As we enter the future, the only certainty is the uncertainty of it. This year, let’s reimagine a multitude of magnificent possibilities. Let’s design a future where technology and humanity co-create/co-exist.
Join us to experience the world’s most audacious dreamers, doers, and thinkers under the same sky. Meet experts from behavioral science, blockchain, genetics, geopolitics, robotics, renewables, music, mindfulness, and more. Take a journey with us and let’s create a universe for the future.
Founder and CEO, INK
(Host and Curator of the INK Conference)
Founding Partner, Accel
(Co-Host and Keynote Speaker at INK 2023)
Mr. Aakash Chaudhry is a highly accomplished business leader, educationist, and entrepreneur, currently serving as the Chief Mentor and Co-Promoter of Aakash Educational Services Limited (AESL). He has a proven track record of success, having previously led the AESL team as Managing Director and spearheaded the senior management team for over a decade.
Prior to joining AESL, Mr. Aakash worked with some of the top Tech & ITES companies in the world, including Infosys Technologies and Cognizant Technology Solutions. Driven by his passion for providing quality education to deserving students, he has revolutionized the test preparation industry in India by transforming AESL into a leading brand known for providing cutting-edge and niche educational services.
Through his visionary leadership, Mr. Aakash has implemented new-age systems for efficient operations, prioritized student satisfaction, recruited skilled talent, incorporated technological advancements, and automated processes, and adopted an agile marketing strategy to ensure that Aakash’s classroom, hybrid, and digital services continue to evolve as the best-in-class offerings in the industry.
In addition to his work at AESL, Mr. Aakash is also the Founder and Trustee of Plaksha University (www.plaksha.org) and serves on the board of VLCC Healthcare Ltd. and HONO (Sequelone Solutions Pvt Ltd), an HR deep tech leader. His leadership and contributions have not gone unnoticed, as he was recognized as one of the disruptive leaders by Business World in 2018 and listed among the coveted “40 Under 40” young leaders list.
Mr. Aakash is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Sciences and an MBA from the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. His unwavering dedication and innovative approach have set him apart as a visionary leader in the education industry.
Abhay Singh holds the position of Co-founder and CEO at Eeki, where he is dedicatedly working to transform the farming landscape by combining innovative technology with conventional farming practices. Abhay’s approach promises not only to yield nutritious yet affordable vegetables but also to tackle the pressing challenges posed by climate change. The patented growing chambers at Eeki, create an ideal environment for plant roots, allowing the cultivation of high-quality vegetables year-round, irrespective of the location. These chambers enhance nutrient uptake and enable real-time monitoring for early detection of infections.
Abhishek Poddar is a businessman and a prominent collector and patron of the arts in India. He has been collecting art since high school and has created a significant collection of South Asian art, craft and antiquities. Poddar is involved in various family group companies with diverse interests and serves on the advisory committees of several cultural institutions including the Deccan Heritage Foundation, FIND ( Foundation Inde-Europe de Nouveaux Dialogues or the India – Europe Foundation for New Dialogues) and the Lincoln Center Global Council, USA.
Poddar worked initially at Khaitan & Co., and later at the Standard Chartered Bank before joining the family businesses. In the 1960s, the Poddar family acquired Matheson Bosanquet, an 80-year old company with activities in tea production, trading and export, and shipping. Poddar joined the company in the late 1980s and took over as Managing Director in 1997. He is also a Director of Sua Explosives & Accessories Private Limited, which manufactures mining explosives and accessories in India, and is a leader both in the domestic and international markets. Other companies he owns range from trading and export to the retail sector.
Donning many other hats, he was also the Honorary Consul for Poland Bangalore In 2011, Poddar founded a not-for-profit foundation to manage and archive his extensive collection with a desire to use it to increase interest in the visual arts in India. Prompted partly by the striking lack of any kind of museum culture in India, this museum is intended to be a living institution characterised by a dynamic programme that aside from a wide diversity in collection, would also offer multiple avenues for learning and engagement. Poddar serves as the Founder-Trustee at the Museum of Art & Photography, a unit of the Art & Photography Foundation. MAP is a Bangalore-based museum set to open in 2022. With his family, Poddar donated over $7 million and 7,000 pieces from their personal collection to MAP. As the first major private art museum in India’s tech city, it now already has more than 18,000 works (other gifts) covering the gamut from modern and contemporary Indian art to photography and popular culture
He was named as one of Asia’s 2018 Heroes of Philanthropy by Forbes Magazine.
Poddar was born in Kolkata as the son of Industrialist Bimal Poddar, he went to Lamartiniere for Boys and later transferred to The Doon School, Dehradun before completing his studies in St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. Poddar is married to Radhika Sanghi, founder of the design and lifestyle store Cinnamon. They have two children and live in Bangalore.
Akshay is the Founder and CEO of Log9 Materials. He is a young, dynamic entrepreneur – and a 2019 Forbes “30 Under 30 Asia” Awardee – who stands to solve the pressing global issue of climate change with the power of nanotechnology and innovation.
He has spearheaded Log9 to make it a significant player in the EV battery space. Akshay graduated with honors in Materials Engineering from IIT Roorkee in 2015 and has completed his Ph.D. in Nanotechnology at IIT Roorkee in 2021. He has research experience from the University of Alberta, Canada, and has published over 6 scientific articles and filed 50+ patent applications. As an active supporter of progressive action on Climate Change, Akshay has begun angel investing in startups that positively impact the planet.
Amon Chizema was born in Zimbabwe and has lived in France, Botswana, and the UK. He holds a PhD in Corporate Governance from Loughborough University, UK. Currently, Amon is Professor of Corporate Governance and International Business at Loughborough University. He is also the Director of Internationalisation at Loughborough Business School.
He was Head of the International Business, Strategy, and Innovation Group at Loughborough University from 2011 to 2015. He was then appointed Professor of Corporate Governance and Strategy and Director of Research for the Department of Strategy and International Business at the University of Birmingham between 2015 and 2019. He is also an Extraordinary Professor at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS), University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Ankit Mehta is the CEO and Whole-Time Director of ideaForge, a drone manufacturer for defence, homeland security, and industrial applications. He has been associated with ideaForge since its incorporation and has extensive experience in the drone industry. Ankit holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Technology degree in Mechanical Engineering with a specialisation in Computer Aided Design and Automation from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. Together with his team, Ankit has led ideaForge to become one of the global leaders among dual-use (Civil & Defence) drone manufacturers. In 2022, Drone Industry Insights ranked ideaForge as the 7th top dual-use (civil & military) drone manufacturer globally. ideaForge serves both domestic and international markets with
a wide range of products that have feature-based differentiations such as weight class, endurance class, altitude range, payload types, and more. Notably, ideaForge is one of the few original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”) worldwide to have its proprietary autopilot sub-system and ground control station software. The organisation excels in integrating complex technologies to optimize the performance, reliability, and autonomy of its products. In addition to being listed as one of the top 35 entrepreneur under the age of 35 in India by Entrepreneur Magazine in 2017, Ankit was recognised as the Young Achiever of the Year by the Ascent Foundation in 2017. ideaForge has received several prestigious awards, including the Best Product Design Company in A&D at the Deftronics Awards in 2017 by IESA and the Marico Innovation Foundation’s Award for Business Innovation in 2018. Ankit and his Co-founders were honoured with
the Young Alumni Achiever Award by IIT Bombay in 2020. Ankit plays a prominent role in defining and standardising UAV regulations in India as a member of the Drones Task Force, BVLOS BEAM Committee, and the UTM Committee. He actively provides neutral policy suggestions which impact the entire industry positively. Ankit is also the Co-Chair of the FICCI Committee on Drones.
Anmol Singh Jaggi, a serial entrepreneur, is the Co-Founder and CEO of BluSmart – India’s first and only all-electric ride-hailing service and EV charging infrastructure operator. BluSmart was founded with a mission to revolutionize mobility in India and decarbonize megacities through EVs.
As a believer in early technology, Anmol is someone who has always stayed ahead of the curve. It is this foresight that shaped BluSmart’s network with a 350 member strong team that has disrupted electric mobility in India. He has showcased how mindful businesses can be built for scale. One that not only multiplies profits but also cares for its people and the planet.
His contributions have earned him many recognitions like Business World, Entrepreneur of the year award in 2022. BluSmart has consistently been featured among the Linkedin top 25 startups for the past two years. BluSmart was also the recipient of the Champions of Change award by Tata Power and News18 in 2023.
Anshulika is a media & technology entrepreneur. After her stint at the management consulting firm McKinsey, she started Wishberry – India’s first crowdfunding platform for creative artists, backed by India’s top angel investors and Reliance Entertainment.
Wishberry helped over 600 creative artists fundraise ~$3 million (~Rs. 26 crore) from 1 lakh+ people across the world through philanthropy and equity capital. Wishberry also produced 6 regional feature films currently streaming on the top OTT platforms such as Netflix and Sony Liv. The films went on to garner several international awards and one of them called ‘Mandela’ also went on to be shortlisted in the Oscar list from India.
Anshulika has now launched The Writers INK Institute, India’s premier skillbuilding initiative for upcoming writers in India, incubated and supported by the INK Global Foundation and the Ford Foundation. Writers INK aims to become a premium institution that provides global writing education and a visible career pathway to budding writers in India.
Dr. Anurag Mairal is an Adjunct Professor of Medicine and the Director, Global Outreach Programs at Stanford Byers Center for Biodesign, Stanford University. He is also a Faculty Fellow and Lead for Technology Innovation and Impact at Center for Innovation in Global Health. In these roles, he leads initiatives focused on applying the biodesign process to resource-constrained settings globally. Further, he facilitates opportunities for students, faculty and fellows at Stanford to work on global healthcare needs. He is founding co-Director for MED 232, Global Health: Scaling Health Technology Innovations in Low Resource Settings, and was part of the founding faculty team for BIOE 371, Global Biodesign: Medical Technology in an International Context, graduate-level courses offered to engineering, business, and medical students at Stanford University. Earlier, he served as Associate Director for the Stanford-India Biodesign and Singapore-Stanford Biodesign programs. He serves as the Founding Chair of BME IDEA APAC, a community of medtech innovation programs in Asia Pacific, partnering closely with the industry and academia in the region. He is also an Honorary Professor at University of Cape Town, South Africa. Concurrently, he is a co-founder and Executive Vice President of Orbees Medical, a SF Bay Area-based strategy consulting firm serving global healthcare industry, with a focus on medtech, pharmaceutical, and digital health industry.
