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Profiles
Korn Dabbaransi, Ex-Deputy Prime Minister, Thailand
Starting off his political career in 1974 with the formation of the Chait Thai Party, HE Korn Dabbaransi joined the office of Foreign Affairs. From 1986 to 1996 HE Dabbaransi worked his way up to become the Minister of Industry. Two years later HE Dabbaransi was appointed the Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand along with being the Minister of Public Health. During his tenure, South East Asia went through its financial crisis and HE Dabbaransi was instrumental in taking the decision to devalue the Thai Baht, in an attempt to revive the economy of the region. He was at the forefront of Thailand’s return to prosperity. As the Deputy PM, he toured extensively overseas to promote tourism and exports. His policies paid rich dividends as Thailand had massive economic growth in the years after the crisis-years.
Vivek Mohan, Managing Director, Abbott India Limited
 Vivek Mohan is the Managing Director of Abbott India Limited, the Indian Affiliate of US based healthcare company, Abbott Laboratories. Abbott India is one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in India with commercial and manufacturing operations in Mumbai and Goa respectively. Abbott markets some of the top brands in India such as Digene, Brufen, Cremaffin, Ganaton, and Epilex amongst others, and is a publicly traded company on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Mohan has been with Abbott for the last seventeen years, originally starting his career with Abbott in the US as a scientist in the Diagnostics Division. Subsequently, he served in various international commercial roles, including sales management for Abbott's UK Affiliate and marketing roles in the Middle East. Born and raised in the USA, Mohan received his Master of Business Administration specialising in International Business from the University of Illinois, and a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from the University of Michigan.
B. Sumant, Managing Director, ITC Infotech, Member of Board of ITC Infotech (USA) Inc. and ITC Infotech Ltd., UKh
 B Sumant has been working with ITC Ltd, and its group companies since 1986. In his previous assignment, Sumant was responsible for setting up the snacks business of ITC under the brand name of “Bingo”. He is also on the Board of Technico Pty Ltd which specialises in production of Potato Seed Tubers. He has over two decades of experience in ITC spanning Manufacturing, Operations and new business development.
Sumant holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Regional Engineering College, Durgapur. He is also an alumnus of the Harvard Business School, Wharton, Kellogg and the Asian Institute of Management, Manila.
B. S. Nagesh, Customer Care Associate (CCA) and Managing Director ,Shoppers’ Stop Limited
 B S Nagesh has been with Shoppers’ Stop since the inception of the business as a division of IPHL in July 1991. He holds an MMS degree from Benares Hindu University.
Nagesh has over 27 years of experience and had earlier worked with Blow Plast, Orson and Carona before joining Shoppers Stop. During the last 16 years he has been instrumental in buying of the Crossword chain of bookstores, setting up and opening the country’s largest hypermarket HyperCity, franchise of various brands like MAC, Mothercare, setting up of JVs with Nuance of Switzerland for airport retailing, JV with LAI of Australia for Timezone entertainment centers, thus ushering international brands and modern retailing into the country.
Nagesh is credited for infusing the latest retail techniques into Shoppers Stop and for blending the best of national and international talent within our Company. He has been awarded a number of awards over the years including “Most Admired Apparel Retail Professional of the Year” at the inaugural Images Fashion Awards 2000, the “Top CEO Award 2001” instituted by Institute of Marketing Management. He was also awarded the “CEO of the Year (2003, 2004 and 2005) – Retail” by Clothing Manufacturers Association of India. He was felicitated ‘The Best Professional of the Year’ award held at ICICI Bank, Retail Awards 2005 and “Retail Professional of the Year” at the India Retail Summit in September, 2005. He was also awarded the Teachers Achievement Award in the field of Business in November 2004 and the Entrepreneurship Award for 2006.
Benjamin Larroquette, Chief of Programme and Policy Support, UN Office of the Recovery Coordinator
 Benjamin Larroquette has been involved in the tsunami relief and rehabilitation from day one as it was at his home on the TN coast when the tsunami struck. After the immediate relief he became the Country Director of ACTED (Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development) an emergency and relief French NGO. He closed all the programmes for ACTED, and then joined the UN Tsunami Recovery Support in Chennai as National Livehihood Coordinator. Larroquette later became the UN Tsunami Recovery Manager for India. His final experience with the tsunami took place in Banda Aceh, in Indonesia, where the Tsunami hit the hardest taking the lives of over 160,000 people. He was posted as Chief of Programme and Policy Support, in the UN Office of the Recovery Coordinator. As a leader his job always consisted in reaching a consensus and working towards common goals.
