Media Coverage

Shishir Joshi

Chief Executive and Founder-Trustee

With an impact graph stretching across three decades, Shishir has ventured into several interconnected arenas of work each of them as exciting as the other, if not more. At the heart of Shishir’s core and vision, are not-for-profit campaigns and initiatives which help citizens achieve transformative change by engaging with systems and structures. Citizen empowerment and a qualitative change in their lives for the positive, is what he strives towards – in action and as a catalyst.
Up until November 2017, Shishir was the CEO of Bombay First, also known as Mumbai First, a unique not-for-profit model of Public-Private Participation which aims at making Mumbai a better place to live, work and play, for everyone. As it’s youngest CEO, he held the position for close to four years. During his stint at Mumbai First, he was instrumental in setting up the much-appreciated War-Room for the Government of Maharashtra, to fast-track key infra initiatives. It was a Mumbai First-McKinsey initiative with the Government of Maharashtra.

In 2017, iVolunteer, an international not-for-profit body awarded him the Special Jury Prize, as an acknowledgement of his ‘Exemplary contribution to India’s Social Development.’ Another one of his initiatives, Vote4Mumbai, along with the State Election Commission, Maharashtra, played an important role in corporate citizens stepping out to vote in larger numbers, resulting in a 10 per cent rise in voter turnouts for the civic elections of Mumbai two years ago. His effort was acknowledged officially.

He also led a 25000-strong volunteer base of citizens to beautify 36 Railway Stations of Mumbai, within a record seven days in 2016. This is arguably one of the largest such volunteer-focused public private people initiatives to have ever unfolded in India, in such a short time.

Chairman of Muskaan – Sharing Smiles, a not for profit engaged in educating under privileged children in one of Mumbai’s suburbs and also a Trained Counsellor, Shishir takes up Individual and Corporate Counselling projects on request. He was part of the founding team which set up Nithya Sahaya, a first of its kind free, walk-in counselling at St. Michael’s Church in Mahim, which experiences a foot-fall of over 90,000 people every Wednesday, across faith, gender and economic strata.

Shishir is a lawyer, with a postgraduation in Mass Communication. Associated with some of the best institutions, including NDTV, Aaj Tak, MidDay and Indian Express, he was regarded as a hard-nosed journalist and anchor, during his 20-year stint as a journalist.

His passion for facilitating collaborations at multiple levels, across various verticals and ability to hone better leadership and ownership in individuals as well as organisations, makes him an asset to the development of a city like Mumbai and an icon for socio-civic changemakers.

Jalaj Dani

Spent over 2 decades in various capacities including being responsible for Supply Chain and Chemicals business and spearheading the Human Resources, Corporate Quality, and Safety Functions at the group level at Asian Paints, amongst the top ten paint companies in the world with a manufacturing presence in 16 countries. Led the international business and was the chief architect of the blistering expansion in international markets through organic and inorganic growth. Chairman, Board of Governors for Indian Institute of Management (Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu).

Current Board positions of Corporations: Independent Director on the Board of HDFC Ltd (Listed on the Bombay and National Stock Exchange) and Havells India (Listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange); Board Member on Addverb Technologies Limited, a start-up technology company.

Current Board positions on Foundations: Additional Director on Board of Reliance Foundation; Board member of Piramal Foundation and Piramal Foundation for Education Leadership; Tribhuvandas Foundation and Trustee of Sir H N Hospital; Vice President of Kapadwanj Kelavani Mandal (Trust based in Gujarat).

Current Board/member positions on Government bodies: Board member of National Skill Development Agency (NSDA); Member of Pradhan Mantri Kaushalya Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) Steering Committee.

Current position in Industry Chambers: Board of Sportscom, National Council member (CII), Co-Chairman of National Committee on Sports (CII); National Executive Committee member (FICCI), Member of Sports, Physical Education, Fitness and Leisure Skills Council (SPEFLSC).

Mona Mehta

A Chartered Accountant by training, a Banker by profession, and a perfectionist by nature. I believe that the purpose of life is to make it better …better than what it was yesterday, for oneself, one’s family, and for the community. I have two guiding philosophies, 1) ‘there must be a better way’ and 2) ‘no harm in trying.’

I grew up in Delhi and flew the nest when I joined HSBC Bank. Since then, my life is landmarked by the seven cities I have lived in across different parts of the world. I started my working life with A.F. Ferguson as, Consultant, and thereafter I joined Hongkong Bank (now HSBC Bank). My work experience has been mostly in traditional banking operations and corporate banking. I worked for HSBC Bank in Hongkong, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Dubai.

As I became a trailing spouse, I got the opportunity to work in different organizations; Mashreq Bank in Dubai where I worked in Corporate Banking and IFC-SEDF (South Asia Development Fund) in Dhaka, where we worked in partnership with the government, the private sector, donor partners and other development partners to deal with the constraints to SME development in Bangladesh. Currently, I act as an advisor to aspirants, whether they are aspiring college entrants or budding entrepreneurs.

