Tenth Leadership Conclave

Shri Harsh Bhargava President Bankworld Incorporated USA

Shri Bhargava is currently the President of Bankworld Inc, a prominent Washington DC based management consulting company with experience in over 75 countries including projects on competitiveness strengthening in the emerging markets, entrepreneurship, and access to finance to micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Prior to that as the Vice President (International Division) of a US Corporation, he set up businesses in over 60 countries and was awarded US President’s E Award for excellence in international business. He is the Chief Mentor and Director of the first nationwide study on competitiveness mindset in India under the aegis of IITGN. The study identified attributes key to enhancing India’s competitiveness. Since Indians scored extremely low on these attributes, a second nationwide survey/research has been undertaken to identify easy to implement and practical solutions to these issues, under Competitiveness Mindset Initiative (CMI), an entity set up at IITGN. Shri Bhargava is also the Chief Mentor and Director of CMI. He is also the Founder and the President of I Create Inc, a nonprofit corporation with centers across India. He was selected for the NFIA award for Promoting Entrepreneurship past year. (National Foundation of Indian Associations (NFIA) is the parent organization in the US of all Indian associations). Shri Bhargava has spoken at global conferences and institutions including IIT, Wharton University etc and delivered the keynote address on Entrepreneurship at the international conference of Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) in New York this past year. He has been written up and interviewed in a number of TV programs and newspapers including the New York Times. He has written extensively on entrepreneurship as a career option for youth, and created training manuals and books on financial literacy and entrepreneurship. He is originally from India and worked as a Tata Administrative Service officer with Tata Motors before coming to the USA. Shri Bhargava is an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Prof Michael H Bergin Professor Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University USA

Prof Michael H Bergin is currently a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Duke University and Faculty Network Member of The Energy Initiative. His general research focus is on the influence of air pollution on both climate and human health. Prof Bergin’s specific interest is particulate matter (PM) in which he has done a wide range of studies on the emission, formation, deposition and impacts of PM. More recently he has been studying the influence of PM on human health with emphasis on determining the relative contributions of sources (such as biomass burning and vehicular emissions) to acute health impacts. He was also involved in developing and deploying the next generation of air quality sensors to inform citizens on the quality of the air they are breathing so that they can make informed decisions to improve their air. Prof Bergin’s vision involves combining a multidisciplinary, multicultural approach to research and education that brings together researchers from around the world to collectively work together to make the air cleaner. He has won several awards for teaching and research including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest award bestowed upon an engineer/scientist at the onset of their careers.

Dr Jamshed Bharucha Former President Cooper Union New York

Dr Jamshed Bharucha is the inaugural Vice Chancellor of SRM University, Andhra Pradesh in Amaravati, in the newly planned capital city of the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. He previously served as Distinguished Fellow and Research Professor & Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Dartmouth College and as the 12th President of Cooper Union from July 2011 through June 2015. Prior to becoming President of Cooper Union, Dr Bharucha was Provost and Senior Vice President of Tufts University and Professor in the Departments of Psychology, Music and in the Medical School’s Department of Neuroscience. His research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, focuses on the cognitive and neural basis of the perception of music. He was editor of the interdisciplinary journal Music Perception and a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.

Prof Neelkanth Chhaya Member B&WC, IITGN and Former Dean, Faculty of Architecture CEPT University Ahmedabad

Prof Chhaya has been an academic and practicing architect for nearly forty years. He has taught at the University of Nairobi, the Institute of Environmental Design at Vallabh Vidyanagar, and was a faculty member at CEPT University for over twenty-five years. He retired as the Dean of the Faculty of Architecture at CEPT University in 2013. Subsequently he has been an Adjunct Faculty at Srishti School of Design, and also holds the position of Academic Chair at the Goa College of Architecture. His professional practice, spanning over 30 years, has dealt with institutional and residential projects across India. His practice has won many Architectural Design Competitions, and has also won National Awards for completed projects. The practice is focused on culturally and environmentally appropriate design, and has emphasized innovative application of local skills and materials. He has been invited to be a member of several committees connected to the built environment, and is coordinator of the Architectural Documentation work of the Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission. He is a regular speaker at conferences in India and abroad. He is a member of the Boards of Hunnarshala and Khamir Craft Resource Centre, both of which are involved in empowering traditional knowledge and sustainable practices. Prof Chhaya studied architecture from CEPT and has been associated with the Masters Program for Architects in Developing Nations in Helsinki. Prof Chhaya has been a member of the Building & Works Committee of IITGN since 2009 and has made significant contributions in development of IITGN campus.

