Col. Anand Swaroop SM**, Retd., a techno management professional, has served in the India Army for over three decades in challenging location and assignments. A challenge seeker, the concept of “New Normal” has been the norms for engagement with every new assignment that he has embarked on. Apart from discharging his professional responsibilities towards the nation, he has squeezed in the extra hours and days to conquer over 20 peaks as part of his mountaineering expeditions. He also has the unique experience of skiing on both the ice caps – the North and South poles. His passion and commitment towards professional excellence has been recognized and he has been honored with the Sena Medal twice and the Arjuna Award.

Padma has been with TechM since 2006, and has played multiple roles in the company. She currently heads the global consulting team at Tech Mahindra, which is engaged in business consulting, as well as technology and business process advisory & re-engineering services. In her digital role, Padma is responsible for the growth of digital business at Tech Mahindra.

She was a leader and sponsor of Tech Mahindra’s internal digital transformation program launched in 2016: a comprehensive change program that transformed everything in the company from front-end sales and solutions, to the 100,000 strong workforce. This led to Tech Mahindra being recognized as the top services company in the Forbes 100 list of global public firms that are impacting the digital economy for 2018.

In 2009, Padma moved to the then newly acquired Satyam organization, to lead the post-acquisition program, and the integration activities between Tech Mahindra and Mahindra Satyam.

In March 2020, Padma was featured on Forbes Magazine’s India Women Power list of Self-Made Women for 2020. She lives in Bangalore with her husband, Partha. She enjoys reading, yoga and travelling.

Prof. Satya received his Bachelor of Technology degree in Aerospace Engineering in 1991 from IIT Madras and went to obtain his Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering degree in 1992 and Doctor of Philosophy in 1995, both from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.

He works in the areas of propulsion and combustion and conducts research on different aspects of combustion in gas turbine and rocket engines. He heads the National Centre for Combustion Research & Development (NCCRD) at IIT Madras. The NCCRD is the largest of its kind in the world, with a 5-storey building that houses state-of-the-art facilities on combustion research, including a 38metre-tall microgravity drop tower. Prof. Satya also heads the Centre of Propulsion Technology at IIT Madras.

He has around 100 peer-reviewed archival journal publications to his credit and has presented over 240 conference papers and has delivered many sessions at universities such as MIT, Cambridge, TU Berlin, TU Munich, etc., and industries such as GE and FM Global. He is on the editorial board of Progress in Energy and Combustion Science and is a Colloquium Co-Chair on Solid Fuel Combustion for the International Symposia on Combustion, Dublin 2018 and Adelaide 2020.

He has been awarded the HAL Prize for the best undergraduate in aerospace engineering in 1991, the Young Engineer Award by the Indian National Academy of Engineering in 2003, the Young Faculty Recognition Award by IIT Madras in 2009, the Dalmi-HEMSI-ACRHEM Award by the High Energy Materials Society of India in 2009, and the DRDO Academic Excellence Award by the Defence Research and Development Organization twice, in 2009 and 2016.

Satya Chakravarthy is the Lead Co-founder/CTO of The ePlane Company, a startup company aiming to make a new breed of aircraft called hybrid aerial vehicles for vertical takeoff and landing as well as a long-distance flight to carry goods and passengers, ultimately leading to air taxi operations; Co-founder Advisor of Aerostrovilos, which aims to produce micro gas turbines for decentralized power generation; Agnikul Cosmos, which aims to make mini rocket launch vehicles to launch micro-and nano-satellites into space orbits; X2Fuels & Energy, which aims to convert any kind of wastes—municipal solid wastes and Agri wastes—into crude oil; GalaxEye, which aims to develop multi-sensor remote sensing satellites with edge-computing AI. He is also the faculty mentor of the Avishkar Hyperloop student team at IIT Madras.

Known globally as The Risk Doctor, Dr David Hillson is a thought-leader and expert practitioner who speaks and writes widely on risk management. David has a well-deserved reputation as an excellent speaker and presenter on risk. His talks blend thought-leadership with practical application, presented in an accessible style that combines clarity with humour, guided by the Risk Doctor motto: “Understand profoundly so you can explain simply”.

David has advised major organisations, governments and charities in nearly sixty countries on how to create value from risk using applied risk-based thinking, and his wisdom and insights are in high demand. David has written 13 major books on risk, and he has developed significant innovations that are now widely accepted as best practice. He regularly shares his work through the RiskDoctorVideo YouTube channel, with over 200 videos and more than 1.4 million views.

Dr Hillson has received many awards for his ground-breaking work in risk management. He is a Fellow of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and also an Honorary Fellow of the UK Association for Project Management (APM), as well as a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Risk Management (IRM).

