BOARD OF TRUSTEES


Pradeep Poddar - Chairperson
Ex Global President Water & Functional Beverages, Tata Global Beverages and Ex MD & CEO Heinz India Ltd
Pradeep Poddar is a Chemical Engineer from UDCT Mumbai and an MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad. A veteran of the consumer goods industry, he groomed himself as a fast track executive in Glaxo foods, Heinz and then Tata. He became the first Managing Director of Heinz for India and South Asia in January 1996 at the age 41. In 2000, he was ranked in the top 5 percentile of North American Executives by Personnel Decisions International, New York. Pradeep led Heinz successfully for nearly a decade by creating a robust and sustainable business platform. He established the Heinz Nutrition Foundation India and built the concept of 'wellness' in India. He was awarded the prestigious Udyog Ratna award by the Karnataka Government and Wisitex Foundation in 2001 for his distinguished contribution to the food industry.
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Karuna Bhatia – Vice Chairperson
Head of Sustainability India & SA, Standard Chartered Bank
Karuna Bhatia has been the Head of Sustainability India & SA since March 2009. She has moved to provide strategic business direction to the Bank's Sustainability agenda. Standard Chartered Bank is the world's truly International Bank having a footprint in over 50 countries. The Bank is ranked among the Top 25 in the FTSE 100 and employs over 85000 employees representing 100 nationalities. Prior to this role, she was the Business Head Microfinance, Standard Chartered Bank since 2008.
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Raman Madhok, Treasurer
Managing Director, Kahani Designworks Pvt. Ltd.
Raman Madhok is the Managing Director of Kahani Designworks Pvt. Ltd. He is a business strategist, master negotiator, prolific networker, executive coach and mentor and a role model leader with over 40 years of experience in Human Resources, Sales & Marketing, Project Management and as a CEO since 2001. In early 2020 he superannuated from CMI FPE Limited, a John Cockerill Group Company, Belgium as Managing Director and Group Head of South Asia. He has held several leadership positions including those at Al Ghurair Iron and Steel in UAE, JSW Steel, Cyanamid, Parke Davis, Pfizer, Voltas and Taj Group of Hotels. He is one of the very few HR professionals who has managed a large manufacturing company and turned around successfully more than once.
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Arun Kumar Malhotra, Board Member
Auto Industry Expert/Visiting Faculty / Former MD Nissan India
Arun completed his MBA from IIM-Calcutta in 1983 and joined the automobile industry when it was at a nascent stage in India. For over the last three decades has been a part of the growth of the Indian auto industry having worked with Bajaj Auto, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra and Nissan India. His last corporate assignment was as Managing Director, Nissan Motors India (2014-2018). In his corporate journey, he has travelled extensively through the length and breadth of India. He has been deeply involved in areas of brand building, strategic marketing, retail network expansion, training, rural marketing, customer-centric initiatives, industry policies and formulating group-level strategies. He has attended Executive Management programs in Kellogs School of Management, Chicago (2009) and Harvard Business School, Boston (2011) and served as an Executive Council member of SIAM, the apex body of the Auto Industry and was the Chairman of Auto Expo’18 held in Delhi. Presently Arun is a strategic consultant and advisor in the auto industry domain. He is an independent director on the board of Lumax Auto Technologies Ltd., Mahindra Two Wheelers Ltd. and NBS International Ltd (Mahindra Group Company).
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Gayatri Yadav - Board Member
Chief Marketing Officer, Peak XV Partners
As CMO at Peak XV Partners (formerly known as Sequoia India & SEA), Gayatri leads the firm’s marketing mandate and also work closely with Sequoia’s portfolio companies to help them scale and create legendary brands from the region. Prior to joining Sequoia, Gayatri led Marketing and also served as President, Consumer Strategy & Innovation for Star India (now a part of Disney), where she led a series of high impact marketing moves, including the network’s launch of Star Sports, Hotstar and the "Nayi Soch" brand plan on Star Plus, which aimed to drive women’s empowerment. Before Star India, Gayatri was the CMO for General Mills where she launched and scaled the Pillsbury brand in India. She started her marketing career with Procter & Gamble.
