Sitaram Kunte, IAS retd
Chairman, IOD Western Region (Former Chief Secretary Maharashtra)

Sitaram Kunte, a retired Maharashtra cadre IAS officer, boasts a stellar career. He served in key roles within the Government of Maharashtra, including Secretary to the Governor, CEO of Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority, Principal Secretary in various departments, and Additional Chief Secretary of the Home Department. Notably, he was the Municipal Commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation from 2012 to 2015, overseeing infrastructure projects. Kunte, who entered the IAS in 1985, pursued academic interests alongside his career, studying Public Policy at universities in the UK and the USA. Post-retirement in 2021, he teaches Public Policy, serves on boards, and contributes to non-profit organizations. He currently chairs the Mumbai chapter of the Institute of Directors since July 2023.

Kamlesh Rao
MD & Chief Executive Officer, Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance

Kamlesh Rao, MD & CEO at Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance (ABSLI), guides the company's growth and profitability. His expertise includes business expansion, innovative models, efficient distribution, cost management, product strategies, digital advancement, and customer value. He chairs the Insurance Awareness Council, part of India's Life Insurance Council. With 25 years in Banking & Financial Services, he previously led Retail at Kotak Securities Limited, driving market growth and strategy. Earlier, he served at Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited, managing diverse portfolios. Kamlesh holds an engineering degree, is a management graduate, and serves as a Non-Executive Director at Aditya Birla Finance Limited, aiming to lead ABSLI in the private life insurance sector.

Sushri Kamala K.
Chief Regulatory Officer, BSE Limited

Sushri Kamala K is the Chief Regulatory Officer (Compliance Officer under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) (Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations) Regulations, 2018) heading the Regulatory functions of the Exchange including Membership and Listing Compliance, Surveillance and Investigation, Inspection and Enforcement.

At BSE Sushri Kamala was earlier heading the Enterprise Risk Management across various vectors of risk as Chief Risk officer. She has rich and diverse experience of more than 33 years in the areas of Finance. She has been long associated with financial markets in general and MII space in particular performing various roles. She has worked in multiple organisations like PFC, IIM-B, BgSE, BgSE Financials, Invest smart, NSE, Edelweiss Group. She has also been part of various reforms in capital market, actively participating in policy making through various Committees constituted by Regulators and stock Exchanges.

V S Parthasarathy
Independent Director, LIC of India & Vice Chairman Allcargo Logistics Ltd

Mr V S Parthasarathy Independent Director, LIC of India, Vice Chairman Allcargo Logistics Ltd and Independent Director @cloudnine group of Hospitals and SEWA. Passionate Women Empowerment, Employment, Entrepreneurship & Education. Making India healthy is another Passion. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce and is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He is Harvard Alumni of the 2011 batch for Advanced Management Program. He has also been part of Mahindra Group’s Senior Management team for Group strategy development, facilitated by Harvard Business School. He has received many accolades and recognitions in the field of Finance, M&A & IT. Some of the notable awards being CFO Hall of Fame from CFO India, ‘CFO of the Year’ 2013 from International Market Assessment (IMA) and the Best CFO of India Award by Corporate Excellence Awards.

Richa Arora
Managing Partner & CEO–ESG Stewardship Services, ECube Investment Advisors

Richa, Managing Partner & CEO of ESG at ECube Investment Advisors, brings 30+ years of expertise in P&L management, strategy, and marketing. Formerly, she led Tata Consumer Products' Packaged Foods division and transformed Tata Chemicals' Consumer Products Business, launching Tata Sampann. Earlier, she founded Five by Six Consulting, advising consumer goods firms, and held leadership roles at Britannia Industries, Balsara Home Products, and Draft FCB. Richa serves as an independent director for FirstMeridian Business Services and Morphosis Venture Capital and is a Mobile Crèches council member. A Chevening scholar with an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, she's a 2020 Business Today Most Powerful Women awardee.