Shri Kamalesh Dwivedi Chief Information Officer Bellsystem24, Inc., Japan Japan

Shri Dwivedi is currently an active Angel Investor, a mentor and business advisor to startup companies in USA. He is the founding Chairman of ipLockchain, a startup Blockchain based applications company. He has been an Information Technology Executive with over twenty years of successful track record as a CIO of several Fortune 500/1000 corporations in their transformative phases. He has led IT organizations during periods of profound changes in the companies’ business models and their industries. Whether it was the epochal move to broadband in the cable and telco industries in 1990’s or the rapid globalization and a technology driven productivity improvement in the US BPO industry during the 2000’s, Shri Dwivedi has successfully led IT organizations through transformational vectors and change vortices. He has also served as the CIO of Japan’s largest company in the BPO industry and has worked for the portfolio companies of private equity companies such as Bain Capital and General Atlantic. As a Technology Consultant, he has consulted with a portfolio company of Permira in the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) industry. Most recently, Shri Dwivedi consulted with Coca-Cola Bottlers Japan Inc. (CCBJI), the largest company in the ‘Ready-to-Drink (RTD)’ beverage industry in Japan, where he created a long term IT Strategy and Roadmap for the company. Earlier in his career, Shri Dwivedi led engineering and manufacturing organizations in the VLSI and Cell phone industries in Canada. He has served on the Boards of TeleTech India, ADC Telecommunications India and BellChina in China. He holds a Bachelor of Technology degree from IIT Kanpur, a Master of Engineering from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada and has completed the Program for Management Development (PMD) from Harvard Business School.

Dr. Mahesh Gopalasamudram Chief Operating Officer Sheela Foam Pvt. Ltd Ghaziabad

Dr Mahesh Gopalasamudram is Chief Operating Officer of the Sheela Foam pvt ltd since 2015. He holds a bachelor’s degree in science from Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning, a master’s degree in science (chemistry) from University of Madras and a PhD in chemistry from University of Madras. He has in the past been associated with Dow Chemical International Private Limited as its director and with Manali Petrochemicals Limited as its Chief Operating Officer. He is responsible for research & development, manufacturing and allied operations of our Company. He has more than 17 years of experience in the chemical industry.

Prof Nuno Guimarães Vice-Rector, Full Professor, Department of Information Science and Technology (ISTA) University Institute of Lisbon, (ISCTE-IUL) Portugal

Prof Guimarães is a Full Professor (Professor Catedrático) at ISCTE-IUL, graduated in Electrotechnical Engineering at the Technical University of Lisbon, Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal, in 1983, where he also completed his MsC (1987) and PhD (1992). He received the title of Agregado em Informática in July 1999, from the University of Lisbon. From 1986 to 1997, he taught at the Electrotechnical and Computer Engineering Department of IST/UTL, and from 1997 to 2012 at the Informatics Department of the Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon. He was Dean of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon (2003-2009). In 2010, he was Invited Professor at the Technical University of Berlin, Institut für Psychologie und Arbeitswissenchaft, Fak V - Verkehrs- und Maschinensysteme. From 1982 to 1997, he was a researcher of INESC, Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Lisbon, Portugal, and is a member of LASIGE/FCUL since 1997. From 1989 to 1991, he was a consultant for Bell Labs, AT&T, Murray Hill, New Jersey, “Software Systems Principles Research Lab’’. He was a member of Executive Board of PUUG (Portuguese Unix Users Group) (1992-1998), one of the individual founders of Eunet Portugal, later KPNQwest Portugal. From 1996 to 2001, he co-founded of Ergoprocesso (Consulting services), 4VDO - Sistemas e Serviços Multimédia SA (Video indexing services) and OnTV - Sistemas e Serviços de Televisão Interactiva SA (Interactive Television Systems integrator). ACM Senior Member (since 2012), Member of ACEEU (www.aceeu.org), Member (Mgmnt) of ISOC (PT).

