CEO, MART & President, Rural Marketing Association of India
He is known as the father of rural marketing in India. He is recognized as a thought leader and is a regular speaker at CEO forums in India and abroad. He has authored the most definitive 'Rural Marketing Book' for students and practitioners alike. In 1993 he started MART as a transparent, team based, non-hierarchical, flat organization based on ethical and spiritual principles. MART has emerged as India's leading rural consultancy organisation. He has been Marketing Advisor to Ministry of Rural Development and has served on Prime Minister Office and Chief Minister Committees on rural development. He is a World Bank and United Nations consultant. He co-created Project Shakti with Hindustan Unilever to appoint 46,000 poor women from micro finance groups as company dealers. He has pioneered another low cost, last mile rural distribution model using village volunteers on bicycles for Colgate, Heinz and others. He is a BoP innovation guru and has advised many Fortune 500 companies including Coke, Pepsi, GE, Intel, John Deere, Shell on product and process innovation and business models. He was the only speaker from India at Cannes Lions 2008 among the 50 Global speakers who addressed the 2,000 participants in France. His topic 'Rural India: The Emerging Market'. He was the key note speaker at an International conference in 2010 on inclusive marketing in Chicago. He has given talks at University of Cambridge and London Business School, UK. He is a recipient of the Indian Merchants Chamber Award 1991 for his outstanding contribution to rural development. He was honored by Star News with the Talent Management Leader 2011 award. He was also chosen for the Spandan Award 2011 for inculcating Human Values in Management. His marketing career spans 40 years. He is President, Rural Marketing Association of India.
CEO, Bombay Dyeing
Mr. Poddar has professional experience as CEO of 7 years out of his total experience of over 22 years. He became a CEO at the age of 37 in Donear Suitings in 2005. He has handled business of total textile value chain right from Ginning, Spinning, Weaving, Yarn Dyeing, Processing, Garmenting and Apparel Retail. He started his professional career as Trainee Engineer at Indian Rayon Group. He was the CEO at BirlaCotsyn India Pvt Ltd. He held various positions of responsibilities in Donear Industries Ltd, G.M (Exports), Bombay Dyeing and Manufacturing Co. Ltd, and the LNJ Bhilwara Group. Mr. Poddar was a gold medalist in Master of Management Sciences (M.M.S)
Ex-MD, and Advisor, Mahindra Forging
Mr. Dheer has a vast experience of 36 years in various industries ranging from Auto, Engineering, Chemical, Pharmaceuticals, Latex, Machine Tools, and Auto Components. He has worked with many reputed companies such as Tata Motors, Tata Robins Fraser, GKW, HMT, Times of India Group, Exide Technologies (USA), Ranbaxy and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. He has been a CEO for the past 16 years. He has worked overseas as a CEO in Uniglove, Bangkok and handled exports to USA & European countries. He is a Graduate in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Chennai, of the 1973 batch, and has obtained his Post Graduation Diploma in Business Management from IIM, Ahmedabad in the year 1977.
Director, Smarter Planet Solutions, IBM India
Mr. Ramakrishnan holds more than two decades of experience in the I.T. industry. He was the Sr. Vice President, Solutions, Emerging Markets at Mphasis Ltd. He served as the Director, Channels & Commercial Strategy at Cisco Systems. He also held the position of Director - IBM Software Group. Prior to that he worked as the Regional Sales Manager at Fujitsu ICIM Limited. Mr. Dhamodaran has a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Madras. He did his PGDM with specialization in Systems & Transportation Studies from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore
Presidnet & Head Group HR at JK Group
Mr. Misra has over 25 years of rich experience in the development of the Human Resources strategy, Leadership and Talent Management, Mergers and Acquisitions, Change Management, Learning & Organization Development, Culture Alignment, and Executive Coaching arenas. His prior experience includes leadership assignments with companies like Reliance, Nagarjuna Group, Finolex, and Hindustan Motors. He is a life member of National HRD Network (India) and past chapter president. He has been felicitated as "Super Achiever" in 2003 by the Indira group and received "Best Leader of the Year" award in 2004. He has been invited to speak in many international events held at Singapore, Hongkong, Malaysia, UK, USA and Pune. Mr. Misra is a Graduate Engineer with an MBA, an ICF certified Executive & personal coach and an acclaimed TA trainer.
