ADVISORY BOARD

Dr. Abraham Koshy

Professor of Marketing, IIM Ahmedabad & Chairman-Federal Bank


Professor Abraham Koshy, is a highly reputed academician, consultant and corporate educator in the field of marketing management. He is a senior Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, India. In addition, he is also the Chairman of The Federal Bank Limited, a leading private sector commercial bank in India. His appointment to this responsibility was approved by the Reserve Bank of India since November 2013.

Prof. Koshy has specialized in management of products and brands. Dr. Koshy is a co-author of the best-selling book “Marketing Management – A South Asian Perspective” with the legendary marketing guru Prof. Philip Kotler, and others.

Prof. Koshy is a consultant to many international companies on marketing strategy and has helped companies to re-craft their target segment focus, launch new brands, review their brand portfolios and re-assess brand architecture, and reposition and re-launch brands. He is also a well-known corporate trainer.

Dr. Sanjay Muthal

CEO - Kontempore Leadership & Business Solutions


With over 33 years of experience in India and Abroad Dr. Sanjay Muthal has a multi-faceted background in Consulting, Strategic HR, Recruitment, Learning & Development and Organisation Development. Some of his recognitions include “India’s Greatest HR Professional” award conferred at World HRD Congress, “HR Achiever’s” award at India Brand Summit, “Outstanding contributions in the field of HR” presented at Asia Pacific HR Congress. His past experience includes – Group President – HR Piramal Group Vice President HRD – RPG Group President HR – Hinduja Group Parke Davis Hoechst Academic Qualification: Strategic HR Executive Program – University of Michigan – Stephen M. Ross School of Business He also holds a Masters Degree in MBA

Mr. Bimal Rath

Founder, Think Talent Services Pvt. Ltd


Mr. Bimal Rath is the founder of Think Talent Services Pvt. Ltd which is a boutique consulting firm specializing in Leadership Development and Change Management. The keys are as of focus include executive coaching, customized management development, CXO assessment, top team alignment and helping organizations manage small and large transformations. He is a board member of a couple of companies. He is helping these companies in their growth phase in moving from medium sized Indian companies to becoming more global organizations and leaders in their respective businesses. His experience has been across different areas in HR including building and maturing management teams, M&A integration, large-scale change interventions, and setting up high performing factories and R&D centers. He has been part of several projects across his assignments dealing with corporate strategy, growth decisions and management partner choices. He is certified in executive coaching and counseling, team agreements, managing personal growth (values clarification) and leaders leading leaders from national/international bodies.

Ms. Mythili Bhusnurmath

Consulting editor, Economic Times


Mythili Bhusnurmath is an economist-turned banker-turned journalist. She has done her Masters in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, is a Certified Associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers and has recently acquired a degree in law from Delhi University. Apart from editorials – mostly on macroeconomics, finance and banking – she writes a regular fortnightly column –’Financestreet’ – for the editorial page and blogs regularly for the online edition. She was a Consultant to the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council for a number of years and frequently appears on television channels. She is currently also a visiting faculty with Delhi University (Master of Business Economics) and Great Lakes Institute of Management, Gurgaon.

Dr. Jitu Singh

Professor, XLRI


Prof. Jitu Singh has done his Ph.D from Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; USA and he is an alumnus of XLRI Jamshedpur. He is continuing as Professor since June 2007 (also served two earlier innings at the institute: 1970-73 and 1978-84). Jitu Singh is also deputed by Tata Steel as Tata Steel Chair Professor of Organization Development (2004-07).He has served for 4 years as Dean responsible for all academic administration, faculty and student affairs (1980-84).He has also launched, and co-directed, XLRI’s 1st international program (Master of Positive Organization Development) in collaboration with the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University (USA).

Mr. Shombit Sengupta

Chairman, Shining Consulting


Mr. Shombit Sengupta is an international consultant to top management on differentiating business strategy with execution excellence. Since the last 35 years, his core expertise has been in delivering extra benefit to clients across industries, to grow and sustain their business through the decisive repeat purchase of their product or service by their end-customers. He has created the Emotional Surplus delivery model which is a blend of trust, functionality and emotive factors to provide end user touch point ecstasy in any delivery. Shombit always drives finesse in execution and activation in his strategic recommendation.