Balakrishnan G. Iyer (Balki) is a seasoned energy industry management professional, with rich experience and proven track record of driving business growth in global conglomerates (i.e. GE) and startups. Balki has successfully steered three startups from inception to exit and helped list one of them in NASDAQ, with investments from some of the largest utilities and financial investors worldwide. He has global experience having worked in Asia, Europe and North America with excellent customer, employee and investor relationships. He was recently Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer of Utopus Insights, a New York-based global renewable energy analytics company, acquired by Vestas. He is currently Chief Commercial Officer at e-Zinc, who is on a mission to accelerate the shift to clean energy with sustainable, long duration solutions that transforms how world stores power.
Bharath is the founder of Phyx44 Labs, a precision fermentation startup on a mission to recreate nature identical dairy – without the animals.
Bharath has over 14 years of experience in building and launching products at scale. Bharath is a second time entrepreneur, an Ex-Google & Ex-Amazon professional.
He is passionate about climate change and the role of technology in creating a path to a sustainable, net-zero future. He is keen to play his part by creating affordable animal-free food alternatives that are as compelling as the animal-derived original, use far less land, water & release far fewer GHGs.
Kum Bhargavi Venkatram hails from an illustrious musical family. She is the granddaughter of Sangeetha Kalartana Prof HV Krishnamurthy and daughter of Sri HK Venkatram and Smt Triveni Saralaya. She was initiated into music by her parents and Aunt Kavitha Saralaya. At the tender age of two, Bhargavi could identify several ragas and had a perfect sense of Swaragnana.
Bhargavi is currently under the tutelage of Sri TM Krishna of Chennai. She has won several prizes in many national and state level Music competitions, and awards.
Bhargavi is a graded artiste at All India Radio. She has given performances at various Sabhas and organizations including the Madras Music Academy (Spirit Of Youth in August 2016 and HCL Concert Series in January 2019), Krishna Gana Sabha, Bramha Gana Sabha, Indian Fine
Arts, Mylapore Fine Arts, Sri Shanmukhananda – Mumbai, The Karnataka Ganakala Parishath annual conference, Sri Rama Lalitha Kala Mandira, Sree Rama Seva Mandali- Fort High School, the Bangalore Gayana Samaja annual conference and various other music organisations in Bangalore and Mysore.
Bhargavi also shows a keen interest in Bharathnatyam, and was a disciple of Smt and Sri Anuradha Sridhar for over 10 years. She has completed her dance examination with distinction.
Bhargavi has shown tremendous promise of achieving great heights in the field of Carnatic Music. Coupled with a rich tradition and Pataantatra, Bhargavi’s music is characterized by displays of intuitive and Manodharma based music. She is bestowed with a melodious Bhava laden voice. Bhargavi excels in her academic pursuit and has completed her Computer Science Engineering degree with distinction.
Bhaskar Bhat began his career in 1978 as a Management Trainee at Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Company. After spending five years with Godrej, he joined Tata Watch Project. After that, he was associated with Titan Company Limited. He retired on 30 th September 2019, after serving as Managing Director of the Company from April 2002 to September 2019.
Titan Company Limited, under Bhaskar’s leadership, enlarged its portfolio and extended its market to Eyewear, Accessories, Fragrances and Sarees. The market cap of Titan Company grew to 13 Billion USD in 2019 and is now the second largest in the Tata Group.
Bhaskar is the Chairperson of the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappali. He is a Board Member of IITM Pravartak Technologies Foundation.
Bhaskar graduated in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Madras and completed his PGDBM from IIM Ahmedabad. He has been conferred the Distinguished Alumnus Award at IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad.
Bhaskar is also a Director in Tata Sons Private Limited, Titan Company, Trent and CaratLane Trading Private Limited and Chairman of the Board of Rallis India and Tata SIA (Vistara). He is also the Independent Director in Bosch India Ltd and Kansai Nerolac Paints Limited.
Having spent a career in international policy and corporate communications Caroline founded Future Agenda an open-source think tank and advisory firm in 2009. The company has built a leading open foresight initiative that explores the key shifts expected to shape society over the next ten years and helps organizations develop strategies to address change. Alongside the global programme, Caroline has focused on key sectors including the future of cities, autonomous vehicles, and the future of work. The insights produced have been used by many different organizations as a stimulus for challenge, decision-making and new thinking. Co-author of four books on foresight and innovation Caroline is a highly experienced programme director and C-suite facilitator.
Christina Hawatmeh is the Founder and CEO of Scopio which stands for “Scope it out” and is empowering artists to share and monetize their images and art, offering businesses access to a diverse pool of valuable images to use, and talented artists to hire from 190 countries. Christina is breaking down the barriers between talented visual storytellers and those looking to tell stories. She is an influential voice in the creator economy for the past decade, speaking globally on why “underdogs” need access, and the creative revolution that is changing everything as we know it.
She is named Top Entrepreneurs to Follow by NY Finance and has been recognized by leading publications such as CNN, Entrepreneur, and Forbes 30 Under 30. She is the author of “The Year Time Stopped: The Global Pandemic in Photos,” featured at the Grammys and winner of “the mind award” available in all major retailers. Christina is currently working on her second book titled “If Women,” featuring art and photography contributed by artists from all around the world, reimagining a world re-designed by women. Scopio got its start at 500 startups and Christina is a graduate of George Washington University and Columbia University.
Dao has been in the tech industry for over 20 years. She founded Oak Rocket, INC (OR) in 2013 as the first west coast, female minority-owned company born in the Cloud. OR is now based in SF, CA and Austin TX, helping companies optimize cloud platforms and solutions. Some of Oak Rocket’s current and past marquee clients: Jackson Hewitt, Gainsight, Solar City, Gymboree and Nasdaq.
In Oak Rocket’s ten years of operation, the organization has earned many awards from the technology community – including Ingram Micro Cloud Most Valuable Player Award for 2021 and 2022. Ms. Jensen has grown the company at an amazing pace since its inception. Oak Rocket is on a mission to be the United States leading minority-owned cloud enablement company by 2030. Dao is on the advisory board of Loyola University and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s OPM Executive program.
Brought up in Minnesota by entrepreneurial parents who owned and managed three restaurants, she always aspired to achieve great things. Previous to launching Oak Rocket, Dao ran sales internationally at large corporations such as Symantec and Oracle. Today, Dao is a mother of four and a community activist. In her free time, she loves reading, traveling, cooking food, and sharing a good meal with friends and family.
Dao is on the advisory board of Quinlan School of Business at Loyola University Chicago, a founding member of First Board.io, a member of C200 and a board member of IEEW (Institute for Economic Empowerment of Women). She is a YPO PacWest Integrated chapter Board member. In 2022 she graduated as scholarship winner in the Harvard Business School’s OPM Executive program.
Recent awards and accolades include Ingram Micro Partner Female Tech Partner of the Yar for North America in 2023 , Winner Women in Cloud Community Ally 2022, The Channel Co – CRN Women of the Channel 2022, WPO 50 Fastest Women Owned/ Led Companies 2018-2023, WBEC Excellence in Growth Award Limitless: Phenomenal Women – Award for Excellence in Growth 2022, Fast 50 Asian American Business Award 2021 – 2022 by US Pan Asian American
Chamber of Commerce (USPAACC), fastest-growing private company by Inc. 5000 in 2017-2021, CRN® Fast Growth 150 List in 2021; 2018 Stevie Awards for Women In Business Nationwide; E&Y Entrepreneurial Winning Women Class of 2017 finalist; 2019 Enterprising Women of the Year; 2020 Winner of the International Women’s Entrepreneur Challenge nominated by Microsoft, AWS nomination winner for IT Wondrous Women Award.
You can follow Dao on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/daojensen/
Businesses today are seeking data-driven transformation based on a
new denominator thinking. Not capital but time; Not competing on
Economies of Scale but Economies of Speed. Mu Sigma, the world’s
largest pure-play decision sciences company, acts as Transformation
Sherpa for 1/3rd of the Fortune 500.
Dhiraj is the Founder and CEO of Mu Sigma, one of India’s first
profitable unicorns. He founded Mu Sigma in 2004, and over the last 15 years has been recognized by industry.
Dhiraj holds Electrical and Computer Engineering degrees from
College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University and Wayne State
University, Michigan respectively. He also has an MBA from The
University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Dr. Amitabh Saran has over 31 years of experience, firstly with institutions like TCS, Philips, NASA, & Hewlett-Packard; and then also with startups like TriVium and BuzzInTown. Through his career, he has focused on delivering innovative solutions to consumers, based on contemporary and futuristic technologies.
Passionate about clean energy & automobiles, Dr. Saran is the Founder/CEO of Altigreen Propulsion Labs based in Bangalore which develops high-efficiency electric mobility solutions in Last Mile Transport for India and the Emerging Economies. A true embodiment of Made-in-India & Made-for-India, Altigreen has been designing, developing, testing and manufacturing proprietary Electric Vans, with Ecommerce and FMCG companies using them across 60 cities in India.
Amitabh has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from University of California, Santa Barbara, and has published numerous papers & books on software engineering and distributed computing. He is a co-inventor in over 26 global patents.
Dr Shriram Nene is a cardiovascular and Thoracic surgeon, a healthcare innovator, a Bollywood film producer, a health and wellness social media influencer, and an Edu tech pioneer, currently residing in Mumbai, India.
Born in London and raised in the United States, Dr. Shriram Nene studied medicine and practised as a surgeon for almost 17 years. He returned to India in 2011 and started his entrepreneurial journey by co-founding RnM Moving Pictures and the world’s first gamified online dance academy, Dance With Madhuri along with his wife Madhuri Dixit Nene. Dr. Nene married the famous Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit on October 17, 1999, and have 2 children Arin and Ryan.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Nene lent a helping hand to the state Municipal Corporation to strategize and contain the virus. He also launched the health tech start-up called Pathfinder Health Services Pvt. Ltd. whose primary focus is to develop personalized precision healthcare journeys.