Pradeep Ramakrishnan
General Manager Securities and Exchange Board of India

Mr Ramakrishnanam a commerce graduate and ACS. Earlier associated with Madras Fertilizers 1997-98 Worked as a CS in Kothari petrochemicals till 2002. Since 2002 in SEBII was handling Compliance and monitoring division, now Department of Debt and Hybrid Securities

Dr. V. R. Narasimhan
Former Dean, National Institute of Securities Market

Dr V.R. Narasimhan has 40 plus years of work experience in Financial and Capital Markets in India. He recently retired as Dean with National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM), an educational initiative of SEBI. He started his career as a lecturer. Thereafter he worked with AP State Finance Corporation (APSFC), Public Enterprise Management Board, Government of Andhra Pradesh, SEBI, National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL), Kotak Mahindra Bank and NSE (National Stock Exchange). While he was working with India’s first securities depository NSDL, NSDL he was responsible for spreading the demat concept amongst all issuers and investors in the country and also played key role in developing new products and services like setting up National Skill Registry for NASSCOM, biometric based investor registration system called MAPIN (now abandoned), conceptualization of Central Record Keeping Agency for PFRDA etc. While he was with Kotak Mahindra Bank, he played multiple roles including setting up Kotak Mahindra Pension Fund Company, setting up Kotak Commodity Derivatives Exchange, Group head for capital market compliance etc.

Jambunathan Mallik
Non-Executive Director Sulzer India

J Mallik has wide experience with international leadership roles in past in various countries (India, Middle East, Europe, USA, SEA, China and Oceania) at Regional & Global positions, with Sulzer Ltd, a Swiss MNC in Engineering Industry (with more than 2 decades of executive positions), and has a broad industrial outlook with a thorough strategic approach combined with a practical perspective on businesses. He brings in 3 and 1/2 decades of track record of strong operational experience with accomplishments in business in International/Indian environment. A deep understanding of finance, human resources, risk, strategy planning and business development functions across industries, spanning a wide range of businesses from cement to pharmaceuticals to auto components to Water & Waste Water treatment plants to Oil and Gas equipment’s/services. Possesses a wide breadth of international experience in Manufacturing, Turn around services, EPC projects, M & A and Corporate activities. Founded on his former executive positions in several countries, with strong Financial & Strategic Planning skills and International Governance provides valuable insight in non-executive positions to bring fresh insight and industry understanding to Board discussions. A Passionate ESG ambassador and a “Certified ESG Professional” from the first batch of IOD has wide exposure to sustainability practices, engaging employees and communities to build a more inclusive and sustainable future.

Burgess Cooper
Cybersecurity Partner and Deputy Leader EY India

Burgess Cooper is a Deputy Cybersecurity Leader and Partner & Heads Cyber Security Market with a team of 600+ professionals. He has 23+ years of experience in securing some of the biggest brands in the world from potential cyber-attacks. Prior to EY he was a CISO with Vodafone and HSBC and responsible for Information Security, Privacy & Compliance across the Telecom and BFSI sector. He is a regular speaker and a jury member at prominent industry events - BCCI, ASSOCHAM, CII, CISO, E-crime and a qualified EC-Council’s CEI Master Trainer for Industry CISO certification course.

Muralidharan Ramachandran
Independent Consultant, M R Advisory & Independent Director, Angel One Ltd.

Muralidharan Ramachandran (Murali) is an accomplished professional with nearly 35 years of industry experience, including the last 22 years in Technology and Business Leadership roles such as CEO/Business Head/CIO/CTO/CISO in multinational companies. He is currently an independent consultant focused on helping enterprises, SMB's and Startup's leverage emerging technologies to drive business transformation leading to top-line and bottom-line growth. He is also the Lead Independent Director at Angel One Ltd, governing and helping the company's transition from a legacy stock broking firm to a Fintech leveraging his expertise in Technology and Cybersecurity. He is also an angel investor and involved in advising tech enabled startups.