Kunal Verma, Director – Marketing and Communications, Oxfam India
 Kunal Verma has more than 12 years of experience spanning the corporate and the development sector, starting his career in marketing with organisations such as Oswal Chemicals and Lucky Star entertainment. Then he transitioned in the development sector taking a lead role in setting up the fundraising initiatives/ unit's operations for ActionAid International India and Christian Children’s fund. Before joining Oxfam India, he worked with Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre, Madurai as the Director of Resource Mobilisation. Verma has a MBA in Marketing and information Technology and a Masters degree in Fundraising Management.
Balaji Utl, Chief Executive Officer, Health Management and Research Institute (HMRI)
 Balaji Utla has over 24 years of experience spanning industry, non-profits and academia in the areas of learning, organisation development and strategy, and corporate social responsibility. Since January 2007, Utla is the CEO of HMRI. HMRI aims to provide outcome-oriented management to enhance access and utilisation of health services through IT-enabled support to policy makers, government and private healthcare providers, and teaching and training institutions.
He was the Founder of the Mahindra Satyam Learning Center (MSLC), the corporate university of Mahindra Satyam (formerly Satyam). The MSLC is the one-stop-shop for all formal learning needs of the organisation. He is responsible for creating one of the largest volunteering efforts in the corporate world in India, as the Head of Strategy and Organisation Development. He led the effort to cultivate a common language and culture amongst the people by launching a major organisation-wide communication program christened The SatyamWay.
Dr Kinsuk Mitra, President, Winrock International India
 Dr Kinsuk Mitra is a forest economist trained at the Presidency College, Calcutta and the University of Florida and holds a doctorate in Resource Economics. Dr Mitra worked on the risk advantages of agroforestry systems and developed a decision making system for agroforestry managers for choice of species and management options. Later his interests shifted to policy research and he worked on simulations on the impact of alternate forest management systems on the forest resource base of India and contributed towards sharpening policy for participatory forest management. This led to work on the linkage of protection of the environment and livelihoods of the local people and natural resource based enterprise development at the local community level.
Dr Mitra was one of the first to start work on Payments for Environmental Services in India, an approach which has gained a lot of momentum in the last few years. His current research is in the areas of valuation of ecosystem services, linkages between biodiversity and local enterprise, and potential of biofuels for rural energy. Dr Mitra is an active member of the Indian Society for Ecological Economics.
Shubhashis Gangopadhaya, Chief Editor, Journal of Emerging Market Finance, Managing Trustee and Research Director, India Development Foundation.
 Shubhashis Gangopadhaya has over 25 years of enriching academic experience with more than 45 publications and 7 books to his name. Gangopadhaya got his PhD in Economics from Cornell University, USA, in 1983. He joined the Indian Statistical Institute and taught there till 2002. He took over as Founder-Director of IDF, an independent research organisation, in 2002. He was awarded a doctorate (honoris causa) by the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in October 2006. He is the Chief Editor of the Journal of Emerging Market Finance (Sage Publications), and an associate editor of the Journal of Financial Stability (Elsevier). He is a member of the Board of the Centre for Analytical Finance (Indian School of Business, Hyderabad); Bankruptcy Task Force of IPD, Columbia University and the International Advisory Board of the Centre for Law and Economics of Financial Markets (Copenhagen Business School). He has been a member of South Asia Chief Economist’s Advisory Council of the World Bank. Gangopadhaya is also the Founder-President of the Society for the Promotion of Game Theory and its Applications. He was also Adviser to the Finance Minister, Government of India.
Katie Hill, Energy Portfolio Manager, Acumen Fund, India.
 Katie Hill joined the Acumen Fund team through the John Gardner Fellowship for Leadership in Public Service. As a Portfolio Manager, Hill leads Acumen's investment in the Energy Portfolio in India, as well as supports sectors within the Water Portfolio. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Stanford University, studying International Relations and Economics.
Hill received the Firestone Medal of Excellence for her senior honors thesis on the commercialisation of microfinance in Uganda, which involved six months of research in the field. In addition to her work in Uganda, she has work experience in rural education in Nepal and urban poverty in Ecuador.