Partner, Accenture Management Consulting
Mr. Ramachandran has over 18 years of experience in supply chain management spanning from procurement to distribution. His current responsibilities at Accenture include setting up and running of international distributed consulting for SCM, providing thought leadership and sales support in the areas of Service Management & Fulfillment, and acquiring and retaining talent in the organization. Previously, he has held the posts of VP at Four Soft UK, and National Distribution Manager at General Motors India. He has also worked at Stumpp, Schuele & Somappa, and various automobile companies like Maruti Suzuki, Eicher, and Ashok Leyland. Mr. Ramachandran completed his graduation in Mechanical Engineering. He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, of the PGDM 1994 batch.
CPresident, Brand Strategy and Marketing, Reliance India Ltd.
Mr. Roy was responsible for the launch of the Reliance India Mobile brand as Head, Marketing at Reliance Infocomm. Prior to Reliance, he was heading Mudra Communications as its Chief Creative Officer. He started his career in advertising way back in 1979 at HTA (now JWT). He is one of the few business managers in advertising who have had grounding in the creative department and extensive exposure to building teams, brands and businesses, both from the agency and the client side. In 2007 he wrote and directed the movie "Apna Asmaan", which is a simple and touching tale that communicates the personal pains and feelings of an autistic child's parents.
Additional Director General, Directorate Artillery, Indian Army
In a career spanning three and half decades, Major General P R Shankar commanded 5 Field Regiment in Northern Command during Op Vijay, 57 Mountain Artillery Brigade in Counter Insurgency operations in the North East and 41 Artillery Division with an operational role in the deserts of Rajasthan. He has been involved in the R&D activities of the Prithvi missile as part of the Integrated Guidance Missile Development Program. He has been awarded with the Vishisht Sewa Medal, the Chief of Army Staff Commendation Card, the General Officer Commanding in Chiefs Commendation Card and the Commendation Certificate of the Scientific Advisor to the Raksha Mantri, for his exceptional service throughout his career. Major General P R Shankar is an alumnus of the prestigious NDA, Pune and the IMA, Dehradun.
Managing Director of Healthcare Solutions at Abbott Healthcare Pvt. Limited
Mr. Jain has a rich experience of 31 years in the healthcare business which includes stints in Piramal, Abbott, Johnson & Johnson and Lupin. He has got extensive experience in field force management, brand building and overall business operations related to healthcare field. The field force of Abbott Healthcare is over 4000 and has set new benchmarks of excellence in the Indian industry. He has been associated with over 30 brands which are among the top 300 in Indian Pharmaceutical industry. Mr. Jain is an MBA graduate from IIM Ahmedabad with specialization in Marketing and Finance Management. He is a member of the Advisory Board of NMIMS University, Charter Member of TiE and is associated as visiting faculty with various leading management institutes in the country.
Head, India Innovation Center at Eaton Corporation
He has been awarded with Eaton Excellence award, and Radhakrishanan Mentor Award, the highest award at John F. Welch Technology Center for championing Six Sigma, Technology, and GE Values through teaching/mentoring. He has also acquired Master Black Belt & Quality Leader Certifications from GE. Dr. Potukuchi has contributed to several books on Atmospheric Particles, IUPAC series on Environmental Analytical and Physical Chemistry. He has been involved in the R&D activities of the Prithvi missile as part of the Integrated Guidance Missile Development Program. He has been awarded with the Vishisht Sewa Medal, the Chief of Army Staff Commendation Card, the General Officer Commanding in Chiefs Commendation Card and the Commendation Certificate of the Scientific Advisor to the Raksha Mantri, for his exceptional service throughout his career. Major General P R Shankar is an alumnus of the prestigious NDA, Pune and the IMA, Dehradun.
Managing Director, Middle East at Arthur D. Little
Mr. Kuruvilla is responsible for Arthur D. Little's operations in the Middle East. He is also the Head of the Strategy and Organization practice in South Asia and Middle East. Before joining Arthur D. Little he worked with Larsen and Toubro, the largest engineering company in India. He was also selected as a Pilot Officer with Indian Air Force. Mr. Kuruvilla has been invited as a speaker in a number of conferences in the areas of Strategic Planning, Turnaround Management and Corporate Venturing. He is experienced in various functional (Strategy and Organization, M&A, BPR) and industry (Telecoms, Maritime, and Financial Services) practices. He has a Bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Kerala University and MBA from the Melbourne Business School, Australia (exchange programme)/Asian Institute of Management, Philippines.
