Advisory Board

Avani Davda

Avani Davda is an accomplished business leader with her expertise in the consumer, retail and hospitality industries. With a proven track record of business strategy-creation and execution, she works with a focus on increasing shareholder value. She thrives in leading fast-paced, growth-oriented consumer businesses that require long-term strategic planning, and strong external communication skills. Her key strengths lie in building new ventures as well as scaling consumer businesses with an employee-first culture. In addition to this, she has been effective in leading diverse, global teams, managing internal and external stakeholders, maintaining board relationships, and connecting with professionals across several levels and functions. One of her hallmarks is her extensive functional experience in digital transformation, new market entry, product and service design as well as omnichannel customer journey design with iconic brands like Starbucks, Tata Consumer and Taj. With powerful business leadership, Avani has demonstrated success in transforming organisations, leading cultural change and delivering profitability.

Chef Sanjeev Kapoor

A recipient of Padma Shri and ‘Best Chef of India’ award

Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, unarguably is one of the most recognised faces of Indian television. He was in people’s living rooms for almost two decades introducing them to the delights of Indian and International cuisine in his inimitable cheery manner. The show Khana Khazana was one of those trailblazing cookery shows on Zee. No wonder, he has a massive fan following across all age groups, genders and countries and has also been conferred the ‘Best Chef of India’ award by the Government of India. He represented India in the World Association of Chefs’ Societies in South Korea where he introduced people to the wonders of the ancient Indian way of Ayurvedic cooking. He was the Indian ambassador for UN’s Clean Cook Stoves campaign for the underprivileged of developing countries and also represented India as a Food ambassador in Spain under the Spanish Government’s Indian Future Leaders Programme (IFLP). He has done cookery shows all over the globe with famous culinary personalities like Rachel Ray, Richard Quest and Rene Redzepi. He has also cooked for many dignitaries, including the Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and has achieved the Guinness World Record by cooking 918 kg khichdi live at World Food India 2017, New Delhi. His business of world class kitchen gadgets, Wonderchef has enabled and continues to empower women, a cause close to his heart.

Divya Balagopal

Divya Balagopal is the co-founder and senior partner of Mundkur Law Partners (MLP) , a Bangalore-based boutique corporate law firm founded in 2007. MLP practice focusses on five areas: International M&A (including private equity and venture capital transactions), Education law, Life sciences and Healthcare, Insolvency resolution and Complex commercial disputes. The firm also strongly supports innovation and social entrepreneurship initiatives and has assisted governments and international agencies with policy formulations. Divya heads the firm’s Education law, Regulatory compliance and Policy development practices. She also serves on various advisory committees dealing with education, and women and child protection including advising state governments on child protection, and educational laws and policies. She enjoys exploring new avenues and creating linkages – often taking the firm’s expertise to areas not traditionally associated with corporate law firms and also works closely on child rights and child protection issues wherever they might arise. She has appeared before various courts and tribunals in tax and property disputes. Divya is also empanelled as a commercial arbitrator by the Indian Institute of Arbitration and Mediation. Divya speaks six languages and holds a Master’s degree from the Institut de Hautes Études Internationales et du Devéloppment (The Graduate Institute), Geneva, in International Relations with a specialization in International Law and Human Rights and an Honours Degree from the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore.

Dr Subba Rao M Gavaravarapu

Head, NICHE Division, ICMR – NIN

Dr. SubbaRao M Gavaravarapu, is a public health communication scientist and Head of the Nutrition Information, Communication & Health Education (NICHE) Division in India’s pre-eminent nutrition research Institute – the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad. His research interests are in health, nutrition and food safety communication with special emphasis on social, behavioral and cultural aspects of communicative processes. His research and praxis go beyond the traditional extension research/activities and integrate translational communication science with community-based approaches to promote nutrition awareness. He has spearheaded and/or conducted hundreds of nutrition awareness programmes across the country. He co-ordinated the activities of the Secretariat of World Health Organization’s (WHO) Southeast Asia Nutrition Research-cum-Action Network of 11 member countries and edited the half-yearly newsletter of the Network from 2004-2012. He sits on expert committees of regulatory bodies like Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). He serves as the Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, and Asian Editor of the American Journal of Health Behavior. He chairs the Health communication Working Group of the International Association of Media & Communication Research (IAMCR).

