People
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Board of Directors
Our board, composed of members from diverse backgrounds, including legal, creative, accounting, and tech, is united in our mission, vision, and values.
Founder & Chairman of the Board
MR Rangaswami
MR Rangaswami is an entrepreneur, investor, corporate eco-strategy expert, community builder and philanthropist. Recognized as a software business expert, he participated in the rapid expansion of the Silicon Valley software industry during his tenure as an executive at both large and small software companies. In 1997, he co-founded Sand Hill Group, one of the earliest “angel” investment firms, and was profiled on the front page of the Wall Street Journal. He was named to the Forbes “Midas” list of investors and also recognized by CRN as one of the Top 25 Technology Executives. He also hosts the Enterprise Retreat for the top 100 leaders in technology.
In 2007, MR founded the Corporate Eco Forum (CEF), an invitation-only membership organization for Global 500 companies that demonstrate a serious commitment to the environment as a business strategy.
In 2012, he founded Indiaspora, a nonprofit community of powerful global Indian leaders from diverse backgrounds and professions who are committed to inspiring the diaspora to be a force for good by providing a platform to collaborate, engage, and catalyze social change. Indiaspora hosts an annual Leadership Forum, Philanthropy Summit and the Global Connect initiative for the Indian diaspora worldwide. Indiaspora also engages in community issues, including an initiative that led to a USPS postal stamp in 2016.
MR is a board member of the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation, The/Nudge Foundation and the WISH Foundation.
He is the recipient of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) “Influential Leaders” award in 2015. In 2020, he was the recipient of the “Global Service Award” from the Canada-India Business Council.
MR is also profiled in two books: Those Immigrants by Scott Haas and The $8 Man by Brenda Christensen. He has also contributed a chapter on Silicon Valley in the book, Kamala Harris and the Rise of Indian Americans, released in July 2021.
Physician and Public Servant
Sejal Hathi
Dr. Sejal Hathi is New Jersey’s state health officer and deputy health commissioner for public health services. Most recently, she served as the White House’s Senior Policy Advisor for Public Health, where she led various public health priorities for the Domestic Policy Council. A board-certified attending physician, she also held joint faculty appointments as an assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Early in her career, Dr. Hathi founded and led two global social enterprises, each advancing women’s and girls’ agency, entrepreneurship, and leadership—over time, across 6 continents, mobilizing more than 30,000 young women. In 2013, Dr. Hathi was appointed as 1 of 9 public health leaders to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s expert advisory group on women’s & children’s health, charged with evaluating and reporting global progress against maternal and child mortality. More recently, she served as the Host & Producer of Civic Rx, a podcast on health equity and social justice that featured long-form interviews with leaders ranging from Dr. Anthony Fauci to Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez — its listeners spanning 40+ countries. At the same time, Dr. Hathi cared for COVID-19 patients as a resident physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, where she also launched and led a voter education and mobilization initiative for providers and their patients. She has served on numerous national boards related to public service and public health, and today maintains a role as a founding board member of Indiaspora. Dr. Hathi has spoken at TEDWomen, the World Health Assembly, and the United Nations, among other venues. And during the first two years of the pandemic, she appeared regularly as a medical commentator for CNN, BBC, CBS News, and Yahoo! News.
Dr. Hathi holds a B.S. with honors from Yale University and an M.D./ M.B.A. from Stanford University, where she studied as a Harry S. Truman Scholar and Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow. Among other honors, she’s been named to the Forbes 30 under 30, Newsweek’s “150 Women Who Shake the World,” Glamour’s Amazing Young Women of the Year, the Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards, the National Minority Quality Forum’s 40 Under 40, the World Economic Forum Global Shapers, and the United States Presidential Scholars for her work. She is a delegate of the Academy of Achievement, a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the Yale University President’s Council on International Activities.
Director of The Franke Program in Science and the Humanities at Yale
Priya Natarajan
Priyamvada Natarajan is an astrophysicist and Professor in the Departments of Astronomy and Physics at Yale University. Her research focus lies in understanding the dark side of the universe: dark matter, dark energy and black holes and the role they play in structuring their universe. In addition to her academic position at Yale, she also currently holds the Sophie and Tycho Brahe Professorship of the Dark Cosmology Center, Niels Bohr Institute, at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark as well as an Honorary Professorship for life at the University of Delhi, India. She is the recipient of many awards and honors including the Guggenheim and Radcliffe Fellowships, in recognition of her seminal research contributions.
Priya was born in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu in India to academic parents and grew up in Delhi, India. She has undergraduate degrees in Physics and Mathematics from M.I.T. and did her graduate work in theoretical astrophysics at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge in England, where she was the first woman to be elected a fellow in Astrophysics at Trinity College, Cambridge. She also holds a Master’s degree in the history and philosophy of science from M.I.T. She is the author of a critically acclaimed book, Mapping the Heavens: Radical Scientific Ideas that Reveal the Cosmos and a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books. Deeply invested in interdisciplinary scholarship, she serves as the current Director of the Franke Program in Science and the Humanities at Yale.”
Managing Partner, Celesta
Arun Kumar
Arun most recently served as the Chairman and CEO of KPMG in India, an organization consisting of several thousand professionals engaged in providing assurance, tax, and advisory services. He was a member of the global board of directors of KPMG.
He previously served in President Obama’s Administration as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the U.S. & Foreign Commercial Service (USFCS). As the Administration’s lead official to promote U.S. exports, foreign direct investment, and enhanced market access around the world, he led a team of 1,700 professionals in 78 countries and all 50 United States.
Prior to his stint in Washington, DC, Arun was a partner and a member of the board of KPMG LLP in the US. Based in Silicon Valley, he led KPMG’s Management Consulting practice in the West for many years.
He has also been a company mentor and entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Jetline Group of Companies
Rajan Navani
Rajan is the Chairman and MD of Jetline Group of Companies, focusing on packaging manufacturing, IT services and digital media. He is responsible for the India strategy and its implementation for all the group companies. He plays a key role in shaping the digital lives of 1.2 billion Indians, with his group company Jetsynthesys recently making significant investments in consumer-facing digital platforms, products and services with a focus on digital marketing and data analytics. Rajan is Chairman of the National Committee on India@75, past National Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s Young Indians and a member of CII’s National Council. He is a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, a BMW Herbert Quandt Foundation’s Young World Leader, a CNBC India’s Young Turk and part of the ASEAN 100 Leadership Forum. He is a board member at Indiaspora.
Members
Our members, hailing from various professions and backgrounds, are always making an impact across the globe.
Co-Founder & CEO, Fractal
Pranay Agrawal
Pranay Agrawal is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Fractal, a global AI and analytics firm empowering organizations with decision intelligence and data-driven solutions.
Pranay co-founded Fractal in 2000 in Mumbai and served as Co-Founder & EVP of Global Client Development before being appointed CEO in 2016, succeeding fellow co-founder Srikanth Velamakanni. Under his leadership, Fractal has grown into one of the world’s most respected analytics and AI companies, working with more than 50 Fortune 500 clients to embed analytics into their decisions and processes.
Prior to Fractal, Pranay worked at ICICI Bank, ANZ Grindlays Bank, and SB Billimoria & Co.
He holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Bangalore University, and is a Certified Financial Risk Manager from the Global Association of Risk Professionals. He received the Young Alumni Achievers Award in Entrepreneurship from IIM Ahmedabad in 2019.
Co-Founder & CEO, Moxo
Subrah Iyar
Subrah Iyar is an Indian-American entrepreneur who pioneered the modern web conferencing industry. In 1996, he co-founded WebEx alongside Min Zhu, serving as its CEO and leading the company through its IPO in 2000 and its subsequent acquisition by Cisco Systems in 2007 for $3.2 billion.
After a six-year break spent with his two daughters, Iyar returned to entrepreneurship in 2012, co-founding Moxo, where he continues to serve as CEO. Moxo has secured funding from Cisco and KDDI to build digital client interaction platforms for enterprises. Iyar is also an early investor in and advisor to Zoom Communications.
Prior to founding WebEx, Iyar spent six years at Apple, where he helped create the company’s first operating system licensing business, and later directed product marketing and OEM sales management within Intel’s LAN software and systems group.
He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and an M.S. from the University of Southwestern Louisiana.
Global Managing Partner, Next47
Lak Ananth
Lak is the founding CEO and Managing Partner of Next47. He has spent his career in service to the entrepreneurial pursuit, identifying industry changing disruptions and acting on them as an investor or acquirer. Lak’s investment focus is on applications of AI/ML, vertical SaaS, robotics, mobility, and other emerging areas of deep tech.
Prior to Next47, Lak founded and built Hewlett Packard Pathfinder, bringing together venture investing and revenue-generating business development for portfolio companies from HP customers. He was an investor in Adallom (acquired by Microsoft), HortonWorks (acquired by Cloudera), and Mesosphere. Lak also previously worked in strategy and corporate development at Cisco Systems, where he led the acquisitions of Meraki and Starent Networks, and invested in Control4.
After cutting his teeth as an engineer working with startups during the dot-com era, Lak has enormous respect for the passion, vision, and tenacity of entrepreneurs. As an investor, he believes in establishing mutual trust with founders, so when critical business decisions need to be made, he can support them in making the best choices for building world-class new businesses.
Lak is also the author of Anticipate Failure, a brutally honest roadmap for any business founder, executive, or manager to conquer their toughest challenges, change how they innovate, and launch a product or business that actually succeeds. Lak holds an MBA from INSEAD and The Wharton School of Business. He is also a Kauffman Fellow (Class 12).
Founder & CEO, Nurix AI; Founder, Myntra; Co-Founder, CureFit
Mukesh Bansal
Mukesh Bansal is a first-generation tech entrepreneur based out of India, who has significantly influenced the tech ecosystem in India over the past two decades. He is the founder and CEO of Nurix AI, an AI services company that helps enterprises implement AI agents. Additionally, he founded Myntra, a leading fashion e-commerce platform, and co-founded CureFit, India’s largest health and fitness platform.
In 2023, he started MerakiLabs, a deep tech venture studio working on applied AI products and other deep tech incubations. Mukesh has deep interest in Physics and actively works with many academic institutes in India to boost the research ecosystem. Through MerakiLabs, Mukesh invested in companies such as Groww, which is now the largest online brokerage platform in India and Skyroot that became the first private space company out of India to launch a rocket in space.
Mukesh is also an accomplished author, having written 3 books: No Limits, which explores themes of talent, deliberate practice, mindset, habit, willpower, and learning to optimize performance, and Hacking Health, which demystifies health science and examines our relationship with our bodies and Startup Code delivers a masterclass on the art of building successful start-ups.