Shriram Nene was born in 12th February 1967 in London, and raised in the United States. A son of Indian immigrants who had left India in 1962. At a very you age, he developed a passion for science and technology and was inspired by the classical renaissance thinkers and inventors like Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Edison, Franklin, Tesla, and Einstein, who could wear many hats and do it well.
The late 1970’s and early 1980’s were a time when Apple and Microsoft were fledgling start-ups and computers as tools were just coming into homes. During this period, he taught himself to program at the age of 13 on an Apple II and used these skills to create a computer software company producing products for real estate agents and educational purposes by the age of 15. He also taught other students how to program as the president of the school computer science club.
Shriram Nene attended Whitney High School, Cerritos in California. He subsequently went on to pursue a career in medicine, graduating from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in 1993. His initial journey was a quest to heal with a different kind of steel (not microchips), so he trained in General Surgery and did a Vascular Surgical Research Fellowship at the University of California in Los Angeles. He completed his training with a fellowship in Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at the University of Florida. After completing his training, he was privileged to practice in Denver as a board certified Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeon. In addition to routine coronary artery bypass cases, he specialized in mitral valve repair, endovascular aortic surgery, and was trained as a Da Vinci Robotic surgeon.
After completing his MD, Shriram Nene joined the Division of General Surgery University of California, Los Angeles, California as an Intern. After striving hard, he slowly moved up the ladder to be a Fellow Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida in 2002. For the next decade Dr Shriram Nene was a Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Surgeon practising at Colorado. In 2010 he became the director of Cardiovascular Services, Skyridge Hospital Lone Tree, Colorado.
During these years Shriram Nene has been part of many discussion panels and presented a lot of presentations at various international forums. He also holds medical licences in India and United States. He is still part of the elite professional society membership like Indian Medical Association, American Medical Association, American College of Surgeons, Fellow, Society of Thoracic Surgery and a few more.
Despite having everything, Dr. Nene’s ambition to learn and heal the world was not being realized. In 2011, his journey came full circle, back to the land of his forefathers, to use his original computer talents and his knowledge of healthcare to scale the reach of medical care to 7 billion people on the planet. Along with his better half, Madhuri Dixit, they created RnM Moving Pictures in 2011 which is a platform-agnostic, digital media and content creation company. The premise was simple: all screens would converge and that the person who controlled the content would control everything. In 2013 he was also the Chief medical officer and seed investor on Goqii.com, wellness and wearable tech start-up. It just raised a Series B round and is raising a 75-million-dollar series C round.
He also started a Created Edutech platform, “Dance with Madhuri” in 2013 whose core idea was to help people learn dance from the masters, anywhere, anytime. Available on iOS, Android, the web, and DTH (Tata sky, Videocon, Dish, Airtel), as well as in schools. The company is ebidta positive and profitable since 2016 and is available in 206 countries.
Within healthcare, he was actively involved in the community trying to spur innovation in healthcare delivery. Ultimately it was to make a difference in the lives of others and improve the practice of medicine, worldwide, to international, evidence-based standards by empowering the patient and extending the doctor’s reach. Currently, Dr. Nene is developing a medical platform “Pathfinder Health Sciences”, committed to improving lifestyles and lifespans through precision, personalized health approaches using a combination of media, apps and wearable technology, and a smart services marketplace.
Dr. Sangita Reddy is a distinguished Global Healthcare Leader, a pioneering Indian Entrepreneur, and a compassionate Humanitarian. She currently holds the position of Joint Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited – an esteemed healthcare group renowned as the largest and most trusted of its kind in Asia. Furthermore, in the year of India’s G20 Presidency, she has been appointed as the Chairperson of G20 Empower India and was also the former President of The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Additionally, she is the Chairperson of BRICS Women’s Business Alliance, India.
As a founding team member of Apollo Hospital, Dr Sangita Reddy has been a driving force behind numerous groundbreaking initiatives and has been fervently determined to revolutionize the healthcare system by utilizing cutting-edge technology, thus enabling universal access to healthcare. Recently appointed to the Board of Joint Commission Resources, Inc. (JCR), a knowledgeable resource for healthcare organizations, Dr Reddy will impart her global competencies and guidance to enhance the safety and excellence of
healthcare in the United States and other countries.
A firm believer in the potential of leveraging technology in a holistic manner, Dr. Sangita Reddy is focused on setting benchmarks in futuristic health care projects enabling IOT, AI, Data analytics, Drone technology and Block chain. A driving force behind the adoption of
innovation and foundational technological building blocks like PHR, the Telemedicine platforms which have successfully evolved into Apollo 24/7 a patient centric digital healthcare platform. It is under her leadership that Apollo Hospitals has received three consecutive
HiMSS-Elsevier ICT achievement awards and four hospitals have achieved the HiMSS Level-6 certification. Apollo Hospitals Hyderabad has emerged as Asia’s first Health City. As a preeminent policy influencer and reformist, Dr. Sangita Reddy has been actively engaged in collaboration with governments and industry bodies on a spectrum of public health and policy development matters. She was appointed to the CSIR overarching committee, where she works in close proximity to the Indian scientific and research community in order to hasten the application of science for the benefit of the nation in various ways, ranging from economic prosperity to social wellbeing and healthcare. Dr. Reddy has been successful in advocating and promulgating policy reforms, and her insights have been sought after on various international healthcare forums, including the World Health Congress. Additionally, as a member of the Rockefeller Working Group, she has contributed significantly to the advancement of the private sector’s role in the global healthcare industry. Committed to the establishment of a more comprehensive public and private healthcare system in the nation, one of Dr. Sangita Reddy’s initiatives has been Apollo Clinics, which aspires to create a series of tech-driven primary care clinics throughout urban and rural India. She is also Chairman at Apollo Knowledge, an educational venture devoted to the formation of healthcare human capital for the future, as well as the head of Apollo Philanthropy, an umbrella association embracing the ‘Save a Child’s Heart Initiative’, SAHI, CURE, and the Billion Hearts Beating Foundation, Total Health – an exceptional amalgamated rural health model, with a concentration in public and private sectors. To commemorate her unwavering efforts and resolute dedication to the transformation of healthcare, the development of Health IT, and her vigorous promotion of multiple initiatives in both India and overseas, Dr. Sangita Reddy has been granted an Honorary Doctorate by Macquarie University Australia. In
addition, she has been appointed as the Honorary Consul of Brazil in Hyderabad by the Government of India, and was previously a member of the World Economic Forum. Dr. Sangita Reddy has been the recipient of numerous prestigious awards for business and leadership, and is ranked by Business Today as most powerful women in business 2022.
Susan Lim is a surgeon, scientist, playwright, lyricist, and creative director of a project centred on a future companionship between human and inanimate, enabled through the new sciences and technologies, to address the global challenge of loneliness and the need for new approaches to companionship in a future world.
In 2004, Susan embarked on surgical training with a robot Zeus in Santa Barbara. The objective was that the partnership of man and machine would perform a surgical task better than either could do alone. She continued her career path in robotics, and subsequently, when Zeus ‘died’, she partnered dA Vinci, a state-of-the-art, surgical robot, working many hours alone with the robot, to perform complex surgeries.
In 2017, Susan was invited to speak at an INK conference in Hyderabad in a session ‘Giant leaps: thrilling potential of AI and Robotics’.
She partnered with a hologram of a plush Inanimate toy, ALAN, and spoke on ‘the Future of Companionship’ .
The audience response was overwhelmingly enthusiastic and positive, and this inspired Susan to further develop the theme through a musical storyboard, together with co-creator Christina Teenz Tan, and a team of composers and animators, grouped together as the ALAN team.
Her path to storytelling started with words to form lyrics, composed into songs, which inspired orchestral tracks, then arranged into six ACTs to form a 32 min cross genre ‘Lim Fantasy of Companionship for Piano and Orchestra’. This was recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra , London Voices, pianist Tedd Joselson, and an electric guitarist, bass player, drums and solo voice,
120 musicians to be exact, at Abbey Rd Studios in Nov 2019. It was released on Signum Records in April 2021, had a World Premiere at the Esplanade Concert Hall Singapore in June 2022, , and was recently presented by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a UK Premiere, at the Cadogan Hall, London in July 2023.
The musical storyboard of the Lim Fantasy has inspired a series of animation short films under the direction of animation artist Samudra Kajal Saikia. This has won more than 800 awards in film festivals globally, including wins in 10 categories at the Cannes World Film Festival 2021, for best original story, best soundtrack and best animation, and best Score at the British Short Film Awards 2021, best animation at the Chicago filmmaker awards Dec 2022, and Best in Show, Diamond award, best animation, SoCal film Awards season 16, 2022, and best Musical Film at the Oniros Film Awards New York, Jan 2023, among others.
Susan’s next project is a sequel, a ‘Cosmic Rhapsody’, which sees the partnership of human and inanimate head up to space, to find solutions to earth’s environmental crisis, that may save the human race. The soundtrack has been recorded at Abbey Rd Studios with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Robert Ziegler, the London Voices and ALAN team of musicians, and the animation film is underway.
Dr (Prof) (Inv) U S Vishal Rao –
MS, FRCS (Glasgow) FACS (USA), FKSTA(GoK) , Fellow of Royal Society of Medicine.
He is currently the Country Director – Head Neck Surgical Oncology & Robotic Surgery at HCG Cancer Centre Bengaluru. He is also the Dean – Centre of Academics & Research for HCG Group. He has more than 100 national and international publications to his credit and he has received various awards from State as international bodies such as Kempegowda award by Govt and Judy Wilenfied award for Global Tobacco control by WHO Partners. He is a Member – Consultative Group to Principal Scientific Advisor to PM – Govt of India. He is also a Member of Vision group for Biotechnology – Govt of Karnataka. He is a Member of High power on tobacco control and cancer control – Govt of Karnataka.
Farhana Haque is a leading voice in technology, building large companies, STEM education and driving innovation at scale.