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Surojit Shome, Board Member
CEO, DBS Bank
Surojit has been the CEO of DBS Bank, India since April 2015. He has more than 34 years of experience since graduating from XLRI in 1986. Before joining DBS, he was the CEO of Rabobank in India (2009-2015). Prior to that, he worked for Lehman Brothers/Nomura (2007-2009) and Citibank (1988-2006). He started his career with Asian Paints where he had the opportunity to work across several locations within India. Surojit holds a post-graduate management degree in Marketing & Finance from Xavier School of Management (XLRI), Jamshedpur and a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics, Mathematics & Statistics from Presidency College, Kolkata. He has also had the opportunity to attend the Executive Development Program at The Wharton School in 2004 and the Rabobank Senior Leadership Program at the Harvard Business School (2011).
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S.K. Mitra, Board Member
Chairman, QSK Advisory Pvt. Ltd.
S.K. Mitra is currently on the Board of several reputed companies in diverse industries as an independent Director. He is actively associated with several international NGOs, Committees and Chambers in India. Mitra was instrumental in setting up the Merchant Banking Divisions of Bank of India in 1977 and then in 1978 for Standard Chartered Bank in Mumbai. In 1985 joined American Express Bank as the Head of Corporate Banking and Investment Banking in India. In 1990, he set up the GIC Mutual Fund, sponsored by the Government owned General Insurance Corporation of India.
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Nusrat Hassan - Advisor
Managing Partner - Link Legal
Nusrat Hassan is the Managing Partner of Link Legal with three decades of experience as a corporate lawyer. Link Legal is a full service law firm with pan India presence which has recently combined with Dentons, the world's largest law firm. Mr. Hassan is a Chevening Scholar and is dual qualified to practice in India and England and Wales. He is a thought leader who regularly publishes articles with reputed Indian and foreign journals and speaks on various industry issues and national and international fora. Mr. Hassan serves on the Advisory Board of Agricultural Law Section of the International Bar Association. He is an ex-President of the Association of British Scholars, a Member of Congress of Fellows of Centre of Legal Studies, Austria and is also empanelled as a Arbitrator with Beijing Arbitration Commission, NCDEX Mumbai RAC and MIAC. He also a Director of the Indian Branch of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb) United Kingdom, which is an international centre of excellence for the practice and profession of alternative dispute resolution. He is a leading member of Bombay Bar Association and Society of Indian Law Firms.
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Pradeep Banerjee - Advisor
Managing Partner - Pradeep Banerjee Associates LLP
Pradeep Banerjee joined Unilever after graduating in Chemical Engineering from IIT Delhi. In almost four decades of association with Unilever, he worked in India, London, Nepal, and Singapore. He has done Business roles, Marketing, R&D, Manufacturing, Procurement, Logistics and Customer Service. In April 2010, he moved back from Singapore to become the Executive Director on the Board of Unilever in India (HUL) and Vice President for Supply Chain for Unilever in South Asia (India, Pakistan Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal). After being on the Board for almost a decade, he superannuated in Dec 2019. Currently, he is a Senior Advisor to BCG, Independent Director on few Boards e.g., Gabriel, Chambal fertilizers, Whirlpool India, Jubilant Ingrevia, Stellar Value Chain and Parksons Packaging (the last two being Warburg Pincus investments) and is advising four interesting Tech Startups in the areas of Blockchain, Logistics, GTM Operation platforms and Waste Management.
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Sanjeeb Chaudhuri - Advisor
Chairman - IDFC First Bank
Sanjeeb Chaudhuri is a Board member and Advisor to various organisations across Europe, the US, Middle East and Asia. He has over four decades of senior multinational business experience across global banks and consumer companies. Sanjeeb has developed products and created numerous iconic, global brands like Unilever’s Taj Mahal Tea and Citibank Cards. He has deep knowledge of consumer and commercial markets for products and services across major developed and emerging markets of Asia, US, Middle East, Africa and Europe. He has been Regional Business Head for India and South Asia and Global Head of Brand and Chief Marketing Officer at Standard Chartered Bank. Prior to that, Sanjeeb was CEO of Retail and Commercial Banking for Citigroup Europe, Middle East and Africa. Before entering the financial services industry, Sanjeeb held senior roles at Unilever, Colgate-Palmolive and Procter & Gamble. Mr. Chaudhuri is currently Chairman of IDFC First Bank. He is a Global Advisor to Intellect Design Arena and Board Member of Puravankara Ltd.
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