Mr. Sarthak Jain CEO and Cofounder GridAnt Technologies (GridAnts)

Mr Jain is a graduate of the first batch of IIT Gandhinagar. He was the recipient of the directors Gold Medal for outstanding overall performance. While he was in college, he started a company called GridAnts. The company has received international acclaim and investments from Silicon Valley investors and the 2 top VC firms in India Accel Partners and Helion Venture Partners. The company was acquired by Myntra. Subsequently Sarthak started a company based in Silicon Valley called NanoNets which is a Machine Learning Platform, they were a part of Y Cominators Winter 17 batch and have raised venture funding from some of the top VCs in the US.

Shri Ruyintan E Mehta Co-Director Water Program, Wheels Global Foundation USA

Shri Mehta was a licensed professional Chemical Engineer (inactive status) in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He received his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from IIT Bombay in 1970 and Master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Connecticut in 1972 and in Engineering Administration from the University of Utah in 1974. Shri Mehta was a serial entrepreneur in the plastics industry, who sold his last plastics manufacturing business in California in 2012. Over a 24 year period he started, bought, merged and sold several plastic blow molding companies in New Jersey, California, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Canada that ranged in size from 5 million to 34 million in sales Shri Mehta is an active supporter of Clean Drinking Water Plants (CDWP) in remote impoverished villages in India. He is a co-chair of the Water initiative of WHEELS Global Foundation, a US non-profit started by IIT alumni residing in the US. Shri Mehta is an active volunteer mentor of SCORE Central Jersey, a nonprofit resource arm of the US Small Business Administration.

Shri Kamal P Nanavaty President - Strategy Development M/s. Reliance Industries Limited

Shri. Kamal P Nanavaty is the President–Strategy Development at M/s. Reliance Industries Limited. Prior to assuming this responsibility, he was the Sector Head for Cracker, Polymer and Chemicals division. He holds a Chemical Engineering Degree from University of Utah, USA after which he joined U.S. Industrial Chemicals Company. Upon returning to India Shri Nanavaty joined Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited. In 1989 Shri Nanavaty moved to Reliance Industries Limited to set up the Polymers and Chemicals business at Reliance. Shri Nanavaty was a member on the Board of Indian Petrochemicals Corporation Limited from June 2002 and remained a director till its amalgamation with Reliance Industries Limited in September 2007. He is the President of the Chemical & Petrochemicals Manufacturers Association (CPMA) and Chairman of the International Promotion Committee of Plastindia 2012. He is a member of ACC (American Chemistry Council), SPE (Indian Section), IPI (Indian Chapter) and The Founders Club of Petrochemical Industry, USA. He was elected honorary fellow of Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2001 and was nominated as the Member of the first Gandhinagar (GN) Advisory Council.

Shri Sunil Parekh Founder & Chairman PanIIT Gujarat Alumni Association Ahmedabad

Shri Parekh is a senior mentor and leveraged his vast networks to help young start-ups besides his corporate engagements with Zydus Group (Pharma), Jubilant Group (Oil & Gas). Shri Parekh is deeply connected with the startup entrepreneurial ecosystem and actively engaged as a board member of CIIE@ IIMA - Seed fund committee member & Mentor Edge, as well as at the NID Incubator in Ahmedabad. Shri Parekh is a Founding Curator on the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Initiative. Currently as Advisor to Zydus-Cadila Healthcare Ltd. Group, he is actively involved in their special projects. And as Strategic Advisor to Jubilant Group, he brings his network & experience to help the group in its various activities in Gujarat. He has been awarded the top 100 Eminent people of Gujarat. He has a wide domain experience gained over 30 years spanning both Manufacturing and Agriculture & Food Processing industry. In addition he has built a huge understanding of a consumer focused industry Inlaks Group & Grand Cereals Oil Mills Ltd in West Africa, which grew on the basis of consumer understanding and selling B2C. He is one of the early pioneers of building Indo-African companies with large footprints.

