RAKESH MALHOTRA

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Founder, SAR Group, Luminous, Livpure, Livguard & Ncubate Capital.

He is a serial entrepreneur since 1988 and an early-stage investor in India, Singapore and US.

SAR Group companies are engaged in a wide range of industries including power electronics, energy storage, Renewable energy, Water and Air purification, Industrial IOT etc.

Rakesh also serves as the Managing Partner of Ncubate Capital Partners, which invests in early-stage companies in India from an open-ended balance sheet fund.

A graduate from Jadavpur University India in Electronics & Telecom Engineering he started his career in 1983 at NELCO (Tata Group) followed by Mitsui and Siemens.

Since 1988 he has been a founder/co-founder of 14 ventures and has exited 8 of these. These companies currently employ over 9000 people and have combined revenues of close to USD 1 billion.

He actively mentors many startups in India and Singapore and likes to interact with engineering and B school students to develop their interest in entrepreneurship. He serves on various industrial/technology committees in India and presents papers at engineering conferences. He is a family person and likes traveling, playing cricket, music and business reading.

BIJOU KURIEN

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Strategy Board Member, L Catterton Asia

Bijou’s association with the development of Indian retail is over 25 years. After earning his spurs at Hindustan Unilever Ltd., he joined the founding team at Titan Industries, where he helped build powerful brands like Titan, Fastrack, Sonata, Tanishq etc and create India’s largest exclusive brand retail chains. In his stint with Reliance Retail, he was at the forefront of one of the most ambitious retail ventures in India. Currently, he is an independent consultant and member of the Strategic Advisory Board of L Catterton, Asia (sponsored by the LVMH Group), and advises several consumer products companies and, mentors a few start-ups.

He is the Chief Mentor of the FICCI National Retail Committee, member of the Advisory Council of Retailers Association of India, member of the Advisory Board of the World Retail Congress and an Independent Director on several listed and unlisted companies. He was recognized as Retail CEO of the Year (2013) by ET Now, Asia Pacific Retail Leader of the Year (2012) by the World Retail Congress, etc.

UMESH SHRIKHANDE

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CEO, Taproot Dentsu

B.A.: Economics and Sociology: Bombay University.

MMS: Marketing: Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies.

CEO of Contract Advertising India: July 2008 – Dec. 2012.

CEO of Taproot Dentsu since July 2013.

Domain: Leveraging strategic communication expertise for business transformation based on a deep appreciation of business and marketing strategy.

Experience: Strategic planning and communication strategies for brands viz. Bajaj Auto, Unilever, Philips, Cadbury, Asian Paints, BBC World, Disney, HSBC, Shoppers’ Stop, Marico, Myntra, ITC, Aditya Birla Capital, Facebook, Samsonite, Parle, Danone, Uber, Abbott and Eureka Forbes among others.

Passionate about: Fostering a work culture and ethic that is creative-centered, value-based and humane. Believes in doing so on the back of Planning and strategy, constructive negotiations, sensitivity and humor.

Work focus:

People: Motivation and development.

Organisation culture: Values and performance.

Creative organization: Sensitivity and result orientation.

Past positions:

Jury member for the Abby and EFFIE awards.

Mancom member: Ad club Bombay.

Executive Committee member: Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI).

Currently a Board Member:Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).

Guest speaker: Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies.

Honorary advisory work: With SMEs, NGOs, Business Schools and students.

PK MEDAPPA

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Former Head of HR, First Abu Dhabi Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.

PK has held various senior leadership positions at global organizations during his 32-year career. Positions held include Group Head of Human Resources at Standard Chartered Bank and Group Chief People Officer at First Abu Dhabi Bank.

During his career, PK has helped build highly successful businesses by designing and implementing operating models which comprise of clear strategic vision, behavioral values and capabilities supported by HR policies, delivered through integrated technology platforms and global shared service centres.

PK’s experience in successfully driving change and managing HR teams in 50+ countries was made possible because of his approach of knowing, focussing and developing the unique capabilities of individuals. Over the last few years he has focussed extensively on creating “mindsets” that build collaborative organizations.

For the last 18 months PK has been pursuing his interests in HR technology and as a coffee entrepreneur.

GAJENDRA CHANDEL

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Former President and CHRO, TATA Motors


Mr. Chandel is currently the Founder of Viribus Unitis Consulting and the Former President and CHRO, Tata Motors, India’s largest automotive company. He moved to Tata Motors in 2014, from another Tata Group Company, Tata AutoComp Systems where he was the Group CHRO from 2005 to 2014.

At Tata Motors, as part of the Executive Committee, he is actively driving turnaround with the responsibility of various strategic growth initiatives of the company. He has also pioneered various HR practices, which are seen as trendsetters and industry benchmarks.

As part of the company’s transformation strategy, emanating from the company’s short-, mid- and long-term strategy, he piloted massive restructuring, reorganisation & rejuvenation exercise. This includes compression of hierarchy to flat structure, job levelling and banding, management assessment and structured placement exercise, performance planning and review, career and succession planning, among others. All driven towards making the organisation agile and a lean fighting machine to meet the company’s goal of being amongst the top 3 players in commercial vehicles worldwide and the top 3 passenger car businesses in India.