Farhana is a resilient leader with a keen eye on future technologies. As the Senior Director for Cloud Solutions for Manufacturing and Conglomerates at Microsoft India, her visionary leadership has been pivotal in nurturing a network of partners to architect their digital growth strategy. In her preceding role, she served as the Modern Work Leader for the country, orchestrating the widespread adoption of the Modern Work platform among India’s major enterprises, thereby solidifying it as Microsoft’s largest cloud deployment.
With around 20+ years of experience in business consultation and P&L management, powering the intelligent edge and other tech building a better tomorrow, Farhana has held several leadership positions at business organizations of international repute. Before joining Microsoft, she was VP and Business Head for IoT at Vodafone Business Services responsible for managing the P&L for IoT. During her stint, Vodafone Business Services was conferred with the prestigious IoT Business of the Year Award.
Farhana’s career trajectory includes a significant period at IBM Global Business Services, where she orchestrated business process transformation, revenue generation, and profitability for key manufacturing and retail clients. Her multifaceted expertise, ranging from technology to marketing to sales, has consistently proven instrumental in driving strategic growth.
An accomplished artist and a guiding presence for startups in IoT, Telco, and digital innovation, Farhana’s commitment to giving back to society is unwavering. Leveraging her IBM experience, she made a transformative impact during her time at CSC Peru, collaborating with local NGOs on diverse social and economic endeavors. Her commitment extends as she serves on the advisory board for influential initiatives such as FICCI Empowering Women – Empowering India and Women Inspired World. Beyond this, she lends her expertise to the Institution’s Innovation Council (IIC) at K. J. Somaiya Institute of Engineering and Information Technology, Mumbai. Through her fervent support for organizations championing STEM education for women and girls, Farhana actively contributes to shaping a more inclusive and equitable future.
Farzana Haque is one of the world’s leading voices and influencers on building large organisations, women empowerment, technology, youth development, and education.
Farzana Haque is a true powerhouse of energy and experience, boasting an illustrious global career that has made a significant impact on the world. As a Senior Leader at TCS (Tata Consultancy Services), she has played a crucial role in the transformation and institutional building of the organization, a journey that began when she joined the TATA group as a management trainee and steadily climbed the ranks.
A humanitarian-at-heart, Farzana is not only a successful businesswoman but also a passionate advocate for gender and pay equality, women’s economic empowerment, and women’s representation on corporate boards. Her commitment to fostering women entrepreneurs and leaders is evident through her involvement with the organization Greater 50, where she collaborates to contribute to the development of strong women in business. She has many transformational & institutional building roles to her credit.
As an Angel Investor and mentor to numerous entrepreneurs worldwide, Farzana’s vast network has allowed her to empower aspiring and established entrepreneurs alike. She serves on various boards, including those of global women-centric funds, and is an investor in women-led startups and organizations, solidifying her reputation as a global brand ambassador for Catalyst for Women Entrepreneurs.
She has been invited over the years to do plenary sessions and keynotes at Harvard, Stanford, MIT, LBS, and Wharton. She is also on the Board of Glendale Academy – that is helping build future leaders and is a patron of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and The Julliard School in NYC. Haque works and divides her time between her homes in NYC and London and is a mother of two boys.
Gagan leads the engineering, data, and analytics departments at ProClime, focusing on spatial data and climate technologies to foster transparency and accountability in climate action. He is also a Global Shaper and a member of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps.
He is currently merging tech and ecology to create solutions for the ongoing climate and biodiversity crises.
Gauri is an environmental entrepreneur, researcher, and optimist with regard to municipal systems. With an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies and Politics from Whitman College, Washington State, and a post-graduate degree in Urban Policy and Governance from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, she drives systems and innovation at CARPE | EcoSattva.
Giles Williams was educated at Oakham School in Rutland and the University of Oxford, where he secured a degree in History. He subsequently taught English in Taiwan and France before joining Brooke House College in 1997. Over 25 years at the college Giles has managed academic year programmes, the development of the Football Academy and Summer School. Brooke House College Football Academy now operates as one of the finest private football academies in an educational context in the UK. It has allowed professional football careers for approaching 100 young players, and focuses on combining educational and sporting pursuits effectively, psychology, diet and nutrition, sports science and strategic game analysis. Brooke House College has partner institutions in the USA, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and China.
Dr. Gopichand Katragadda is the Founder and CEO of Myelin Foundry, an AI company with a vision to transform human experiences and industry outcomes. He is an Independent Director of Bosch India Limited and ICICI Securities. He is also the Deputy President of the IET, Board of Trustees UK, and a member of the NASSCOM governing council for the Centre of Excellence for Data Science & AI.
Till January 2019, Gopi was the Group Chief Technology Officer and Innovation Head of Tata Sons. At Tata Sons, he facilitated the development of pioneering products and services, strategic technology collaboration, and innovation across the $100 Billion Tata Group. Previously, as the Chairman and Managing Director of GE India Technology Centre, he helped grow GE’s largest R&D Centre – the John F. Welch Technology Centre, to be amongst the world’s leaders in intellectual property generation.
Gopi is the past Chairman of the CII National Technology Committee and the CII Western Region Innovation Taskforce. He is a GE Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt. Gopi helped establish the Advanced Materials CoE at IIT-Madras and the Advanced Manufacturing CoE at IIT-Kharagpur. He has framed the CII-Tata Communications Digital Transformation CoE. Gopi also set up and managed the ongoing Tata research collaborations with Harvard and Yale.
Gopi has authored a book on innovation titled “SMASH,” currently in its second edition. He has over 30 journal publications, five patents, several invited presentations and citations of his research work. Gopi holds a BE degree in Electronics Engineering from Bangalore University and MS, PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Iowa State University.
Gopi is the past Chairman of the CII National Technology Committee and the CII Western Region Innovation Taskforce. He is a GE Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt. Gopi helped establish the Advanced Materials CoE at IIT-Madras and the Advanced Manufacturing CoE at IIT-Kharagpur. He has framed the CII-Tata Communications Digital Transformation CoE. Gopi also set up and managed the ongoing Tata research collaborations with Harvard and Yale.
Gopi has authored a book on innovation titled “SMASH,” currently in its second edition. He has over 30 journal publications, five patents, several invited presentations and citations of his research work. Gopi holds a BE degree in Electronics Engineering from Bangalore University and MS, PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Iowa State University.
Hannah Muthoot, the fourth-generation torchbearer of the venerable Muthoot Pappachan Group, intertwines her legacy with her fervor for social empowerment. An alumna of the University of Southern California with a rich background in social entrepreneurship, she carries forward the group’s legacy with renewed zeal. Hannah harnesses the group’s longstanding dedication to grassroots sports development for Indian youth, channeling her personal passion for empowerment. As she drives the vision forward, she’s building an unparalleled sports ecosystem in India, amplifying the Group’s mission to inspire, uplift, and transform the next generation through the power of sports.
Harpreet is a professor of Interaction Design, a field that usually investigates relationships between people and products. Harpreet’s practice, however, focuses on people’s interactions with plants; he creates plant technologies and bio-digital hybrids. His research challenges us to reconsider what nature really is — and its role in fundamentally redesigning our technologies.
He is a professor in New York, a Fellow at the Berggruen Institute — a think tank in Los Angeles, Director of Synthetic Ecosystems Lab and has served as advisor to startups and governments. He graduated from the MIT Media Lab, and has worked in museums and research centers in Bangalore, Singapore, Austria, Japan and France. Harpreet grew up in Punjab, and is not only inspired by potentials of technology but by how nature is viewed and revered in cultural histories of India and across Asia.
Hilary McGeachy was the 2018 Alliance 21 Fellow at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. During her fellowship, Hilary was based at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, DC where she examined the challenges facing industry and policymakers in the rapidly evolving areas of emerging technology, international rules and geo-economic competition.
A career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Hilary has previously served as a trade negotiator for the Australian Government on e-commerce, telecommunications and digital issues in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, World Trade Organization and at APEC.
Jayesh is a CoFounder of Sony Entertainment Television, a major Indian television network of Sony, which he successfully exited in 2013.
He was one of the Managing Partners in Jungle Ventures in Singapore, which is a SE Asia technology fund that has AUM of a billion dollars.
Jayesh is a Managing Partner of Good Protein Fund, a venture capital fund in Singapore that invests worldwide in Alternative Protein companies. The fund invests in deep-technology early-stage plant based, cultivated meat and fermentation companies.
He spent over 12 years in sales at IBM in Houston and Singapore. He was part of the team that brought IBM back to India.
Jayesh was one of the early investors in Aavishkaar, an impact venture capital fund in India that has a billion dollars under management. He is an investment committee member in 2 Aavishkaar VC funds.
He is an Advisory Board member of Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital, a non-profi based in Bihar. Akhand Jyoti performed 90,000 cataract operations last year, 80% of them for free. They are well known for their ‘Football to Eyeball’ gender diversity program.
Jayesh holds a Bachelors degree from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda and a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He is an IIT Kgp and IIM Calcutta drop out.
Ms. Jennifer Larson is the Consul General in Hyderabad, India. She was previously Director and acting DAS of the Office of India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives Affairs. She also served four years as the Deputy Principal Officer in Mumbai, India. Prior to
completing a year-long course at the National Defense University in June 2016, she was Spokesperson at the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. Ms. Larson served as the Principal Officer in Benghazi, Libya, and then Acting Deputy Chief of Mission in Tripoli. She has also served in Pakistan, France, Sudan, Jerusalem and Lebanon.
Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Ms. Larson worked for NPR’s San Francisco affiliate as a talk show producer. She completed her undergraduate and graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley in Comparative Literature (Arabic, Spanish and French) and Middle East Studies.
Jesko von den Steinen formerly a principal solo artist with Cirque du Soleil, and at “The House of Dancing Water”, by the Franco Dragone Entertainment Group held at the City of Dreams in Macau.
Trained in wide variety of theatrical disciplines spanning dance, contemporary circus arts, acting, and devised theatre at prominent institutions around the globe, Jesko is now the Lead Facilitator and Director of Experience Consulting with PwC – Middle East in Dubai.
