sustaining industry leadership in a global context, fostering self-actualization and competencies at every level through a robust backbone of trust, support, innovation, reward and happiness.

In addition to his corporate brief, Mahendra Singhi is actively associated with several initiatives in the area of sustainable development and environment protection. He serves as co-chair of the Cement Sustainability Initiative (CSI) in India. He is also Chairman of the National Council for Cement & Building Materials (NCCBM), besides being Vice-Chairman of Cement Manufacturers Association (CMA), he is also a member of the Central Expert Technical Committee on the Cement Sector on PAT (Perform, Achieve and Trade) scheme of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency. Other positions held, include tenure as president of the Rajasthan Cement Manufacturers Association, and executive committee member of TERI BCSD. He was also leader of the Indian Cement Sector Task Force for Energy Conservation, constituted by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, at the central ministry of power. 

A thinker and advocate of sustainability, Mr. Singhi has been the driving-force in inculcating this concept in the objectives and operations of the companies he has worked with. Mr. Singhi has been at the forefront of effecting changes by taking voluntary initiatives towards climate change mitigation and adopting low carbon technology to transform the energy landscape of India. Mr. Singhi also has been invited to attend the historic Signing Ceremony of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change in an interactive dialogue with other world leaders to action tackling climate change. He led the discussion on Partnership for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Implementation. Mr. Singhi believes in the philosophy ‘Green is Profitable’, which encourages it to take actions that benefit the environment and also improve its profitability.

Padma Shri Mr. Sushil Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director, Asian Hotels (West) has made a mark in the travel and tourism industry in India, having set up hotels and participated actively in promoting India Internationally.

He is a hotelier by profession, is the Chairman & Managing Director of Asian Hotels (West) Limited owning several seven and five star hotels in India. He has been actively involved in the promotion of tourism in India while being at Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI). He has been a Member of the Executive Committee of the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), and Director on the Board of Tourism Finance Corporation of India.

He was awarded the Padma Shri by the President of India for Distinguished Service to the Tourism Industry and Social Work in 2007.

Dr Rajan Sankar is a Physician and has specialised in internal medicine. Dr Sankar was the head of Thyroid Research Centre and department of endocrinology in the Defence Research and Development Organization and retired from the Army Medical Corps in the rank of Colonel after 24 years of service. He has been actively involved with Iodine Deficiency Disorders elimination activities in India and in south Asia region.

n recognition of his contribution in this field, he was awarded the Sir Sriram Memorial Award by the National Academy of Medical Sciences of India in 1997 and the Sivanthi Adityan Gold Medal by the Association of Physician of India in the year 1990. He has published over 100 scientific publications in national and international journals. Dr Sankar has worked with the Micronutrient Initiative as their Regional Technical Advisor and with UNICEF as Project Officer in the India Country Office. He was till recently the Regional Representative in South Asia for the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). He is now Program Director – Nutrition at TATA Trusts.

Prior to joining in July 2017, Dr. Yasmin Ali Haque was Deputy Director of UNICEF’s Office of Emergency Operations where she played a lead role in the programming and policies for an effective UNICEF response for children in humanitarian crisis. Dr. Haque served as the first UNICEF Representative in South Sudan 2010 to 2013, and from 2007 to mid 2010 she led the UNICEF Ghana office. As Deputy Representative in Sri Lanka 2004-2007, she was responsible for guiding and coordinating the UNICEF programme of support as well as the emergency response to the 2004 Asian tsunami.

Mr. Saurabh Singh is the President of ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth. In his capacity as the President, Mr. Singh is responsible for ensuring that the activities of the Foundation are executed as per the directions of the Governing Council.

Mr. Singh continues to implement the vision of ICICI Group through steering the activities of ICICI Foundation and driving integration with ICICI Bank. He has been instrumental in developing an integrated model for development at ‘ICICI Digital Villages’, exploring new markets as well as fostering key Partnerships for market development for the beneficiaries at these villages.

Apart from his role at ICICI Foundation, Mr. Singh is the Business Head Trusts, Associations, Societies & Clubs (TASC) and the Government Banking Group at ICICI Bank. Apart from that Mr. Singh also heads the Infrastructure Management & Services Group and the Business Continuity Management Group of ICICI Bank. He has driven key HR and customer service practices at ICICI Bank in previous assignments. He has been instrumental in various industry firsts and award winning initiatives like ‘Smart Vault’.

Steve Cutts is the CEO of Reach to Teach, a UK-based charity working to transform the lives of children in marginalised communities of India by improving the quality of primary education.