Managing Director, Mayfield Fund
Navin Chaddha
Navin Chaddha is Managing Director at Mayfield. He is a three-time entrepreneur turned venture capitalist who has invested in over 50 companies, of which over 37 have had IPOs or been acquired. He made his twelfth appearance on the Forbes Midas List of Top 100 Tech Investors in 2020, being named in the Top Five.
He is passionate about nurturing the Rise of the Individual and an active philanthropist who has supports efforts in diversity, education, equity, health, and hunger. He holds an MS degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University and a B.Tech degree in electrical engineering from IIT Delhi, where he was honored with the distinguished IIT Alumni Award.
Managing Partner & Co-Founder, WestBridge Capital
Sumir Chadha
Sumir Chadha is the co-founder and Managing Director of WestBridge Capital, and has been investing in India for the past two decades. WestBridge Capital is a leading investment firm focused on India with over $2.5 billion of capital under management. WestBridge focuses on investing in high quality public and private businesses in India with a long-term orientation.
Sumir also co-founded and was Managing Director of Sequoia Capital India. Early in his career, he worked in the Principal Investment Area (PIA) at Goldman Sachs, and at McKinsey & Co. Sumir received an MBA from Harvard Business School with Distinction, and a BSE in Computer Science from Princeton University.
Partner at NewView Capital
Chetan Chaudhary
CEO, Chairman & Founder, Zscaler Inc.
Jay Chaudhry
Jay is an accomplished entrepreneur, having founded a series of successful companies, including AirDefense, CipherTrust, CoreHarbor, SecureIT and Zscaler. Chaudhry has a history of introducing visionary innovations that address the demand for securely enabling emerging technologies, such as the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange for distributed and highly mobile enterprises. His work in the IT security sector has made him a trusted advisor for many enterprise CIOs and CISOs.
Chaudhry leverages more than 25 years of security industry expertise, including engineering, sales, marketing and management experience with leading enterprises, such as IBM, NCR and Unisys. Prior to founding Zscaler in 2008, Chaudhry founded and led AirDefense, a wireless security pioneer, before its acquisition by Motorola. From 2000 to 2006, Chaudhry founded and led CipherTrust, the industry’s first email security gateway, before its merger with Secure Computing. Chaudhry also founded and led CoreHarbor, a managed ecommerce solution, before it was acquired by USi/AT&T. In 1996, Chaudhry founded and led his first company, SecureIT, the first pure-play Internet security service, before it was acquired by VeriSign in 1998.
Chaudhry has been honored twice as an Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year (Southeast USA)” and “Entrepreneur of the Year (Silicon Valley)”. He has also received recognition as InformationWeek’s “Innovator & Influencer”, SC Magazine’s “Market Entrepreneur”, and two awards from IIT BHU Varanasi as “Alumnus of the Year” and “Alumnus of the Century in Making”. Chaudhry earned his MBA and his MS in Computer Engineering and Industrial Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and his BTech in Electronics Engineering from IIT BHU Varanasi. Additionally, Chaudhry has completed the Executive Management Program from Harvard Business School.
Chief Executive Officer, Chopra Global
Mallika Chopra
Mallika Chopra is a mom, CEO, media entrepreneur, author and public speaker. She is the CEO of Chopra Global, a modern healthcare company at the intersection of science and spirituality. She is also the author of the Just Be Series – Just Breathe, Just Feel, and Just Be You – a trilogy of illustrated how-to books for children (and the adults in their lives). These books provide simple tools to understand and support social and emotional knowing, resilience, meditation, mindfulness and self reflection.
In Living With Intent: My Somewhat Messy Journey to Purpose, Peace and Joy, Mallika shares insights she gained while seeking meaning and balance as a mom and entrepreneur who felt she was overwhelmed by work, family and too many responsibilities.
Mallika has taught meditation to thousands of people, and is currently a mindfulness consultant for the animated series, Stillwater, on Apple TV+. She enjoys speaking to audiences around the world about intention, balance and living a life of purpose.
Mallika has a BA from Brown University, an MBA from Kellogg Business School, and an MA in Psychology and Education with a mind body spirit concentration from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Managing Partner, Playbook; Past President, Reliance Jio; Co-President, Harvard Mumbai
Vikas Choudhury
Vikas Choudhury is a seasoned business leader and long-term investor with expertise in creating value in the digital economy. He has operated in businesses now valued over $100Bn and invested in companies now valued over $10Bn.
Founder & Managing Partner of Playbook Partners, an Operator-Driven Growth Capital Firm for Digital India. His leadership at Playbook reflects his deep commitment to the digital transformation of India and its aspirational growth.
He has held leadership roles at multiple multinational public companies, including being the President at Reliance Jio (BSE:RIL), India’s largest conglomerate’s digital platform business including ecommerce, fintech, media and telecom (0 to $100 Bn market cap in 5 years). Previously, he was the Managing Director & CEO of Aimia Inc. (TSX:AIM), the world’s largest data-driven marketing company. Built a JV with the Tata group and sold the ecommerce business to Reliance Retail.
Vikas has backed multiple companies in their journey to becoming unicorns, from India’s first ever (inMobi in 2011) to its most recent (Rapido in 2024). With over two decades of investing experience, his portfolio includes 10 unicorns, IPOs and exits such as InMobi, Myntra, Fractal, PolicyBazaar, Nazara, Rapido and NSE among others.
An alumni of Harvard Business School and an MBA, University of Pittsburgh and University of Bombay. He also serves as the Co-President, Harvard Alumni Club of Mumbai. Vikas is an art and music aficionado as well as an award-winning photographer.
Ari Daman
Ari Daman, an accomplished landscape architect and ecological designer, is the founder and creative director of Public Landscape and Urbanism Studio (PLUS), based in San Francisco, Bengaluru, and Chennai. PLUS is a socially conscious landscape and urban design practice that provides a platform for a new generation of landscape architects and allied professionals interested in projects providing social and environmental benefits to a broader population. PLUS has offices in San Francisco, Chennai, and Bengaluru.
Ari and Srinivas founded the Narayanan Family Foundation with the goal of improving people’s lives through investments in education, culture, and the environment. The foundation provides funding for innovation in social and ecological design, AI for social good, and education for underprivileged children. Ari serves on the boards of several non-profits.
Chairman, DS Foundation
Bharat Desai
Bharat co-founded Syntel with his wife, Neerja Sethi from their apartment in Troy, Michigan, in 1980 with $2,000, bringing in $30,000 in revenue in the first year. Thirty-eight years later, the tech consulting and outsourcing company has nearly 24,000 employees across the globe and generated nearly $1 billion in revenue in 2016. In October 2018, French IT firm Atos SE acquired Syntel for $3.4 billion in cash. Among other services, Syntel provides Software as a service (SaaS), delivering applications over the Internet.
Bharat was born in Kenya, lived in Mombasa and Ahmedabad, and came to the U.S. in 1976 as a programmer for Tata. He received his engineering degree from IIT-Bombay, and his MBA from Ross School of Business in Michigan. Bharat is director of ExpenseAdvisor and Cyberstate.org and a Member of the Young President’s Organization (YPO) of Detroit. He has received the award for IIT Alumnus of the Year and been recognized by Crain’s Detroit Business as a “Minority Business All-star.” He is a board member of several educational institutions, including the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) and the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He currently resides with his wife and two children in Fisher Island, Florida.
Founder and Managing Partner, Nishith Desai Associates
Nishith Desai
Nishith Desai is an international tax and corporate lawyer, researcher, author and lecturer. He is founder of Nishith Desai Associates.
Nishith has substantial experience in the Fund sector, advising a large number of offshore investment funds and playing a seminal role in structuring several private equity funds, in addition to structuring several domestic venture capital funds. He has advised the Small Industries Development Board of India and the Department of Electronics, Government of India, on their domestic venture capital fund. Nishith serves as a Member of Advisory Board at Avendus Advisors Private Ltd. He is on the Advisory Board of the New York State Bar Association’s International Law Review. He is also the Chairperson of Taxation Committee of LAWASIA and a senior country correspondent for “Tax Notes International”, US. He is a member of the International Bar Association, American Bar Association, Inter Pacific Bar Association, LAWASIA, International Tax Planning Association, and Supreme Court Bar Association.
He has been voted ‘External Counsel of the Year 2009’ by Asian Counsel and Pacific Business Press and the ‘Most in Demand Practitioners’ by Chambers Asia 2009. He has also been ranked No. 28 in a global Top 50 “Gold List” by Tax Business, a UK-based journal for the international tax community. He is listed in the Lex Witness ‘Hall of fame: Top 50’ individuals who have helped shape the legal landscape of modern India. He is also the recipient of Prof. Yunus ‘Social Business Pioneer of India’ – 2010 award. In November 2004, he also was ranked as No. 28 in a global Top 50 “Gold List.” Nishith also holds a special license from the State Bar of California to practice Indian law.
Founder & Chairman, Persistent Systems
Anand Deshpande
Anand Deshpande is the Founder, Chairman and Managing Director of Persistent Systems (BSE & NSE: PERSISTENT), a Company that he founded in 1990. He is responsible for the overall leadership, strategy, and management of the company. A true technology visionary, Anand’s strengths lie in identifying and investing in next-generation technologies early on and encouraging internal entrepreneurship to ensure that Persistent stays at the forefront of technology innovation. He has been the driving force in growing Persistent from start-up to the publicly-traded global company of today.
Anand has been recognized for his technology and business leadership as well as his contributions to public welfare. His awards include the CSI Fellowship Award for outstanding achievement in the field of IT, the Career Achievement Award from the School of Informatics at Indiana University, Bloomington and the IIT Kharagpur Distinguished Alumnus Award.
Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Recognize
Francisco D’Souza
Frank D’Souza is a technologist, investor, entrepreneur, tech services pioneer, and thought leader in applying emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, to create new business opportunities. He is co-founder and managing partner of Recognize, a technology investment platform. Leveraging his experience leading successful businesses, Frank helps Recognize portfolio companies grow purposefully and operate seamlessly. Prior to Recognize, Frank co-founded and served as CEO of Cognizant Technology Solutions, a global multinational technology services company. In his 26 years at the company, including 12 as CEO, Frank helped scale Cognizant to over 280,000 employees with more than $16 billion in revenue. Frank is regularly consulted by leaders, boards, and the media for his understanding of the human dimension of advanced technologies and their impact across industries. Through Recognize, Frank convenes the CEO Innovation Network, an invite-only group dedicated to mentoring and connecting the next generation of tech services chief executives.
