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Sam Pitroda is an internationally respected telecom inventor, entrepreneur, development thinker and policy maker who has spent 50 years in information and communications technology (ICT) and related global and national developments. Credited with having laid the foundation for India’s telecommunications and technology revolution of the 1980s, Sam Pitroda has been a leading campaigner to help bridge the global digital divide. During his tenure as Advisor to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, Sam Pitroda led six technology missions related to telecommunications, water, literacy,...
Raghunath Anant Mashelkar is an Indian chemical engineer and a former Director General of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, a chain of 38 publicly funded industrial research and development institutions in India. R A Mashelkar is extraordinarily multifaceted, in 1998, he received the J.R.D. Tata Corporate Leadership Award, an exclusive honour reserved for Indian Corporates. In 1998, he was elected Fellow of Royal Society in London, an honour reserved for the world’s top scientists and only the third Indian...
Abhijit Bhaduri is an Indian author, columnist and management consultant. Bhaduri was Chief Learning Officer of the Wipro Group. He now runs his own consulting and coaching business. Abhijit Bhaduri is the author of four best-selling books: ‘Mediocre But Arrogant’, ‘Married But Available’ and the management guidebook, ‘Don’t Hire the Best’. This third book, a non-fiction publication, has been seen as a practitioner’s guide to better hiring. His latest book, ‘The Digital Tsunami: Succeeding in a World Turned Upside-Down’, is a...
Avijit Arya, Chief Mogul at Internet Moguls, is a speaker, writer and columnist for social media and online reputation management. Internet Moguls is a marketing driven agency with presence in Delhi, Mumbai, Dubai and Vancouver. The company specialises in fulfilling the design, social and technology needs of several industries including hotels, airlines, travel, fashion, real estate and education amongst others. Avijit Arya started the idea of digital marketing and revenue management concepts back in 1995, however the time was not right,...
Ravi Venkatesan is the Chairman of Bank of Baroda and Former Chairman of Microsoft India and Cummins India and a Board Member at Rockefeller Foundation. He is also a fellow benefactor and Chairman of Social Venture Partners India, a group of pioneers endeavoring to address complex social issues through altruism. He is the creator of hit Vanquishing the Chaos-Win In India, Win Everywhere distributed 2013 by Harvard Business Review. As Chairman of Microsoft India between 2004-11, he helped incorporate India with Microsoft's...
Vishal Gondal is an Indian entrepreneur and Angel Investor. He began his career aged 16 when he founded the game development and publishing company, Indiagames, in 1999. By 2009 the company had approximately 300 employees and offices in Mumbai, Beijing, London and Los Angeles. In 2011 Indiagames was acquired by Disney for around US$100 million. In 2008 Vishal Gondal launched Sweat and Blood Venture Group to invest in start-ups at a seed level, investing in Instablogs and Docusuggest amongst others. In March 2014...
Gul Panang is an actress, model, former beauty queen and entrepreneur. She is one of India’s most powerful opinion makers and thought leaders. She is a frontline advocate and activist, regularly engaging in debates on issues like gender equality and justice, environmental issues, fundamental rights, corruption and political accountability. A highly regarded actor and producer she has attained critical acclaim for her roles. She began her Bollywood career in 2003 with the film Dhoop. Since then she has starred in films like...
Lisa Ray is an internationally acclaimed performer, philanthropist and star with a reputation for taking on challenging issue-oriented films. Raised in Canada by an Indian father and Polish mother, Lisa Ray was discovered while on holiday in India. Lisa went on to become not only one of the most successful cover models and celebrities in India but also an acclaimed, award-winning actress who starred in the Oscar nominated film, ‘Water’. In addition, she hosted her own entertainment show in India, filmed a...
Pullela Gopichand is a former Indian badminton player. Currently, he is the Chief National Coach for the Indian Badminton team and runs the Gopichand Badminton Academy. He has mentored champions including the 2016 Rio Olympics Silver medallist, PV Sindhu and 2012 London Olympics Bronze medallist, Saina Nehwal, amongst others. After winning his first National Badminton Championship title in 1996, Gopichand won the title five times in a row. He won two golds and one silver medal at the Indian National Games in...
Sudha Chandran is an Indian film and television actress and an accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer. Life has been a rollercoaster for Sudha, in 1981, aged just 17, she lost her right leg following a road accident. Chandran says that this period was the toughest time of her life. She met Dr PK Sethi in Jaipur and got a rubber based prosthetic leg called ‘Jaipur foot’. Two years later she was back on stage and dancing. In addition to her dancing Sudha has starred in...
Major Devender Pal Singh is a retired officer of the Indian Army. He is a Kargil war veteran and is known as India’s first blade runner. Major Singh has completed 20 half marathons to date, including 2 half marathons in extreme conditions at altitudes of 12,000 feet. Major D P Singh graduated from the Indian Military Academy in 1997 and was commissioned into the 7th Battalion, The Dogra Regiment. After injury in 2002, he converted to Army Ordnance Corps and, subsequently,...
Anuradha Vaidyanathan is the first Asian to have competed in Ultraman Canada triathlon (a 10km swim, 420km bike and an 84.4km run), finishing in 6th place. Three weeks later, she participated in Ironman Canada becoming the only athlete to do so in the history of the race. Triathlon is an arduous sport involving swimming, cycling and running. Anuradha specialises in the half- Ironman (1.9K swim, 90K bike, 21.2K run) and Ironman length (3.8K swim, 180K bike, 42.2K run) events, which...
Arunima Sinha is the first female amputee to climb Mount Everest. She was a national level volleyball players who in 2011, aged just 24, was thrown from a moving train by some thugs for refusing to hand over the gold chain she was wearing. She was run over by a passing train and her resulting injuries led to her leg being amputated below the knee. It was while still being treated in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, that Arunima...
Nandan Nilekani is the co-founder of tech giant Infosys and has been its non-executive chairman since 2017. Nilekani, who left Infosys in 2009, was brought back in 2017 after a boardroom shakeup at the company and the sudden departure of its CEO. Nilekani left Infosys in July 2009 to serve as the Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a cabinet ranking position that he entered under the invitation of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. As chair of the...
Arun Maira is a Management Consultant and former member of the Planning Commission of India. He is also the former Chairman of Boston Consulting Group, India. For 25 years Maira was a member of the TATA Administrative Service and worked in several senior positions in the TATA Group in India and abroad, including as Executive Director on the board of TATA Motors from 1981-1989. From 1989-1999 with worked in the USA for the international management consultancy Arthur D Little Inc., working with...
Former National Security Adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Shoshana Menon previously served as the Foreign Secretary, the top diplomat in India. Prior to that he was Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan and Sri Lanka and Ambassador to China and Israel. Menon is currently the Chairman, Advisory Board, of Institute of Chinese Studies, New Delhi and a Distinguished Fellow of the Brookings Institution, Washington DC. Menon was National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India from January 2011 to May 2014...