Mr. Cutts has widespread leadership experience in international organisations. He served as Assistant Secretary-General for the Office of Central Support Services in the Department of Management in the UN Secretariat for many years. Before joining the UN, he served as Assistant Secretary-General for Corporate Affairs at the Commonwealth Secretariat. He also led the Africa Initiative at INSEAD Business School as its Executive Director. He previously held senior positions in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, including Chef de Cabinet to Secretary-General Donald Johnston, and in the civil service of the UK. 

Mr. Cutts holds an Executive Master of Business Administration from INSEAD and a double first-class honours degree in English Literature and American Studies from the University of Keele. 

In March 2013, Jayanth Bhuvaraghan was appointed Chief Mission Officer of Essilor International. He is the first to hold this unique position and is responsible for raising global awareness of the importance of good vision. He leads initiatives to address the needs of 2.5 billion people living without access to good vision through; inclusive business, philanthropy, and advocacy and awareness campaigns.

Mr Bhuvaraghan joined Essilor in 1998 where he was responsible for successfully launching the company in India. In 2007, he was appointed President South Asia, ASEAN, Emerging Brands, Lab Operations & IT for AMERA. He has served as a member of the Essilor International executive committee since January 2010 and most recently as a member of Essilor International Management Committee.

Mr Bhuvaraghan has over 36 years of diversified experience, including over 20 years in the ophthalmic optics industry.

Jeremy England took over as ICRC’s Head of Regional Delegation in New Delhi, India, in July 2016. In addition to India, the Regional Delegation covers Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives, providing humanitarian expertise, services and partnerships across the region. Mr England has worked in the international aid sector for over 25 years, including extended periods in Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Primarily working for the ICRC, he has also worked with non-government organisations and the United Nations. He manages specialist law, policy and humanitarian diplomacy programmes, in addition to supporting partner institutions, including the Indian Red Cross Society, in dealing with disability, separated families, detained populations, health services and crisis response.

Prior to his posting in India, he has had several past international assignments, recent of which include Regional Manager, UNICEF, NE Uganda (2005-2007); Head of Office, ICRC Australia (2009-2012); Head of Regional Delegation, Malaysia (2012- 2015). Mr England is from New Zealand and has successfully completed numerous humanitarian law and aid delivery courses; has a Masters in Education; is fluent in French and conversant in Spanish. 

Arjan joined UNICEF India as Chief Nutrition in March 2017. He leads the UNICEF India Nutrition Programme, supporting programmes for the promotion of infant & young child feeding practices, treatment of acute malnutrition, support to adolescents & maternal nutrition, and evidence creation & strengthening evidence programming in 14 states with high levels of child malnutrition. A national of the Netherlands, he has been in UNICEF for 20 years.He holds a Masters Degree in Nutrition from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Besides his work on nutrition, Arjan has experience working on strengthening health systems through performance based financing, community insurance schemes and programming on children & HIV. In UNICEF Headquarters, he was the UNICEF Global Coordinator on orphans & vulnerable children and before this; he was the Regional Focal Point on prevention and treatment of HIV in young children in the UNICEF regional office for East Asia & the pacific in Thailand.

Navdeep Singh Mehram is an alumni of FIIB and is currently working as Head Sustainability for United Spirits- A Diageo Group Company based out of Mumbai.
He brings with him more than 17 years of successful professional experience in the Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability domain. Prior to this role, he has worked with Essar Group Foundation, British High Commission, Cairn India and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). He is a Science graduate with MBA in International Business and currently pursuing PhD in Strategic CSR from University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), Dehradun. He is a certified social auditor from Social Accountability International, USA having in depth understanding of social compliance across value chains especially in the manufacturing sector.

Dr. Sara Varughese graduated from CMC Vellore, India and is a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. She has done her Master in public eye health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). She started her career as an ophthalmologist with a focus on public and community health. She has experience of health systems in developed countries (UK), middle income (South Africa) and developing countries (India, Nepal, Bangladesh).

She has served the World Health Organisation (WHO), South East Asia Regional Office as programme Manager in disability & rehabilitation for the 11 countries of South East Asia. She also served as Medial Advisor for CBM South Asia Regional Office-North dealing with cross disability programs. She was the president of national vision2020 -the right to sight India, a forum of 150 national and international organisations working closely with government of India on prevention of blindness & visual impairments programmes & policy.  Currently Dr. Sara Varughese is the regional director to CBM South Asia Region (India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri -lanka ) and managing trustee to CBM India Trust.

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Anurag brings with him more than 21+ years of diversified experience in CSR, community development, project management / implementation, grant management, capacity planning, and resource Management. Over the past two decade, he has worked with grassroot agencies, donor agencies, UN Agency and Corporate.

With over 30 years of experience in the development sector, Pearl is an expert in community development, having worked in this area across academic, NGO and CSR roles.