Dr. Jagdish Patel Radiologist Fullerton, USA

Dr Jagdish Patel is a retired radiologist physician. He graduated from Baroda Medical College and moved to USA to pursue higher education, first in Chicago and subsequently did fellowship in Diagnostic Ultrasound in Philadelphia. He was one of the first radiologists to pursue fellowship in emerging field of Diagnostic Ultrasound. Subsequently he continued as assistant professor of radiology at Thomas Jefferson University for a few years during which he, with other colleagues, published more than 20 papers in journals of radiology. During the same period, he had opportunity to give talks in London, many places in USA and Carribian islands. He later joined a private practice opportunity at Memorial Medical Center of Long Beach, California, a large tertiary care medical center. He stayed there until his retirement in 2012, gradually rising to become the Medical Director and Chairman in his later professional career. He was trustee of a Board of a private high school in Southern California where he developed special interest in improving quality of education. For many years he is actively involved in such endeavors in India. His additional interest in supporting medical care has lead him to be involved with an NGO supporting health care initiative.

Prof. Surendra Prasad Former Director IIT Delhi delhi

Prof Prasad has held many positions in his illustrious career at IIT Delhi including Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Deputy Director and Director. As a Director, he was responsible for a number of innovative schemes for attracting top faculty talent, creating an environment for impactful research and significant up-gradation of infrastructure. Currently he is an Emeritus Professor at IIT Delhi, and the Chairman, National Board of Accreditation. He was a Visiting Research fellow at the Loughborough University of Technology, Loughborough, UK from 1976 to 1977 and a visiting faculty at the Pennsylvania State University, USA. Prof Prasad has received numerous awards and honors during his career including the Vikram Sarabhai Research Award in 1987 and the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Engineering Sciences in 1988. He is a Fellow, Indian Academy of Engineering; Fellow, Indian National Science Academy, and Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore.

Shri Kushal Chand Sacheti CEO Galaxy USA Inc and Key Items Inc New York

Shri Sacheti is the Founder/CEO of Galaxy USA Inc and Key Items Inc, a diamond and Jewelry companies in New York. He has interests in a few startups and is an angel investor. He obtained his M.Tech in Chemical Engineering from IIT Kanpur and B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from BITS-Pilani. He is the founder of Center for Curiosity, a non- profit organization, which aims at looking at Curiosity in all aspects: Academic, Practice, Measurement and also to popularize it. He is the co-founder at Centre for Desert Development Technologies at BITS-Pilani to carry out studies in de-desertification. He is also co-founder of Unlimit Art - a not for profit organization for helping disabled artists. He is currently involved in multiple educational and technology initiatives at IIT Kanpur, IIT Gandhinagar, BITS-Pilani and other educational Institutes in India, Nepal and USA. He also works to raise funds for Akshaya Patra Foundation, which provides midday meals to school children in India.

Lt Gen (retired) Subrata Saha Member of the National Security Advisory Board and Former Deputy Chief of Army Staff

Lt Gen (retired) Subrata Saha is the former Deputy Chief of the Army Staff (Planning & Systems). His operational experience includes GOC15 Corps, leading all military operations in Kashmir, GOC Infantry Division in Strike Corps, Brigade Commander on the Line of Control in Kashmir, Counter Insurgency in Assam and Punjab and Siachen Glacier. He led disaster management operations as a Battalion Commander during the Super Cyclone in 1999 and more recently as Corps Commander during floods in Kashmir in 2014. He has the unique distinction of having attended the Staff College, Camberley (United Kingdom) and the United States Army War College at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He was adjudged as the Best Overseas Student at the Staff College Camberley and Gold Medalist at the Higher Command Course in the Indian Army War College. He has represented the country in the De fence Management Seminar in Canberra, Australia in Sep 2005, Senior Officers Workshop on International Rules Governing Military Operations ICRC, Geneva in Nov 2008 and Senior Executive Seminar on Counter Terrorism at the George Marshall Centre in Garmisch Germany in Sep 2015 and Chiefs of Army Roundtable Talks in Malaysia in Apr 2016. A recipient of the Uttam Yudh Seva Medal, Yudh Seva Medal, Vishist Seva Medal twice, COAS Commendation twice and GOC-in-C Western Command Commendation Card. He holds Masters Degree in Defence and Strategic Studies from University of Madras and Strategic Studies from US Army War College, M Phil in Defence Management from Devi Ahilya University Indore and Diploma in Management from IGNOU.

