Our team
We invest in people with potential, no matter their background
Senior group of professionals
25+ Senior experts from government, industry, academia, financial, legal and professional services sectors.
Our advisory board
Mr. Santosh Mehrotra
Santosh Mehrotra (Dr.)
Distinguished Economist, Former Director General
NILERD Government of India
Santosh Mehrotra, Visiting Prof, Centre for Development, Bath University, UK, was Professor of Econ, Centre for Labour, Jawaharlal Nehru University; also a Research Fellow, IZA Institute of Labour Economics, Bonn. He is also a Professorial Senior Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library. MA (Econ), New School for Social Research, New York; Phd (Econ) Cambridge University. Was head of UNICEF’s global research programme at Innocenti Research Centre, Florence, and chief economist, global Human Development Report New York (1991-2006). Head, Development Policy Division of India’s Planning Commission. Then Director General of National Institute of Labour Economics Research (2006-14). He has published 13 books (including 3 with Cambridge University Press, 4 with Oxford University Press, other by Sage, Routledge, Zed Press, Penguin). His work has been translated into Hindi, Spanish, French, Russian, German and Portuguese.
Santosh Mehrotra (Dr.)
Distinguished Economist, Former Director General
NILERD Government of India
Santosh Mehrotra, Visiting Prof, Centre for Development, Bath University, UK, was Professor of Econ, Centre for Labour, Jawaharlal Nehru University; also a Research Fellow, IZA Institute of Labour Economics, Bonn. He is also a Professorial Senior Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library …
Mr. Suresh Kumar
Suresh Kumar
Former Senior IAS officer
Government of India
Suresh Kumar is a former senior IAS officer and was the Chief Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister of Punjab from 2017 to 2021. He has held positions at various levels in the Union and State Governments, where he focused on implementing and managing reforms, business process re-engineering, and pro-poor development policies and programs. With over 30 years of experience in public policy, and governance, Suresh has contributed significantly to the State Government of Punjab and the Government of India.
Suresh's core experience is in public policy, governance and regulatory issues, specially in areas such as power, agriculture, food, energy, water resources, environment, water supply and snitation, technical education and skill development. He played a pivotal role in the formulation and implementation of the 'Punjab State Policy on Rural Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation in 2014'. He successfully formulated, negotiated, and implemented World Bank-aided projects focused on Drinking Water Supplies and Sanitation. He also played key role in preparing a comprehensive Punjab State Agriculture Diversification Plan, and facilitating the formulation of the State Water Policy in 2008 and the State Agriculture Policy in 2018.
Suresh holds a Master's degree in Social Policy and Planning from the London School of Economics and a Postgraduate degree in Commerce from Delhi University, Delhi. He served as a Consultant and National Program Manager of the Joint UN Program for the promotion of primary education in India and was a member convener of the Inter UN Agency Working Group on Primary Education and Gender issues in India. He was also the Translation and Implementation Adviser for the TIGR2ESS project of the University of Cambridge and a continuing policy fellow with the Centre for Science and Policy (CsaP) at the University of Cambridge.
Suresh Kumar
Former senior IAS officer
Government of India
Suresh Kumar is a former senior IAS officer and was the Chief Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister of Punjab from 2017 to 2021. He has held positions at various levels in the Union and State Governments, where he focused on implementing and managing reforms, business process re-engineering …
Dr. Anubha Singh
Rajeev Shorey (Dr.)
Director
Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Surat
Rajeev Shorey took charge as the Director of the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Surat, Gujarat, India in June 2024.
Rajeev is the former CEO of the University of Queensland – IIT Delhi Academy of Research (UQIDAR) at IIT Delhi, India. He serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Computer Science & Engineering department at IIT Delhi and at IIT Gandhinagar.
Rajeev received his Ph.D. and M.S. (Engg) in Electrical Communication Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India. He received his B.E degree in Computer Science and Engineering from IISc, Bangalore. His career spans several reputed research labs – TCS Research & Innovation, General Motors (GM) India Science Laboratory, IBM India Research Laboratory and SASKEN Technologies. Rajeev served as the first President of NIIT University from 2009 to 2013.
