Vinita Bakshi
Founder , AAMBRA Foundation
Vinita is an alumnus of Delhi School of Economics, an author and a social entrepreneur.
She has founded a nonprofit organization- Aambra Foundation, with a vision towards women empowerment. Her focus Project She Speaks,is a triannual seminar series. And the policy advocacy takes the form of gender focused programmes that highlight themes dealing with the issues faced by the contemporary South Asian women.
Vinita has a passion for literature and writes fiction and non-fiction, bilingually. She has recently released her debut work of fiction, 31 Miles with Rupa. The book was released by Nandana Sen in Jaipur Literature Festival 2017. The book has been widely covered and reviewed by national and international media, senior journalists, and cinema personalities such as, writer director Imtiaz Ali, ITV New York, Huffington Post, DD National, The Hindustan Times, The Hindu, The Pioneer, The Statesman, The Tribune, The Asian Age, The Millennium Post, The News Now, The Different Truths, Savvy, Urban Asian and many other big and small newspapers and magazines. She is part of the regular festival circuit and has been a panelist at Jaipur Literature Festival, World Book Fair, London Stardust Show and Delhi Literature Festival besides other prestigious forums. She is currently working on sequel of 31miles and will soon be publishing her debut Hindi novel, ‘Bindu ka Dayra’ on a women centric theme. She also regularly contributes to Evesly, women’s portal of Indian Express.
She is currently the Director of National Institute of Jewellery, a Govt. of Delhi undertaking.
Visit Vinita Bakshi's Website
Rajiv Makhni
Media Personality
Rajiv Makhni is known as India's Tech Guru and has just been awarded The Television Anchor of the year 2012 by the Indian Television Academy. He is Managing Editor, Technology, NDTV and also Head of Alternate Media for NDTV Ltd. He hosts multiple TV shows on Technology (Gadget Guru, Cellguru, Newsnet 3.0, Walk the Tech Talk), and Lifestyle (Men can’t dance, The next Big thing), anchors India's only Daily show on the Net, hosts a talk show on Men, was a successful model (and manages to look sufficiently embarrassed about it when asked) and is currently writing a book (not on technology). He has an extensive following on Social Media and is also one of the most sought after speaker and moderator at Key Events in India and abroad. He is a multiple award-winning columnist and writes for major publications like Hindustan Times, GQ, Outlook, Cnet and many others in India and Abroad. He is married, lives in Delhi and has just discovered that Fatherhood may well be the best tech-education in life.
Arvind Singhal
Arvind graduated from IIT-Roorkee (B.E. 1975-79, Electronics & Communication) and went on to complete his MBA (1980-82, Finance & Marketing) from UCLA USA. He started his career as a Management Trainee with DCM Group in 1979, and then worked with DCM Data Products, Birla VXL, and Modern Suitings before founding Technopak in 1992. Technopak (www.technopak.com ) is one of India’s leading management and operations consulting firms, highly focused on a few sectors that include Textiles & Clothing, Retail & Consumer Products, Healthcare, Education, and Food Services & Agriculture. Arvind’s personal interests are in the areas of Textiles, Education, and Healthcare.
Over the years, Arvind has been invited to speak at leading academic institutions and professional forums which include Harvard (USA), Wharton (USA), ESADE (Spain), various IIMs (India) and IITs (India), and the Vatican to list a few. Arvind is also a regular columnist at leading Indian business papers including Business Standard and Economic Times, and a frequent contributor to major Indian and international business publications that include Wall Street Journal.
Arvind has served on several committees in the leading chambers of commerce and industry in India, across different sectors, including Textiles, Education, and Healthcare. Arvind is based out of Delhi.
Amarendra Khatua
Former DG, ICCR
Dr Amarendra Khatua belongs to 1981 Batch of Indian Foreign Service.
During his diplomatic career, he has held Trade and Economic positions in various Indian Missions including Madrid, Mexico City, Karachi, Moscow and New York.
At the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, he has worked in different capacities in key divisions including Finance, Administration, Northern Division and Latin America Division. He has also served in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Planning Commission and Ministry of Industry.
He assumed charge as Director General, Indian Council for Cultural Relations and also holding the post of Secretary (Special Assignment) in Ministry of External Affairs. Prior to this appointment he was Dean, Foreign Service Institute on January 4, 2016, Ambassador of India to Argentina and concurrently to Uruguay and Paraguay from 2012 to December 2015 and Ambassador of India to Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and concurrently as Ambassador to Guinea and Liberia and as High Commissioner to Sierra Leone.
Sunjoy Joshi
Chairman and Chief Executive Observer Research Foundation
Sunjoy Joshi has a Master’s Degree in English Literature from Allahabad University, India, as well as in Development Studies from University of East Anglia, Norwich. He also studied Upstream Economics and Risk Analysis at the Petroleum Economist, Woking, UK.
He joined the Madhya Pradesh Cadre of the prestigious Indian Administrative Services in 1983, but has taken premature retirement from the service in 2009 in order to pursue his primary interests in energy and environment.
During his career spanning over 25 years in the Indian Administrative Service, Sunjoy has gained experience across the conventional as well as non-conventional energy sectors. He has handled oil and gas exploration as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and was the Government nominated Director on the Boards of ONGC, OVL, OIL and MRPL. Sunjoy headed the Madhya Pradesh Energy Development Agency as its Managing Director and served as Chairman of M.P. Windfarms.
He has been Visiting Associate at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, London as well as Distinguished Visitor to the Programme on Energy and Sustainable Development, University of Stanford, USA.
Sandeep Bhargava
Technocrat Former EVP, Vodafone Idea
Sandeep Bhargava’s professional career spanning more than 35 years of international business experience, he has performed various roles in Corporate Affairs, Government Relations, Public Policy & Public Affairs, Sales, Business Development, Commercial and Contractual negotiations, Strategic planning, relationship management with the politico-legal system, government tendering and procurement. He has an expertise in GSM sales and operations, networking and satellite communication, electronics and solar energy and instrumentation, computer peripherals. He has significantly & consistently contributed in dealing with telecommunication offices, forums and associations like TRAI, DOT, MeITY-India, Cellular Operator Authority of India(COAI), ICA, global Associations like Digital Europe, EBG, USIBC, UKIBC, CBI.
He has been member of the Indo-US and Indo-EU ICT working group and has participated in meetings at Delhi, Brussels, Washington D.C. In addition to his current role he is the Chairman for Telecom Sectoral Committee with European Business Group.
He supports SARTHAK EDUCATIONAL TRUST an NGO, engaged in skilling and placement of persons with and is Member of the Advisory Board and also the National Vice President of National Abilympics Association of India-NAAI.
His key focus areas are to strengthen external relations, resolution of policy and other challenges and work in collaboration with Industry peers and leaders. At the same time collaborate with the internal stakeholders including peers in areas of Research, Technology and trade and arrive to a view point to successfully take through the Company`s objectives. Being a member of the Senior Leadership Team, he always brings up proactively the critical issues impacting business, and ensures its resolution to maintain business continuity.