Frank serves as chairman of the board of Ciklum, a leading custom product engineering company, and TORC, a specialized network of nearshore remote software developers. He also serves as a director of Blend360, a premier data science solutions provider, and MongoDB, a software company that offers a modern general-purpose database platform. Frank is a senior advisor to Banco Santander where he was instrumental in incubating its best-in-class digital payments solutions provider, PagoNxt. Frank previously served as a fellow of the World Economic Forum and chairman of its IT and Electronics Governors Community. He is a trustee and alumnus of Carnegie Mellon University and advisory board member of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. He previously served as a board director of General Electric. Frank earned a BBA from the University of Macau and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business.
Executive Vice President
Navin Durgaprasad
Navin Durgaprasad is the Executive Vice President at Bahwan Cybertek. He has established himself as a thought leader, community builder, and business innovator. He is also the Business Head Digital Experience Unit at dt360, a subsidiary of Bahwan Cybertek.
Navin has his MBA from Kellogg and his Bachelor’s of Engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai.
Chairman & Managing Director, Intellect Design Arena Ltd. | Chief Architect, Purple Fabric
Arun Jain
Arun Jain is the Founder of Polaris Group and Chairman & Managing Director of Intellect Design Arena Limited, the world’s first full-spectrum Financial Technology company spanning Banking, Insurance, and Capital Markets, serving enterprise clients in over 50 countries.
Arun began his entrepreneurial journey in 1986 by founding Nucleus Software, followed by Polaris Software in 1993. In 2011, he demerged Polaris to create Intellect Design Arena, a specialized FinTech company focused on building world-class products and platforms for global financial institutions. In 2023, Arun led the launch of eMACH.ai, a composable, open finance platform, followed by Purple Fabric, the world’s first Open Business Impact AI Platform, where he now serves as Chief Architect. Purple Fabric was recently recognized as “Best AI Development Platform” at the ET Enterprise AI Awards 2026, with Arun himself named “Indian CEO Driving AI Innovation.”
A strong advocate of Design Thinking as both a science and a philosophy, Arun founded FinTech 8012, the world’s first Design Center dedicated to financial technology, as well as the School of Design Thinking. He has authored several books, including UnMukt: Science and Art of Design Thinking, Digital: The Art of The Possible, and From Teenager to Achiever: The Power of 5 Minds. Arun holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Delhi College of Engineering.
Ashwini Gadekarla
Ashwini Gadekarla is a philanthropist, community leader, and advocate for education and opportunities for future generations. She is the Co-Founder of the Paluri Foundation, which she runs with her husband, AI and technology leader Manohar Paluri. The Foundation supports education, research, and initiatives focused on creating long-term community impact.
Ashwini and Manohar have maintained a strong connection with IIIT Hyderabad, where the Paluri Foundation has pledged ₹1 crore over five years toward the Institute’s academic infrastructure. Their philanthropy reflects a particular commitment to education, technology, and supporting the next generation of innovators and leaders.
Ashwini also serves on the Executive Board of Pratham USA’s San Francisco Bay Area chapter, supporting the organization’s work to expand educational opportunities for children in India.
Manohar Paluri
Manohar Paluri is an AI and technology leader currently embarking on his next chapter in the field of artificial intelligence. Until September 2026, he served as a Vice President at Meta, where he spent more than 14 years progressing from an intern to executive leadership and helped build AI systems that reached billions of people. In his final role, he worked across multimodal intelligence, generative AI, and foundation-model efforts.
Manohar began his career in computer vision, with a focus on enabling machines to see and understand the world. Over time, his work expanded into multimodal AI and large-scale artificial intelligence systems. Before joining Meta, he worked with Google, IBM Watson Labs, and Sarnoff Corporation, and pursued graduate research at Georgia Tech. He holds a B.Tech. in Computer Science from IIIT Hyderabad and a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Georgia Tech.
Beyond his work in technology, Manohar is deeply engaged in philanthropy, mentorship, and community building. Together with his wife, Ashwini Gadekarla, he runs the Paluri Foundation, which supports education and opportunities for future generations. The Foundation has pledged significant support to IIIT Hyderabad, including a ₹1 crore commitment toward the Institute’s academic infrastructure. He has also played an active role in mentoring students and connecting IIIT Hyderabad alumni with opportunities in technology and entrepreneurship.
Manohar describes his next chapter as a continuation of his long-standing interest in using AI not only to help machines see and understand the world, but ultimately to help discover things about the world that we do not yet know.
Founder, Community Pure Water Foundation | Chairman & CEO, Think Capital, LLC
Ravi Reddy
Ravi Reddy is the Founder of the Community Pure Water Foundation (CPWF), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to providing clean, affordable drinking water to rural communities in India. Through a sustainable, no-profit model, CPWF has established over 600 “Anytime Water Machine” centers across six Indian states, serving more than 600,000 people and 100,000 children in over 200 villages and schools. Villagers access clean water through prepaid cards, while schools and health centers receive it free of charge. The foundation installs 150–170 new centers annually, funded through CSR partnerships and individual donors, and employs local operators to foster livelihoods and community ownership.
In addition to his philanthropic work, Ravi is Chairman and CEO of Think Capital, LLC, a private investment firm.
He holds a degree from Rutgers University.
Founder & CEO, Perosphere Technologies
Sasha Bakhru
Dr. Sasha Bakhru is Founder and CEO of Perosphere Technologies, a specialty pharmaceutical company. He previously founded Perosphere Inc., where he served as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, before the company was acquired by AMAG Pharmaceuticals in 2019.
Dr. Bakhru also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Medical Science at Brown University and sits on the Advisory Board of Amylyx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AMLX). He has previously served on the board of NuView Life Sciences, Inc.
A Columbia and Johns Hopkins graduate, Dr. Bakhru earned his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University as a Philip and Marsha Dowd Fellow in the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, was the 2008 Global MOOT Corp competition winner, and received Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business “Entrepreneur of the Year” alumni prize in 2009. His work has resulted in eight patents and twenty publications.
Principal & Founder, Wealth Planning Advisory Group
Sekhar Vemparala
Sekhar Vemparala is the Principal and Founder of Wealth Planning Advisory Group, a firm specializing in wealth preservation, philanthropic planning, and legacy strategies for high-net-worth clients. With over 23 years of experience in financial planning and advisory services, he is the creator of the wealthDNA® process — a proprietary, six-step methodology designed to help clients discover their individual wealth signature and manage, accumulate, and distribute wealth with greater tax efficiency.
Sekhar holds an MBA in Finance and is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP®), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU®), Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC®), and Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP®). He is a Top of the Table MDRT member and a Forum 400 qualifier, recognized for achieving exceptional results in his field.
Within the community, Sekhar serves as Chairperson of the fundraising committee at the Hindu Temple & Cultural Society in Bridgewater, NJ, and as an Executive Board Member at the Somerset Valley YMCA.
Sumeet Rawla
Sumeet Rawla
is the Chief Philanthropy Officer at Community Pure Water, where she leads philanthropic engagement and partnerships supporting the organization’s mission to bring sustainable access to safe drinking water to rural communities across India. Community Pure Water operates community-powered water purification systems designed to improve health, education, livelihoods, and long-term economic opportunity.
Sumeet brings more than two decades of experience across technology, business development, philanthropy, and social impact. Before dedicating her work to philanthropy, she spent more than 20 years with Tata Consultancy Services, in both the United States and India, where she led business development for high-value, business-critical systems serving large multinational organizations.
At Community Pure Water, Sumeet focuses on building the partnerships and philanthropic support needed to take sustainable water solutions to more communities. Her work sits at the intersection of philanthropy, sustainability, public health, and equitable opportunity. In 2026, she has represented Community Pure Water at forums focused on CSR, sustainability, and social impact, including the Indiaspora Forum and World CSR Day.
Sumeet is also actively engaged with the broader Indian-American philanthropic community and is passionate about creating measurable, sustainable impact through thoughtful partnerships and collective action.
Chair, Asia Pacific, at The Boston Consulting Group
Neeraj Aggarwal
Neeraj Aggarwal leads Boston Consulting Group’s business across Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia—a region encompassing nearly a third of the world’s Fortune 500 companies, half of all unicorns, and the majority of global megacities. He also serves on BCG’s Executive Committee.
Previously, Neeraj led BCG India from 2015 to 2018. With over 25 years of consulting experience across Asia-Pacific, Europe, and North America, he has advised more than 100 CEOs across sectors, helping them define strategic agendas, improve organizational effectiveness, and drive cost transformation. He is especially energized by leaders who challenge the status quo and redefine global standards.
In recent years, his focus has included the disruptive impact of AI and digital technologies, along with climate and sustainability—areas in which he has helped shape BCG’s global agenda. A strong advocate for technology’s role in societal transformation, Neeraj regularly contributes thought leadership on innovation, leadership, and the future of Asia-Pacific.
Neeraj is a frequent speaker at the World Economic Forum, B20, and other global industry platforms. Before joining BCG, he worked at Cadence Design Systems in Silicon Valley. He is also a founding force behind Plaksha University, where he chairs the Board of Trustees, aiming to reimagine tech education and foster research that addresses pressing global challenges.
Founder & CEO, Onnivation
Saket Agarwal
Saket Agarwal is the Founder and Managing Partner of “Onnivation”, which invests in deep tech Israeli SAAS companies and drives their business for Asia. Within 3 years, Saket has grown Onnivation as a front runner to the growing relations between Israel and India. Saket advises Multi-nationals and Tech Unicorns on their Digital transformation and Tech strategy. He has sound expertise across industry verticals such as Retail, Cloud, DevOps, Cyber Security and Data Science.
Saket is an active Investor, and associated with the “Nasscom Deep Tech Club”, and Wework Labs where he is helping startups with strategy and Go to Market. He is the founding Co-Lead of the Singularity University chapter in Mumbai and a Member at Indiaspora. He is also a member of the Forbes Business Council, Global Shapers Community, part of the World Economic Forum and Martech advisory council at Mobile Marketing Association.
Saket graduated from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata and is a Chartered Accountant and Company Secretary by qualification.
Director, Lulu Group International
Mohamed Althaf
Dr. Mohamed Althaf is a Director at Lulu Group International, responsible for spearheading the company’s strategic expansion and identifying new revenue streams. In his role as Director of Y International in the USA, UK, Italy, Spain, and Australia, Dr. Althaf oversees the Group’s export and distribution operations across Europe, Australia, and the US. He is also a strategic partner for sustainable food technology companies.