Jesko is a professionally certified facilitator (CPF) and organizational coach (PCC), He works as a coach with global leaders on developing their executive presence and Leadership through storytelling and people skills.
An alumnus of NYU & YCombinator, Jinesh currently serves as the Chief Investment Officer at Ahimsa VC – India’s first & only impact venture capital fund focused on disrupting animal agriculture by investing in a sustainable future of food, materials & beyond. Jinesh has founded Alt Protein startups backed by the likes of Khosla Ventures & NBA athletes, & independently collaborated with dozens of alt protein & materials startups globally including Eat JUST & Good Dot through his company AltX Ventures.
Jinesh earlier spent 15 years in leadership roles across Wall Street with Morgan Stanley, & in Silicon Valley with Microsoft & data analytics driven startups, living across 3 continents while also partnering with government & non-profit entities such as GFI India, EU’s EIT, Cambridge University & others across 6 continents.
Jinesh was a national level collegiate basketball player in India and you’ll often find him trekking the Sahyadris and the Himalayas.
Jogesh Lulla is the COO and co-founder of Cornerstone Sport, India’s Leading full service sports marketing agency. Cornerstone has a 360 degree approach to brands and works with them to deliver unique and varied solutions ranging from celebrity associations, sponsorships, intellectual property creation and management, content production, animation, In-Film branding, influencer Activations and brand creation and licensing.
Jogesh is an alumnus of Purdue University and has a degree in Computer Technology. With over 23 years of experience his focus is on all aspects in the digital space as well as leading the creation of any new business verticals. He has lead projects like Wrogn, One8, Muve Acoustics and the latest being the esports and marathon and fitness verticals at Cornerstone.
Joi Barua is an Indian artist whose music encompasses Rock, Soul, Jazz & World Music. His original music is inspired by folklore, mythology & the history of North East India. He works in the Indian Movie Industry as a Composer/Singer and has been part of genre defining & multi award winning films such as Dev D, Udaan, Zindagi na Milegi Dobara, Margarita With A Straw & Laila Majnu.
He has lately been involved with the London Symphony Orchestra & the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra – London, in creating Orchestral Music around a story of Artificial Intelligence & future life. His forays into understanding Assamese ethnicity have taken him into the histories of Assam’s plural tribal identity in particular, and the North East Of India, in general.
Joi Barua has also been an active voice in speaking up for the Rain Forests and the conservation of forest belts in the North East of India, and the indigenous identities of its citizens.
Recently Joi Barua has been involved with the Indian Army in developing anthems around critical wars & warzones of the last century. He is also developing the current theme song for the India Inclusion Summit which brings together people with all kinds of disabilities in the Indian diaspora and works at solutions.
Latha is a product visionary for AI products. She currently leads Growth and Strategic AI Initiatives at Merly Mind, a research forward EdTech startup focused on transforming the lives of teachers and learning outcomes worldwide. Latha transforms the deep tech expertise and vision of Merlyn founders into AI powered-classroom Assistants and domain specific Generative AI solutions. Merlyn’s Symphony classroom product has already transformed teaching experience across thousands of classrooms in the United States. Her technology background, industry experience in Consumer Tech, pioneering EdTech and her customer obsession drive her commitment to bring Responsible AI solutions and products to the market.
Prior to Merlyn Mind, Latha has led pivotal roles at Amazon and Intel. She was responsible for launching the Alexa service on PCs to bring the digital assistant to everyone’s desk. She also launched the award-winning Echo Spot driving it from the very first concept to being a 4.5 star product across millions of households. At Intel she defined and drove the ecosystem and wireless strategy for Intel Atom processor family.
She has a Masters in Computer Science from ASU and MBA from Duke.
Luke Iseman is the founder of Make Sunsets, the first company to deploy reflective clouds into the stratosphere. Make Sunsets’ mission is to Cool Earth.
Luke has over 10 years of experience in building and leading startups that focus on personal sustainability, such as boxouse, growerbot, Soil IQ, and re:char. Luke has also worked as the Director of Hardware at Y Combinator, where he helped hundreds of hardware founders accelerate their growth and achieve their goals. Luke is passionate about solving environmental and social challenges with innovative technology and design.
Manu is working on tackling extreme poverty by providing dignified digital work to rural Indians. He’s the CEO of Karya, a transformative AI collective that is enabling dignified livelihoods. In the last three years, his work has moved over 100,000 rural Indians out of extreme poverty. He graduated from Stanford University in 2017, where he co-founded CS+Social Good, Stanford’s first student group focused on technology and impact.
As a social entrepreneur, Manvendra is committed to the long term renewal of places where their family has invested in the creation or restoration of tourism destinations: Suryagarh in Jaisalmer, Narendra Bhawan in Bikaner, and Mary Budden Estate in Binsar. By restoring forts and palaces that have fallen into disrepair, their projects act as catalysts for curating contemporary cultural hubs. By serving as incubation labs, these culture hubs foster collaboration and inspire innovation within their local communities.
Over the course of his entrepreneurial journey, he has understood the value of building institutions to address systemic change. To scale the impact of their catalytic projects, and to connect with like-minded individuals and institutions, Manvendra established ‘The Love Foundation’ in 2013. Through this platform, they have managed to complete 30 community projects, including civic clean-ups and conservation campaigns. The Foundation’s work in helping initiate India’s first citizen-airline partnership in Jaisalmer was particularly pleasing, as it successfully demonstrated the value of co-operation and partnership. Collectively, their projects have had a tangible and positive impact by fostering pride and social consciousness in local communities.
For the past decade, he has immersed myself in their ‘moonshot’ (or some may say ‘Earthshot’): Dhun. Dhun is envisioned as an intentional community and sustainable habitat for 8,500 individuals. Their mission is to foster continuous learning, holistic well-being, and the realization of individuals’ true potential. Together with the help of a small, dedicated team, and the support of several partners, they have transformed 500 acres of barren land into a flourishing ecosystem.
Now, their mission at Dhun is to reimagine traditional knowledge systems, celebrate local craftsmanship, and promote regenerative practices. By incorporating the region’s cultural heritage and stories, they provide a unique and enriching experience for inhabitants. Dhun reflects his passion for regeneration, community, and the exploration of human potential. By building a shared vision, and through collective effort, Dhun will be a catalyst for the built environment and ecosystem restoration.
As the CEO of the foundation, Naghma has been instrumental in driving the mission of the organization towards creating asymmetrical impact across the project areas. Her strong financial background has enabled her to improve the performance of the organization by creating effectives partnerships and associating with credible NGOs. Naghma is also associated with several not-for-profits in different capacities. She has been a Director at Railway Children India and a mentor at the Nadathur S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning in Bangalore, providing support to start-ups. Prior to her role at EdelGive Foundation, Naghma began her career as an Accounts Manager with Bajaj Alliance General Insurance in their initial team. Naghma is a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and has a Masters of Commerce (M. Com.) degree from Pune University. She also has a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com.) degree from V.E.S. College of Commerce in Mumbai.
Neeraj is the Founder and CEO of WisdomCircle – a platform that connects retirees to meaningful paid part-time work opportunities.
Prior to WisdomCircle he spent 15 years with Egon Zehnder. He has also worked with McKinsey, BCG, Schlumberger and EIL.
He has an MBA from University of Chicago, and an MS from Stanford.
Neeta Premchand is a paper historian whose fascination with paper began with the Rio Conference 1992. Her curiosity started in Japan where quickly realised that they respected the craft and the artisan. She traveled in India in the footsteps of the American paper historian, Dard Hunter who had done the journey in the 1920s. In the 1990s, she found everything exactly as he had described it. But, tragically, in the next 10 years, everything changed. The paper was still made using cotton rags, but now, it was made by machine and cut by hand and could be sold as hand-made paper. At around the same time, she came upon the mill in Daulatabad which, in the 17th century had made the thinnest and strongest paper in the world and was used for miniature painting at the court of the Emperor Jehangir. It was about to be demolished. But there were still 2 master craftsmen. She took over the mill and laboriously cleaned and revived it.
Neeta Premchand has lived between India and Switzerland for the last five decades.
Neha Bagaria is the Founder & CEO of HerKey – India’s largest career engagement platform for women that unlocks opportunities, learning, and communities for women by connecting them with career champions.
Neha founded HerKey (formerly JobsForHer) after taking a 3.6-year break from her own career when she had her children. Prior to her career break, she worked at Kemwell, a biopharmaceutical manufacturing company based in Bangalore, where she was involved in the fields of HR, Finance and Marketing strategy for their facilities in India, Sweden, and the US. Before she moved to Bangalore, Neha was the Founder & CEO of Paragon, an educational startup based in Mumbai that brought the Advanced Placement Program to India.
Neha graduated with honours from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Finance, Marketing, and Management of Information Systems. Her exceptional achievements have earned her recognition and accolades in various prestigious lists. She was featured in Forbes India’s WPower Trailblazers list, which honours 25 remarkable women achievers, as a game-changer and innovator who is breaking stereotypes. Additionally, Neha has been acknowledged as one of the “Top 100 Global Women Trailblazers – Founders” by StrongHer Ventures and has been included in the “Women in Tech Powerhouse 40” by Dataquest in 2023. These recognitions further validate her remarkable contributions in her respective fields.
Neha is based in Bangalore and is a mother to two athletic boys. She is an avid traveller and enjoys adventure sports like skiing, scuba diving, and hiking.
Nidhi is the Co-Founder of Science For Society – S4S Technologies. She works at the intersection of agriculture, gender, energy access, and financial inclusion. S4S Technologies is a near-farm gate food processing platform converting farm losses to value-added products for the F&B Industry.
The organization helps transform smallholder women farmers into entrepreneurs by providing the right combination of technology, finance, and market and increasing their household income by 100-200% annually. S4S Technologies is working with over 100,000 farmers and 2000 women entrepreneurs. In the process, they help save over 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the environment.
Nithin bootstrapped and founded Zerodha in 2010 to overcome the hurdles he faced during his decade-long stint as a trader. Over the last decade, Zerodha has changed the landscape of the Indian broking industry. With over 12 million clients and contributing to over 18% of the exchange retail trading volumes, Zerodha is
the largest stock broker in India today.