G.V. Gopala Rao

IRS (Rtd.), Former Chief Commissioner of Income Tax

With 35 years of exemplary service as an IRS officer in the Income Tax Department, G.V. Gopala Rao retired as the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Mumbai in 2019. Post-retirement, he has been contributing his valuable expertise as a Director in the Tax department of a leading law firm, Fox Mandal. He has been honoured with the position of Chief Academic Advisor at Vasavi Academy (of Karnataka Arya Vysya Mahasabha), Bangalore which gives free coaching for IAS /IPS (UPSC) Exams. He is also Member of Governing Council of Askhadhaa Foundation, Bangalore which works for Special Children and Young Adults.In addition, he is Advisor of Samata Seva Samithi, Rajahmundry (A.P.) which helps in Youth Empowerment and Employment.

Lakshmi Sampath

Chief Executive Officer at Centre for Civil Society (CCS)

Lakshmi was previously the CEO of the India Sanitation Coalition (ISC), a program housed in FICCI aimed at driving multi-stakeholder engagement to accelerate the adoption of sustainable sanitation practices in India through partnerships amongst the private sector, implementation partners, multilateral agencies and the governmental agencies. With a leadership career spanning over 25 years in Ogilvy, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank overseeing multi-geographic teams, Lakshmi has established credentials in leading and nurturing talented individuals and driving a high-performance culture. Apart from experience in brand management, Lakshmi brings with her a creative bent of mind and an in-depth understanding of research and consumer behaviour. Her last assignment in the corporate sector was at Standard Chartered Bank, where she was the South Asia head and Managing Director for Brand & Marketing. Lakshmi has always had a keen desire to contribute to the society, and did so for many years through mentoring, charity and volunteering in CSR activities. She is now pursuing a fulltime second career in the development sector, with an active interest in education, gender, environment, sustainable livelihoods, renewables and allied areas. An electrical engineer and an alumni of IIM-Bangalore, Lakshmi is a trekking enthusiast, and enjoys exploring the Himalayas with her husband Suresh and son Arjun .

Lathika Pai

Country Head, Venture Capital and Private Equity Partnerships, Microsoft India.

“Lathika is a serial entrepreneur, who has raised capital successfully in both debt and equity as well as provided profitable exits to investors. She was the Country Head of Microsoft for Startups in India, MENA and SAARC for 2 years and 8 months. She then switched roles to lead VC and PE partnerships in India. Her prior work experience includes large technology companies in the US and UK like Nortel, American Management Systems (CGI) and a $300 million funded start-up, Relera in the cloud and managed services space. She has been on the Boards of international technology companies and helped them with their strategy for Asia. Lathika is also the Founder and Trustee of SonderConnect, an organisation dedicated to empowering women founders.”

Meghana Narayan

Co-Founder, Slurrp Farm

Meghana is passionate about children's nutrition and health. She is committed to making a positive change to childhood malnutrition statistics. Her efforts to feed her daughter healthy, tasty food is what led her to starting this venture. Before starting Slurrp Farm, Meghana led the Public Health practise at McKinsey & Company. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, a BA in Computation as a Rhodes Scholar from Oxford University and a BE with Distinction in Computer Engineering from Bangalore University. Meghana was a national level swimmer for India for many years. She has won over 400 gold medals, including at the Asian Games. Her dream is to help bring more golden Olympic medals home!

Mr Sanjeev Shishoo

Ex-Corp Vice President Global Service Center at Novo Nordisk

Sanjeev Shishoo is on the board of Sunshine Holdings Plc, Healthguard Pharmacy Ltd. and Sunshine Healthcare Ltd. Formerly he was the Corporate Vice President of global healthcare giant, Novo Nordisk’s Global Service Centre (GSC) in Bangalore. A qualified healthcare management professional, Sanjeev Shishoo, counts over 25 years with Novo Nordisk including heading the Regional Business across Asia. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in pharmacy and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) - Calcutta, and has a track record of building high performing organizations across Asia that deliver ambitious targets and is skilled in marketing strategy and implementation. Building healthcare brands has been his passion and was involved in creating three of the current top 10 pharma brands in India.

Nazeeb Arif

Executive Vice President and Chief of Corporate Communications of ITC Limited

Nazeeb Arif, Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate Communications of ITC Limited, has made a meaningful contribution in building ITC’s corporate reputation through strategic interventions. Building on his experience in economic policy issues, he contributes actively to thought leadership in the organisation. Passionate about sustainability, he engages deeply in ITC’s globally acknowledged initiatives in this area. Nazeeb’s professional experience spans 35 years. Prior to joining ITC in 2006, he led the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) as its Secretary-General and CEO. Earlier, he had also served the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the apex Industry body in the country.He is actively involved in environmental and sustainability issues. He was awarded the United States Asia Environmental Partnership –“Environmental Leadership Award”.