Prasad Deore
Sr. Director Data Security Council of India

Prasad Deore has over two decades of experience in the Technology Industry. He has worked with TCS, Wipro, Deloitte, Cummins and NASSCOM. Currently he is working with Data Security Council of India as a Senior Director. He has worked extensively on emerging technologies, Governance Risk and Compliance, Cybersecurity, Data Privacy, Multitenant systems. He has global exposure by working with clients in US, UK, Ireland, Singapore and Australia. He carries eminent industry certifications such as CISSP, CIPPE

Anand Chari
Dy General Manager, BSE SME & Startup

Mr. Anand Chari, Dy. General Manager at BSE, Asia's premier stock exchange, boasts a 30-year BFSI career spanning roles in Retail Sales, Institutional Sales, and more. He's enriched by experiences with top Mutual Fund companies, including SBI and ICICI Prudential. Proficient in SME business and Capital Markets, Chari aids SMEs in realizing their potential through stock exchange listings. Holding an MBA, he pioneered India's first Startup Platform in 2018. BSE now hosts 449 listed SMEs across 17 sectors, raising ?5,439 Crores with a market cap of ?81,000 crores. Its Startup Platform features 14 startups raising ?61 crores with a market cap of ?899.55 crores, with 5 more in the pipeline. BSE's success has earned recognition from national and international organizations, signing MOUs with multiple state governments and institutions.

Rajat Baid
Founding Partner, Srujan Alpha Capital Advisors

Rajat leads the fund raising advisory & placement function at Srujan Alpha. He advices clients on different modes to raise growth capital & financial instruments. Has over 12+ years of experience in investment banking domain and has led over 50+ IPOs & listings. He has travelled extensively across India and delivered as speaker at over 100+ seminars on capital market theme with regulatory bodies and business chambers. He has build a network of 5000+ promoters across industries & 3000+ professionals across India. He is an MBA-finance from SNHU-USA, a qualified Company Secretary-ICSI & an alumnus of IIM-C. Besides work, he loves to travel & read.

Naveen Chaluvadi
Chief Digital Officer, YES Bank

Naveen Chaluvadi is a Digital Business Leader who is passionate about creating large customer journeys and implement small pieces of the same at great speed. He has been working in the space of banking technology since 2003, spending his formative years in the space understanding the nuances of product design and development. Over the last decade he had worked across various facets of Digital Banking and Payments which allowed him to transform into a Digital Banking Enthusiast with a passion for transaction engineering using digital payments. He is a mechanical engineering graduate from M S Ramaiah College, Bangalore who also earned his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad. He is currently working as Chief Digital Officer at YES BANK leading all key initiatives across Digital Channels and Digital Payments with an objective to maintain YES BANK as a preferred banking partner to Fintech Ecosystem.

Praveen Gogia
Former Executive Director, COO for Global Wholesale Tech and Group Transformation Office. Nomura Services India Pvt. Ltd.

Praveen, formerly COO at Nomura India, is now an Angel Investor and Advisor at alphaTUB. He serves on the Advisory Council for Accolite Digital, holding a Bachelor's in Electronics, an MBA from Newport University, and an IIM Bangalore alumnus from 2009. He holds a PG Diploma in Digital Business from Columbia Business School & MIT Sloan and is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC from ICF USA). Currently pursuing a PG Diploma in Cyber Law at NLSIU Bangalore, Praveen boasts a 32-year career in leadership roles at TCS, Zensar Europe, Accenture, and Nomura, spanning various functions and regions.