Having graduated from the prestigious Tata Institute of Social Sciences and with an Executive Education in CSR from the Harvard Business School, Ms. Tiwari has led Ambuja Cement Foundation since 2000 and is currently leading a team of nearly 500 development professionals.

A large part of Pearl’s past 15 years has been spent in steering the CSR initiatives to make it an integral part of the Company’s strategy. This work has borne fruit as evident from the evolved process to plan and implement CSR, fulfilled aspirations of the community and other stakeholders. Community development is closely linked to sustainability and hence a consistent focus on managing water resources, enhancing livelihoods and raising the bar in human development of communities.  

Ambuja Cement’s CSR efforts have been recognized widely and in the recent years,the organisation has seen a slew of national and international awards for CSR and water management, bestowed by different chambers of commerce and other organizations of repute.

An IT industry veteran, Technology, Process, Knowledge Management, Operations and CSR leader with over 25 years of diverse and global experience. Thought leader in multiple domains including innovative software engineering, quality processes, enterprise collaboration and Knowledge Management. Conceptualized, incubated and delivered many products and solutions in these domains. Passionate learner, speaker in industry forums, trainer and has facilitated many interactive workshops for designing creative process and tech solutions for complex business and social needs.

Garima Babbar is heads programs for education for Adobe India and South Asia region. She has rich experience of 20 years in the field of Education and Skill Development.

She works extensively on Policies and Progams for K-12 and Higher Education to help develop new age skills of students in latest technologies. She leads Adobe Digital Technology Academy to build new age employability skills of higher ed students. She has recently launched a new program in India - Adobe Digital Disha to foster digital creativity skills across all educational institutions in India. She also leads social impact projects for Adobe India Sales team. Prior to joining Adobe, Garima was working as Lead Higher Education with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) under Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. She was responsible for development of guidelines and implementation of Community colleges, B.Voc program, skilling initiatives in schools and universities. She has worked closely with UGC, MHRD and AICTE for various projects related to skill development.

She has also worked with KPMG, Microsoft and TCS. She is on Board of studies for various engineering and vocational institutes. She is an integral part of various industry bodies on committees for skill development.

Rema  Mohan has more than 20 years  experience  in  education  and corporate social responsibility, and has worked with various organizations such as Times Foundation, The Times Group , Smt. Sulochanadevi Singhania Trust (Raymonds Group) Ford Foundation and M.S.University  (Baroda).

She has designed low cost pedagogic methods  for primary  education to impart English language skills to children from  disadvantaged communities. She has also been a part of the core team which designed and implemented award winning education programs such as the Teach India, Lead India, and Teach English programs.  Her key skills are designing and implementing self-sustainable, low cost, development project platforms that align the synergies of various stakeholders for maximization of resources and impact.

Rema holds degrees in Management and Law, and is an alumni of the  prestigious Fortune – US State Department Global Womens Leadership program. Currently she is the CEO of NSE Foundation promoted by the NSE Group.

At GSK, Garima is responsible for CSR strategy building, implementation partner selection and monitoring and reporting the progress on CSR to the internal committees and the Board, in line with the provisions of the Companies Act 2013.  She also looks after employee volunteering and have build synergies with GSK global initiatives.  

Niraj heads CSR function of the company, responsible for conceptualisation, formulation of strategies and management of the programmes aimed at addressing the societal issues in Urban India.  The present engagement is in an ambitious Educational programme aimed to improve quality of education for the poor children in Ahmedabad and influence positively their future earning streams with the help of local industry and the government.

Samir Sharma is a Corporate Social Responsibility & Sustainability professional with over 19 years of experience. He is currently associated with Dalmia Bharat Group as General Manager handling CSR operations. 

Samir"s journey into this domain started with the development sector, working at the grass-root level for NGOs such as Voluntary Health Association of India (VHAI) and Society for Advancement of Village Economy (SAVE). He was involved in planning and execution of diverse projects related to health, women empowerment, traditional rights advocacy, rehabilitation and resettlement, poverty elevation programs, child rights and natural resource management and more.  From here, he transitioned into the corporate space and worked with large organizations such as LNG Bhilwara, Ambuja Cement Foundation (CSR arm of Ambuja Cements) and French MNC - Lafarge. 

On the academics front, Samir has a master’s degree in social work (MSW) from Himachal Pradesh University and is also a CII sustainability assessor.