Prof Supreet Saini Assistant Professor Indian Institue of Technology Bombay

Prof Saini is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai. Prior to joining IIT Bombay, he was an Assistant Professor, Chemical Engineering at IIT Gandhinagar (2010-2012), where he also headed the Faculty Recruitment Committee among other responsibilities. Prof Saini completed his PhD in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2010) and BTech in Chemical Engineering from IIT Delhi (2005). He is the recipient of the Young Engineer Award 2017 (Indian National Academy of Engineering) and the Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award 2011 (Department of Biotechnology). His research interests are in the area of evolutionary microbiology.

Prof. Dheeraj Sanghi Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor IIT Kanpur

Prof Sanghi is currently Director of Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. He was a visiting faculty of Computer Science and Engineering (2015 - 2017) at IIIT Delhi where he also served as the Dean of Academic Affairs and the Dean of External Relations. From 2008 – 2010, he was the Director, LNM Institute of Information Technology (LNMIIT), a public-private partnership University in Jaipur. He was the Dean of Academic Affairs at IIT Kanpur from 2011 to 2014. He has also been head of Prabhu Goel Research Center for Computer and Internet Security, and also of the Institute Computer Center. His other roles have included Student counseling, Graduate admissions, and Curriculum design. He is passionate about improving higher education and runs a popular blog on the topic. During 2006, he visited about 70 colleges in India to understand issues in higher education and advise students regarding career planning, including the need to do post-graduate studies. Prof Sanghi has a BTech from IIT Kanpur, and M.S and PhD from University of Maryland. His research interests lie in Computer Networks and Network security.

Prof Shiladitya Sengupta Associate Professor of Medicine and Health Sciences and Technology Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard - MIT Health Science and Technology USA

Prof Sengupta is Associate Professor of Medicine and Health Sciences and Technology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard - MIT Health Science and Technology. Prof Sengupta completed his PhD in Pharmacology from Trinity College, University of Cambridge (2002). Dr Sengupta is the recipient of DoD Breast Cancer Research Program Collaborative Innovators Award, the Mary Kay Ash Foundation Career Award, the DoD era of Hope Scholar Award, the Indus Technovator award and the Coulter Foundation Young Investigator Award in Bioengineering.

Shri Piyush Shah Executive Vice Chairman and Managing Director Hitachi Hi-Rel Power Electronics Pvt. Ltd.. Ahmedabad

Shri Shah is the former Executive Vice Chairman and a Director on the Board of Hitachi Hi- Rel Power Electronics Pvt Ltd, Ahmedabad (earlier known as Hi-Rel Electronics Ltd). Shri Shah is Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering from IIT Mumbai (1975). Hitachi Hi-Rel is a leading manufacturer of Power Electronic Products such as Variable Frequency Drives, Industrial Automation systems, UPS Systems, Solar Power Conditioning systems etc having manufacturing units at Gandhinagar and Sanand with sales and marketing office and service centres all over the country. Shri Shah was the Chairman of Gujarat State Council of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for the year 2012. He has been a Member of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) – IT Gujarat Task force, Gujarat Council and Regional Council Committee Western Region of CII. He is a Senior Member of IEEE and an Expert member in the Post Graduate Board at Nirma Institute of Technology, Ahmedabad. Shri Shah was an Executive Council Member of Indian Electrical & Electronics Manufacturers’ Association (IEEMA) in the year 2011-12. An avid Golfer and a Bridge player, a voracious reader, he enjoys travelling to discover new locales and places.