Pratekk Agarwaal
Founder & General Partner, GrowthCap Ventures

Mr. Agarwaal is an accomplished entrepreneur, start-up advisor, and early-stage investor with a proven track record of success. With his extensive experience in building organizations at scale, including at Bajaj Finserv, Fullerton, IndoStar Capital, and ftcash, Pratekk has become a sought-after Operator VC in the startup ecosystem. As a former Chief Business Officer at BharatPe and an alumnus of IIM-Kozhikode, Pratekk brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to his role as operator investor. He is passionate about helping entrepreneurs build successful and scalable businesses, providing them with business advisory services, access to his network, and capital raise support. Pratekk has invested in over 35 companies and serves as an advisor to numerous startups, NBFCs, large fintech companies and venture capital firms. He strongly believes that now is the perfect time to invest in the right founders and products to make a positive impact on the world. With Pratekk’s guidance, startups and entrepreneurs can achieve their full potential and make a significant impact in their industries. Pratekk is also a part of the G-20 & Startup 20 — Startup Corporate Governance Committee that launched the “Think Tank Recommendations on Corporate Governance for Indian Start-ups”

Dharmarajan Subrahmanian
Founder & CEO, Impactsure Technologies

Dharmarajan is the CEO of Impactsure Technologies, a Web 3.0 SaaS firm using AI/ML for document analytics. With 25+ years of leadership spanning corporate, family business, and startups, he's a Certified Corporate Director and Forbes Technology Council member. He contributes to Forbes on Digital Transformation and ESG. He's active in industry bodies, including CII and ICC, and previously influenced health policy as a National Core member for the Prime Minister’s office. Dharmarajan held leadership roles at Philips, Johnson & Johnson, and Telenet Systems. He's on advisory boards of MSMEs, a keynote speaker, and faculty at top management institutes. His mission: aid enterprises through tech, strategy, governance, and leadership.

Atul Chaturvedi
Founder Quality Management Consultants

Mr. Chaturvedi, a stalwart in operational excellence with 20+ years of expertise, excels in strategic process improvement and tech integration. His model elevates efficiency, boosting revenue by 10-15% and profitability by 7-8%. He transforms supply chains in companies like Parle and Johnson & Johnson. Across diverse sectors, from pharmaceuticals to garments, he tailors solutions to unique challenges. Tech-savvy, he deploys automation, AI, and blockchain for innovation. Certified in ISO standards and a ZED Consultant, he's dedicated to quality. As a Quality Council of India member, he shapes industry norms. Mr. Chaturvedi is an industry influencer, adept at driving operational excellence in today's complex business landscape.

Namrita Mahindro
Chief Digital Officer & CIO, Aditya Birla Chemicals

Namrita is a senior strategic executive with a track record of CXO-level success in driving digital and technological transformations. Currently serving as the Chief Digital Officer at Aditya Birla Chemicals, Filaments and Insulators (CFI) and CIO at Viscose Filament Yarn within the Aditya Birla Group, Namrita is an award-winning digital transformation leader. Her expertise lies in reshaping business models, enhancing customer experiences, optimizing processes, and fostering cultural shifts. Namrita's passion lies in applying cutting-edge tech for responsible, innovative, and sustainable solutions. She's dedicated to aligning policy, partnerships, and programs in emerging areas like Responsible & Ethical AI, Web3, and the Metaverse. Namrita is also an Independent Board Director, Startup Mentor, Life & Leadership Transformation Coach, and a committed educator. Her accomplishments include numerous digital transformation awards and industry recognition for her exceptional leadership. Namrita is known for her thought leadership in the digital space and her contributions to various industry bodies.

Asoka Pieris
Regional Head - APAC & Middle East, BoardPAC

Asoka is a seasoned professional with over two decades of invaluable multinational experience, currently serving as the Regional Head of BoardPAC Pvt Ltd, responsible for driving growth and innovation across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) and Middle East regions. With an illustrious career spanning over 20 years, Asoka has extensive global exposure leading teams across diverse industries from chemical coatings, apparel & software solutions. He has consistently contributed to market expansion and business development at the numerous companies under his purview, steering them towards sustainable growth. Asoka's technological savviness and digitization focus positions him as a visionary in an era of rapid digital evolution. His exceptional knowledge sharing initiatives have been many across the APAC region. As the steward of BoardPAC's APAC and Middle East domains, Asoka continues to leave an indelible mark, driving success through his profound experience & exposure, visionary leadership, and unwavering commitment to digitization across the regions.