Dr Arundhati is an Honorary Clinical Associate Professor, University of Leeds and a Consultant Neuropathologist at Leed Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT). She has been an active contributor in national (UK) and international research projects in brain tumour and rheumatology for the past 20+ years. She is a named collaborator for numerous grant applications with more than 50 peer-reviewed publications to her credit. She was an Invited speaker to national (British Rheumatology Society) and international (Indian Association of Pathology-brain tumour pathology) meetings. She is also an Editor, British Neuropathological Society, Member, Professional Affairs Committee, British Neuropathological Society and was the Hon. Secretary (2010-12) British Neuropathological Society.

Alok Nanda leads 5000+ engineers and scientists across multi-disciplinary R&D labs and industry verticals including Aviation, Healthcare, Power, and Renewables. Alok inspires collocated multi-disciplinary GE technology teams in India to create value beyond individual team potential. He is responsible to drive regional business outcomes through innovative technology solutions and to maximize value for GE from the India ecosystem through strategic partnerships, monetizing IP, and external funding.

Prior to his current role, Alok was the Chief Operating Officer at GE India Technology Centre, and General Manager for Engineering in India for GE Aviation. He developed and led an innovative and high-performing team to create deep technical impact across the GE Aviation business and established a successful Services Engineering organization in the region to support GE’s key customers.

Alok has been with GE for about 20 years and has held engineering and technical leadership positions across Aviation, Power and Global Research. Prior to joining, GE, Alok spent eight years at the Indian Defense Research & Development Organization (DRDO).

Alok is the co-chairperson of the CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) National Committee on R&D & Innovation.

Alok has a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai; and is based in Bangalore, India.

Over six years of international experience with expert project management firms operating in various capacities including large complex programs, capability planning and operations. He built his expertise in project management and business transformation thanks to confirmed soft skills and his engineer background.

He likes to take on new challenges and solving problems in relation with industry constraints. His peers recognize in his rigor at work, a sense of adaptation, and dedication to embrace new challenges. He is a positive person, and, in a team, works in collaborative way.

Ramkumar (Ram) Narayanan is VP Technology and Managing Director at VMware India, where he leads strategy and growth for VMware’s largest global center outside of its headquarters in Palo Alto, USA. This includes working closely with the company leadership on portfolio management, talent strategy and positioning of VMware as a leading organization in India. He serves on the Board of Directors of VMware Software India Pvt. Limited.

He also serves on NASSCOM’s Executive Council and is the Chairperson of NASSCOM Product Council.

Focused on data-driven, digital product innovation spanning consumer and enterprise markets, his expertise lies in product development, product management, and product marketing. An experienced engineering and business leader, Ram has played the role of a technology advisor to both large and small enterprises across digital transformation, product strategy, and product marketing landscapes. He also brings a wealth of experience leading and growing global development centers that deliver future-ready solutions.

Prior to joining VMware, Ram served in global leadership positions at eBay, Yahoo! and Microsoft. He began his career in the US auto industry, developing software solutions for design and packaging of automotive suspension and powertrain systems. His work involves digital transformation led by customer journey, managing product development organizations, software product management and product marketing for consumer and enterprise products, and new market development in emerging markets, amongst others.

Ram holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Anna University, Chennai, and an MS (Mechanical Engineering) and an MBA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Moid Ahmad, Project Delivery Head at i2e Consulting, a software service company that works with Pharma giants like Pfizer, Merck, Novartis, Alexion, ACG, among others.

A certified Scrum Master with over 12 years of experience. His strong skill and experience in project management comes from handling large teams, working in multiple locations, and delivering complex and cross-functional applications.

In the past he has worked for organizations like Xerox, ESPN. At i2e Consulting, he has built and groomed his team, which is delivering global multi-year, multi-million-dollar full life cycle system implementations using Agile and Waterfall methodologies.

Join in conversation with Moid Ahmad- the leader, the mentor, and the gamechanger.

Rajesh comes with 29 years of global experience in building Products, Platforms, Services and High Performing Teams across various Business domains including Banking, Transportation and Health. He is a hardcore technologist with proven Leadership capabilities and Execution skills focused on delivering complex and mission critical Programs and Projects. During his 22 years of association with the Banking industry, he has built software and services for multiple business areas including Corporate Banking, Investment Banking, Wealth Management and Retail Banking. He currently heads Transformation & Innovation for Investment Banking Technology at DB India. He holds a Bachelors in Computer Science with a Post Grad in Finance.