Mr. Pradipta Kumar Panda

Advisor, Adani Group


Mr. PK Panda is a seasoned HR professional with over 33 years of experience. He is working in Adani Group since 2008 as Group President – HR. Mr. Panda in his current role, is heading the Global HR function of the Group. He was part of the top management team who steered the growth movement and transformation of the Group. He was associated with setting up four new large business organizations including one in Australia from inception.

Mr. Arun Das Mahapatra

Chairman & Partner in-Charge – India Heidrick & Struggles


Arun Das Mahapatra is the Chairman & Partner in-Charge of Heidrick & Struggles, India. He commands over 30 years of experience in business and the Executive search industry. He is also the Regional Managing Partner of the Firm’s Industrial Practice in Asia and Middle-East. Over the last 18 years he has been a strategic partner to numerous global and Indian conglomerates consulting and advising them on their leadership issues and helping them identify and recruit top talent for their businesses. Mr. Das Mahapatra has contributed articles in leading business publications in the APAC region on the subject of Leadership Advisory and the Management of Talent. He holds a Post Graduate degree in Psychology and is passionate about cricket and music.

Mr. Deepak Hota

Ex-Chairman & MD, BEML


He is an alumnus of St Stephens College from where he graduated in Economics Hons. In 1981 and thereafter did his post graduation in HR from XLRI in 1983. He joined HPCL in April 1983. Even though an HR professional he has had the distinction of having worked in Marketing and has handled critical functions such as Head Natural Gas, CEO, HPCL Biofuels, Head Marketing Planning etc. Currently he heads the Natural Gas Division as General Manager-Natural Gas based in Mumbai. He is expected to join the Board of BEML as Director HR, w.e.f. 1/7/2013. He is currently the President of the St Stephens College Alumni network at Mumbai and also a member of the Executive Alumni Committee of St Stephens College, New Delhi. He has one son who has graduated in Economics from UK and is currently pursuing his MBA with Symbiosis, Bengaluru.

Ms. Ester Martinez

Co-founder/MD, People Matters


Ms. Martinez is the Co-founder and Managing Editor of People Matters, a leading magazine that is slowly but surely enchanting the minds of the Indian youth and the seniors in the business world. She holds Postgraduate in Human Resources Management from EADA (Spain) and Master’s Degree in Management from Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. With more than 14 years of experience in human resources, Ester has a wealth of experience in all areas of HR management. Until 2008, she worked as a professional manager with a host of Blue Chip companies, which include Hewlett Packard in different countries in Europe and Tata Consultancy Services both in India and in the UK.

Mr.Rajeev Bhadauria

Director-Group HR, Jindal Steel & Power


Rajeev Bhadauria, currently Director Group HR of Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. brings with him a rich, diverse and rare experience in his 28 yrs of cherished career as an HR Professional both in the Public and Private Sectors. The choice made by Rajeev Bhadauria at the decisive moment of his youth to opt for Public Sector Service rather than Indian Administrative Service gave him a unique opportunity of working with one of India’s largest Public Sector as well as Private Sector Organisation.

Dr. Samarendu Mohanty

Head, Social Sciences Division International Rice Research Institute


Dr. Samarendu Mohanty is responsible for research, training and outreach activities of the division and manages 40 research scientists (Internationally and nationally recruited staff) and 10 administrative staff. He also Identifies frontier research area for the division and secure funding to kick start new programs. As head of the Social Sciences Division, he recruits and retains quality staff and create a conducive environment for research and professional development and conduct research on all aspects of rice including marketing, policy and trade and impact assessment.

His key Expertise are- Commodity Modeling,Trade and Policy Analysis, and Futures Markets,Trade, Finance, Marketing and Policy Analysis, Agricultural Marketing and Cooperation

K Sudarshan

Managing Partner - India & Regional VP – Asia EMA Partners International


Sudarshan co-founded EMA Partners in India in 2003 and is also part of the firm’s executive management responsible for Global Business Development. Sudarshan is based in Mumbai, and leads EMA Partners in India and Singapore. He has over 16 years of experience in Executive search, and has led successful domestic and cross border search assignments for both Indian and multinational corporations across industry sectors and functional disciplines. He also leads the Board and CEO practice for the firm in India, and is the Regional Practice Leader for the Global Payments & Transaction Services Practice group. Sudarshan is an alumnus of National Institute of Technology (REC), Kurukshetra.