With qualifications in Law, Intellectual Property Rights, and Circular Economics, Dr. Althaf is an alumnus of the University of Delhi and the Said Business School at Oxford University. He is an Indian national and a member of several international business forums.
Global Consulting CEO, Deloitte
Sam Balaji
Sam Balaji is the Global Consulting CEO at Deloitte and a member of its Global Executive since 2016. He has lived, operated on 3 continents, and has had significant Technology, P&L and Global experiences, advising CXOs and Boards across industries and geographies on vital strategic matters such as Technology, Growth, M&A, Innovation, Business Models, Operations, Cyber, and Risk. He is also an experienced Board Director having served for 6 years, including as board Vice-Chair and Compensation committee Chair for 3 years. Sam has been recognized on the Top 50 Consulting CEOs list two years in a row. He has a M.E. in Computer Science & Automation from the Indian Institute of Science.
Advsior
Mamta Bhandari
Mamta Bhandari is a seasoned product executive with over 20 years of experience designing and implementing transformative, innovative products and platforms within Financial Services, Transportation, and other complex, highly regulated industries across the US, Europe, and Asia.
Throughout her career, Mamta has demonstrated a strong commitment to enhancing customer experiences and driving organizational growth through effective product strategies. She has held key positions at notable companies such as Haven, Opendoor, Optimal Blue, and Arthur Andersen.
In addition to her corporate expertise, Mamta is a dedicated advisor and investor. She serves on the advisory boards of Boys Who Write and Saukhyam Pads, where she contributes her insights to help these organizations scale their impact.
Passionate about building for the future, Mamta empowers companies to unlock growth, drive lasting change, and create solutions that make a meaningful difference in people’s lives.
Managing Director, K1 Operations
Sujit Banerjee
Sujit Banerjee is a Managing Director at K1 Operations. He is responsible for leading K1 Operations and its proprietary IOps initiative throughout the portfolio.
Previously Mr. Banerjee was a Managing Director at Element Partners, a Partner at Bluerun Ventures and a Management Consultant at Pricewaterhouse coopers. Mr. Banerjee began his career at Synoptics Communications where he designed networking equipment. Mr. Banerjee is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business, where he received an MBA, and of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he received a BS in Electrical Engineering with Eta Kappa Nu academic honors.
Mr. Banerjee has served as a director and founder of numerous technology companies and currently serves on the Wharton Graduate Executive Board as well as the Rensselaer Silicon Valley Executive Council.
CEO, Galent, and Co-Founder and Chairman, Revature
Ashwin Bharath
Ashwin Bharath is the CEO of Galent, an AI-native digital engineering firm delivering enterprise-grade AI solutions on a global scale. He leads the company’s strategy to help organizations with production deployments. Under his leadership, Galent delivers composable, AI-powered solutions that drive significant productivity gains for global clients and enable Global Capability Centers (GCCs) to accelerate AI adoption.
In addition to leading Galent, Ashwin is Co-Founder and Chairman of Revature, the largest employer of emerging technology talent in the United States. Through his work across both organizations, he has helped shape workforce transformation models that power AI adoption and digital modernization at enterprise scale.
With more than 25 years of experience in digital transformation and IT delivery, Ashwin advises executive leaders on Generative AI strategy, workforce redesign, and scalable talent models. He advises regional and federal stakeholders on the impact of AI on the future of work.
Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder, Tredence
Shub Bhowmick
Shub Bhowmick is the CEO and co-founder of Tredence. For more than 25 years, he has been a problem solver, entrepreneur, and technology leader. In 2013, Shub and his partners launched Tredence, a data science and AI engineering company focused on solving the last mile problem in analytics. The ‘last mile’ is defined as the gap between insight creation and value realization. Tredence is 1,000-plus employees strong with offices in Foster City, Chicago, London, Toronto, and Bangalore, serving 30+ Fortune 500 companies in retail, CPG, hi-tech, telecom, travel, and industrials as clients.
Prior to the founding of Tredence, Shub held senior executive positions at Diamond Consultants (now PwC), Mu Sigma, Liberty Advisor Group, and Infosys. Shub holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a Bachelor of Technology with Honors in Chemical Engineering from IIT-BHU, India.
Amit Patel
Amit Patel
is a technology executive, entrepreneur, and business transformation leader who serves as Senior Vice President of Consulting Services at Consulting Solutions, where he leads the company’s national consulting practice and drives the commercialization of AI, data, cloud, cybersecurity, and enterprise transformation solutions.
Over the course of his career, Amit has built businesses and advised organizations on technology strategy, digital transformation, and operational excellence. At Consulting Solutions, he has built a $60 million consulting business spanning AI, data, cloud, and enterprise transformation, while developing repeatable go-to-market strategies for emerging technologies and strategic partnerships with Fortune 500 organizations. His work has involved leading teams across sales, delivery, recruiting, marketing, and executive leadership.
Amit is also the Founder of Oros Health, an AI-native mental health technology company based in Dallas. Oros is building an intelligence infrastructure designed to connect people with the appropriate level of mental health support through conversational AI, intelligent triage, and safety systems. The platform has facilitated millions of AI conversations and is expanding its technology globally.
Prior to his current leadership roles, Amit held positions with Accenture, Slalom Consulting, and Strive Consulting, among others, building expertise across consulting, project management, business transformation, and technology. He has also served as an advisor and coach with TiE, supporting entrepreneurs and emerging business leaders.
Amit holds an M.S. in Management and a B.S. in Computer Information Science from the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business. His career reflects a consistent focus on using technology and entrepreneurship to solve complex business and social challenges and to create scalable, lasting impact.
Anand Mahurkar
Anand Mahurkar
is the Founder and CEO of Findability Sciences, a global Applied AI and Data Logistics company helping enterprises turn complex data into intelligent decisions, automated workflows, and measurable business outcomes.
Anand is an entrepreneur and technology leader with more than 25 years of experience across telecommunications, data, analytics, and enterprise technology. Before founding Findability Sciences, he held senior leadership positions at organizations including Datamatics Global Services, Reliance Communications, and Kale Consultants.
Under his leadership, Findability Sciences has developed enterprise AI solutions across industries including agriculture, dairy, manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, and legal services. Anand has championed an approach to AI centered on measurable business outcomes and responsible deployment, with a focus on moving AI from experimentation into real-world operations.
Anand is also a member of the Forbes Technology Council and has been recognized for his contributions to data, analytics, and enterprise AI. He is passionate about entrepreneurship, innovation, and expanding access to technology and opportunity, particularly in India and among the next generation of technology talent.
Aneesh Chopra
Chief Strategy Officer, Arcadia | Chair, Arcadia Institute
Aneesh Chopra is Chief Strategy Officer at Arcadia, a healthcare data platform, and Chair of the Arcadia Institute, an independent research and policy hub combining open and large-scale real-world healthcare data to generate evidence-based insights on performance and policy. He joined Arcadia following its 2024 acquisition of CareJourney, the healthcare data-analytics company he co-founded and led as President a decade earlier.
Chopra served as the first Chief Technology Officer of the United States (2009–2012) under President Obama, where he advanced the nation’s innovation agenda by promoting open data, open standards, interoperability, and public-private collaboration. He previously served as Virginia’s Secretary of Technology under Governor Tim Kaine, and was later named to the Biden presidential transition’s Agency Review Team supporting the U.S. Postal Service. In 2014, he authored Innovative State: How New Technologies Can Transform Government.
Chopra serves on the National Artificial Intelligence Advisory Committee and on the boards of Trimedx, IntegraConnect, Upstream Care, the Health Care Cost Institute, the Virginia Center for Health Innovation, and the International Digital Accountability Council. He also chairs the George Mason Innovation Advisory Council. He holds an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School and a BA from Johns Hopkins University.
General Partner, Chamaeleon VC
Ashish Aggarwal
Ashish is a General Partner at Chamaeleon, where he leverages more than 22 years of experience as an operator, founder, and investor to support founders building transformative companies. He takes a people-first approach to investing, backing exceptional entrepreneurs with deep domain expertise and a vision for long-term value creation.
An early investor in AI and machine learning since 2017, he has invested across the AI stack, from infrastructure to applications. His portfolio includes companies such as Ziva Dynamics (acquired by Unity), Spin (acquired by Ford), Maximus (Deloitte Fast 500), Eridu, Vivum, and Dirty Labs.
Prior to Chamaeleon, he helped launch one of Silicon Valley’s earliest AI- and robotics-focused venture funds at Grishin Robotics, where he led investments in companies including Spin and Taskade. He also advises ultra-high-net-worth family offices on technology strategy and private-market investments.
A Kauffman Fellow (Class 24), he is an active leader within the global venture capital ecosystem, having served on the board of NextGen Partners and contributed to the growth of the 256 Network. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles in M&A, strategy, engineering, and product at Opera Software, Yahoo!, and Dell, and founded two startups in India.
He remains passionate about product-led innovation and technologies that create meaningful real-world impact.
Filmmaker, Director, Writer & Producer
Ben Rekhi
Ben Rekhi is an award-winning filmmaker of mixed Indian and American descent, working between Los Angeles and Mumbai. A graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts and the Peter Stark Program at USC, Rekhi began his career working with the Coen Brothers on the camera department of O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and was later hired by George Clooney to shoot behind-the-scenes footage for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.
Rekhi founded Drops Entertainment and produced his first feature, Bomb the System, which was nominated for the 2004 Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature. His directorial debut, Waterborne, was runner-up for the narrative audience prize at the 2005 SXSW Film Festival. He went on to produce Plush for director Catherine Hardwicke, and later oversaw the Hindi-language film slate in India for producer Jason Blum. His film The Ashram, a spiritual thriller starring Melissa Leo, Kal Penn, and Radhika Apte, was released by The Orchard. His crime thriller Watch List, co-financed by Bron Studios, received 11 Filipino Oscar nominations and won two.
Most recently, Rekhi turned to documentary filmmaking with The Reunited States, executive produced by Van Jones and Meghan McCain, which released on Amazon before premiering nationwide on PBS in 2022. Rekhi’s most recent project, Breaking the Code, tells the story of his father, Silicon Valley pioneer Kanwal Rekhi, co-founder of Excelan and TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs), chronicling his journey from Kanpur, India, to becoming a mentor to generations of entrepreneurs.
Head of Frontier Security, Snowflake
Dr. Abhishek Bhowmick
Dr. Abhishek Bhowmick is Head of Frontier Security at Snowflake, driving defensive strategy against cyber and LLM threats and partnering directly with leading frontier AI labs. He joined Snowflake through its 2023 acquisition of Samooha, the secure data collaboration platform he co-founded and led as CTO, which was named to Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2024 and featured on CNBC.
