Managing Partner, Spectrum Value Management Ltd, Rapperswil-Jona

He studied law at the University of Zurich, obtaining a doctorate in 1989. He began his professional career as a credit officer with Bank of New York in New York, before taking up an appointment as CFO of Tyrolit (Swarovski group), based in Innsbruck and Zurich, in 1991. From 1993 until 2001, he was with McKinsey & Company, ultimately as a partner, and was involved in numerous projects with industrial, financial and technology firms in Europe, the US and Southeast Asia. In October 2002, he co-founded Swiss-based Spectrum Value Management Ltd, which administers the industrial and private investments of the family Thomas Schmidheiny. He joined Spectrum Value Management Ltd. as Managing Partner and at the beginning of 2006 he became CEO. In addition he serves as member of the Board of LafargeHolcim, Rieter, IHAG Holding and Grand Resort Bad Ragaz. He was a former Board member of Rieter, the world’s leading supplier of spinning machines.

In India he was a Board member of the Mumbai based Edelweiss Financial Services.

Dean and Novartis Professor of Marketing Strategy and Innovation, ISB

Rajendra Srivastava is the Dean of the Indian School of Business (ISB) and the Novartis Professor of Marketing strategy and Innovation. He comes with an experience of over 30 years as an academic and administrator. He has held several tenured faculty and administrative positions during his career. Before joining the ISB, he was Provost and Deputy President of Academic Affairs at Singapore Management University.

His research interests include Marketing Strategy, Marketing Metrics, and Brand/Customer Management. His current work focuses on Business Model Innovations, especially in Services, B2B, Technology and Emerging Markets. He is best known globally, for his work on measuring the impact of market-facing business processes (innovation, supply-chain and customer management), that create value for customers, and the value of market-based assets (customers, channels, brands and value networks). He is also well known for his work in competitive market structures and brand equity/strategic brand management. His latest research and teaching interests also include Strategic Performance Management, Marketing Accountability and Driving Growth and Shareholder Value.

Rajendra Srivastava is a highly cited scholar with work published in leading marketing journals. He is also the recipient of several awards and honours. He has been actively involved in setting up several new postgraduate and doctoral programmes as well as research centres and initiatives in close collaboration with industry. He has also been involved in consulting and senior management training with global MNCs and brings a unique blend of experiences integrating academic and business perspectives from the west and the east. He is committed to cross-functional integration in management of business processes and has championed inter-disciplinary research and academic programmes, and has nurtured multi-disciplinary areas of excellence in financial markets, innovation and business analytics.

Prior to SMU he held distinguished research chairs and senior management positions at the University of Texas at Austin and Emory University in Atlanta.

Co-Chairman & CEO, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd & Member, Executive Board, ISB

GV Prasad leads the core team at Dr. Reddy’s that has contributed significantly to its transformation from a mid-sized domestic operation into a global pharmaceutical conglomerate. Prasad has been a member of the Board of Directors at Dr. Reddy’s from the year it was founded. The company’s revenues have grown from $50 million to $2.5 billion during Prasad’s tenure. He has led the global expansion of Dr. Reddy’s through both organic and inorganic means. Prasad’s emphasis on innovation, transparency, business ethics and flatter corporate structures has helped shape Dr. Reddy’s into an organisation of global repute, recognized for scientific innovation, progressive people practices and high standards of corporate governance. Prasad continues to strengthen the company’s research and development capabilities and build a holistic culture of corporate excellence. He leads the company’s sustainability initiatives including adoption of green technologies, thereby reducing its ecological footprint. Prasad is the Chairman of Dr. Reddy’s Institute of Life Sciences. He also serves on the boards of the Indian School of Business and Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad. He has also been involved with the Acumen Fund and the Andhra Pradesh chapter of the Worldwide Fund for Nature. Prasad was declared India’s Best CEO in the Large Company category by Business Today in 2014 and India Business Leader of the Year by CNBC Asia in 2015. A chemical engineer from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Prasad also holds a Master’s degree in Industrial Administration from Purdue University, USA.

Managing Partner, Ernst Schmidheiny Foundation, Rapperswil-Jona

Ann-Veruschka is the managing director of the Ernst Schmidheiny Foundation, and she is promoting economic literacy programmes with a focus on Switzerland, but also internationally. In 2006, she joined Spectrum Value Management Ltd., a Swiss-based single family office that manages the industrial and private investments of the Thomas Schmidheiny family and served as Head of Family Philanthropy and Foundations. Earlier positions include the country desk Vietnam and Myanmar at the German ministry development co-operation (BMZ), and legal officer at the Claims Resolution Tribunal for dormant accounts in Zurich. Ann-Veruschka holds a legal doctorate from the University of Konstanz. Her work-base is Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland; home is Konstanz, Germany. She is a Responsible Leader of the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt and on the board of the Think Tank Thurgau foundation.

Daniel Clark Sanders Chair Professor,Entrepreneurship and Family Business,Grossman School of Business, University of Vermont

PramoDITA Sharma, Ph.D., is the Daniel Clark Sanders Chair Professor in Entrepreneurship and Family Business at the Grossman School of Business, University of Vermont. She is a Visiting Professor at the Kellogg School of Management’s Center for Family Enterprises, Northwestern University. Dita holds honorary doctorates from the Jönköping University in Sweden, and the University of Witten/Herdecke in Germany. She is amongst the most frequently cited scholars in family business studies. Her research on family enterprises has been honored with several international awards. From 2008-2017, Dita served as the editor-in-chief of Family Business Review, the pioneering and leading academic journal in the field of family business. She is a frequent speaker at gatherings of family business leaders around the world. She is a recipient of prestigious lifetime achievement awards such as the Barbara Hollander award of the Family Firm Institute and the Life Time Influence and Impact award of the Family Enterprise Research Conference

Executive Director, Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise

Kavil Ramachandran is Professor and Executive Director of the Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise at the Indian School of Business. He received his PhD in Business Management from Cranfield University, UK, in 1986. For the next 15 years he served as Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. His areas of specialization are family business, entrepreneurship and strategic management. He has done extensive research on various aspects of family business and has published in Journal of Business Venturing, Global Strategy Journal and Journal of Business Ethics. His special areas of interest are strategy, governance and professionalisation; he has been a consultant to family businesses in India and outside. He is a frequent speaker on family business and regularly contributes to the media.