Mr. Ishwar Subramanian

Co-Founder and Chairman, FORUM SYNERGIES (India)


Mr. Ishwar is a chartered accountant and a graduate of Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi. He attended the General Managers Program at Stanford in 1997 and spent a week at Harvard at a YPO Presidents Seminar in 2003.He has attended a CEO’s presidents seminar, a weeks’ program at Guangdong School of management, Beijing in 2010. He also has been to the Said Business School at Oxford attending a CEO’s management program in 2012.Lastly, Ishwar was a part of Prof C.K.Prahalad’s India CEO forum, a group of select Indian CEO’s from 1999 to 2009.

He is currently the chairman of a private equity fund in Bangalore & also involved in a real estate development business in Bangalore and also has a consulting firm. He is also an independent board member of select companies.

He started his career at Ernst & Young & also worked at the Akzo Nobel operations in India as finance director. He was the chairman of the Indian Paints Association in 2004, a member of the National Committee on Chemicals of the Confederation of Indian Industry from 2007-2009, a member of the governing council of the Bangalore Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the past twelve years and held various offices with the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), including serving on the International Forum board for three years from 2009-2012. He is also on the global board of the Chief Executives Organization (CEO) for the past two years.

Dr. Alwyn Didar Singh

Secretary-General, FICCI


Dr.Alwyn Didar Singh, Secretary General of FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry) is a former Secretary to Government of India in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs (Diaspora and Migration Ministry). He also functioned as Chairman of ICM (Indian Council for Migration) as also Chairman of OIFC (Overseas Indian Facilitation Centre). Dr.Didar Singh is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Migration(2011-13).

Mr. Jayant Bhat

President, Scotwork India


Mr. Jayant Bhat is the President of Scotwork India with responsibility for business development and delivery across South Asia. Scotwork is a premium negotiating skills training & consulting company, ranked amongst the largest, globally with presence in over 40 countries. An alumnus of IIT Kanpur. IIM-A and Stanford Business School, he has experience across Media, Banking, Technology, FMCG, Consulting, Manufacturing, Retail etc. His earlier stints ranged across various companies such as National Semiconductor Inc. (now Texas Instruments), Zee Network Ltd., Max India Ltd., CDIL, GE Motors, Times of India Group, Gabriel India and Perfect Circle.

Prof. Anil Bajpai

Former Director, KSOM, KIIT University


Mr. Bajpai is an alumnus of three of India’s most premier institutions; a B.Sc. in Physics from St. Stephen’s College (Delhi University,1978), BE (Electrical Tech & Electronics,1981) from IISc, Bangalore and PGDBM from IIMA.(1983)

He has had a corporate career spanning mainly across two important sectors; semiconductors and telecom. Notable assignments he has undertaken include Vodafone Essar Spacetel Ltd. as Chief Operating Officer, Reliance Infocom Ltd. as CEO(Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Odisha), DSS Mobilink as Vice President(Operations), Airtel as General Manager (Sales, Marketing and Customer Care). He served Continental Device India Ltd in several capacities .

Mr Bajpai has initiated huge telecom network rollouts from scratch as a business head, overseeing both network infrastructure and sales and distribution infrastructure across several states in India. A techno commercial approach to Project management and strong Man management skills have been deployed to achieve and exceed targeted objectives

Cmde. Dilip Mohapatra

Chief Mentor & Strategic Advisor, KSOM, KIIT University


Commodore Dilip Mohapatra, VSM holds an MSc. in Physics from Utkal University and an MMS degree from Osmania University. Previously, he was VP, Global L&D at Suzlon Energy Ltd., Director at Tata Management Training Centre, Global Head L&D and HR Sourcing at TCS, and before that a Commodore in Indian Navy. He is decorated with Vishist Seva Medal by President of India and also with L&D Leadership Award by Employer Branding Institute and World HRD Congress.

Mr. S. Samir Panda

Vice President, Corporate Relations, KIIT DU


Mr. S.Samir Panda is the Management Representative for KSOM, KSRM and the KIIT University Human Resources. He is a CA by qualification and a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). He has about 20 years of corporate and professional experience.