Abhijeet P Sinha has about 16 years of work experience in Public Health in India, South Africa and United Kingdom. He has worked with various organization such as IDF-Unicef, NHS UK, HIVSA, VSO, CARE and has diversified experience of working in NGO, Bilateral organizations, International philanthropy, Government and Corporate. He has led large scale projects and has proven track record in public health & development sector India and Globally.  He has done Post Graduate studies in Public Health and Management (PGDPHM) from Institute of Post Graduate medicine, Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), University of Brighton, UK & PGDM-RM from XISS India. He has presented several papers in Global journals & key speaker invited in various International and National conferences. He is advisory member in leading National and Global health advisory committees. He is also in editorial board in three reputed International journals such as RSPH UK perspective in public health journal, imedpub and global health care journal USA.Abhijeet is currently working as an India Manager- Lifebuoy USLP at Hindustan Unilever Limited in Mumbai, India

Dr. O. P. Goel is an insightful leader with a strong track record of performance in the areas of customer service, channel management, vocational training, sales force development, and corporate social responsibility (CSR). He has over 30 years of experience in the automotive sector, now serving as General Manager, CSR & Head, Bosch Vocational Training (India). At Bosch, Dr. Goel spent 17 years in Automotive Aftermarket in various functions. During this time, he established the Bosch Sales Force Academy, which trains over 500 Bosch Sales officers and managers in 20 countries across the Asia Pacific region. Spearheading Bosch’s vocational training initiatives, Dr. Goel has been instrumental in raising the standards and visibility of Bosch Vocational Center (BVC) and launching various skill development programs for Bosch employees with industry-institute tie-ups.

Suja Warriar, a Social Leader, Change Champion and Responsible Citizen do little justice to her passion and enthusiasm for the social and environmental causes that daunt our city today. Suja runs various CSR initiatives both within and outside Infosys and has won several Excellence awards for the same. Suja, is a member of the Corporate Sustainability Planning and Governance Team at Infosys and holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management studies. She has over two decades of experience in community interventions, volunteering projects and sustainability initiatives. She is certified DNV auditor for sustainability.

Prof. Manisha Pathak-Shelat has taught and worked as media consultant/trainer and researcher in India, Thailand, and the US. She has a Ph.D. in Mass Communication with a minor in gender and women studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA and in Education from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, India. Prof. Pathak-Shelat"s special interests are communication for social change, new media, civic engagement, transcultural citizenship, young people’s media cultures, intersection of civic, popular, and consumer cultures, media literacy, and gender. Broadly, her research over the years has addressed the question of how ordinary individuals engage with media to experience agency, to explore identities, and to participate in social change.

Her works are published widely in internationally reputed journals and books. She has been invited to speak by universities in India and abroad. Currently she is also the editor of the Journal of Creative Communications published by MICA and Sage.

Prof. Pathak Shelat has worked as consultant/advisor with various social sector organizations such as Gujarat Energy Development Agency, Centre for Environment Education, SEWA, The Adani Foundation, Mahila Samakhya, The United Way of Baroda, UNESCO and UNICEF among others.

Dr. Tewari has specialized in CSR and communication consultancy. She has a Ph.D. in Communication with focus on Corporate Social Responsibility. She has engaged in teaching, training and consulting and has participated in various reputed national and international platforms as an invited speaker, moderator and chair for sessions on CSR as a tool for development and social well-being. Her writing is published in various journals of international repute and she is a communication consultant specializing in organizational communication including communication for employee engagement.

Sapna Bhawnani is the Communications and CSR Director for Alstom’s APAC region and also leads communications for Alstom Digital Mobility (ADM) globally. Ms Bhawnani joined Alstom in March 2008 and has held various positions in the company since.  She is a keen planner and strategist and has developed and implemented impactful and successful strategic communications plan for image and brand building of the organization in a career spanning over fifteen years. She has been able to leverage her deep industry experience in corporate, internal and external communications to handle new launches and projects, manage crisis situations and steer image recovery initiatives to re-strengthen businesses. She also has experience in managing change communications around large integration projects involving mergers and acquisitions. Prior to Alstom, Ms. Bhawnani served as the Corporate Communications Manager with the Linde Group for little over 4 years. She holds a degree in Public Relations from Chartered Institute of Public Relations.  

Working as an Executive Director of Lupin Human Welfare & Research Foundation (LHWRF) with overall administration and control of integrated and holistic rural development activities being carried out in eight Indian States, viz., Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Jammu & Kashmir and Gujarat. Corporate Non-governmental Organization Lupin Human Welfare & Research Foundation (LHWRF) has been promoted by Lupin Limited – a major Indian pharmaceutical company.

Developing proper sustainable linkages between Government and the people for implementing various rural development programmes with a special emphasis on economic development programmes (income generation programmes) for the poorest of the poor, marginalized sections of the society, youth and women. 

