First Leadership Conclave

Prof. Bakul Dholakia Former Director Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

Prof. Bakul Dholakia is currently the Director & Vice Chairman of Adani Institute of Infrastructure Management and Advisor to Adani Group. He has earlier served as a Director of Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad. He has been a Consultant to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank besides advising various National and International organizations. He has varied experience in field of teaching and administration of more than 38 years including 33 years in IIMA. He served as an Independent Director of Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd and Nachmo Knitex Limited. He has authored numerous books in Business Economics, Corporate Strategy, and Development Economics etc. Prof. Dholakia was awarded Padma Shree in 2007.

Dr. Anil Kakodkar Chairman, Board of Governors IIT Bombay IIT Bombay

Dr Kakodkar is a renowned scientist of India. He was the Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India (AECI) and also the Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Atomic Energy. Dr Kakodkar was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian honour, on 26th January 2009. He was a part of the core team of architects of India's Nuclear Tests in 1974 and 1998 . Recently, he chaired the committee appointed by the Government of India to recommend autonomy measures to facilitate IITs scaling greater heights.

Dr. Hemant Kanakia CEO & Co-Founder Gemplex

Dr. Hemant Kanakia is the co-founder of Gemplex a business-networking services provider offering secure connectivity with its flagship Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network (IP VPN) solution. Prior to Gemplex, Dr. Kanakia was Chairman, CEO, and founder of Torrent Networking that was eventually purchased by Ericsson. Prior to Torrent, Dr. Kanakia led an elite research team at Bell Labs investigating advanced data network switching technology. Dr. Kanakia holds a B Tech from IIT Bombay and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

Shri Sanjay S. Lalbhai Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Mills Pvt. Ltd Ahmedabad.

Shri Sanjay S Lalbhai is the Chairman and Managing Director of the Arvind Mills Pvt. Ltd. He is one of those renowned entrepreneurs who have managed to put Ahmedabad on the global map in the context of its successful textile industry. He also holds directorships in Arvind Spinning Ltd., Mauritius, Amol Dicalite Limited, Mahindra Gujarat Tractor Limited, Torrent Pharmaceuticals Limited, Arvind Worldwide Inc., USA, Arvind Worldwide (M) Inc. and Arvind Overseas (M) Ltd. Mr Lalbhai also heads Sharda Trust - Arvind's CSR vehicle, and recently has been elected to Steering Committee of Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI). Mr Lalbhai is the President of Ahmedabad Education Society, presiding over a number of well known educational institutions in Gujarat. He is President of the Ahmedabad University and on the Board of several academic institutions including Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Prof. S.S.Major Professor of Physics IIT Bombay IIT Bombay

Prof. Major completed his Ph.D from IIT Delhi in 1986. He has been teaching at IIT Bombay since 1988. His area of specialization is Experimental Condensed Matter physics. He has undertaken various projects by the Department of Science and Technology and has a series of publications in his name. Prof Major has been deeply involved with IIT Gandhinagar as Convener of IIT Gandhinagar Cell at IIT Bombay.

Shri Raj Mashruwala I Director IIT Gandhinagar Foundation & Chairman Mashruwala Investments

Sri Raj Mashruwala holds MS from University of California, Berkeley (1976) and BTech from IIT Bombay (1975). He has co-founded a number of technology companies: TIBCO Software Inc.; YieldUp International; Media Computer Technology Inc.; and Consilium Inc. Mr Mashruwala is an active angel investor through Mashruwala Investments and is mentor/advisor to several early startup ventures. He is Director of IIT Bombay Heritage Fund, Charter Member of The Indus Entrepreneur (TiE), and Commissioner, Public Library, City of Palo Alto in USA. He is the Founder and President of IIT Gandhinagar Foundation, a charitable trust registered in the United States.

Shri Sudhir M. Mittal | Founder and Chairman Sukriti Vidyut Udyog Private Ltd

Sri Mittal is Founder and Chairman of Sukriti Vidyut Udyog Private Ltd. a pioneer manufacturer of special conductors for wire and cable industry. About 60% of its products are exported to Europe and USA. Sri Mittal has actively contributed to various social causes in education and health care. Sri Mittal is B Tech (1970) in Chemical Engineering from IIT Kanpur. He is President of Gram Bharati, a training school for teachers of village schools and a former President of Saraswati Vidya Mandir Ghaziabad.

Shri Ajay Piramal Chairman Piramal Enterprises Limited BOG, IIT Indore

Sri Piramal is the Chairman of Piramal Enterprises Limited, an industrial group having interests in several areas including pharmaceuticals, glass containers, real estate development, retailing, textiles. Some of the leading companies in the Group include Nicholas Piramal India Limited (largest pharma company in the domestic market), Gujarat Glass Pvt Ltd. (packaging products for pharma and perfumery industries), Allergan India Limited, Boots Piramal India Limited, Piramal Holdings Limited (retailing and property development), and Morarjee Textiles Limited (textiles).

Sri Piramal is Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIT Indore, and Chairman of Pratham India (largest non-governmental organization in the education sector). He completed his B. Sc (Hons) degree from Bombay University (1975) and received a Master’s degree in Management Studies from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (1978). He also completed the Advanced Management Programme from Harvard (1992).

Shri Arun Pratap Singh Vice-President & Strategic Business Unit Head Auto Electrotherm India Limited

Sri Arun Pratap Singh is the vice-president and strategic business unit head, Auto of Electrotherm India Limited. Prior to Electrotherm he was the senior manager at Tata Motors Limited. He recieved his M Tech (2003) from IIT Kanpur. Electrotherm (India) Ltd. has been engineering metal melting industry since 1983.

Shri Maheswar Sahu Principal Secretary Industries & Mines, Government of Gujarat

Shri Sahu is currently working as Principal Secretary (Industries & Mines), Government of Gujarat. He has served in numerous important positions including as Vice Chairman & Managing Director of Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation, Gandhinagar. As additional Chief Executive Officer of Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority, Shri Sahu played a key role in highly acclaimed reconstruction and rehabilitation programme after the 2001 Bhuj earthquake in Gujarat. Mr Sahu worked for about 5 years in the Ministry of Industry of the Govt. of India dealing with various policy related issues. He worked as Joint Secretary in Department of Telecom, Government of India for about 4 years. After a brief stint in the Ministry of Environment & Forest as Joint Secretary, he took up a UN assignment as Director of an International Technology Centre.

Prof. Dheeraj Sanghi Professor, Dept. of Computer Science and Dean Academic Affairs IIT Kanpur IIT Kanpur

Prof. Dheeraj Sanghi is currently Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Dean Academic Affairs at IIT Kanpur. From 2008 - 2010, he served as the Director, LNM Institute of Information Technology (LNMIIT), a public-private partnership University in Jaipur. His administrative experience includes running the Institute Computer Center, managing Graduate admissions, cultural advisor to students, Student Counselling, managing UG education at IIT Kanpur (as Chairman of Senate Under Graduate Committee), design of CS curriculum, and Chairman of Health Center Users Committee. He has visited about 70 colleges in India to discuss issues related to careerplanning, future of IT industry, curriculum and various technical/research talks. Professor Sanghi has a B. Tech from IIT Kanpur, and M. S. and Ph. D. from University of Maryland

Sri Prashant Tewari Managing Director USV Limited Mumbai

Sri Tewari is Managing Director of USV Ltd., a leading pharmaceutical company with leadership in diabetes and cardiovascular fields in India. USV's Research and Development focus is on development of Generics, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), Bio-similars and Innovation projects in the area of vaccines resulting in 57 international patent filings.Sri Tewari received M.S. from Cornell University, USA and B.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India.