A tech-first company now, Zerodha offers innovative trading & investing solutions that appeal to a wide audience in a bid to reach those sections of society that have stayed away from the capital market so far.
Nithin also started Rainmatter, an R&D fintech incubator and fund that has partnered with some of the best investment-tech startups in India. Rainmatter is focussed on creating an ecosystem for spurring innovation in the financial technology industry in India.
More recently, Nithin has also set up the Rainmatter Climate Foundation — an Indian climate fund providing funding to startups and grassroots organizations working on solutions to mitigate climate change.
Nithin is also a part of the Secondary Market Advisory Committee (SMAC) and Market Data Advisory Committee (MDAC) with SEBI.
Outside of work, Nithin enjoys spending time with his family, playing the guitar, poker, basketball, and swimming.
Pankaj Kedia is a renowned Silicon Valley technology executive currently focused on shaping, accelerating, and bringing the benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to society-at-large as an investor, advisor, and thought-leader. Previously, Pankaj was an accomplished tech intrapreneur, having incubated a series of new businesses at Intel and Qualcomm.
Pankaj is the Founder and Managing Partner of 2468 Ventures, a global AI investment and advisory firm, where he has invested in 100+ early-stage and Series A startups at the intersection of AI and targeted high-growth verticals including healthcare, sports-n-fitness, industrials, marketplaces, energy, and finance. He holds leadership roles across leading VC and angel groups including the COO of Wharton Alumni Angels, Venture Partner at Interlock Capital and VU Ventures, Limited Partner at Behind Genius Ventures, Launch Fund, Mighty Capital, and NuFund Venture Group, and a VC Scout for Ganas Ventures and Expert Dojo. Pankaj serves as the Chair of the AI Committee for Erez Capital, leads AI deal flow for NuFund Ventures, and is the AI Curator for a series of industry events including INK in India and TiE in San Diego. He is an adjunct MBA professor for AI at the University of San Diego and is a guest AI lecturer at several other institutions. Pankaj has always been passionate about AI having pursued his undergrad and graduate thesis on the topic and demonstrated a history of leveraging AI and ML throughout his career.
Previously, as a Tech Intrapreneur, Pankaj played pivotal roles in incubating a range of businesses and device categories at Fortune 100 companies over the last 25+ years. At Qualcomm Technologies, Pankaj founded and led the wearables business to a 9-figure franchise, establishing Snapdragon Wear as the premier brand in the industry. Earlier at Intel Corporation, Pankaj played a pivotal role in unleashing the Internet from the desktop with the introduction and growth of laptop PCs and, subsequently, making it mobile and accessible to all with the introduction of industry’s first modern tablets, smartphones, and handhelds.
Pankaj is a sought-after CXO Advisor and Board Member to numerous private and public market companies. He serves on the non-profit boards of the Salvation Army Kroc Center and Wearable Tech Ventures, is an Exec-On-Deck Fellow, a member of the operators Guild, and a founding member of the Round innovation community. He is currently enrolled in the Stanford LEAD innovation program, has an MBA from The Wharton School, an MS from the University of Michigan, and a BS from the Indian Institute of Technology. Pankaj is an avid photographer, a TED speaker, a gadget addict, and a global traveler
Paroma is a communication, advocacy and public affairs professional with more than two decades of experience across global organizations. She has held leadership positions in companies like GE, Hewlett Packard, Airtel, Google, where she set up the comms function and tem for India and SoftBank, where I drove Asia Communications.
Till recently, she was the Senior Vice President and head of Communications and Public Affairs at BYJU’S India’s largest EdTech start-up and one of the world’s largest. She is also a visiting faculty member in the School of Management and Entrepreneurship at Shiv Nadar University, a leading private university in India and earlier, She has been a member of the start-up team of the Indian School of Business, India’s first global business school. She also serves on the board of CXXO, India’s only female founder fund.
Paroma holds a deep interest in social responsibility, especially in corporate philanthropy, diversity and inclusion efforts, education for the under-privileged and the conservation of the environment. She has overseen diversity, community relations and corporate giving in almost all of her jobs.
Pawan is the Co-Founder and CEO of Skyroot Aerospace, India’s leading space-tech enterprise, and a scientist-turned-space entrepreneur. Skyroot is a National Award-winning pioneer in designing and building space launch vehicles in the Indian private space sector. It is led by its vision of opening space for all by making space flights affordable, reliable and regular. An alumnus of IIT – Kharagpur with Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering and Masters in Thermal Science and Engineering, Pawan is featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia and named among the next 100 young achievers by India Today. Pawan is a speaker, mentor and thought leader in the space sector, and writes for leading publications. In November 2022, he, along with his co-founder, Bharath Daka, led Skyroot to become the first private company in India and South Asia to successfully launch a privately built rocket to space.
With an acting career that started at 17 years of age, distant education and self learning was an integral part of her life. At the same time honing a God-given talent presenting on TV, working with the most prolific directors in theater in India and playing characters in films in both India and Overseas. Her drive led her into all avenues of performance as a working actor.
Upon losing her parents in her late twenties, the world opened up in ways unimaginable. She was going to be soon on route to find her tribe, an Artistic Community that would help fulfill her true purpose.
Omaggio Performing Company was founded in 2013 with Peeya and her partner Tino Sanchez. The project was born from a deep mission to empower young potential youth with training and development to find fruition as International level performers. In the last decade, she has completely dedicated herself towards the growth of these young Indian artists. Working tirelessly along with this collective to share and raise the level of performing arts in Goa, where they have been based since the beginning.
Now as Omaggio is well on its journey and has been creating few soul stirring and highly skilled productions, she is now closer to her second mission of moving their unique language of performance art into the hearts of audiences from all across the globe. Making the nation proud and bringing excellence into an art form which is now ever so ready to become Industry.
Poomani Duraiswamy is a Scientist & Engineer ‘SG’ at ISRO.
Prabhat Sinha, the founder of Mann Deshi Champions, is an athlete, sports agent in the US, and a writer from rural India. With a decade of experience, he has pioneered India’s first skilling and Incubation center for sports, empowering over 8,000 athletes and creating sports-related jobs for rural women.
As a sports agent, Prabhat has collaborated with NBA and Track & Field athletes. His remarkable achievements have earned him recognition as a guest speaker at esteemed institutions like Georgetown University, Trinity College, NYU, Madrid University, the World Bank, G20 SEWA, as well as TedX events. He is also an esteemed Acumen Fellow.
Pradeep has over 25 years of global experience, in technology, management consulting and investing/funding. He started in the Silicon Valley with Deloitte, as a management consultant, coding and building software application products. After a stint with technology start-ups, Pradeep moved to New York to be part of an advisory start up led by President Clinton and Mayor Bloomberg. This led to another early stage opportunity to join an organization started by Paul Volcker, focused on the financial sector, academia and government.
He then moved to India to head the Ford Foundation in the region for five years. He is now back in Silicon Valley, where he is an advisor to startups and on the board of a few NGOs.
Prerna A Jhunjhunwala, is a 2-time founder with a successful exit and runs her family business of textiles. Presently, she is the Founder and CEO of Creative Galileo, India’s largest Kids learning app for children between the ages of 3 to 10.
Creative Galileo was established with a vision to revolutionize early learning, to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Her startup has garnered significant recognition and secured funding of 13.5 million SGD at a valuation of 53 million SGD in a short span of 2 years from prominent South-east Asian and Indian venture capitalists, including Kalaari Capital, Affirma Capital, and East Ventures. Creative Galileo’s educational apps have achieved remarkable success with over 10 million downloads and the distinction of being one of the top 20 education apps on the Play Store in India.
Through strategic partnerships with over 20 industry-leading content studios worldwide, Creative Galileo has created an engaging, fun, and immersive learning experience for children across continents. By integrating popular Indian and international kids’ characters such as Curious Kemi, English Playground, Little Singham, Bal Ganesh, and Mighty Raju, to name a few, the app provides outcome-based learning modules designed by education experts. Its narrative videos, gamification, and personalized learning journeys accelerate early literacy development.
Creative Galileo’s educational content has recently been affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education of India and is launching tie-ups with over 1800 schools in India to uplift the standard of education for millions of children. Twice, the company has made it to HolonIQ’s annual list of the 100 most promising EdTech start-ups from India & South Asia. After India, which was its launch market, Creative Galileo has extensive plans to expand in Southeast Asia.
Before this, Prerna was also the founder of Little Paddington, one of Singapore’s leading preschools. She recently made a remarkable exit, selling the preschool to Affirma Capital, a Singapore-based private equity firm, after achieving an impressive 35 per cent EBITDA margin and a 35x return on capital invested. An exit of ~ 35 million SGD. Little Paddington had over 500 children from around 60 nationalities and employed over 80 teachers. Focused on “Holistic child-led experiential learning”, the Little Paddington schools and curricula have received several awards, including Preschool of the Year (Southeast Asian Business Awards 2021), Best Infant Day Care Centre (Southeast Asian Business Awards 2021), Community in Bloom – Silver Banding, Best Preschool of Asia (Global Performance Awards, 2017) and more.
She is also actively running her family business of textiles for Agarpara Jutemill Co, which employs over 3000 people, has revenue over 35 million SGD/ year and is spread over 50 acres in Kolkata, India. Jute is a 100 per cent biodegradable fibre and is the most eco-friendly fabric. A firm believer in sustainability, Prerna has overseen the production of Agarpara, which produces nearly 20,000 tonnes of jute yarn yearly. Agarpara is one of the best-regarded jute manufacturing units in West Bengal.
As a self-made entrepreneur, Prerna continues to set higher goals for herself, driven by her commitment to digital and educational equality as the most significant contribution to future generations. An NYU graduate, Prerna moved to Singapore with a vision to modernize and enhance early childhood education. She believes that a child’s future is not solely determined by grades but also by impeccable social, cognitive, and leadership skills. Prerna’s exceptional achievements have been recognized with prestigious awards, including The Economic Times’ Women in Tech – Inspiring Business Leader Award and Entrepreneur India’s Creative Entrepreneur of the Year. Recently, she was felicitated as a Trailblazer Women Leader by BRICS CCI.