Prior to Samooha, Dr. Bhowmick spent more than five years at Apple, where he led privacy and security efforts at the scale of over one billion iPhones, translating research into deployed systems as Head of ML Privacy and Cryptography, System Intelligence and Machine Learning. Earlier in his career, he worked at Goldman Sachs, where he identified more than one billion dollars in capital savings through novel machine-learning-based risk frameworks, and at Microsoft in Data Privacy R&D.
Beyond his industry work, Dr. Bhowmick resolved a long-standing open problem in information theory dating to 1977, with implications for theoretical computer science, and was twice invited to speak at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, hosted by Turing Award winner Avi Wigderson. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, where he received the Young Alumnus Award in 2024 for his contributions to technological innovation, computer science, and entrepreneurship.
Committed to philanthropy and community, Dr. Bhowmick collaborates with leaders in computer science and industry to support exceptional talent and advance fundamental research.
Dr. Kamal Bawa
Dr. Kamal Bawa
is President Emeritus of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE)and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biology at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He is also President of ATREE USA.
A renowned conservation biologist and sustainability scholar, Dr. Bawa founded ATREE, one of India’s leading environmental research and policy organizations. His work has focused extensively on biodiversity conservation, climate change, sustainable development, and the relationship between human societies and the natural environment, with significant research in the Himalayas and India’s Western Ghats.
Dr. Bawa has published more than 200 research papers and authored or edited more than 10 books. He has founded and served as editor of major interdisciplinary journals, including Conservation and Society and Ecology, Economy and Society.
His many honors include the Gunnerus Prize in Sustainability Science, the MIDORI Prize in Biodiversity, the Linnean Medal, and the UNESCO Sultan Qaboos Prize for Environmental Conservation. He is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society, the American Philosophical Society, and other leading scientific institutions.
Through his research and institution-building, Dr. Bawa has contributed significantly to advancing conservation and sustainability across India and globally.
Indra Mohan
Indra Mohan
is the CEO and Co-Founder of Autumn8 AI, a technology company focused on improving the deployment and inference of machine learning and foundational models.
An experienced entrepreneur and technology executive, Indra has built and led businesses at the intersection of technology, enterprise software, and go-to-market strategy. At Autumn8 AI, he is focused on helping organizations deploy AI applications more efficiently while addressing the infrastructure, performance, and cost challenges associated with modern machine learning.
Indra brings extensive experience in building technology companies and scaling businesses, with a particular focus on enterprise technology and emerging innovations.
He is passionate about the responsible development and adoption of AI and frequently engages with questions around how organizations can build effective governance and trust into increasingly autonomous AI systems.
Founder, Stealth Startup
Nitin Rao
Nitin Rao is currently building a new venture in stealth, focused on infrastructure for agents and agents for infrastructure.
Prior to this, Nitin spent nearly 12 years at Cloudflare, where he played a central role in scaling the company from its early days to a major global infrastructure provider. As SVP of Global Infrastructure (2013–2023), reporting to the CEO, he helped grow the business from nearly $0 to over $1 billion in annualized revenue, building Cloudflare’s global network across more than 100 countries. His work helped protect 30% of the Fortune 1000 and more than 25 million Internet properties, securing trillions of Internet transactions daily. He managed hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure investments and led business development, hardware systems engineering, and operations teams. He later served as Interim Chief Product Officer (2023–2025), during which time Cloudflare grew to over $2 billion in annualized revenue.
Before Cloudflare, Nitin co-founded Sunglass, a 3D design platform that was later acquired.
Nitin holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship & Innovation from the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he was a Convocation Student Speaker and a 2009 TED Fellow, and a B.Tech in Information Technology from the National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal.
Pratap Bhimireddy
Pratap Bhimireddy
is the Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Business Intelli Solutions, where he leads work in digital transformation, technology innovation, and enterprise IT solutions.
With more than two decades of experience in technology and business, Pratap has worked across the United States and internationally, helping organizations modernize their technology environments and develop scalable digital solutions. His work spans data architecture, enterprise technology, digital transformation, and AI.
Pratap is also closely involved with Datatron, where his work focuses on MLOps and AI governance—helping organizations operationalize machine learning and manage AI systems at enterprise scale.
Beyond technology, Pratap has an interest in economic development and investment promotion, particularly in creating connections between technology, entrepreneurship, and broader community growth.
He brings together deep technical expertise and an entrepreneurial approach to using technology as a driver of organizational and economic development.
Raghav Raghunathan
Raghav Raghunathan
is a technology and business transformation leader serving as Vice President, AI Transformation at Microsoft, where he works at the intersection of artificial intelligence, enterprise transformation, and organizational change. His current work focuses on helping organizations translate AI capabilities into measurable business value and rethink how they operate in an AI-first environment.
Raghav joined Microsoft in 2026 following a 12-year career at McKinsey & Company, where he most recently served as a Partner in the Bay Area, advising telecommunications and technology companies on growth transformation, strategy, and commercial operations. He worked with senior executives across industries on large-scale transformation and business strategy.
At Microsoft, Raghav has been closely involved in the company’s own AI transformation and the development of its Frontier Company approach. He recently contributed to Microsoft’s Frontier Playbook, which draws on more than 100 internal case studies examining how AI can move organizations beyond efficiency gains toward innovation, new experiences, and growth.
Raghav brings a combination of strategy, technology, and transformation expertise, with a particular interest in how organizations can move from experimenting with AI to embedding it meaningfully across their businesses.
Rahul Sarin
Rahul Sarin
is the Founder of Risa Wealth LLC and a financial advisor with Savvy Advisors, specializing in wealth management for entrepreneurs, executives, business owners, and globally connected families.
Rahul has more than two decades of experience advising families across India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Before founding Risa Wealth, he spent 13 years at Avendus Capital, where he was a founding member of its private wealth management business. Earlier in his career, he worked in Citibank’s Non-Resident Indian Wealth Management business and held roles at Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank.
His work focuses on helping families navigate complex financial decisions, preserve wealth, and plan for the future across jurisdictions. Having worked extensively with Indian families, Global Indians, and Indian Americans, Rahul brings a cross-border perspective to wealth management and legacy planning.
He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and is passionate about helping families bring greater structure, clarity, and purpose to their financial lives.
Co-Founder & Co-Artistic Director, Leela Dance Collective
Rukhmani Mehta
Rukhmani Mehta is a kathak artist, choreographer, and educator working at the intersection of classical Indian dance, contemporary performance, and embodied inquiry. She approaches kathak as a living, evolving practice — one that bridges tradition and innovation while speaking powerfully to the present moment.
A senior disciple of the legendary kathak master Pandit Chitresh Das, Mehta is both lineage bearer and contemporary voice. She engages classical Indian dance as a dynamic system of rhythm, storytelling, and improvisation, capable of restoring connection to self, to community, and to the sacred. Her work spans traditional productions as well as cross-cultural collaborations that bring kathak into dialogue with other genres and artistic disciplines.
Mehta is Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Leela Dance Collective. Her original works include SPEAK, a kathak–tap collaboration; Son of the Wind, a dance drama based on the Indian epic Ramayana; and Encounters with Beauty, inspired by the poetry of India’s mystic poet-saints. Her solo work, Sandhi, re-centers the traditional kathak solo, foregrounding improvisation, narrative depth, and the exchange between dancer, musician, and audience. Her work has been presented nationally and internationally at venues including the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Mumbai), 92nd Street Y, The Broad Stage, NC State LIVE, and the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, among others.
Mehta is also the Artistic Director of Leela Youth Dance Company, a pre-professional ensemble dedicated to training and mentoring young South Asian women. Through her teaching, she cultivates not only technical rigor and lineage literacy, but also the development of voice, confidence, and embodied self-knowledge.
Prior to founding Leela, Mehta was a Principal Dancer with the Chitresh Das Dance Company for nearly fifteen years, touring extensively in the United States and India. She is a recipient of a Fulbright Award supporting research on classical dance as a vehicle for empowerment and self-actualization. Mehta is frequently invited to speak on embodied knowledge, lineage and mentorship, and dance as a path to consciousness and transformation.
Sadagopan Singam
Sadagopan Singam
is Executive Vice President and Global Head of Enterprise Platforms and Edge Services within HCLTech’s Digital Business Services. He is a senior technology and business leader with extensive experience driving digital transformation, enterprise applications, cloud, AI, and platform-led innovation for global organizations.
At HCLTech, Sadagopan leads a large global practice focused on helping enterprises modernize their technology environments and unlock value through emerging technologies. His work spans enterprise platforms, SaaS, AI, collaboration, and digital transformation, with a particular focus on translating technology innovation into measurable business outcomes.
Over the course of his career, Sadagopan has built and scaled global consulting and technology practices, led large organizations with significant P&L responsibility, and worked with enterprises across industries and geographies. He is also a frequent voice on the evolution of enterprise technology, including generative and agentic AI, the future of work, and the transformation of business operations.
Sadagopan is passionate about technology-led innovation and about helping organizations navigate the opportunities and challenges created by rapid technological change.
Sanjay Verma
Sanjay Verma
is a Partner and Managing Director at AlixPartners, based in Silicon Valley, where he advises technology companies on growth, innovation, transformation, and strategy.
Sanjay brings more than 25 years of experience in the technology industry, with expertise spanning growth strategy, product development, digital transformation, operations, and technology-enabled business models. At AlixPartners, he works with clients to understand evolving customer needs, strengthen competitive positioning, develop differentiated offerings, and build effective routes to market.
Before joining AlixPartners, Sanjay was a Senior Partner and Chief Development Officer at Strategy&, the consulting arm of PwC. Earlier, he was a Partner and Managing Director at Boston Consulting Group, where he worked in the technology, media, and telecommunications practice. His career also includes leadership roles at Flex and McKinsey & Company.
Sanjay holds an MBA in Finance and Strategy from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Science in Computer Science from Stanford University.
Shanker Trivedi
Shanker Trivedi
is a technology and business leader who serves on the Board of Directors of Sanmina Corporation and Enphase Energy. He previously spent 17 years at NVIDIA, most recently serving as Senior Vice President, Enterprise Business.
At NVIDIA, Shanker led worldwide sales for data center and professional visualization products, as well as business development across a broad range of industries including manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, telecommunications, government, and education. During his tenure, he played a significant role in the growth of NVIDIA’s data center and enterprise businesses and in the broader adoption of accelerated computing and AI infrastructure.