ADVISORY BOARD EMERITUS

Mr. A.D. Burman

General Manager (People Development), Maruti Suzuki India Limited


Mr. A.D.Burman is the General Manager of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. He has over 25 years of diverse work experience in HR and Sales including in areas of Organization Development, such as Performance Management System. He has tasked himself in creating organization capability through job rotations and design. He is a Trained Assessor and involved in Assessment/Development centers.

Mr. Adil Malia

President Human Resources Essar group of companies.


Mr. Adil is the Group President – Human Resources at Essar. Adil joined Essar in August 2006. At Essar, Adil globally heads the Human Resources function for this $50 billion group which employs 40,000 people worldwide and has business interests in domains of Steel, Oil, Power, Shipping, Projects, Telecom, BPO and Realty. Adil has a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, a Bachelor’s degree in Law and Master’s degree in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations from Tata Institute of Social Sciences.

Mr. Allen Sequeria

Advisor, Mahindra & Mahindra


Mr. Allen has had rich and varied experience including global exposure as a Human Resource Professional spanning over 30 years in prestigious Groups and Companies covering a wide range of industries from Federations, Conglomerates to Industries in the Core Sector such as Cement and Oil. Allen is a retired Executive Vice President – Group Human Resources and Leadership Development in one of the largest Industrial Groups in India viz. the Mahindra Group where he served for nine years in his last stint overseeing Group HR Strategic Policy Formulation and Process and Leadership Development.

Mr. Arun Waklu

Executive Chairman, Pragati Leadership


Mr. Arun Waklu is a Certified Executive Coach and Facilitator. He began his career with Nelco (1976-78) and he continued his stint with the Tatas post 1980 as part of the Tata Administrative Service (TAS), worked for Tata Motors, Jamshedpur & MAP Consultants, Pune, before eventually starting Pragati in 1986. Arun is a globally recognized trainer, coach and facilitator in Leadership and Organizational Transformation with over 25,000 hours of experience in facilitation and coaching.

Dr. T.V. Rao

Chairman, TV Rao Associate


Dr. T. V. Rao (1946) is currently Chairman TVRLS, Ahmedabad and an Adjunct Professor at IIMA. He was a Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad for over 20 years between1973 to 1994 and subsequently a Visiting Professor. While at IIMA he was Chairman of the Post Graduate Program, Fellow Program, Public Systems Group, Ravi Matthai Center and also coordinated the PGP review. While at IIMA Dr. Rao also worked as General Manager, HRD at BEML, Bangalore for a year and as L&T Professor of HRD at XLRI, Jamshedpur during 1983-85.

Dr. Aquil Busrai

CEO-Aquil Busrai Consulting


Dr. Aquil Busrai graduated in Commerce with a Distinction and obtained his MBA from Xavier Labour Relations Institute where he was awarded the J M Kumarappa Gold Medal for ranking first. He later passed LL. B and an Advanced Diploma in Training and Development. A University rank holder, he was awarded the Bharucha Gold Medal for academic excellence.Dr. Busrai was also bestowed “Lifetime Achievement Award” at Top Rankers Meet in Kuala Lumpur. He has worked in various HR roles with Unilever in Kenya and India and was Executive Director HR Motorola for Asia Pacific countries.

Mr. Gautam Chakravarti

Executive Director, Blackstone


Mr. Gautam Chakravarti has been the Chief Executive Officer at Gokaldas Exports Ltd. since April 01, 2011.Mr. Chakravarti serves also as an Executive Director of Corporate Private Equity Group at The Blackstone Group. Prior to joining Blackstone in 2008, he has also had some diverse operational experience with few of India’s largest corporations. Mr. Chakravarti served as the Chief Operating Officer at Bilcare Ltd., India-a pharmaceutical packaging. and clinical services firm, He has served the pharmaceutical industry in 22 countries including the United States, Europe and Latin America. Mr. Chakravarti has primarily worked on portfolio management, which involves monitoring the performance and development of Indian portfolio companies.

Mr. Kalyan Ganguly

President & Managing Director, United Breweries Ltd.