Rajeev’s work has resulted in more than 80 publications in international journals and conferences and several US patents. He has 13 issued US patents and several pending US patents to his credit. He was elected a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering in 2007. He was recognized by ACM as a Distinguished Scientist in December 2014. He was elected a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), UK in 2021.
Rajeev Shorey (Dr.)
Director
Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Surat
Rajeev Shorey took charge as the Director of the Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Surat, Gujarat, India in June 2024. Rajeev is the former CEO of the University of Queensland – IIT Delhi Academy of Research (UQIDAR) at IIT Delhi, India. He serves as an Adjunct Professor …
Dr. Anubha Singh
Anubha Singh (Dr.)
Vice Chancellor
Presidency University
Anubha Singh is an accomplished academic leader with a distinguished career spanning over two decades. As the Vice- Chancellor of two state private universities in Bangalore, India. Anubha has demonstrated exceptional leadership in academic administration, research advocacy, internationalization, playing a pivotal role in enhancing the university’s’ reputation for academic excellence. Anubha has spearheaded strategic initiatives to collaborate with global institutions for faculty exchange, joint research, and student mobility programs across 30 countries. Her leadership style emphasizes inclusivity, innovation, and sustainable growth, with a strong focus on enhancing the university’s global competitiveness.
Anubha Singh (Dr.)
Vice Chancellor
Presidency University
Anubha Singh is an accomplished academic leader with a distinguished career spanning over two decades. As the Vice- Chancellor of two state private universities in Bangalore, India. Anubha has demonstrated exceptional leadership in academic administration, research advocacy, internationalization …
Mr Jang Bahadur Sangha
Jang Bahadur Sangha
Chairman and Managing Director
Sangha Group
Jang Bahadur Sangha is the Managing Director of Sangha Group - one of Asia's largest seed potato, maize and rice growers. Jang is a well-known face in the Asian agricultural sector, sat on multiple boards including the World Potato Congress, Australia India Institute, and Punjab Agricultural University, and advised the Indian Government on multiple policy issues.
Sangha Group runs India’s largest agricultural operations, state-of-the-art cold chain facilities and a food innovation company, and invests in blockchain-supported food traceability and precision farming technology through its strategic collaborations with leading universities and research centres in India, the UK, the US, Australia and the Netherlands.
Jang Bahadur Sangha
Chairman and Managing Director
Sangha Group
Jang Bahadur Sangha is the Managing Director of Sangha Group – one of Asia’s largest seed potato, maize and rice growers. Jang is a well-known face in the Asian agricultural sector, sat on multiple boards including the World Potato Congress, Australia India Institute, and Punjab Agricultural University, and advised …
Mr. Vivek Mansukhani
Vivek Mansukhani
Head India
Institute of international education, USA
Vivek possesses three decades of extensive experience in leading, designing, developing, and implementing programs in the international higher education field. As Head of the Institute of International Education’s work in India and South Asia, Vivek leads a team that manages scholarship and fellowship programs, builds higher education partnerships and offers IIE’s expertise in international education consulting and research to foundations, governments, corporations and higher education institutions. As the India Director of the Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program he led a team which selected and supported non-traditional candidates who had faced socio-economic and other challenges which prevented them from accessing quality education in India, to pursue postgraduate degree programs across the world’s leading universities. As Director of Scholarships at the British Council in India, Vivek managed a large portfolio of higher education scholarships programs (including Chevening) for Indian students and professionals to study and train in the United Kingdom; and helped set up and consolidate their alumni networks. Alongside he has pursued his interest in the performing arts and heads a theatre company. He served as Director Arts India at the British Council and managed the UK India Year of Culture 2017.