Prof Chandrima Shaha Professor of Eminence National Institute of Immunology New Delhi

Prof Shaha is currently Professor of Eminence at the National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, where she served as Director till late 2016. She is President of the Indian National Science Academy (2020–2022) and also served for a year as the honorary executive Director of the Indian National Science Academy spanning 2016-2017. Prof Shaha received her MSc and PhD degrees from University of Calcutta followed by a stint for post doctoral work at Kansas University Medical Center, Kansas and The Population Council, New York, USA. Prof Shaha is a JC Bose Fellow and was elected as Vice-president (International Relations) of the Indian National Science Academy (2015) and is currently serving the term. She is elected Fellow of the The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) (2014), Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, Delhi (2008), Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore (2004), Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, Allahabad, India (1999) and a Fellow of West Bengal Academy of Science and Technology (2011). She is Council Member of the Indian National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences. She is recipient of the Ranbaxy Science Foundation Award for Basic Medical Research (2010), Om Prakash Bhasin Award (2014), Prof Archana Sharma Memorial award, National Academy of Sciences (2013), Chandrakala Hora Memorial Medal from Indian National Science Academy (2013), Darshan Ranganathan Memorial award (2010), Department of Biotechnology ‘Special Award’ (2003) and Shakuntala Amirchand Award of Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi (1992). Prof Shaha’s current research interests include elucidating the regulatory processes of cell death and the associated mechanisms.

Shri Arvind Singhal Chairman Technopak Advisors Pvt Ltd. Gurgaon Gurgaon

Shri Arvind Singhal is the Chairman & Managing Director of Technopak Advisors Pvt Ltd which is a leading management consulting firm focusing on select (major) sectors that include textiles, retail & consumer goods, food & agriculture, healthcare, and education. He is a graduate of IIT Roorkee (Bachelor of Engineering) which recognized him as a “Distinguished Alumnus” in 2012, and a post graduate of UCLA – USA (MBA). He is also an active writer with over 350 published articles in leading national and international publications, and a frequent speaker and lecturer at several prestigious national and international academic institutes and industry platforms. Shri Arvind sits on several Boards (including some not-for-profit). He is currently on the statutory Boards of Welspun India, Greaves Cotton Limited, Metro Shoes, Mahindra Retail, and Premium Transmission Limited. In addition, he is also serving on the Board of Governors of Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) – Delhi. He is also currently serving on Asia Advisory Council of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and on the Advisory Council of IIT-Roorkee. In the past, he has served on the Advisory Board of LG Electronics (India), and on the Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee.

Dr Pramath Raj Sinha Co-Founder and Managing Director 9.9 Mediaworx Pvt Ltd Noida

Dr Pramath Raj Sinha, serves as a Senior Advisor of India of Albright Stonebridge Group (also known as Stonebridge International LLC). Dr Sinha is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of 9.9 Mediaworx Pvt Ltd. He Founded 9.9 Mediaworx in 2007. He serves as a Member of Executive Board at Indian School of Business, as a Senior Advisor at McKinsey, and also served as the Chief Executive Officer, President and Managing Director of Ananda Publishers Pvt Ltd (also known as ABP Pvt Ltd and also ABP Group). Prior to joining ABP, he was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, working with its North American and Indian practices. In his 13 years at McKinsey, Dr Sinha assisted both Public and Private sector clients in a diverse set of industries on issues relating to business strategy and performance improvement in North America and Asia. He led McKinsey India’s telecom, information technology, and media practices as well as its organization practice, where he focused on issues of transformation and leadership. He took a year off from McKinsey to be the Founding Dean of the Indian School of Business (ISB). Dr Sinha has been associated with the project right from its inception and continues to be actively involved in the School as a Member of its Executive Board. He serves as Chairman at Elephant Capital LLP and he is a Member of several corporate and non-profit Boards of Directors and Advisors. Dr Sinha received MSE and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics from the University of Pennsylvania and a BTech in metallurgical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

Prof Shyam Sunder James L Frank Professor of Accounting, Economics, and Finance Yale University USA