Twelve-time Emmy award winner Raj Mathai is the weeknight news anchor for NBC Bay Area and is among the Bay Area’s most well-known journalists.
Raj interviews high profile newsmakers including Vice President Kamala Harris, Governor Gavin Newsom, General Colin Powell, baseball legend Barry Bonds, 49ers owner Jed York and many more. He is also a field anchor for NBC Bay Area’s breaking news and does big event coverage including the 2020 Super Bowl in Miami, 2019 Gilroy mass shooting and 2017 Inauguration of Donald Trump.
In 1995, Raj became the country’s first Indian sportscaster. Prior to his career in television, he served as a public relations assistant for the San Diego Chargers for five seasons.
Raj is on the Board of Governors for the San Francisco Symphony and Board of Directors for the Asian Pacific Fund. He and his family contribute to various Bay Area charities.
Rajashree, a visionary powerhouse who has dedicated 21 formidable years to shaping the future of Fortune 500 giants like IBM, Intel, and SAP. Her indomitable spirit and unwavering passion led her to ascend to the prestigious position of Vice President for AI Innovation Hub (APAC) at the illustrious Rolls Royce.
A maestro in the field of emerging technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain, Cloud Computing, Sustainability, Smart Cities, Ecosystems and the awe-inspiring Climate Change Shree’s expertise is unrivalled. Her profound insights have been immortalized in her authored books, showcasing her prowess as a prolific writer.
She stands tall amongst the Top 100 B2B women leaders, an influential figure worth following, and is counted among the Top 50 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers in Emerging Technologies where her innovative ideas shape the very fabric of our ever-evolving world. Shree is a true champion of Sustainable Innovation and an unyielding force in the fight against Climate Change.
Today, fueled by her passion for making a difference, she has founded the Mythistical Foundation, a non-profit organization that heralds her foray into philanthropy.
Shree’s unparalleled passion as a “Technologist” blazes a trail, despite lacking a formal engineering degree. Faced with the challenge of her “non-techie” status, she has time and again displayed her technological and business acumen, earning numerous accolades from the industry. As a visionary technologist, she fervently believes in the power of inclusive technology. Guided by a vision of empowering marginalized communities, she is pioneering Techutzpah Consulting, an enterprise poised to create a profound social impact through digital enablement in both rural and urban sectors. Her unwavering mission is to bridge the digital divide, enabling women in tech and empowering individuals to flourish in the digital age.
Rajesh Setty is the co-founder of Audvisor.com and the author of “Smart but Stuck” and 16 other books.
Rajesh Setty is often referred to as the Silicon Valley’s secret “spark plug” for startups, scale-ups (and shake-ups).
Being a Polymath, Rajesh is constantly in the middle of running experiments across a variety of seemingly unrelated areas of interests but with the common goal of how to create a better world through the projects he incubates as one of the founders or participates in some meaningful capacity to help the founders.
Rajesh’s latest books are “Smart, but Stuck”, InsideFirst series of books and Napkinsights series of books.
You can find more about Rajesh at www.rajeshsetty.com
Backyard Creators is a medical devices company started by twin founders – Raman and Lakshmanan during their 4th semester of college. The company is focused on providing cost-effective solutions to medical conditions faced by weaker sections of society especially in India and neighboring countries. The first such solution is a highly affordable externally wearable ear device – Impulse, that helps people born with congenital hearing loss to gain their ability to hear.
Ravali is the Founder and Chief Product Officer of Demolish Foods, a company focused on producing whole-cut meats without the use of animals. With the goal of fostering a kinder, healthier, and more sustainable approach to food, Demolish Foods employs precision manufacturing technologies to mimic the texture and taste of meat with animal-free ingredients.
Prior to working with Demolish Foods, Ravali worked as a product manager and engineer at a biomedical wearable startup. She has a Master’s in Biomedical Engineering and a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras.
Sameer heads the Rainmatter Foundation since late 2020, when it was founded. His concern around food systems, climate and the biodiversity collapse we’re all seeing has led him further and further away from my earlier tech avatar. He runs a small locally focused travel outfit, created regenerative farming collectives and at the Rainmatter Foundation, is now trying to figure out ways to create mainstream change to try and address this most critical issue the species has ever faced.
Saurabh is the Founder of Virtualness, a global AI led web3 mobile-first platform designed to help creators and brands navigate the complex world of AI & blockchain on Web3. Authenticated creators and brands can use Virtualness to design, mint, and sell branded digital collectibles, directly interact with their community, enable unique fan experiences, and unlock new channels for monetization.
Formerly Saurabh held senior leadership roles at Meta for nearly a decade, heading Emerging Markets for Creator Products & Partnerships & Asia-Pacific for all Entertainment Experiences on Facebook and Instagram. Before Meta, Saurabh was Vice President at Viacom Group, heading digital initiatives, Star India & Investment Banker with Bank of America. Saurabh brings in almost two decades of global experience in the tech sector having played pivotal role in several transitions e.g. Web2, Mobile, Video, Social, Creator Economy and is now building the infrastructure blocks for Web3 leading to the Metaverse.
He was the Chairperson of the Asian Academy Creative Awards, Asia-Pacific and was recognized as 40underForty Winner by India’s Impact Magazine, and among Top 100 Global Talent by the UK Government’s Tech Nation List. Virtualness was recently awarded the top 50 global start-up across category by TiE Silicon Valley.
Shankar Vanavarayar is the President of Kumaraguru Institutions. The institutions impart high-quality education and impact society by empowering the youth. He is also the President of Suddha Sanmarga Nilayam Institutions, dedicated to enhancing the lives of thousands from very humble backgrounds.
Shankar is involved in various businesses of the Sakthi Group and is the Executive Director of ABT Industries Ltd. He is the current chairman of CII – Tamil Nadu State and was also the Past Chairman of Family Business Network – Next GEN Committee India and Chair of CII India@75 SR Task Force.
Shankar works with the youth of India with a vision to empower them towards building a greater nation. As a National Chairman of CII’s Young Indians in 2011-2012, Shankar played a key role in various national projects and was involved in the creation of the Commonwealth Asia Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs (CAAYE).
He founded the Coimbatore Innovation and Business Incubator and the Forge Accelerator, with an aspiration to encourage and support innovations and start-ups. He is a fellow of The Aspen Global Leadership Network, and the Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and looks at personal transformation as an integral ingredient to impact change in the larger world. Born in an ancient legacy, Shankar established The Vanavarayar Foundation with a vision to protect, preserve, portray its heritage, and works for the wellbeing of the agrarian community.
Shekhar Naik is an Indian blind cricketer and a former captain of the India national blind cricket team. He captained India to victories at the T20 Blind Cricket World Cup in 2012 and Blind Cricket World Cup in 2014. In 2017, the Government of India awarded Naik with Padma Shri, the country’s fourth-highest civilian honor. He is a Right-handed batsman and also a wicket-keeper
He currently runs the Shekhar Naik Foundation focused on bringing grassroots level blind cricketers to the center stage.
Shraddha leads the idea accelerator vertical at INKTalks, called INK Studio. She and her team collaborate with partners to give shape, structure, and direction to socially relevant programs. INK Studio strategizes, operationalizes and program manages the social impact initiatives from 0 to 3 years.
She holds a B.Tech degree in Biotechnology from ICFAI University, a Masters in Microbiology from Michigan State University, and a Business and Communications Certificate from Eli Broad School, MSU. She has about 13+ years of corporate experience, having previously worked in the Intellectual Property Rights division for Dr. Reddy’s and as the COO for a health and wellness startup in Hyderabad. Shraddha is also a talented dancer and dance fitness instructor and sangeet choreographer. She enjoys painting and up-cycling and creating home decor.
Founder, CEO, Parikrma Humanity Foundation. TED speaker, with over 15 years in social reform, education advocacy and the social sector.
Bose has been shaping and influencing education policies at the State and National levels. She was a member of the Karnataka Knowledge Commission (KKC) – headed by Dr K Kasturirangan. She is an academy Member at HundrED, Finland and is currently (2022) one of the Advisors in the National Focus Group, working on a chartered school governance and leadership plan.
Bose works with the Karnataka State Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and IQ Education Excellence Task Force to check on the quality of education. A national CII Education Committee member, Shukla, helps draft the national policy for schools. She is on the board of a few private and public sector organisations for the prevention of sexual harassment of women in the workplace. She continues to publish peer-reviewed papers in conferences and international journals.
Hailing from a small, nondescript village in rural Andhra Pradesh, Srikanth Bolla has faced adversities and overcome challenges which few others can imagine. Born blind to poor, uneducated parents, Srikanth has faced immense opposition and struggle early in life, but the challenges made him grow up to be a strong, trailblazing visionary. The very village that Srikanth was born in advised his parents to let him die as a baby. However, his parents were very compassionate and kind and brought him up with a lot of love and care.
Srikanth always had bigger dreams and aspired for much more than what others expected of him. He not only cleared his tenth and twelfth standard exams with flying colours but also managed to be the first international blind student to study at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. Apart from academics, he excelled at national level blind cricket, international chess and other sporting events, like baseball and swimming.
In 2012, Srikanth started Bollant Industries, his current organization, which has grown both horizontally and vertically and is valued at approximately Rs 500 crore, has an annual turnover of more than Rs 100 crore, and has 500+ employees.
Bollant was established with the mission of overcoming employment barriers for more than hundred million physically and mentally challenged people, and to provide sustainable and competitive employment to both skilled and unskilled or uneducated Indians.
While being an inspirational figure to the youth and promoting entrepreneurship, Srikanth also currently leads a non-profit called Surge Impact Foundation, as its Director. This organization believes in finding and honing more entrepreneurs like Srikanth to build India into a developed nation.
Sumit joined Give as a volunteer for the India Covid Response Fund, and stayed on because he was inspired by Give’s mission of making giving bigger and better. He is now the CEO for Give Grants, where he works with CSR donors to maximize their social impact. He also continues to play the COO role across Give. Sumit’s journey spans consulting, private equity and business operations. He earlier led the India investment team for Helix Investments, a US based $100mm private equity fund. He was also the COO for Netscribes, a global data and insights firm, and consulted for large Indian corporates while at KPMG. Sumit completed his MBA from IIM Bangalore.