An engineer from IIT Roorkee and an MBA from McGill University, Montréal, Canada with a Major in International Finance & Marketing, he has a total work experience of 25 years, 23 of them in banking. His last assignment was with ABN Amro Bank as Head – Commercial Banking. He worked with BNP Paribas for 3 years prior to joining ABN Amro. At ABN, he has worked in various areas of Corporate and Commercial Banking. He is credited with setting up ABN Amro’s SME/MM franchise in India and under his leadership, this model grew at a CAGR of 80 per cent during the last five years. His strengths are setting up new businesses. He is the in charge of ‘IndusInd for Sports” vertical. Under his guidance, the bank is achieving their CSR objective of supporting the unheard champions of sports.

Shipra heads CSR at LTI, driving the community development agenda & sustainability initiatives for the company. She comes with core subject experience and has worked extensively both at grassroots level and in strategy and board level discussions. She began her career as an Indian Air Force officer (gold medalist) and has led CSR teams at YES Bank and Welspun Energy in her earlier assignments. 

Shipra is an empanelled Domain Expert in Corporate Social Responsibility with the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs. She is a member on the CII’s National Backward District Development Committee and its CSR & Affirmative Action Sub Committee for the Western Region.

Rajendra Tripathi is seasoned development professional, with over a decade of industry and nonprofit sector experience. With expertise in driving social impact in education, skill development, community and digital inclusion initiatives across India. An accomplished professional who has been driving the agenda of Corporate Social Responsibility for Oracle, IBM, Intel in his past roles for India and the APAC region. Experienced to work in cross functional, multi-cultural teams in the APAC region handling large scale social projects to drive maximum impact from corporate giving in the key areas of Education, Environment and Community initiatives.

Key Interest Areas: Corporate Social Responsibility, corporate giving, education reforms, NGO relations & alliance management, CSR Policy advocacy, thematic development initiatives.

Rajendra is an alumnus of Indian School of Business (ISB), University of Delhi. He regularly volunteers with a variety of nonprofit organizations on a host of socially relevant issues.  In his leisure time Raj loves to travel, motor sports, reading and music.

Poonam has over 35 years of experience in promoting women’s rights, rural livelihoods, public advocacy, communications and behaviour change.  She conceived and promoted the popular television serial, Mai KuchBhiKarSaktiHoon-I, AWoman, Can AchieveAnything. Before joining PFI, she served as Country Director of McArthur Foundation in India. She serves on the board of several non-governmental organisations, and co-founded SRUTI, DASTKAR, and Ashoka Foundation. She is an alumnus of Delhi University and Harvard University’s John F Kennedy School of Government. Poonam is a regular television and print commentator in India and internationally

Sundeep Talwar is the Chief Marketing Officer of The Akshaya Patra Foundation, the World’s largest school meal program run by an NGO feeding over 1.7 million children every day in 40 locations and 12 states in India.

Sundeep is a dual Post Graduate in Management from Duke & IIM-Ahmedabad and certified Black-Belt in Quality with over 26 years of work experience in the areas of marketing & communications with leading corporates especially in Telecom Sector.

Before joining Akshaya Patra, as CMO, he was associated as National Business Head (Mobility Operations) with Aircel, driving the Mobile Banking operations nationally. Prior to that, he has essayed Senior Leadership Roles with brands like Bharti Airtel, Motorola, Escotel (Idea) & Essar (Vodafone) across country and in Africa. He is also awarded with an international accreditation from BID Spain for developing the first anti-virus application He is a vivid professional Trainer too and have talked on various subjects in prestigious schools like IIM, IIPM, IMT over years   

George leads operations at United Way Mumbai (UWM) – a premier nonprofit organization with a vast footprint in urban and rural communities across the country. UWM has invested INR 312 crore in the areas of Education, Health, Income, Environment, Public Safety & Social Inclusion. George has over 15 years experience in the corporate and development sector and has worked in sales and marketing positions in India and supply chain positions internally. Prior to joining UWM he was based in Africa handling, among other functions, CSR initiatives, forming strategic developmental alliances with international stakeholders, and forming SHGs among agri communities. At UWM, he directly oversees operations, campaigns, community relations, impact assessment and investor relations. He also spearheads India’s largest philanthropy sporting event – The Mumbai Marathon. Under his leadership, the Marathon has grown to be an INR 34+ crore fundraising platform bringing together 169 companies, 300 NGOs and 1000+ fundraisers annually. George has a strong interest and inclination towards furthering philanthropy, sustainable community initiatives and supporting the development of social enterprises. 

Sanaa Shaikh leads Investor Relations at United Way Mumbai (UWM) – a premier nonprofit organization with a vast footprint in urban and rural communities across the country. UWM has invested INR 312 crore in the areas of Education, Health, Income, Environment, Public Safety & Social Inclusion and Sanaa works closely with companies on designing their CSR portfolio and philanthropy initiatives. Her expertise lies in the area of education for children from marginalized communities. Prior to joining UWM, Sanaa was Chief Operating Officer of Aseema – a leading education focused NGO. She has designed and led projects in school adoption, public private partnership, remedial education, counselling, early childhood education and teacher training. She has over a decade of experience in grassroot level work in municipal schools of Mumbai and tribal communities in Maharashtra. She has a keen interest in child rights and has co-authored a book on Understanding Children’s Rights through the lens of the UN Convention on Rights of the Child. 