Atul Dhawan, Regional Managing Partner (North), Deloitte Haskins & Sells
 Atul Dhawan is the Regional Managing Partner (North), as well as National Leader for Clients and Markets, in Deloitte Haskins & Sells. Through a career spanning over 25 years, he has taken on a number of leadership roles and built a distinguished track record of service to many key clients that include Indian companies, Transnational corporations and multilateral development agencies. Dhawan has considerable experience in professional services across a spectrum of industries. His experience includes deļ¬nition of strategic direction, restructuring, business and tax planning, policy formulation, entry strategy formulation, market studies for various services, industrial and other products, techno-economic feasibility assessment, cost management, business process reengineering and organisation studies with a view to improving systems and motivation levels. As National Leader, Clients and Markets, he is also responsible for Strategic Clients, Industry Programmes, Middle Market Initiative and Brand Communication.
Dhawan is active with The Indus Entrepreneurs (Tie) Delhi Chapter and works with them to mentor/guide upcoming entrepreneurs. He has also been a member of the Advisory Board of The Yes Fund.
Mahesh Kanumury, Managing Director & Founder, Arivali Partners
 At Arivali, Mahesh Kanumury provides advisory and investment services to companies that are focussed in the rural economy of India and clean energy. Prior to Arivali Partners, Kanumury was a General Partner at Gabriel, an early stage venture capital fund with $260M under management. He worked at McKinsey for a number of years where he led a number of high-impact initiatives in various sectors in US and India. Prior to McKinsey, Kanumury was with Schlumberger Technologies.
Kanumury has an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MS in Engineering from Purdue and BS in Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology. He has widely traveled in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Prasad Mangipudi
Prasad Mangipudi passed out of Indian Institute of Management in 1989 and during the last 20 years he spend 6 years in advertising with organisaitons like Lintas, BBDO and later in Brand Management and Marketing fields with organisations like Sterling Resorts and and Life cell. He was on his own for a period of 6 years offering consultancy in the fields of Marketing, Sales and Advertising to clients like Tata Indicom, IMG, Citibank, Singapore Tourism Board, Reynolds pens, Pondicherry tourism, John Keels group..
Since April 2007, he has been associated with Aurobindo Pharma as Vice President- Global operations for API. Winner of the very first Brand Equity Quiz held in 1992, he has spoken extensively on subjects like Advertising Marketing, CRM, Management practices.
Dr. Ganesh Devaraj
Ganesh Devaraj founded Soliton in 1998, and has since established the company as the leader in India in the business areas in which it operates. Soliton started business as the first Alliance Member of National Instruments in India, and Devaraj introduced Virtual Instrumentation, a concept pioneered by Texas based National Instruments, to manufacturing industries in the region. In parallel he also developed customers in the US for its offshore Virtual Instrumentation Software (LabVIEW) development services. The revenue grew at an average annual compounded rate of 60% during the first seven years. During this period, Soliton also established itself as one of the world’s most innovative Virtual Instrumentation System developers by winning the most prestigious global award in this field a record three times (2000, 2001, and 2004). Soliton started a products division in 2005, and became the first company in India to manufacture Machine Vision Cameras and Smart Cameras. Soliton has established itself as the leading machine vision company in India. In all, Soliton has received over 25 technology awards for its innovative work and has built up an outstanding reputation for Quality, Integrity, and Customer Satisfaction.
Anu Acharya, CEO, Ocimum Biosolutions
Anu Acharya is the Founder and CEO of Ocimum Biosolutions, a global genomics outsourcing partner for discovery, development and diagnostics. The company was founded in the year 2000 and has completed 3 international acquisitions, Gene Logic's Genomics Division from Maryland, USA, in the year 2007, Oligos Division of Isogen Life Sciences from The Netherlands in 2006, and the GD business of MWG Biotech of Germany in 2005. Ocimum today has over 2000 customers worldwide and operates under the main business units of Lab, Sample and Data Management; BioResearch Design and Execution; Data Analytics and Insights; and Integrated Solutions. Ocimum has raised capital from Kubera Cross Border Fund (KUBC) for an equity investment of up to US$17 million (including the pro rata investment by affiliates of Kubera Partners, LLC, the Investment Manager of KUBC). Ocimum was previously financed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private Equity arm of the World Bank.
Prior to founding Ocimum Biosolutions, Acharya has had rich experience in the Telecom, IT and entrepreneurship arenas.
Vishwanath Alluri, Chairman, CEO and Founder IMI Mobile
Vishwanath Alluri founded IMI Mobile in 1999 with a vision of harnessing the intellectual resources of India to develop an IPR centric technology company. While recognising the potential of the rapidly evolving mobile data space, Alluri was aware that fast growth needed to keep pace with ever changing technology. He therefore set out to build a company which would liberate mobile operators and media companies of technological complexities thus enabling them to realise the huge revenue potential. A pioneer of the ‘managed service model’, IMI Mobile delivers turnkey technology solutions allowing customers to focus on their core business development. Today IMI Mobile has become one of the leading players in the Mobile Value-Added Services market.