Mr. Kalyan Ganguly, the President & Managing Director of United Breweries Limited, has been heading the Beer Business of The UB Group since 1995. He joined the Group on 1st of February 1979. Prior to joining the UB Group, he was with Reckitt & Colman. He is a graduate from Presidency College, Kolkata and has completed his post-graduation diploma in Business Management from XLRI, Jamshedpur. He has participated in the strategic marketing course at Harvard Business School and also an Advance Management Program there.

Dr. Minati Misra Ambarish

Managing Partner, SRB2 Group LLC


Dr. Minati Misra Ambarish is currently a Senior Advisor in Exilant Technologies Pte. Ltd. (Singapore), which is a foreign branch of Exilant Technologies, India. She advises the CEO of Exilant Technologies on their business strategies and all corporate affairs.

Dr. Minati Misra Ambarish has over twenty (22) years of experience in global financial markets, both as a portfolio manager and risk manager, with a focus on emerging markets, particularly currencies, derivatives and structured products.

Mr. Len D’Costa

Co founder- Salt Labs & Non Executive Chairman of Digvijay Cement


Mr. Len is a Social Entrepreneur and co-founder of SALTLABS engaged in Education for lifelong Employability and Leadership Excellence.. He is the ex Non Executive Chairman of the board of Shree Digvijay Cement Co. Ltd, part of the Cimpor Group, the 8th largest cement company in the world, and as a member of the board of Governors of ITM Group. Len is a coach for senior management in many organizations and is an accredited Leadership Grid trainer globally and provides services in leadership development. Associated with L&T as a Behavioral Enabler for their Leadership Development Program.

Dr. Rajen Mehrotra

Ex ACC HR, Director, Sandoz


Dr Mehrotra is a Double Graduate in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering from VJTI, Mumbai and holds a Masters and Ph.D Degree in Management from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS), Mumbai. He also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Industrial Management from Maastricht School of Management, The Netherland. He had advance training in Industrial Engineering & Quality Management in Japan & in General Management in USA.

Mr. Rashid Kidwai

Director, Grasnet For Women


Mr. Kidwai is a graduate of St. Stephen’s College with core exposure in ITC Ltd, Clarion Advertising, JCT Ltd’s Agro–Division, and was Trustee and Managing Director of Digital Partners, Mumbai. He is currently the CEO of Grassroots Trading Network for Women. He has successfully launched the Consolidator Model in 2003 by fascilitating a partnership between SEWA Graam Mahila Haat(SGMH) and ITC(BAT’s subsidiary in India) for supply of sesame seed to ITC for export, resulting in better returns and exposure for marginal farmers, now into the fifth season.

Mr. Sourav Daspatnaik

Director Global Protek Pte Ltd


Mr. Sourav is currently Director and Co-founder of Global Protek Pte Ltd a Company with specific focus on emerging economies of South East Asia. He has has worked with leading companies in India such as Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Ispat Group, Mercer HR Consulting and Apeejay Surrendra Group where he has served as Director (HRD & Strategy) and concurrently the position of CEO, Bengal Shipyard, Ltd.

Mr. Sudip Bandopadhyay

Managing Director,CEO, Destimony Securities pvt ltd


Mr. Sudip Bandyopadhyay, erstwhile MD of Reliance Money is now the MD & CEO of Destimoney, a leading full service financial organization promoted by New Silk Route -an Asia-focused growth capital firm founded in 2006 with $1.5 billion under management.Sudip is now leading Destimoney in its next phase of growth. Under Sudip’s leadership, Destimoney has grown 12 times since last one year in tough market conditions.

Mr. Rajinder Singh Maker

Director of Maker Executive Search


An Economics graduate with a post graduation from XLRI- 1974 batch and an LLB, Mr. Maker has about 39 years of experience in the field of HR, Industrial Relations, Consulting and Education.

He started his career with ACC where he worked from 1974 to 1990. This stint with ACC gave him exposure to first work at the plant and later on at the corporate office in Mumbai. The Tata culture of ACC is strongly imbibed in him. During this period he was also groomed in Industrial relations and had the opportunity of working with trade union leaders like Mr. V G Gopal – President Tata Workers Union and other stalwarts such as Mr. G Ramamujam of INTUC, Mr. H N Trivedi- President of the Cement Workers Federation. He also handled maoist leaders like Mr. Shankar Goha Niyogi and in the later part of his career dealt with Shiv Sena Union in Mumbai.