Prachi Nautiyal leads the Corporate Partnerships at United Way Mumbai (UWM), a premier nonprofit organization with a vast footprint in urban and rural communities in India. UWM works with a network of 400+ NGOs and 300+ Corporates for their CSR programmes, workplace giving campaigns and other events. UWM has invested INR 312 crore in the areas of Education, Health, Income, Environment, Public Safety & Social Inclusion. 

Prachi’s has worked extensively with the government in public – private partnership and multilateral funding organizations. Her experience in the development sector spans key areas of CSR, grant management, employee engagement, payroll giving, resource mobilization, research, programme planning, implementation & monitoring.  

Over the years, her key focus has been in the areas of women"s studies, geriatrics, early child development & education, and developing & testing modules in the area of sustainable livelihoods through cluster based approaches & self-help groups in nonagricultural livelihood in India. She has also written research papers in gender studies. Prachi holds a Master"s Degree in Linguistics from Delhi University & is a Post Graduate in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences. 

Having first joined United Way Mumbai as Executive in 2008, Anil Parmar has wideranging experience in programme designing, management, monitoring and evaluation, impact assessment and reporting. He has worked extensively with the government in public-private partnerships for projects on betterment of community health services, civic awareness and the environment. He has keen interest in demonstrating visible community impact through a multi-stakeholder approach — including government, NGOs, corporate partners and community stakeholders. Anil has an MBA in Social Entrepreneurship from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai; is a post graduate from College of Social Work, Nirmala Niketan and leads the Community Investment projects team at United Way Mumbai. Anil has penned research papers on various community health issues. An avid development professional, he is passionate about implementing and scaling high impact projects and pragmatic public advocacy on health and education issues affecting communities.

Aparna Sanjay – Head Social Ventures Incubation Program at IIM Bangalore - NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning ( NSRCEL).

Neha Barjatya is the Chief Internet Saathi at FREND (Foundation for Rural Entrepreneurship Development), a not for profit entity promoted by Tata Trusts and supported by Google to help build a sustainable model of livelihood for women across Rural India through Internet Saathi. She is currently working under a secondment by Google to help set up and lead the vision for FREND. 

Prior to this, Neha led business and brand marketing initiatives at Google in India where she launched several projects and campaigns focused on driving the growth of Internet in the country, including the launch of the Internet Saathi program. She is very passionate about technology and strongly believes that it can play a transformative role in improving the lives of women across India. Her decision to lead the efforts of FREND underlines her commitment towards Gender Equity and creating opportunities for women to succeed. Prior to Google, Neha has worked across companies like Zee Turner, Viacom18 and Lowe Lintas. She is based in Gurgaon, and a proud mother to two daughters, Samira (8 yrs.) and Aria (3 yrs).

For more details  on Internet Saathi, please click here

Mr. Sanjay Khajuria brings with him a rich and diverse experience of working with Nestlé in various roles across different global markets. Currently he serves as a Senior Vice-President Corporate Affairs at Nestlé India, where he provides strategic advice across functions. His role includes leading stakeholder relations, government relations, media relations, brand communications and working towards Creating Shared Value, which is an intersection towards Nestlé’s business and society that integrates sustainable development into business activities.

Mr. Khajuria is also the President, CIFTI - FICCI. He has a total experience of 30 years, where he has worked with DCM, Pepsi and Nestec S.A., Switzerland. Mr. Khajuria holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Science and a Degree in Law, from the University of Jammu.

As Director of the Population Council’s office in India, Dr. Niranjan Saggurtileads and provides technical and strategic oversight to the Council’s innovative research, evaluation, and monitoring efforts. He brings nearly 20 years of experience in program and policy-oriented research and evaluations – managing, directing and leading research in the areas of sexual and reproductive health in India.

Prior to joining the Council in 2016, Dr. Saggurti has worked as Senior Program Officer with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. With expertise in demography and statistics, he has led randomized controlled trials, impact evaluations, research for validation of health and development indicators, and implementation science research using quantitative and qualitative methodologies. He serves on several core committees of the Indian Government(incluiding India FP2020, Ending PMTCT, RMNCAH Coalition); and is member of technical advisory groups for various research and program projects of NGOs.

