MS Unnikrishnan

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Chief Executive Officer, IITB-Monash Research Academy Former MD and CEO, Thermax

MS Unnikrishnan is the Managing Director and CEO of Thermax Limited, the energy and environment solutions major. The company has a global presence and operates in the areas of heating, cooling, power, water and waste management, air pollution control and chemicals. He chairs the CII National Committee of Industrial Relations and is a member of the Development Council constituted by the Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India. He chaired the Capital Goods Skill Council under the National Skill Development Corporation. He also chaired the Skills Working Group of the BRICS Business Council in 2016. He is a Member of the AICTE Jury Committee for annual ranking of technical and management institutes of the country and is also a Co-Chair of the Apex Council to implement the “Prime Minister’s Fellowship Scheme for Doctoral Research.” He has been honoured with the “Asia Innovator Award” at the CNBC Asia Business Leaders Awards, 2012. He graduated in Mechanical Engineering from VNIT, Nagpur in 1982 and has completed his Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School, USA. Unnikrishnan is known for his strategic and human relations skills and is a champion of green technologies.

Nagesh Basavanhalli

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Group CEO, Greaves Cotton Limited

Nagesh A. Basavanhalli was appointed as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company in September 2016. Since then, he has led the transformation of the company with profitable growth, unlocking higher value for the shareholders. As a Global Leader, Cleantech Enthusiast and Corporate Strategist, he is responsible for the company’s growth strategy in India and abroad. Under his leadership, Greaves Cotton Limited has signed strategic partnerships and alliances reinforcing the company’s positioning as India’s leading last-mile transportation, solutions and services company. Nagesh has core expertise in developing the strategic vision and technology roadmap, thereby leveraging brand potential, improving the top-line and bottom-line of the business. With over 20 years of experience, Nagesh is a Global Automotive Executive with the experience of leading companies to transform, grow in terms of overall market value and strengthen worldwide presence. Nagesh has been instrumental in bringing the best technology and people to create winning brands. He believes that companies can work closely with communities to drive higher economic value and develop sustainable solutions for the world. Prior to his appointment at Greaves Cotton Limited, he has been associated with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles for over two decades, last serving as the Managing Director and President of Fiat Group Automobiles India. He joined Chrysler in 1994 and has held numerous positions of increasing responsibility in engineering and product planning. He has also been associated with the ATG Group as the Group President for emerging markets. He was awarded the “Booth India Business Leader — 2009” by Chicago Booth Business School. Nagesh holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Bangalore University and a Master of Science from the University of Texas. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Business School.

Girish Rao

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Former CEO, ESSAR Steel Middle East

Girish Rao has more than 35 years of experience in the fields of consumer durables, steel, and retail. An MMS graduate from BHU, he worked with BPL where he had a successful stint, ending as Head of Sales. Then he joined LG Electronics as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, where he drove market expansion taking the brand to the leading position in all categories in India.

Later as CEO of ESSAR Steel Hypermart, he set up a first-of-its-kind retail business for steel, catering to the MSME sector. This model became a pioneering benchmark in the steel industry and set new standards.

As CEO for ESSAR Steel Middle East in Dubai, he increased the company’s presence in the GCC and Iraq. Currently, he is a consultant and has set up INSALESPRO, a community for the sales fraternity in the country. Girish is an avid traveler, reader and golfer.

Mythily Ramesh

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Co-Founder and CEO, NextWealth

Mythily Ramesh has more than 30 years of experience in her career. She completed her BE Computer Science from College of Engineering, Guindy and MBA from IIM Ahmedabad.

In her 20-year successful stint in Wipro, she grew from a Customer Support Executive to a Senior Vice President. She has donned multiple roles including marketing, sales, quality, innovation, operations and is also a Six Sigma Black Belt.

In 2006 and 2007, she was adjudged one of the 25 most powerful women in India by India Today and Dataquest.

She is currently the Co-Founder and CEO of NextWealth, a social entrepreneurship firm that she along with a few ex-Wipro colleagues started focused on providing 10,000 jobs to people in small towns.

She is an Independent Director on the Board of Karnataka Bank and WEP Peripherals and serves on the Board of Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur, and IIIMPACT.

Amit Kalra

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Director and Chief Transformation Officer, HLE Glascoat Limited

Amit is the Director and Chief Transformation Officer at HLE Glascoat Limited since February 2021. Prior to that, he was the Member of the Executive Management Team at Hilti Manufacturing India, which is a subsidiary of the Europe-based multinational Hilti Group. With close to two decades of exhaustive experience, Amit has worked across some of the world’s large engineering and technology companies, including Hilti, Umicore and Infineon, and has held leadership positions internationally.

Amit is passionate about transformation at family run organizations and uses his unique people-centric approach to build new mindsets, structures, practices and processes to help mid-sized family run organizations scale-up.
Amit frequently speaks on leadership, entrepreneurship and organizational consciousness at various IITs, other premier institutes and entrepreneurial forums across India. He holds academic degrees from India and Germany in Chemical Engineering and an MBA from ESSEC Mannheim Business School with campuses in Germany and France. He is also a certified Culture Transformation practitioner from Barrett Values Center UK and a Yoga and Meditation practitioner from Isha Yoga Center and is a promoter of Conscious Leadership. He is married, has one child, is settled in Gujarat and has spent 13 years in Germany and Switzerland prior to that.

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.

MURALI SIVARAMAN

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Chairman / Board Director, Huhtamaki Paper Products Ltd. | Non-Executive Chairman, Signify Innovations (Philips Lighting)

Murali Sivaraman is currently on the Boards of Bharat Forge – Independent Director,
Huhtamaki Paper Products Ltd – Chairman and Independent Director, Signify
Innovations (Philips Lighting) – Non-Executive Chairman. He has more than 20 Years
of Global Business Leadership working with two leading MNCs – ICI (Akzo Nobel)
and Philips. He has lived and worked in China for 9 years, South East Asia
(Singapore) for 6 years and North America/Europe for 3 years. Within Philips – his
recent roles were – President for Philips Lighting – Growth Markets (Singapore base)
– overseeing 25 countries across Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa (Euro 1.5 BN).

His prior roles with Philips were CEO – Philips Consumer Lifestyle Domestic
Appliance (Shanghai base – Euro 1.7 BN) and Managing Director – Philips India
(Lighting, Healthcare and Consumer Electronics). He has successfully completed
large acquisitions in India, China and the Middle East.

Murali is a qualified Chartered Accountant, Cost and Works Accountant, MBA from IIM
Ahmedabad and completed his Advanced Management Program from Harvard
Business School. After working for 3 decades across the World – he has now
relocated to India – Mumbai and is dividing his time between Board Roles,
Coaching/Mentoring, enabling NGOs to scale up and teaching as a Visiting Faculty.