Thierry Berthelot joined the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs in 1993 by clearing the “concours d’Orient”, after a first professional experience of five years. He held various positions, both in France and abroad before his appointment in Bangalore:
Head of the political section and First Counselor at the French Embassy in China (Beijing), until August 2021. He spent three years at the Ministry of Defense (2014-2017), at the department of strategy, as advisor for Asia (Paris). He served as Political Counselor at the French Embassy in China (2011-2014). Thierry Berthelot was Deputy Head of Mission at the French Embassy in Korea (2008-2011), after serving as First Secretary (2007). He served as Deputy Director for the Far East at the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (2005-2007), after serving as one of the Deputy to the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Press and Communication Section).
He followed a ten-month training course during at IGPDE, Institute of the Ministry of the Economy and Finance (2003-2004).
He was First Secretary at the Permanent Mission to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva (1999-2003). He was Second Secretary at the French Embassy in China (1995-1999). Upon joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993, Thierry Berthelot served two years in the Asia and Oceania directorate, as desk officer overseeing China and Mongolia issues.
Thierry was born in 1961. He grew up in mainland France and overseas.
He holds a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degree in Asian and Chinese studies from the National Institute of Oriental Studies (Paris), and a graduate school degree (DESS) from the University of Paris 2 (law and defense). Thierry is fluent in English and Chinese and has some knowledge of German.
Since September 20, 2021, Thierry Berthelot is Consul General of France in Bangalore (the jurisdiction covers the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana).
Tushar Hiranandani is an Indian film writer. He grew up around the world of films as his grandfather Hiranand Hiranandani and father Ashok Hiranandani were Hindi film distributors and had a company called Black and White film distribution. He has previously worked as the Head of Content and Development for Balaji Motion Pictures before moving into full time direction.
He made his debut as a writer with the 2004 film Masti and immediately rose to fame. He subsequently wrote for several films like Faltu (2011), Double Dhamaal (2011), Grand Masti (2013), ABCD (2013), Main Tera Hero (2014), Ek Villian (2014) ,ABCD 2 (2015), Dishoom (2016) and Half Girlfriend (2017).
Tushar Hiranandani made his directorial debut in 2019 with the critically acclaimed movie Saand Ki Aankh featuring the powerhouses Taapsee Pannu and Bhumi Pednekar. He was nominated at Filmfare 2020 for best debut director for Saand Ki Aankh. In the Pingyao International Film Festival, Saand Ki Aankh was nominated for People’s Choice Award (2019)-Gala-Best Film.
Tushar Hiranandani is currently working on a biopic based on Srikanth Bolla (played by Rajkumar Rao), who is a very successful visually impaired entrepreneur from a small town and was born to extremely poor parents.
Utsav Kheria is the co-founder of Rocket Learning, a high growth ed-tech non profit working on the large scale problem of educating India’s low income children. Recently recognised as one of India’s top 40 entrepreneurs, Utsav is an alum of IIM Ahmedabad and St. Xavier’s College, and previously headed operations at EduBridge, a vocational training organisation for unemployed youth. He dreams of seeing every individual with the ability and opportunity to fulfil their true potential.
Vandana Srinivasan is an Entrepreneur – Musician based in Madras & an alumna of LSE, UK. With over a decade of professional experience in the music sphere, she dons multiple hats; award-winning film playback singer, Indian classical musician in training, vocal trainer, independent artiste & live performer. In 2016, she began her entrepreneurial journey & today she is involved in multiple ventures in collaboration with her partner Anand Pattathil; Musicalorie Productions, Ānā Stories, Madras Mehfil & a few other diverse projects. Due to an expanding bucket list, she is constantly looking for ways to maximize the human experience. Retirement is not something that has ever crossed her mind & for that, she feels incredibly grateful.
Vani Kola is the Founder and Managing Director of Kalaari Capital, one of India’s leading early-stage venture capital firms. She is a proponent for India’s digital opportunity to create next-gen large scale companies, which will scale globally.
Having been a 2x entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, Vani’s investment philosophy is derived from her successful entrepreneurial experiences. This includes recognizing young, first-time entrepreneurs with passion and perseverance. Vani values integrity in interactions as the key to building deep relationships. She enjoys mentoring entrepreneurs and guiding them into becoming seasoned business leaders.
Vani has successfully led more than 30 investments at Kalaari in e-commerce, gaming, digital content, healthcare and more. Some of her successes include: Dream11, Myntra, Cure.fit, and Snapdeal. Vani currently serves on the board of several companies that are redefining the landscape of Indian business.
Over the last decade, Vani has become an influential voice in the country’s vibrant startup ecosystem. She has been profiled in numerous books and has been identified as one of Fortune India’s ‘Most Powerful Women in Business.’ She is also actively involved in supporting various organizations fostering entrepreneurship and women leadership.
Outside of work, Vani practices the Heartfulness meditation and enjoys Ashtanga yoga. She is an avid reader and loves writing and sharing her thoughts. Vani also believes in sustainable living and grows enough organic produce in her garden to meet her family’s needs.
Veera is the CEO of Sustainable Living Lab, a sustainability consulting firm with operations in Singapore, Indonesia, India and the US. His professional experience spans the domains of sustainability, foresight, corporate innovation and AI skilling.
He serves as the Co-Chair of the Climate Action SG Alliance and as an Exco Member of the SGTech Sustainability Steering Committee. Recognized for his work in Futures Thinking, he was awarded the SOIF Next Gen Foresight Award in 2018.
In 2014, he co-founded a community-based initiative called Repair Kopitiam to tackle the buy-and-throw-away culture in Singapore. He is also a Fellow of the EdSAFE AI Alliance Leadership Network and graduated from the National University of Singapore with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Intellectual Property Management.
Vinay is the founder and CEO of Leapcraft, a decarbonisation technology company – where he shapes strategy and impact plans toward building healthy and sustainable urban habitats. In the past, Vinay has co-founded the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design and developed a successful and award-winning innovation consulting practice helping develop products for many global brands including Nokia, Philips, Lufthansa Technik, Toyota, and Asus amongst many others.
Vinay’s passion lies at the intersection of design, data, and science to tackle some of the major global challenges like clean air and water, energy, and sustainability. Vinay’s work has also been recognised in multiple awards including the Danish Design council’s, IBM Watson, and the European product design awards.
Vipasha Devi Tilak is an expert in leadership coaching, storytelling and content and is the Director of the INK Fellows Program. Her journey started as a storyteller, producing non-fiction content for NDTV. Her love for curation and an eye for discovering people of varied fields had her work with frontrunning brands in the country including Red Bull, NCPA, TEDxGateway and INKtalks. She is deeply interested in building leadership programs, ranging from CEOs of companies to college students. She is a core member at the leadership in INK and runs the jewel-in-the-crown INK Fellows Program, a multi-disciplinary community that accelerates the journeys of game changers. She also works with different partners and corporates in building their employee engagement / leadership development programs. Owing to the programmatic nature of her role, she also manages INK CEO Lakshmi Pratury’s personal brand.
Her first stint as an artistic entrepreneur launched with The Listening Sessions, a platform for music video lovers to come and create conversations around the art and aesthetic behind them and for independent artists to explore their musicality. She also contributes to the stories at Humans of Music – a photoblog that chronicles the journey of musicians. She also founded Banjara Talkies while studying in an entrepreneurial course in creative and cultural businesses at IIM Ahmedabad. In this world full of the unknown and the unsung, who carve their own beautiful stories, she finds solace in working as a narrator, shedding light upon their untold journeys.
Vishnu Venkatram is a student of his father and violinist Sri HK Venkatram. He started learning at a tender age of 6 and gave his very first performance at the age of 9. He also learns vocal music from his mother Smt Triveni Venkatram.
Vishnu has bagged several prizes in competitions conducted by music institutions and the noted amongst them is the first prize for Instrumental music in the annual competition conducted by the Bangalore Gayana Samaja held in 2017. Vishnu gave his solo debut concert at the Seshadripuram Ramaseva Samithi in April of 2018. He has performed at the prestigious Hampi Festival along with his father.
Vishnu also learns Western Violin Classical music from Sri Proful Mandal. He has the distinction of securing the first place in the country at Western Classical exam conducted by the Associated Board of Royal School of Music, London (ABRSM).
Vishnu is a student of National Public School, Koramangala and studying in Grade 8.
An entrepreneurial philanthropist and sports enthusiast, Mrs Vita Dani known for her transformative initiatives and embodies the hope and fire of today’s generation and aims to make a substantial difference in India through sports and philanthropy.
As the founder of the Dani Foundation, she empowers communities through grassroots programmes driven by her belief in the power of sport and community engagement for meaningful change.
Mrs. Dani serves as the Director of ELMS Sports Foundation, a non profit organization that is aimed at accelerating the development of sports and physical literacy across India.
Additionally, she supports projects like Annamrita, Project Mumbai, and Kapadwanj Kelavni Mandal; all aiming to empower individuals and ignite a transformative change from within.
She is also the co-owner of Chennaiyin FC – a club in the ISL, football league and at Ultimate Table Tennis, league co-owner in Table Tennis, India. Both these organisations invest in the development of these sports through their grassroot initiatives.
Attend 30+ talks by guest speakers and the 2023 INK Fellow
Learn new skills from experts in various fields
Interact with creative and tech installations and indulge in mindful meditation sessions
Watch a music concert, spoken word, and dance performances by some of the top artists
Attend networking sessions to meet with CXOs, VCs, and Entrepreneurs to find new collaborations
Attend VIP dinners with speakers and India's brightest minds
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Nestled in the shadows of Nandi Hills, Amita-Rasa is a space for life’s finer moments.
A 28-acre expanse on a gentle incline, the property is dotted with stone architecture that draws from the heritage of the region.
A beautiful setting for moments that will last a lifetime, Amita-Rasa invites you on a walk up memory lane.