Manmohan has over 17 years of experience in Leadership Development, Systemic Change, Entrepreneurship, Large Scale Transformation Projects and Non-profit Management. He co-founded KEF and has been instrumental in expanding the outreach from 100 schools in a single district of Rajasthan in 2008 to Ten States of India today. Previously, he worked with international, national and regional institutions like, UNICEF, WHO, Red Cross, Rotary, MSF and PRATHAM. He has a post graduate diploma in Conflict Analysis and Peace-building from Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi.

Sandeep Patel is an entrepreneur who is the founder and CEO of NEPRA. NEPRA operates in waste management & recycling bringing in compliance for its partners for Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 and Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 and lately, plays a big role in executing Extended Producer Responsibility; EPR Projects. NEPRA aims to bring in transparency and scalability in a highly unorganized Indian waste management sector, indirectly benefiting bottom of pyramid and promoting Circular Economy. 

He has spent over 10 years and has built a suitable model in waste management for Indian context. Sandeep also represents NEPRA in various committee that includes CII Environment committee, CII National Waste to Worth, CII Working Group on Plastic Waste Management, PlastIndia National Recycling committee and Swacch Bharat Mission – Gujarat. 

He was featured in ‘Green Hero Film Festival’ organized by U.S. Consulate General and TERI, Mumbai for revolutionizing dry waste collection and management in Ahmedabad

Ritu heads Vedanta Limited’s flagship CSR project “Nand Ghar”, which aims at transforming the lives of 8 Cr. children and 2 Cr. women across 13.7 lakh anganwadis across India through provision of pre-school education, healthcare and entrepreneurship development.

Since joining Cairn in 2010, a Vedanta group company she has worked extensively in Corporate Communications and CSR, focusing primarily on strategizing various CSR and brand designing solutions from inception to completion. She has significant experience of establishing marketing solutions, creating conditions for optimum project delivery, stakeholder engagement to create viable business solutions. As part of the management both at Vedanta and Cairn she has been furthering an environment fostering entrepreneurial thinking and continuously guiding the company’s CSR towards its business linkage, branding and communication at national and international fora. Previously, she has worked in senior management positions for Hindustan Times Media Ltd., New Delhi, Ogilvy and Mather (Sri Lanka, Mumbai and Delhi) where she led teams towards strategizing solutions for its rural arm, creating platforms for experiential marketing, defining mechanisms and tools for defined project delivery and creating platforms for showcasing these solutions to the relevant communities.

Ms. Jhingon holds Masters in Business Administration degree in Marketing and Graduation in B.Com (Hons.) from Sri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi.

Garima Singh is the Lead for Corporate Responsibility & Sustainable Development at Cargill in India. She is responsible to position Cargill’s strategic CR vision in the country, build and manage relationships with key stakeholder and drive meaningful impact in the field of food security, nutrition, sustainability and community development initiatives. 

Before Cargill, she has spent over 8 years in the development sector strategizing, restructuring and ideating newer ways of implementing development initiatives. In her various engagements, she has been involved in setting up skill development center, advocating for human rights in urban slum and tribal communities of the country and education supportive initiatives for children. She has also represented the country in an International Antarctica Expedition 2016 organized by Robert Swan’s 2041 Foundation

She is a post-graduate from Delhi School of Social Work and management graduate from S.S. College of Business Studies. Being a management grad, she started her career with media, marketing and advertising and hence a strong believer in synergizing business way of doing social work for holistic growth of the society.

Amit Kumar Singh is an agribusiness and market development expert with more than 17 years of experience conceptualizing and executing agriculture and livelihoods development programs in a wide range of value chains in agriculture, horticulture and forestry. As Tanager’s country representative for India, he provides team leadership and direction for Tanager’s portfolio of supply chain strengthening activities, with a focus on women and landless farmers. Amit has dedicated his career to strengthening communities and has been responsible for projects that organized more than 100,000 smallholder farmers into self-help and producer groups. He also brings expertise in conducting large-scale research studies, including baseline and end-term assessments for USAID, DFID, the Ford Foundation, and UNIDO, among others, and is passionate about developing new tools using Participatory Rapid Appraisals (PRA). With a master’s in agricultural economics from National Dairy Research Institute, Amit has co-authored two books on value chains and has eleven publications in national and international journals of repute. 

Lavanya Shrinagesh is the Global CSR and Diversity & Inclusion leader for Genpact. As a CSR leader, she leads programs that harness the energy and talent of our employees for the economic, social, and environmental betterment of the communities we live and work in. Her role as a D&I leader involves steering initiatives to create a gender balanced organization with 50% representation of women across all levels.

Prior to her current role, Lavanya designed and implemented Genpact’s Contact Center Eco System, creating ‘I speak’, CAC and developed the training contact center model. She has more than 18 years of work experience across Hiring, HR and Learning and Development domain. She specialized in creating hiring tools that map to job competencies; building Learning and Development plans to bridge the skill gap. In addition to this, Lavanya has also worked in the Luxury Retail and Education sector.