Alluri has extensive experience in the technology domain and was previously involved in setting up an Indian hi-tech consumer services company in the healthcare sector. He is a Chartered Accountant and a Company Secretary.
Mr. Prasad Mangipudi, Vice President- Global operations for API, Aurobindo Pharma
Prasad Mangipudi passed out of Indian Institute of Management in 1989 and during the last 20 years he spend 6 years in advertising with organisaitons like Lintas, BBDO and later in Brand Management and Marketing fields with organisations like Sterling Resorts and and Life cell. He was on his own for a period of 6 years offering consultancy in the fields of Marketing, Sales and Advertising to clients like Tata Indicom, IMG, Citibank, Singapore Tourism Board, Reynolds pens, Pondicherry tourism, and John Keels group.
Winner of the very first Brand Equity Quiz held in 1992, He has spoken extensively at a number of subjects in the fields of Advertising Marketing, CR and Management practices.
Dr. Ganesh Devaraj, Founder and CEO, Soliton Technologies India
Ganesh Devaraj founded Soliton in 1998, and has since established the company as the leader in India in the business areas in which it operates. Soliton started business as the first Alliance Member of National Instruments in India, and Devaraj introduced Virtual Instrumentation, a concept pioneered by Texas based National Instruments, to manufacturing industries in the region. In parallel he also developed customers in the US for its offshore Virtual Instrumentation Software (LabVIEW) development services.
Devaraj was selected as one of the ‘101 Successful Entrepreneurs of Tamil Nadu’ by CII in 2008 based on the innovative work done by Soliton. He also serves on the Board of Directors of ELGI Equipments Ltd and on the Board of Trustees of the PSG & Sons Charities, which manages the well known PSG College of Technology.
Mr. Narsimha Rao, President –ITsAP (IT & ITES Industry Association of AP, formerly HYSEA) & Vice President, Infosys Technologies Limited
 Narsimha Rao is the President for ITsAP. ITsAP is the Industry body representing the IT/ITES industry in the state of Andhra Pradesh with over 300 IT/ITES companies as its members.
Rao is a Vice President with Infosys and he heads the Global Delivery Organisation for the Independent Validation Solutions Business unit of Infosys and manages multiple global programmes which help the Customers by independent validation of their software applications. Rao has been the centre head for the Infosys’ Hyderabad centre till middle of this year for 5+ years.
Mr. Mihir Jha, Sr Director, Amdocs India
 Mihir Jha has over 19 years of experience in varied industry segments and he is currently leading strategic initiatives in Amdocs India. Jha joined Amdocs at Cyprus in Mar, 2000 and has since been involved in managing large scale implementations for tier 1 telecom companies. In 2004, he relocated to India and helped Amdocs in establishing Advertising and Media division in India.
Prior to Amdocs, he was associated with GE Medical Systems, Godrej GE Appliances and TCS. Jha is a graduate from IIT Kanpur (B Tech) and IIT Kharagpur (M Tech).
Phil. Tottie, Head of Service Delivery IT Operations HSBC Global Technology
Phil Tottie is heading the infrastructure teams providing offshore support as a captive centre for HSBC IT Operations. He is based in India but manage staff in all offshore locations: India, China and Brazil.
Strong and innovative leader with 28 years experience in internal technology organisations, Tottie has a background in Project and Technical Services Management as well as IT Operations. He’s travelling all around the world and always willing to share his great cultural and organisation experience.
Mr. Shakti Sagar, MD, ADP Pvt. Ltd.
Shakti Sagar has over thirty years of cross-function experience in the Office Automation and Information Technology industry. He has worked with start-up ventures and played a major role in the successes of these organisations. In 1987, he along with 4 other colleagues were responsible for setting-up the first 100% export-oriented software development centre for a Multinational Company (MNC) in Andhra Pradesh – Intergraph India.
Sagar plays a very active role in industry forums. He is the Vice-Chairman of CII, Hyderabad, Past President of the Hyderabad Software Exporter’s Association (HYSEA) and the Past President of the Hyderabad Chapter of the American Chamber Of Commerce Board member of the Amcham National Board. Indian Express’s almanac for 2004-05 featured him as one of the seven outstanding people of Andhra Pradesh.