Vivek Mansukhani
Head India
Institute of international education, USA
Vivek possesses three decades of extensive experience in leading, designing, developing, and implementing programs in the international higher education field. As Head of the Institute of International Education’s work in India and South Asia, Vivek leads a team that manages scholarship …
Dr. Anubha Singh
Rajiv Mathur
Chief Executive Officer
Skilled India
Rajiv Mathur possesses over 33 years of extensive global professional experience in strategizing,conceptualizin, and managing diverse government-initiated skill development projects. He has played a pivotal role in the development, formulation, and management of these significant national programs.
Rajiv currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of SkillEd India, a joint venture between Kunskapsskolan Education Sweden AB and Manav Rachna International University. SkillEd India operates across multiple segments as an EdTech organization,focusing on creating high-quality digital content aligned with NSQF and Future Skills across various sectors. In collaboration with NSDC and various corporate partners, the organization emphasizes corporate social responsibility programs for skill development,employment facilitation for unemployed youth, and enhancing the international
mobility of Indian youth across multiple sectors.
Mr. Kumar prepared a comprehensive Punjab State Agriculture Diversification Plan, and facilitated the formulation of the State Water Policy in 2008 and the State Agriculture Policy in 2018.
Before his current role, Rajiv was a Senior Head at the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), where he played a crucial role in executing key components of the Government of India's "Skill India Mission." His contributions included the establishment of 38 Sector Skill Councils, the development of over 2,200 national standards across these sectors, and the implementation of the government's first flagship program that skilled and certified 1 million unemployed youth. He was instrumental in the Udaan program under the Ministry of Home Affairs, which focused on skilling youth from Jammu and Kashmir. Additionally, Rajiv conceptualized and implemented the "Vocationalization of Education" in schools from classes 9 to 12, in partnership with the Ministry of Human Resource Development. This initiative began in 40 government schools in Haryana in 2012 and expanded to 29 states, reaching over 9,000 schools and benefiting over 700,000 students by the end of his tenure at NSDC in
2018.
Before joining NSDC, Rajiv held senior leadership positions at Microsoft, Tata Infotech,NIIT Ltd., and CMC Ltd.
Rajiv Mathur
Chief Executive Officer
Skilled India
Rajiv Mathur possesses over 33 years of extensive global professional experience in strategizing, conceptualizing, and managing diverse government-initiated skill development projects. He has played a pivotal role in the development, formulation, and management of these significant national programs..
Dr Prithvi Datta Chandra Shobhi
Prithvi Datta Chandra Shobhi (Dr.)
Dean
Krea University
Prithvi Datta Chandra Shobhi is a social historian, literary critic and political commentator. He studied History and Literature at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and at the University of Chicago, from where he obtained a PhD. He was also a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago, Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), Delhi, and was on the faculty of Humanities at the San Francisco State University. Most recently, he taught History at the Karnataka State Open University, Mysore. He has also worked with the American Institute of Indian Studies and Bangalore Central University.
Shobhi’s research interests include the history of dissent, Indian intellectual and religious imaginations, literature and political theory. He has published widely on these themes, both in scholarly forums and popular media. He edited the works of A K Ramanujan and D R Nagaraj, which resulted in the publication of three books: Poetry and Prose from Kannada (OUP, 2005); The Flaming Feet and Other Essays on Dalit Movement in India (Permanent Black, 2010); and Listening to the Loom: Essays on Literature, Politics and Violence (Permanent Black, 2012) . At present, he is completing a manuscript entitled Hindu or Not: Anxieties of the Self and the Politics of History in the Making of Virashaiva-Lingayats, which explores the relationship between Vachana poetry and Virashaiva-Lingayat community. He is also translating a volume of Kannada short stories for Aleph Publishers, New Delhi. He has been a frequent contributor to the Indian Express, Outlook magazine and now writes regularly for ThePrint.in. He writes extensively in Kannada and is a well known Kannada columnist.
Prithvi Datta (Dr.)
Dean
Krea University
Prithvi Datta Chandra Shobhi is a social historian, literary critic and political commentator. He studied History and Literature at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and at the University of Chicago, from where he obtained a PhD. He was also a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago, Visiting Fellow at the Centre for the Study …