She is a graduate of English Literature from Delhi University

Deepthi Bopaiah is the Executive Director at GoSports Foundation, a not-for-profit organization founded in 2008, which supports junior, emerging, and elite athletes in Olympic and Paralympic disciplines. Deepthi, formerly a wealth adviser and trainer during her 6-year tenure at HSBC, decided to quit her job in order to pursue her passion for sport and has been with the foundation since 2012. A sportswoman herself, Deepthi has represented Karnataka state in basketball and tennis. She believes in and is working towards building a sustainable athlete-centric sporting ecosystem through the foundation"s programmes and initiatives, in line with the vision of the foundation"s Advisors Rahul Dravid, Abhinav Bindra, and Pullela Gopichand

Sandeep is a co-founder at VNV Advisory Services, a social enterprise working with communities & climate change. He is also the Director at Carbon Initiative Forum, a non-profit working on climate change awareness. He heads VNV’s ownership on low carbon social development projects such as sustainable agriculture, social forestry, clean cooking, rural energy access and waste management. His work encompasses over 3 million rural households across the South Asia region and over 40 NGOs and implementation partners. He plays an advisory role to over 100 companies and non-profits for sustainability related affairs.

Sandeep has over 15 years of industry experience in various fields, with 6 years dedicated to the consulting business. His innovation in the field of Climate projects and its relation to corporate sustainability has been widely recognized. He is a certified auditor for various sustainability standards such as the Forest Stewardship Council and is also a Certified Sustainability Assessor and a Salzburg Global Fellow

Sarika Bhattacharyya, CEO, BD Foundation is an Inclusion Strategist & Leadership Facilitator with more than 18 years of corporate experience and has worked as an Investment Banker with Merrill Lynch.  A highly respected speaker on Diversity & Inclusion and related business issues, Sarika is a strong advocate for Inclusive Leadership &promoting equal opportunity for all. She is also VVLead Fellow (Vital Voices Women Leadership network) & member of Fortune Most Powerful Women Network. She was also felicitated prestigious “Leadership in Mentoring” award by Hillary Clinton & Bank of America in USA in 2014. Sarika has been featured as the Top 50 Indian Women to follow on Twitter by WOW Asia in 2014. She was also featured in “Top 10 Global Diversity Consultants” in the Global Diversity List 2015 & 2016 published by The Economist &The Daily Telegraph. Sarika is an avid reader, dabbles in painting & enthusiastic traveller.

Dipa Nag Chowdhury is Deputy Director of the India office of the MacArthur Foundation. She leads MacArthur’s grantmaking on Population and Reproductive Health in India and for the international portfolio. She is also Program Officer for the Foundation’s grantmaking on girls’ secondary education. Prior to joining the Foundation in 1998, Dipa worked with the Naz Foundation Trust in India, the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University and the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington D.C. Dipa has Masters Degrees in Political Science from Bombay University, India, and Public Administration from Syracuse University.

Saswat Rath is Program Performance and Impact Manager at Gap Inc. He leads Monitoring and Evaluation for Global Sustainability especially around programs such as Women + Water, Personal Advancement and Career Enhancement (P.A.C.E.), Workplace Cooperation etc. He also contributes towards strategizing and managing existing and new grants and partnership to deliver Gap Inc. sustainability efforts. Prior to Gap Inc. Saswat has worked for 15 years in development sector through various NGOs and consultancy. By qualification Saswat is a Masters in Health Management and has extensive working experience in Public Health, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Education sector.

Keshav has over 15 years of experience in international development and the private sector- specifically in the energy and climate change areas. Prior to joining AIREC, Keshav served as Sector Leader and Senior Advisor of the Energy and Climate Sector in SNV Netherlands Development Organisation. Keshav has also served as Senior Advisor to the Government of Ethiopia and led the development of the five-year country planning framework for the green growth planning and implementation. He holds a master"s in rural management from North Eastern Hill University, India. He also holds postgraduate diplomas in Advanced Accounting and Natural Resource management from the University of California, San Diego and Wageningen UR.

Avinash is a Ph.D. in modern history from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has also been a Charles Wallace post-doctoral Fellow at School of Oriental and African Studies, London University and has 14 years of work experience behind him. He has been a member of key national networks on a range of development issues and has also been instrumental in founding some of the new networks around the right to education and governance. Avinash was previously associated with Oxfam and has extensive experience in basic services, governance, policy advocacy, research and campaigns. He is currently Director, Programmes & Policy at WaterAid India overseeing WaterAid India’s large portfolio around water, Sanitation and Hygiene spread across 13 States while also supporting WaterAids policy engagement at the Nation and State level with a range of stakeholders.