Shanker brings more than three decades of leadership experience spanning enterprise technology, data centers, cloud infrastructure, sales, business development, and go-to-market strategy. Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership positions at organizations including Callidus Software, Sun Microsystems, IBM, and ICL.
He remains actively engaged in the technology and India ecosystem and frequently speaks on AI, infrastructure, innovation, and the evolving relationship between technology and India.
Trailblazers
Our Trailblazers are visionary leaders who have championed our mission and values from the very beginning, empowering the Indian Diaspora to shine as a force for good. We are deeply grateful for their support, through thick and thin, as Indiaspora has grown over the past decade.
President and Chairman of Sparta Group LLC and founded Cascade Communications and Sycamore Networks
Desh Deshpande
Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande is President and Chairman of Sparta Group LLC and founded Cascade Communications and Sycamore Networks. He has chaired and funded several other companies and is a life-member of the MIT Corporation. Jaishree Deshpande is a Trustee of Deshpande Foundation and the Treasurer of Sparta Group LLC, a family investment office.
The Deshpande Foundation supports Social entrepreneurship and provided the founding grant for NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps™) and Deshpande Center at MIT. Jaishree currently serves as a Trustee for the Museum of Science and is involved with HESTIA Fund – a fund established to support after school programs for low-income children in Massachusetts. Jaishree Deshpande worked for the Indian Space Research Organization in Bangalore, India until 1980 before moving to Canada. After moving to Massachusetts in 1984, she worked for several companies and taught courses in computer.
Gururaj Deshpande holds a B. Tech. from Indian IIT-Madras, M.E. from the University of New Brunswick, Canada, and Ph.D. from Queens University, Canada. He co-chaired the National Council to support President Obama’s innovation and entrepreneurship strategy from 2010 to 2015. Jaishree received a Master of Science in Physics in 1975 from the Indian Institute of Technologies (IIT), Madras, India. She also received a Master in Computer Science in 1989 from Boston University.
Chairman Axilor Ventures, Co-founder Infosys, President ISF
Kris Gopalakrishnan
Senapathy Gopalakrishnan, known as Kris Gopalakrishnan, co-founded Infosys in 1981, and has served in various positions, including CEO and Managing Director from June 2007 until August 2011, as well as vice-chairman. Since his retirement from Infosys in 2014, he has been serving as non Executive Vice Chairman. He also has personally invested in 65 startups through his business incubator Axilor Ventures and 10 venture funds.
He serves as a Director on the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation. He also has been the President of CII since 2013. He has funded and created Itihaasa, a digital app that chronicles the evolution of India’s IT industry.
Founder, Chairman, and CEO of SymphonyAI
Romesh Wadhwani
Romesh is the Founder of the Wadhwani Foundation. He is also the Founder, Chairman, and CEO, of SymphonyAI.
A Silicon Valley entrepreneur and philanthropist, he built three successful companies including his former Symphony Technology Group, which brings in about $2.5 billion in annual revenues. The serial entrepreneur has also founded Aspect Development, which i2 Technologies acquired for $9.3 billion in stock in 1999. He combined 9 of his companies that were AI-focused into SymphonyAI in 2017.
He and his brother, Sunil, founded the Wadhwani Institute of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Mumbai in 2018, committing over $30 million.
He is a member of the Gates-Buffett Giving Pledge, and was appointed by President Barack Obama on the Board of Trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center. He also sits on the board of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Romesh received his B.Tech from IIT Bombay, and MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
Managing Partner, SWAT Capital; President, Wadhwani AI; President, WISH Foundation
Sunil Wadhwani
Sunil Wadhwani is a Pittsburgh-based tech entrepreneur who has built several companies in the US and India, and over the last 10 years has launched four large social sector initiatives in India. He co-founded and was CEO of iGate Corporation, an IT services company that he grew to over 34,000 employees and sold for $5 billion.
In 2015 he launched a non-profit foundation to transform primary healthcare in underserved communities across India. This foundation ran over 1,000 clinics and treated over 20 million people a year with free healthcare, in partnership with government. In 2018 Sunil and his brother launched the nonprofit Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence in India. This has over 250 full-time AI/ML and domain experts, who have developed over 25 AI platforms in the areas of healthcare, education, and agriculture. These solutions are impacting over 50 million people a year, and are scaling rapidly.
In 2021 he launched W Health Ventures, a venture studio that has created over a dozen healthcare companies in areas like chronic care management, AI-based mental health, and cancer care. These companies have since raised over $250 million of outside capital and have impacted over 25 million people. Last year he launched the Wadhwani School of AI at IIT Madras, his alma mater. This has become the largest school of AI in India, with over 400 students, 70 faculty, and 7 research centers.
Ambassadors
Our ambassadors are community leaders who support our mission and values of encouraging the Indian Diaspora to be a force for good.
Debottam Bose
Debottam T. Bose is India’s first art lawyer. He is also a senior legal advisor to the Oxford India Center, Somerville College, Oxford University and on the legal committee of J N Tata Endowment Fund.
Debottam has worked in international law firms like Skadden, Arps, Slate Meagher & Flom LLP (London) and White & Case LLP (London). He further studied art history in London and then went on to develop a niche consultancy, with a focus on international art, finance and philanthropy. Interconnections of art, philanthropy and advocacy has allowed his practice, along with independent teams of diverse professionals, to be involved in advising a cross section of clients from private collectors, family offices, artists, charitable hospitals, museums and universities.
Debottam guest lectures frequently, and has taught at Harvard Law School, Harvard Business School, Columbia University, Jindal University, Ashoka University, and National University of Singapore. He divides his time between New York, London, Oxford, Paris, New Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Singapore.
Founder and Chair of the Wahine Charitable Trust
Mallika Janakiraman
Mallika Janakiraman is an experienced executive leader with 35 years in functional nutrition and women’s health across India and New Zealand. She has held senior leadership positions at Kellogg, Nestlé, and PepsiCo. She currently serves as an Independent Director on the board of Milky Mist and as an honorary board member of the NDDB Foundation for Nutrition.
Mallika is the Founder and Chair of the Wahine Charitable Trust in Auckland, leading initiatives focused on maternal and infant nutrition (WoMB) and women’s health (WoW). She advises start-ups in New Zealand and India, leveraging expertise in nutrition strategy, regulatory and scientific engagement, policy advocacy, and sustainable growth.
Based in Auckland, Mallika actively addresses and advocates for issues that advance trade and partnerships between New Zealand and India and beyond aligning business objectives with social impact. Her academic background includes a Master’s in Foods & Nutrition, an MPhil in Food Service Management and Dietetics from the University of Madras, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Commercialisation and Entrepreneurship from the University of Auckland.
Sara Kalim
Sara Kalim is Fellow and Director of Development at Somerville College, University of Oxford. She studied Classics at Somerville at a time when the college was still all-female.
She spent 17 years working in the media, working as Head of Development for two major UK television production companies producing documentaries and investigative current affairs programs for the BBC, ITV Channel 4 and HBO amongst others, working across subjects from sleep disorders to the terror attacks in Mumbai, India’s 9/11. She took a special interest in long-form documentaries centered on narratives around women and education including a 3-year long series for Channel 4 focusing on the last all women’s college at Oxford University.
As Director of Development, Sara oversees Somerville’s fundraising strategy and development. She is responsible for campaigns often shaped by Somerville’s catalytic female pioneers, exemplified by her work for the Oxford India Centre for Sustainable Development with the Indira Gandhi and Cornelia Sorabji Scholarships which sit at the heart of the Centre’s program to enable some of the brightest minds from India to study at Oxford. She works with philanthropists to create transformative educational opportunities for young people. She is a member of the College’s senior management team.
Sara has a long-standing family connection to India, with family coming from Patna, Bihar, where her passion for the furtherment of education in India was inspired by her Indian grandmother, a politician who spent her much of her life campaigning for the social welfare and education of women. Outside of her work for Somerville, Sara is a founding trustee of the Karta Initiative, a social mobility movement for young people at the base of the global income pyramid.
Executive Chairman TSICO Africa Group
Kinesh Pather
Dr. Kinesh Pather has extensive experience in the trade union investment arena – he was previously the CEO of the Chemical and Petroleum Union Investment Company. In this role in 2001, he concluded the first significant BEE transaction in the PharmaCo sector through a substantial equity acquisition into Aspen Pharmacare (SA’s largest generic pharmaceutical manufacturer). This has led to enormous benefits for the Union and its members over the last 8 years. He gained immense insight into the sector and the value proposition to the partners.
Kinesh played a key role in the transformation of the Petroleum sector in SA over the last three years and has access, through direct relationships, with Major Oil Companies and Financiers in this sector. He assisted Total South Africa in formulating its empowerment strategy and approach and is also currently a shareholder in Total SA.
Kinesh was instrumental in the deal structuring of Impala Platinum’s Marula Platinum Mine and lead the consortium to acquire 27% of Marula Platinum in 2005. Kinesh acts as Advisor to Tubatse Platinum and the Marula Community Trust, two of the empowerment partners in the 27% stake of Marula. Kinesh is still retained as advisor on all matters relating to the empowerment stake. The total value of the acquisition was R800million.
Kinesh holds the position of Managing Director of the Bataung Group of companies and through Bataung Oil and Gas played a significant role in the formulation and implementation of acquiring a 26% equity stake in each of 9 companies formed to house the individual concessions granted by the Department of Minerals and Energy for the exploration and extraction of Coal Bed Methane in South Africa. Bataung’s partners in this transaction are NT Energy Africa and the Central Energy Fund.
Kinesh also has extensive relationships in both the business and political arena of SA and in various parts of the Globe.
Sunder Ramaswamy, Ph.D.
Sunder Ramaswamy is a professional economist, an educator, and an academic administrator with extensive experience both in India and the United States. He has been a faculty & administrator at Middlebury since 1990, and has had sabbaticals at the World Bank, Vanderbilt University, IFMR, & the Madras School of Economics in India (including 2 stints as Director). He was the founding Vice Chancellor of Krea University, an exciting new liberal arts and sciences university initiative, set up in Sri City, India (2017-2021). From 2009 – 2015, he was the President of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California (MIIS); He has co- authored and co-edited 4 books, written scores of articles, and delivered over 175 lectures all over the world on Globalization, Economic Development, Indian Economic Reforms and Economic Literacy; His research has been supported by Ford Foundation, SW Davis Foundation and USAID. He has also been a consultant to UNCTAD, UNIDO, UNU and the World Bank. He has had extensive Board service at a number of non-profit organizations and most recently was appointed Chairman Emeritus of The Asia Foundation. He was also recently appointed as an Ambassador for Indiaspora (www.indiaspora.org, the largest US based global nonprofit that aims to improve the success and impact of the Indian diaspora).