Pankaj Chaddah

Pankaj was the Co-Founder and COO of Zomato. Prior to Zomato, Pankaj worked with Bain and Company, New Delhi. In his last role, Pankaj oversaw sales and operations for Zomato in local and international markets. He has also been responsible for all mobile development and distribution across platforms. Pankaj graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Delhi in 2007. He chose to don the hat of entrepreneurship again with his new gig in the mental health space. Chaddah along with his wife Pooja Khanna has been working on setting up a chain of mental fitness studios.

Sahil Barua

Co-Founder & CEO, Delhivery

Sahil began his career in management consulting at Bain and Company, working across the London and New Delhi offices. At Bain he worked on growth strategy, M&A and performance improvement across the private equity, telecommunications, healthcare and consumer products spaces. He quit Bain in 2011 to start Delhivery, which has now become the largest and fastest growing e-commerce enabler in India. As CEO Sahil sets the strategic direction for the company and plays an active role in the company’s operations and engineering efforts. Sahil is a Gold Medalist from IIM Bangalore and has a B.Tech degree in Mechanical Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Surathkal.

Sandeep Banerjee

EX Managing Director of Compass Group (India)

“Sandeep Banerjee is the ex Managing Director of Compass Group (India), the world’s largest institutional food services company. An Honors graduate in Science, followed by a Master’s in Business Administration and an Advanced Management programme on Global Leadership from ISB- Kellogg, Sandeep has had successful stints in large organizations in India and overseas, spanning over twenty five years. Currently, on a sabbatical, Sandeep is nurturing some new ventures and associating with social causes for the larger good. He is a business architect and transformer and a firm believer of building Purpose led, Values driven, enduring organisations at scale. Prior to Compass Group, Sandeep was with Accor ( Services) as their Managing Director and CEO (India). His earlier stints have been with Thomas Cook, Blow Plast, IFB Bosch and Bata. He loves travelling, meeting people and is keen on the social impact of food, education and health.“

Srivatsan Rajan

Partner at Cota Capital (San Francisco). Ex-Partner in Bain & Co. (San Francisco), Ex-Chairman of Bain & Co. (India)

Sri Rajan is the Chairman of Bain India, with over 21 years of management consulting experience in India and the US. He has been a founder of the Indian operations of Bain & Company and has served as its Managing Partner. Sri also has significant experience working with Private Equity firms and companies across various sectors. He has been responsible for the creation and execution of turnaround strategies for multiple diversified firms. Sri has been the co-founder of a tech startup in Silicon Valley. He is currently on the board of Delhivery, an e-commerce logistics startup as well as Central Square Foundation, a leading foundation focused on education. He is also on the Board of Bridgespan India, which is an affiliate of Bain & Company that focuses on advising foundations, philanthropists and non-profit organizations. He has invested in and is on the advisory boards of various startups in India. Sri earned his MBA from Wharton where he was a Palmer Scholar for distinguished academic achievement and has a PGDM from IIM Calcutta, where he has been nominated as a Distinguished Alumnus. He has also received a BS degree in Physics. He writes regularly for top-tier publications such as Mint and The Economic Times. He is the Vice-Chair of the Regional Strategy Group on South Asia of the World Economic Forum.

Vinita Bali

Vinita Bali is a global business leader with extensive experience in leading large companies both in India and overseas. In addition to workking in Britannia Industries Ltd., India, she has worked with eminent multinational companies like The Coca-Cola Company and Cadbury Schweppes PLC, in a variety of Marketing, General Management and Chief Executive roles in UK, Nigeria, South Africa, Latin America and USA,. Effective April 2014, Vinita moved from a full-time operational role as an MD & CEO in Britannia to pursue her wide-ranging interests in the corporate and development sectors. She is a Non-Executive Director on the Global Board of Smith & Nephew plc, Chairman of GAIN (Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition), a Swiss Foundation based in Geneva, and the Advisory Board of Cornell University’s Department of Nutritional Science. She also served on the Global Board of Syngenta International AG from April 2012 to June 2017. In India, Vinita serves as a Non-Executive Director on the Boards of CRISIL Ltd, Titan Industries Ltd, and Kasturi& Sons Ltd;. She is a Member of the Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Management – Bangalore; and an Advisory Board Member of PwC. Cognizant Technology Solutions, a US-based IT company with a large presence in India, appointed Vinita Bali as an independent director on 24th February 2020.