Monica Tata, Deputy GM and Vice President (Entertainment Networks - South Asia), Turner International
 Monica Tata, recently adjudged as one of India’s hottest young executives for 2009 by Business Today magazine. She oversees Turner’s dynamic entertainment brand portfolio in South Asia including Cartoon Network, Pogo and the recently launched Warner Brothers (WB) movie channel. Tata joined Turner in 2004 as Vice President - Advertising Sales, and successfully led Turner’s advertising sales teams across India by driving innovative strategies, exploring, analysing, identifying business development opportunities and consolidating strategic accounts. Prior to joining Turner, Tata worked in STAR India for nearly 12 years.
Shankar Dutta, President - Motion Picture Processing & Allied Services, Reliance MediaWorks
 Shankar Dutta is a graduate in Commerce and a post graduate in Business Management with specialiSation in Marketing. He has more than 25 years of experience in industries ranging from financial services, industrial marketing, consumer marketing and entertainment. He has worked in TCI, Philips and Kodak wherein he was the Country Manager for Kodak India’s Entertainment Imaging Division. He is currently working at Reliance MediaWorks Limited as President-Motion Picture Processing and Allied Services and is based out of Mumbai.
Suhas Tuljapurkar, Director, Legasis Services
 Suhas Tuljapurkar is the Founder Director of Legasis Services Pvt. Ltd., a legal process outsourcing company and also Managing Partner of Legasis Partners, a law firm which has offices in Mumbai and Pune. Prior to that he worked as in-house counsel with Enron, Thermax, FIAT, HUL, Blue Dart and the Essar Group. Legasis has many corporate clients and has been focusSing on IPR and corporate legal strategy support for various Entertainment AND Media clients including Motion Pictures Association of America, World Films Trade, Star TV, Moser Baer and Sachin Tendulkar.
C. P. Gurnani, Chief Executive Officer, Mahindra Satyam
C P Gurnani is the CEO of Mahindra Satyam. Prior to moving to Mahindra Satyam, Gurnani headed Tech Mahindra’s Global Operations, Sales and Marketing functions, and led the development of Tech Mahindra’s Competency and Solution units. Hiss inimitable style of leadership combined with his sharp focus on customer experience has helped Tech Mahindra to emerge as one of the leading providers of IT Services and Telecom Solutions to the global telecom ecosystem.
Gurnani has extensive experience in building international business, start-ups, turnarounds, joint ventures and mergers & acquisitions. In a career spanning over 28 years, he has held several leading positions with HCL Hewlett Packard Limited, Perot Systems (India) Limited and HCL Corporation Ltd. Prior to joining Tech Mahindra, CP was the Chief Operating Officer and a Co-founder of Perot Systems (India) Limited, initially set up as HCL Perot Systems. At HCL Perot Systems, Gurnani orchestrated the HCL Corporation and Perot Systems joint venture from its inception to making it one of India’s top IT services companies.
Sanjay Modi, Managing Director (India / Middle-East / Southeast Asia)
Sanjay Modi joined Monster in 2001 and he has helped Monster grow not only in India but across the entire Southeast Asian and Middle East region. This has had a significant impact on the company’s global footprint. He also has a deep understanding of the business and of the region. Modi holds a Master’s degree in Business Management from the Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad, and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering.
Sunil Agarwal, Chief Development and Acquisition Officer, South Asian Real Estate
Sunil Agarwal has 14 years of experience in the Indian real estate sector as both a principal and advisor. From 2005 to 2006, Agarwal was Vice President of ICICI Ventures, an Indian real estate fund with USD 500 million under management. Between 2004 and 2005, he was a property manager with HSBC (India). He was head of strategy and business development with DS Group from 2003 to 2004.
Agarwal holds a Bachelors of Technology (Civil) degree with honors from Kamla Nehru Institute of Technology, Sultanpur, and an MBA from IMT Ghaziabad and a Post Graduate Diploma in Urban Planning / Specialisation Housing from the Centre for Environment Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad.
Sanjiv Krishnaji Shelgikar, Advisor, Videocon Group
Sanjiv Krishnaji Shelgikar is a Chartered Accountant and an advisor to the Videocon group for Group Finance, Dept handling all local IPO’s, International mobilisation of debt and equity, domestic and International Structured financial products for the Group’s finances aggregating over Rs.2000 crores. He has previously worked on assignments with a Former Chief Justice, a reputed pharmaceutical company, a reputed agro-products company and on the global acquisition of Thomson & Electrolux.
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