He has been featured in over 60 international media stories. His passion for teaching, his academic work, and his administrative accomplishments have been recognized with numerous honors and awards both in India and in the United States.
He is currently the Program Director of the International & Global Studies at Middlebury College and also serves on the President’s Task Force on “Middlebury’s approach to AI”. He is also currently working on a co-authored book manuscript on “Data Democracy and Development in India”.
Arun Seth
After an early retirement from a successful corporate career, Arun focuses on bringing the benefits of IT/telecom to real-world businesses in energy, health, fintech, med-tech, education, hospitality etc. via a vibrant innovative entrepreneurial ecosystem and a focus on giving back to society.
Starting as the founding MD of British Telecom in India in 1995, he built it to its current leadership position in managed telecom services and outsourced IT and back office operations. He left in 2012 as its non-Executive Chairman. He had helped acquire a 45% stake in Airtel in 1996 and served on its board until 2002. He also helped incubate and grow Mahindra BT in the mid-90’s into what now is Tech Mahindra and served on its board for 17 years.
He served as an elected member of NASSCOM for more than a decade. He was on the founding committee for the formation of the Data Security Council of India and worked actively on sharing knowledge on telecoms privatization and working on security issues around telecom equipment as BT was amongst the first users of Huawei and built protocols to secure their networks.
Currently, he serves as an independent director on the board of Narayana Health, Jubilant Life Sciences, Sify Technologies, Usha Breco Ltd, Servion Global Solutions Ltd, Sify Technologies Ltd, Tonetag and CyberMedia. He also continues as an active advisor to Nutanix USA, MMTC Pamp, ThoughtSpot and InMobi , which he incubated in 2007 and C2FO and IOT/analytics eco-energy leader and a number of health tech startups like Healthifyme, and Fitgalaxy.
Very active in promoting software product and the innovation ecosystem, he co-chairs the NASSCOM Product Conclave. He chaired NASSCOM Foundation until 2019, which drives CSR initiatives across the IT Industry using tech for scaling good. He is an active angel investor for the last 2o years, having incubated companies like Avendus InMobi, Tonetag, Ezetap, HelathifyMe, and new ones in Blockchain and medtech.
Very focused on fostering entrepreneurship, he had been involved with TiE Delhi Chapter when it was founded and currently serves as a charter member. Active with the Indian Angel Network, he is an advisor to The IAN Fund, and has been part of angel funds and advises a number of start-ups in the tech space in India and USA.
He also chairs Pahle India Foundation, a policy think tank. He is also a Governing Member of Helpage India Board, SPIC-MACAY, NCPEDP (employment for people with disabilities), Nudge Foundation and GiveIndia.
He has served on the Board of Governors for IIM Lucknow and IIIT Delhi .
He is an alumnus of IIT Kanpur and IIM Calcutta – he has worked in senior commercial positions in the BT, HCL, Usha Martin and the UB Group, in the last 40+ years. Very active in alumni affairs, he has Chaired Pan-IIT in 2010 and was Vice President of IIT Kanpur Alumni Association.
Co-founder, India Africa Entrepreneurship Forum
Baljinder Sharma
Baljinder Sharma is an entrepreneur and corporate advisor based in Mauritius and active along the India Africa corridor. He has served on the boards of several private equity and venture capital funds investing in both India and Africa.
Beginning his career with HCL Ltd in 1989, he transitioned from IT services to building entrepreneurial ventures in financial services and telecommunications.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Jaipur (Distinguished Alumni Award, 2015; Advisory Board, 2024) and an MBA from the University of Mauritius, where he serves on the University-Industry Consultative Committee since 2019. He has completed executive programs at Indian School of Business/Kellogg, and Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School.
Born in India and a Mauritian citizen since 2003, Baljinder Sharma co-founded the India Africa Entrepreneurship Forum and is a founding member of the India Business Council, Mauritius and TiE Africa. He is the author of “Africa in 54 Words” a book that tells the story of Africa through fifty four commonly used phrases and words. His latest work includes comprehensive documentation of prominent business leaders of Indian origin across Africa – a historical record of the diaspora’s economic contributions to the continent.
As convenor of the India Africa Entrepreneurship Forum, a Mauritius based organization, he has orchestrated annual summits that have grown from 80 participants in 2019 to over 300 delegates from 26+ countries in 2026, creating vital networks connecting entrepreneurs, investors, and ecosystem builders across both regions.
Co-founder & CEO, Digimentors
Sree Sreenivasan
Sree Sreenivasan is an expert and scholar in digital communications based in New York City. He is CEO and co-founder of Digimentors, a digital, social and virtual & hybrid events consulting company.He has served as Chief Digital Officer of New York City, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Columbia University (where he was a full-time professor of journalism for 20+ years). He was the inaugural Marshall Loeb Visiting Professor of Digital Innovation and Audience Engagement at Stony Brook School of Communication and Journalism.
Since 2022, he has served on the board of Nobel Prize Foundation Outreach. In 1994, he co-founded SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, and in 1999, ONA, the Online Journalists Association.
In 2015, Fast Company named him one of the 100 most creative people in business and in 2010, he was named one of the 35 most influential people in social media by the Poynter Institute. In 2014, he was named the world’s most influential CDO by CDO Club and, in 2004, one of the 20 most influential South Asians in America by Newsweek.
He has an MS in Journalism from Columbia University; a BA in History from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University; a high school diploma from Suva, Fiji; and a birth certificate from Tokyo. Sree lives in Manhattan with his wife, strategy executive Roopa Unnikrishnan, a fellow Indiaspora fan and winner of the Arjuna Award for rifle shooting, India’s equivalent of the sports hall of fame.
Team
Executive Director
Sanjeev Joshipura
Sanjeev Joshipura serves as Indiaspora’s Executive Director since January 2018, and served as Director since July 2016. Immediately prior to that, he was active in the US-India corridor in a public policy and business capacity, via his own consulting firm.
A naturalized American citizen, he was born and raised in India and migrated to North America in 2000. In the corporate realm, Sanjeev has worked at Fortune 500 multinational organizations in different industries, in the areas of strategy, finance and project management.
Since 2008, he has been actively engaged in public policy, American politics and global government relations. He has managed a US Senate election campaign, worked as a staff member on Capitol Hill advising congressmen and senators on economics and international affairs, and been the Executive Director of an international financial services industry association.
Sanjeev has a Bachelors in Computer Engineering from Pune University, India, an MBA from the University of Toronto, Canada, and a Certificate in Financial Risk Management from the Illinois Institute of Technology, USA.
A passionate cricket fan, he is involved in cricket administration as a member of Cricket Ireland’s Commercial Advisory Group. He lives in the suburbs of Washington, DC with his wife and twin children.
Senior Managing Director, USA & Global West
Shoba Viswanathan
Shoba Viswanathan is the Senior Managing Director for USA & Global West at Indiaspora. In this role, she mobilizes the global Indian community to drive meaningful impact through philanthropy, public service, entrepreneurship and advocacy.
With extensive experience in nonprofit development, civic engagement, and strategic partnerships, Shoba has been instrumental in spearheading initiatives that enhance civic participation and community leadership. She co-founded the Chitthi Brigade, an initiative focused on increasing the political engagement of Indian-American women. Her background in intersectional feminist research informs her efforts to foster inclusive civic spaces, ensuring diverse voices are represented in leadership and policy-making.
Before joining Indiaspora, Shoba built a career in the publishing industry, leveraging storytelling as a tool for social impact. Her expertise in communications, philanthropy, and diaspora engagement enables her to bridge global networks and create lasting change across sectors. Shoba’s leadership at Indiaspora reflects her deep commitment to empowering communities and fostering global connections to amplify the contributions of the Indian diaspora.
Born in New Delhi and raised in Chennai, Shoba is a first-generation Indian-American. She has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Midwest and now resides in New York. In her free time, she enjoys hiking in the Hudson Valley.
CEO, India & Managing Director, Global East
Sreekumar Nair
Sreekumar Nair is the India CEO & Managing Director of Global East. He joined Indiaspora in March 2022 and is responsible for its India operations. Prior to this, he worked for 25 years in the International Department of CII, India’s premier business association which works closely with government on policy issues, and with the industry in enhancing efficiency and building competitiveness. As CII’s Chief Relationship Officer – International, his scope of work encompassed charting issues related to India’s economic relations, evaluating trends in trade and commerce and investment linkages, strategizing the framework for bilateral business cooperation, keeping a strong watch on evolving businesses, policy and political climate, writing papers on business strategy for the Region, facilitating interaction with businesses, working closely with senior government officials, think tanks, other business institutions, and anchoring strategy meetings with stakeholders on a domestic and international scale.
He has travelled extensively across the world and has served as the CII representative in USA and Singapore. He has been to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at Davos several times to organise business events and other cultural activities in partnership with Government of India and industry stakeholders.
He is a sports enthusiast and is an avid badminton player and cyclist. His other passions include music, reading, trekking, and closely following football (soccer), badminton and tennis tournaments. He speaks English, Russian, Hindi and Malayalam (mother-tongue) fluently.
Managing Director, Global Forum
Niranjana Rajagopal
Niranjana Rajagopal is Managing Director of the Global Forum at Indiaspora, where she is responsible for the Forum’s strategic direction, programmatic design, fundraising, and operational execution. In this role, Niranjana sets the Forum’s long-term vision within Indiaspora’s broader mission to activate the Indian diaspora as a global force for impact. She draws on her background in leadership development, strategy, and stakeholder engagement to bring together senior diaspora leaders across sectors and geographies for meaningful engagement and connection.
Prior to joining Indiaspora, Niranjana was a Leadership Advisor at Egon Zehnder, where she worked with organizations on identifying and developing their board & CxO leadership. She spent a decade at McKinsey & Company starting in strategy consulting and later overseeing the firm’s leadership development programs for clients globally. She began her career as a Corporate Finance analyst at KPMG.
Niranjana holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and BE in Electronics Engineering from the University of Mumbai. A first-generation Indian-American, she has lived and worked in Mumbai, Dubai, and Chicago, a path that informs her understanding of the diaspora experience she now works to channel into impact.
She enjoys music and reading and is based in Chicago.
Country Head - United Kingdom
Nina Amin
Nina Amin is a former KPMG partner and was head of their Asian Business from 2013 to 2018. She was the first female President of Tie London Ltd, a global organisation which promotes entrepreneurship. Currently she acts as an NED for Interpolitan Money and sits on a number of advisory boards. She has a proven track record of building relationships with successful entrepreneurs and high net worth individuals and we are delighted to have her on board.