Mr. V S Ashok, is the CHRO of Blue Star and based out of Mumbai. Ashok is a mechanical engineering graduate from college of engineering, Trivandrum and a post graduate diploma in management from St. Joseph’s college in Bangalore. He joined Blue Star as a trainee engineer in 1992 and has been with Blue Star in various capacities. Prior to becoming CHRO 2 ½ years ago, Ashok was heading the customer service business. So here we have a leader who has seen both the worlds.

Prithvi Shergill is passionate to enrich the experience of people doing meaningful work in fluid workplace constructs. He is currently invested in enabling growth of the following ventures, using evidence-based decisions and digital technologies:

i. Smarten Spaces, that makes offices, campuses, building and other high density architectures intelligent for clients, with the digital platform built for the enterprise, real estate and co-working industry, creating an efficient experience for enterprise users

ii. Entomo (formerly KPISoft), that offers clients research, applied design and platform offerings, developed to co-create a distinctive purpose-led experience and practices based on actionable insight to assess, recruit, learn, perform and manage careers that help build collective and individual growth applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies and Behaviourial Analytics.

Prithvi has served as the steward for creating intrapreneurial cultures, leading to exponential value created by seeding nurturing and harvesting grass-root innovation. He has worked within the Office of the CEO at the organizations he has worked in, partnering with the Board and senior leadership to shape the business strategy.

In his last enterprise assignment, he was the Chief Human Resource Officer and Senior Corporate Vice-President, Organization Effectiveness at HCL Technologies. Until March 2017, Prithvi was accountable to identify human capital implications, design and deploy practices that strengthen collective health and achievement of desired business outcomes. He institutionalized policies, programs, processes that put Employees First to engage, enable and empower people to listen, collaborate, ideate and create value for stakeholders. He worked to enhance the maturity of effectiveness and efficiency in execution and aligned the people agenda and service delivery to the business priorities of delivering profitable growth and maximizing competitiveness in the marketplace.

Prior to joining HCL Technologies in April 2012, Prithvi was a Partner at Accenture. Since 2004, there he played a variety of roles leading the HR team to scale and grow Accenture’s businesses: (i) in India; (ii) shaping the global Human Capital Strategy applied in various geographies and (iii) supporting the Technology Growth Platform as their Global Talent Strategist. He anchored Accenture’s India Delivery Centers to be certified at Level 5 of the People Capability Maturity Model (P-CMM) and also served as the Inclusion & Diversity Sponsor for Accenture India.

During his earlier years of experience, Prithvi has helped grow the value of human capital in companies such as AT&T, Vsource, Singapore Telecom and Consistel previously.

His experience as a Business Operator, Value Creator and People Developer in the information technology and services industry demonstrates his skill in shaping and managing People Strategy, Growth Enablement, Business Revitalization, Consulting, Organizational Design and Change, Operations as well as Leadership & Talent Development, Reward Design, and Optimizing the Talent Supply Chain and Service Delivery.

Sayantana has been with Intuit since 2018, and has played program management leadership roles in both platform/core services and experiences as well as product teams in the company. She currently heads Technical Program Management for QuickBooks Online Advanced which is one of the topmost growth drivers for Intuit, along with key transformation initiatives for the Small Business & Self Employed Group (SBSEG) at Intuit India. She leads 3/1 year and quarterly planning and manages the tech excellence charter, acting as a strategic thought and execution partner to SBSEG exec leadership. She has also led the Intuit India PMO Community.

Prior to joining Intuit, Sayantana had an adrenaline-boosting stint at Olacabs, India, setting up the program management function/team for their Supply vertical, building product development lifecycle processes from scratch. This experience was built on her strong foundation of 9 years at Dell-EMC, where she was recruited into their prestigious Global Services Leadership Development cohort from the MBA program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, and traversed various program management roles in the US and India to build a global, inclusive mindset. Overall, she has 17 years of experience, with 11 years in program management and an engineering background.

Sayantana won the Intuit India Annual Award in 2019 for her passionate contributions to the PMO craft and community at Intuit. She lives in Bangalore with her husband and 10-year old daughter. Yoga and healthy baking are some of her recently acquired interests!

As CDEO of the company, Pradeep’s passion is to lead his organisation in creating affordable & innovative MedTech and Healthtech Products and Solutions that are easy to deploy in hospitals (B2B) and individuals (B2C). Increase the coverage for healthcare and wellness.

In his earlier stint, as Head of SW centre of excellence at GE, Dr Pradeep was instrumental in setting up the Software Centre of Excellence and built the Advanced Analytics Organization for GE in India. He also contributed to the development of the Industrial Internet Platform (PREDIX). His team developed algorithms for Asset Management and Operations Optimization for GE Business-Healthcare, Aviation, Oil & Gas, and Transportation.

Dr Pradeep is an active Senior Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) , USA and a fellow of Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), UK.