Prof Shyam Sunder is the James L. Frank Professor of Accounting, Economics, and Finance at the Yale School of Management; Professor in the Department of Economics; and Fellow of the Whitney Humanities Center. He is a world-renowned accounting theorist and experimental economist. His research contributions include financial reporting, information in security markets, statistical theory of valuation, and design of electronic markets. He is a pioneer in the fields of experimental finance and experimental macroeconomics. Prof Sunder has won many awards for his research that includes six books and more than 200 articles in the leading journals of accounting, economics and finance, as well as in popular media. Prof Sunder’s current research includes the problem of structuring U.S. and international accounting and auditing institutions to obtain a judicious and efficient balance between regulatory oversight and market competition. His recent co-authored book, Risky Curves: On the Empirical Failure of Expected Utility, was published by Routledge in 2014 and his article “Higher Education Reforms in India” was published in the Oxford Handbook of the Indian Economy in 2012. He is a past president of the American Accounting Association, former director of the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance and Performance at Yale, honorary research director of Great Lakes Institute of Management in Chennai, and distinguished fellow of the Center for Study of Science and Technology Policy in Bengaluru.

Shobhit Tayal Co-founder & Director Design & Planning Counsel (DPC) Ahmedabad

Shobhit Tayal is Co-founder of Design & Planning Counsel (DPC) at Ahmedabad. DPC is an award winning Consultancy & Research firm working across Urban Planning, Environment Design & Architecture. Shobhit is recipient of several Design awards; including HUDCO Award 2012 for planning ‘Best New and Innovative Townships / Eco cities in India’, IIA Award 2007 for research on Rural Schools & Winner of International Limited Design Competition for Affordable Housing at Ghana in 2016. Shobhit engages with academics as a visiting faculty & jury member. He is also ‘Owners Architect’ of IIT Gandhinagar.

Prof. Satish K. Tripathi President State University of New York Buffalo, USA

An internationally distinguished researcher and higher education leader, Prof Satish K Tripathi, PhD, was appointed the 15th president of the University at Buffalo in 2011. Prof Tripathi, who served as UB’s provost from 2004-2011, was dean of the Bourns College of Engineering at the University of California-Riverside from 1997-2004. Previously, he spent 19 years as professor of computer science at the University of Maryland, including seven years as department chair. Prof Tripathi graduated at the top of his class from Banaras Hindu University in India and holds a doctorate in computer science from the University of Toronto, as well as three master’s degrees—one in computer science from the University of Toronto and two in statistics from the University of Alberta and Banaras Hindu University. A fellow of the IEEE and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he was awarded honorary doctorates from the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad, and Brock University in Canada. An active leader in the national higher education community, Prof Tripathi serves on the board of directors for the Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, as a member of the Mid-American Conference Council of Presidents Executive Committee, and on the boards of the NCAA Division I, the Digital Preservation Network, and Internet2. Appointed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo as an inaugural co-chair of the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council in 2011, he served in this position until 2017.

Prof Mahesh Tandon Managing Director Tandon Consultants Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi

Prof Tandon is an international expert in the field of Structural Engineering. Many of the structures designed by Prof Tandon have been widely acclaimed and have received recognition in India as well as internationally. He is President, Indian Association of Structural Engineers (2015-16) and President, Indian Society of Wind Engineering (2015-16).Under the AICTE-INAE program he was appointed Distinguished Visiting Professor at IITs @ Kanpur, Roorkee & Gandhinagar (2005-2015). He is a Fellow of INAE, the past Chairman of the National Information Center for Earthquake Engineering at IIT Kanpur and the past President of Indian Concrete Institute. Some of his major projects include the Viaducts, Bridges, Stations Underground Constructions and Depots of the Metros at Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi, Noida, Navi Mumbai, Nagpur, Lucknow and Gurgaon. Other transportation structures include the Bangalore-Electronic City Elevated Expressway, several Flyovers and Interchanges in the cities of Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Guwahati at important road crossings, and the structures of Kuala Lumpur Light Rail, Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway and Delhi-Badarpur Expressway. Monumental Building projects include the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in New Delhi, the Khalsa Heritage Memorial Complex at Anandpur Sahib, Punjab and the Precast Factory for Samtel at Ghaziabad. Prof Tandon has made significant contributions in the development of a culture for innovation in structural engineering both within and outside his organization by sharing his expertise and experience. His special areas of interest also include motivating the next generation to adopt Civil Engineering as their profession and vocation in life.