Country Head - Singapore
Bunty Chand
Bunty Chand currently serves as Global Consultant for Indiaspora. Founded in 2012, Indiaspora is a non-profit organization headquartered in the US. Founded by MR Rangaswami, a tech entrepreneur from the Bay Area, Indiaspora is a convening platform to build community engagement, share new and creative ideas around critical global issues and inspire the Indian diaspora to be a Force for Good.
Prior to this, she was Chief Executive Officer of Asia Society India from 2006-2020. Founded in 1956, Asia Society is dedicated to promoting mutual understanding and strengthening partnerships among peoples, leaders, and institutions of Asia and the United States. Across the fields of arts, business, culture, education, and policy, the Society provides insight, generates ideas, and promotes collaboration to address present challenges and create a shared future. Asia Society India was launched in 2006 under the leadership of Ms. Chand. As CEO, Ms. Chand played a pivotal role in shaping and implementing Asia Society’s strategy in India and building a sustainable funding model for the organization. Asia Society India convened over 700 programmes in Mumbai and Delhi. She developed an extensive network of relationships with corporates, educational organizations, think tanks, NGO’s, museums, cultural organizations and key bureaucrats and public intellectuals in India, Asia and the US, to further the Asia Society’s mission.
She spent ten years with AT&T in USA and Hong Kong in the areas of Strategy & Business Development, Human Resources, Sales and Training & Development. She worked as a teacher with the International Catholic Migration Commission at a refugee camp in the Philippines.
She holds a Master’s in Business Administration from George Washington University, USA, Master’s in Special Education from Florida Atlantic University, USA and a Bachelor’s degree in Education and History from Jamia Millia & Delhi University. She has lived and worked in USA, Philippines, Hong Kong, India and Singapore.
Country Head - Australia
Jai Patel
Jai is Head of KPMG Australia’s India Business Practice (IBP) which is a part of the firm’s broader Asia & International Markets (AIM) group. The IBP is a strategic and increasingly important focus for AIM.
Jai’s is a full-time senior role with responsibility for developing and implementing the firm’s business strategy to facilitate and support the bilateral trade & investment flows between Australia and India (the Corridor); leveraging the firm’s expertise; and working shoulder to shoulder with approximately 1,000 Partners across KPMG Australia and KPMG India.
Since taking on this role in 2015 Jai has implemented a vision and demonstrated strong leadership to grow the IBP nationally and has more than doubled revenues with Indian corporates operating in Australia. Jai visits India on a periodic basis to meet with clients amongst other key Corridor stakeholders and has successfully originated new and incremental business for KPMG over the past 7 years. Jai has consistently demonstrated strong performance (by KPMG’s high standards) throughout this period.
Born and raised in Australia Jai has been an active member of the Indian community in Sydney (NSW) more broadly. Jai is a well-established Indian musician/singer and has leveraged his talent since a young age to promote Indian culture across public and private events, including funding raising initiatives. During the pandemic period Jai’s singing (via online mediums) has been extremely well received and recognized by Indian business executives in Australia and India. Jai proposes to share his music more widely in private and public forums in 2022 and beyond to showcase and promote Indian music and culture.
Senior Director Community Relations and Development
Nisha Nambiar
Nisha Nambiar, an entrepreneur and an ex-banker has over 2 decades of experience in retail banking, international sales, business development and business strategy. Her passion for relationship management excited her to be part of Indiaspora as Director of Commuity Realtions and Development. She embraces challenges and new business opportunities.
Nisha’s ardent desire to contribute towards the society propelled her to co-found Vismii. This organization is a not-for-profit organization that works towards education and development for disadvantaged children.
A music lover, she involves herself in culinary skills with equal competency and strength proving to her kith and kin time and again as a “biriyani specialist”!
Equality by building vertical relationships is her mantra.
Senior Director of Development
Manasi Dharne
Manasi Dharne comes with more than a decade of experience in managing various aspects of a community engagement, programs and events. Throughout her career, she single handedly set up ICC preschool and after school programs. Over the years she has grown from all the challenges she has faced, and developed many new strengths along the way. Manasi became the Executive Director of India Community Center and built a strong, dedicated team while utilizing her strength in the ability to connect with people. For the two years that Manasi was the ED – all of the programs garnered great response and became ICC’s signature programs, especially the youth enrichment activities and Bollywood dance classes. Manasi’s career trajectory serves as an example for many individuals who are aspiring to make a difference in their community. Passion, hard work, and most importantly empathy are Manasi’s greatest qualities.
Director, Partnerships & Programs
Amita Siddiqui
Meet Amita, a dynamic individual whose life is a beautiful blend of artistry, entrepreneurship, and heartfelt values. Amita serves as a Director of Partnerships & Programs at Indiaspora.
Armed with a Master’s degree in Strategic Communication, Amita has channeled her communication prowess into a successful entrepreneurial journey. Tenacious, driven and a go-getter, powerfully utilizing the power of team and understanding what it takes to make an initiative successful. For a decade, she helmed her own business, where she demonstrated an exceptional ability to elevate client growth, satisfaction, and revenue through strategic initiatives. Her other strengths include an ability to learn and implement new technology on short notice and a strong grasp of business strategy, planning and execution.
Born and raised in India, Amita’s work draws from her heritage, her love of reading, travel, and rich life experiences. As an immigrant who has been through the typical ups and downs of an immigrant’s life, Amita is committed to social justice and upliftment of marginalized populations.
Beyond her professional achievements, Amita, a mother of two delightful girls, is passionate about children’s education and spends time volunteering at school. In her leisure moments, Amita finds serenity in her garden, and in the kitchen where baking a chocolate cake is her favorite thing to do. Hiking trails beckon her adventurous spirit and over a cup of warm chai Amita dreams of spending time in her own bookstore one day where stories of people like her will be abundant.
Senior Manager of HR and Finance
Sandra Davis
Sandra Davis joined Indiaspora team in January 2024 as our Manager of Accounting and Finance. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience. With over 20 years she has served in a variety of roles specializing in accounting, human resources and payroll. Mrs. Davis has a proven track record of achieving results and is committed to delivering excellent work.
Sandra believes that being reliable, trustworthy, and putting others before self is the foundation for successful teams and work environments. Prior to joining Indiaspora as a full-time employee, she has held roles across multiple industries such as a diagnostic laboratory, school district, and telecommunications. She is a thought-leader in the field of financial/operations management.
When she’s not working, Sandra enjoys Hallmark movies, gardening with her mother, weekend trips with her husband, and spending time with family and friends. She’s also active in church where she enjoys working with the Seniors Ministry and the Angel Tree Ministry.
Director of Operations and Community Relations, India Office
Manjula Manoj
Manjula is the Director of Operations and Community Relations at Indiaspora. She joined in November 2023.
Manjula has over 27 years of experience at the British High Commission in New Delhi, where she has held various roles. Her most recent position was as Private Secretary to the British High Commissioner to India, where she managed their schedule, provided well-researched advice, and organized high-stakes interactions including setting up Prime Ministerial meetings, working closely with senior government officials, businesses, and other institutions both in India and the UK. Manjula was also heavily involved in orchestrating the logistics and programs for visiting VIPs from London. Throughout her career, she worked for seven High Commissioners and facilitated visits from esteemed dignitaries such as HM The Queen, several Prime Ministers, and senior members of the British Royal Family. Manjula has travelled to London for work multiple times, notably as part of the organizing team for Prime Minister Modi’s historic visit in November 2015. Additionally, she has extensive experience in event curation and headed the Events Team at the High Commissioner’s Residence Office.
In her leisure time, Manjula enjoys long-distance walking, running, hiking, and singing. She is fluent in English, Hindi, and Malayalam.
Director, Community Relations & Development
Preeta D’Souza
Preeta is a senior management professional with close to three decades of experience with leading brands in the news media, events and technology industry. She has worked successfully at the cusp of content and communications management and her experience spans IP creation, branded content, integrated marketing and business development. Her work experience diversity is manifest in her successful stints with brands like CNBC TV18 / Network 18, The Times of India, Business India, MAIT (Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology) and Chemtech. She has been successful in building enduring relationships with key corporate decision makers, developing and growing businesses, and driving profit centre operations.
As CEO at EMDI / Greycells Education, she has mentored students to pursue careers in Events and Sports Management and guided them towards successful and fulfilling careers. More recently, as Partner at Troika Events & Sports, she has curated bespoke events for corporates and luxury brands showcasing her versatility and expertise in the field.
Senior Manager, Research & Events
Shrenya Mallik
Shrenya Mallik joined Indiaspora in February 2023 for the India office. She is the Senior Manager for Research & Events. Prior to joining Indiaspora she worked with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at the Latin American and Caribbean Desk where she handled events and projects aimed at promoting trade and commerce between India and Latin America. She is fluent in Hindi, English and Spanish and has also taught Spanish at both school and university level in India.
An avid reader, she likes to spend her time reading, cooking or catching up with her friends.
Manager, Marketing & Communications
Sameer Acharya
Sameer H. Acharya is a Writer/Director based in Southern California. His first book, an adaptation of a famous Indian novel “Saraswatichandra” was published in 2018 by HarperCollins. He is currently finishing his second novel, a re-imagination of a beloved Indian classic. Acharya wrote and directed a path-breaking short comedy film entitled “Have I Shared Too Much?” The film takes a comedic look at social media in the workplace and was screened at several prominent film festivals around the United States. As a writer, he has written stories across genres, including comedy, action, drama and adventure. He has ghost-written two autobiographies for prominent Southern California residents.
Prior to writing, Mr. Acharya worked for a leading management consulting firm, working closely with technology leaders around the country to promote industry best practices. He held several leadership roles for the DC chapter of a leading global entrepreneur’s membership organization – the Indus Entrepreneurs. Mr. Acharya also served as a campaign aide for the 2004 Presidential campaign of Senator John Kerry. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from UCLA and a Master’s in Public Policy from George Mason University.
Manager, Marketing & Communications
Mira Bhayroo
Mira joined Indiaspora in February 2022 and serves as a Manager in Marketing & Communications. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in Urban Studies and minors in French Literature and Race Studies. Before joining Indiaspora, Mira interned at eThekwini Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. There she worked at the Area Based Management offices, specializing in community engagement and outreach. While attending university, Mira participated in several areas of social impact, including environmental justice campaigns, workers’ rights issues, and criminal justice advocacy.
Originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, Mira has spent the majority of her time in the US in Philadelphia. She loves cycling, swimming, and being outdoors in her free time.