Prior to joining Tata Group, he worked with Siemens in India, Germany and USA for almost 13 years where he held various assignments, incl. Regional HR Manager (North), Divisional HR Manager for the newly formed Telecom Div., Corporate Head for Industrial Relations, Corporate Head of Leadership and HR Development & Head of Siemens ONE shared services project. From 2000 to 2003, he led the leadership project at the global headquarters of Siemens in Munich and subsequently at Siemens USA on a business integration project from 2003-2004. He was honoured with the Leader of the Year award in 1997 by LMI Inc. USA.

Mr. Chandel loves photography, hiking & reading.

ASHUTOSH PANDEY

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MD & CEO at Mahindra First Choice Wheels.

Previously, he was the CEO of Tata CLiQ (Tata Unistore Limited), the digital commerce venture of the Tata Group,a business that he was responsible for founding and developing in the period October 2014 to May 2018.

Ashutosh has more than two decades of experience in leadership roles across E-commerce and Retail, and functional roles in diverse industries.

He joined the Tata Group in 1998 as a member of its flagship cadre, the Tata Administrative Services (TAS). Over the next sixteen years, Ashutosh took up challenging assignments in Tata Global Beverages (erstwhile Tata Tea), Rallis India, Tata Communications and the Taj Group of Hotels, in functions spanning marketing, strategy, business development, and project management. He also worked with Accenture Consulting for a year, where he was responsible for the post-merger integration of two large companies.

Before taking up his assignment as CEO of Tata Unistore in 2014, he was the COO of Landmark E-Tail Limited, Trent’s online retail business, from 2013 to 2014. He was earlier the COO and Business Head of Landmark, one of India’s leading leisure and entertainment retailers, from 2009 to 2013. During this time, he was responsible for the turnaround in the retail format besides building the brand, customer connect and store operations.

Ashutosh is an MBA from FMS Delhi and holds a BE degree from BIT Sindri. He is based in Mumbai where he lives with his wife Aparna and two lovely daughters, Shriya and Shraddha.

MADHABI PURI BUCH

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Whole Time Member, SEBI

Ms. Madhabi Puri Buch is a Whole Time Member, Securities and Exchange Board of India in Mumbai.

Prior to this assignment, Ms. Buch served as Consultant to the New Development Bank in Shanghai, China. Ms. Buch also served as the Head of the Singapore office of the Private Equity Firm, Greater Pacific Capital. She also served as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at ICICI Securities Limited and as Executive Director on the Board of ICICI Bank.

Ms. Buch also served as a non-executive director on the Boards of various companies and ran a not-for-profit foundation.

Ms. Buch holds an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and is a Graduate in Mathematics from St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi.

DHAVAL BUCH

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Former Chief Procurement Officer, Unilever.

Dhaval was the Chief Procurement Officer for Unilever since 2014 till he retired mid-2019. During this tenure as the CPO, he was responsible for all procurement across the company with expertise in smart buying tools like e-auctions, design- to-value, lean in the value chain and more.

Previously, he led Asia and Africa Supply Chain for Unilever and was responsible for 120 factories and 100 distribution centers.

He has served as Board Member on the Hindustan Unilever Limited Board and as Chairman of Nepal Lever Limited.

He is a Mechanical Engineer from IIT Delhi.

GAGAN ADLAKHA

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Leadership Coach and Senior Partner, Vyaktitva.

Gagan is a Leadership and Transformational Coach and a specialist in the area of people’s performance with over 25 years of experience. An XLRI 1990 alumnus, Gagan joined the IT sector in its high growth phase and handled a variety of roles covering the complete gamut of the HR function for about 10 years. He rounded off his corporate experience by taking on management roles for the next few years. Gagan turned entrepreneur in 2004 and joined Vyaktitva as a partner with the desire to help enhance people’s performance across organizations. Gagan has been working on various Coaching, Organizational Design and Learning & Development assignments focused on enhancing individual and organizational performance.

He has designed and delivered solutions for premier organizations including the Max group, PepsiCo, Amex, Unilever, Colgate, Airtel, Genpact, Hewitt, Whirlpool, Accenture, GE, ITC, Hero, RB, Mother Dairy, Ericsson, Cap Gemini, and IBM. His experience spans across countries, cultures, and industries. He has also done extensive work with owner/ proprietor/ family-run businesses and partnerships and regularly volunteers for social sector organizations. In addition, Gagan is currently focusing on areas such as wellness, yoga, holistic living, meditation, mindfulness and helping develop conscious leaders and organizations.

ANAND KUMAR BAJAJ

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Founder and CEO, Nearby Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

An IIM-A alumnus and a Chartered Accountant, Anand Kumar Bajaj is the Founder and CEO of Nearby Technologies Pvt. Ltd. With over 18 years of experience in Digital Payments and Mobility, Anand holds 5 patents in banking technology and has previously worked at YES Bank, ICICI Bank, and Ernst & Young. In his last assignment, before launching Nearby Technologies, Anand was the President and Chief Innovation Officer at YES Bank, where he managed several high-impact programs in digital payments. Anand has actively participated in the Steering Committee of NPCI shaping the IMPS and UPI industry and has been a member of RBI’s ad-hoc committee on Mobile Payments and NUUP. Being on the board of BCFI, Anand also represents the industry body at the NPCI steering committee for AePS.

At Nearby Technologies, Anand and his team are committed to bridging the digital gap in India through scalable technology, grass-root level distribution and empowerment of the last mile. In this endeavor, he works very closely with RASCI, TRRAIN and other industry bodies to upskill and empower retailers, who form the hub of local communities and can bring about meaningful changes in their locality.