Manish Agarwal

Manish has over 25 years of experience in Infrastructure and has been a sector leader at Crisil, KPMG, and PwC. He has advised Investors and the Government in enabling private sector participation in infrastructure. He is now an independent expert on Sustainability & Infrastructure Financing; and writes on public policy issues at www.askhowindia.org.
Besides being on the Advisory Board of Project Mumbai, he also Chairs the Rurbanisation COE of Jagriti Enterprise Center – Purvanchal. He is BE(Hons) from BITS Pilani and PGDBM from IIM Calcutta.

Ridham Desai

Ridham Desai is a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley with 20 years at the firm. He heads Morgan Stanley’s Indian Equity Research team which is the top-ranked team in the country. He is the country’s top-ranked equity market strategist and has been consistently ranked among the best analysts in the country over his career spanning over 26 years. He has represented Morgan Stanley in several public debates on the equity market and the economy and is also a regular media contributor. He has led debates on the Indian economy since the beginning of the 90s penning several path-breaking reports on the country. The latest such report is India’s Digital Leap: The Multi-Trillion Dollar Opportunity which discusses how the digitization of the country over the past three years is taking the country into a new growth orbit and how India could be the best investment destination in the world in the coming years.

Paresh Sukthankar

Mr. Paresh Sukthankar is the Lead Partner of Sanaksh Advisors LLP, a firm he set up in 2019 to provide business and management advisory services, primarily to Private Equity and Venture Capital firms. He is an independent non-executive Director on the Board of Commercial International Bank (Egypt) and is an Advisory Board Member at Yuva Parivartan, Kherwadi Social Welfare Association. Mr. Sukthankar is a member of the Board
of Management of the autonomous Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) and on the Board of Research of the University of Mumbai. He is also a member of the
Academic Advisory Council of the College of Supervisors, Reserve Bank of India, and a Mentor to the Indian School of Democracy.

Mr. Sukthankar has been a banker for over three decades. He was part of the core team which founded HDFC Bank in 1994-95 and helped build it into one of India’s leading, most respected financial institutions. He was inducted on the bank’s Board as Executive Director in 2007 and elevated to the post of Deputy Managing Director in 2014. He tendered his resignation in August 2018 and completed his tenure with the bank in November 2018. Mr. Sukthankar has been a member of various committees formed by the Reserve Bank of India and the Indian Banks’ Association. Prior to joining HDFC Bank, he worked at Citibank for 9 years from 1985 to 1994.

Mr. Sukthankar is a Commerce graduate from Sydenham College, University of Mumbai, and an MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS, Mumbai). He has also completed the Advanced Management Program (AMP) at Harvard Business School.

Venkat K N

Venkat graduated from IIMA, worked first at “The Times of India” in various corporate and brand management functions, and then joined the founding team of Sony Entertainment Television in India. In 1996, he co-founded Eklavya School, Ahmedabad. He later co-founded Educational Initiatives Pvt. Ltd, a company that works on improving the quality of school education in India. Venkat set up GiveIndia in 2000, to create a “giving culture” in India. In 2009, he, along with several other volunteers, conceptualized and launched DaanUtsav, a festival that aims to bring India together to celebrate giving. Held from October 2-8 every year, the “festival” is a platform that allows everyone from India’s poor to its wealthiest to give back to society.

Venkat is a signatory to #LivingMyPromise, an initiative where middle-class Indians promise to donate 50+% of their wealth to causes of their choice. He has recently been involved in an initiative called #EveryIndianVolunteering that aspires to engage every Indian in volunteering for social causes. He spends 90+% of his time and wealth promoting philanthropy and volunteerism in India.

Aarya Bhavsar

Graduated with a B.A. in Literary and Cultural Studies from FLAME University. Aarya is happy to work in a place that lets her use what she has learned in college. She likes calling herself a pop culture fanatic and bibliophile who is happy to spend her days doing what she loves: researching and writing about her home city of Mumbai.

Shreya Nanduri

Shreya is a Counselling Psychologist and holds a Masters with specialization in Clinical Psychology. She is trained in CBT-REBT & has an Humanistic focussed eclectic approach. Mental Health and Mental Health advocacy are some things she has always been extremely passionate about & she hopes to make a difference in the Mental Health community by reducing the stigma surrounding Mental Health conditions. As a professional she tries to elevate the standards of Mental Health services being provided by making them accessible to all.

Neha Kathuria

Neha Kathuria is a Counselling Psychologist and Dance Movement therapy practitioner

She has been working in the field of Mental health as a practitioner for the last 8 years. Her aim is to make and create a mental health-friendly space where everyone can share their unique and remarkable stories which have shaped their behaviors and experiences. She works from a humanistic approach and believes that each one has the potential to grow and empower. In order to impact a larger audience and bring in change at a larger level, She has joined Project Mumbai as a Project Head/Lead (Mental Health division). She along with her team strives to make a positive change in people’s life by empowering them at a young age itself to make a healthy and happy world both mentally and physically.

Mashumi Sankhe

Mashumi is a professional social worker & an MBA Graduate in CSR with a core passion to work for the community. As an expressive person, She believes in dancing out her life and expressing herself better by eating as much as possible. Traveling & Meeting people is her hobby. She is all smiles.

Radhika Maheshwari

Radhika (she/her) is a Counselling Psychologist based in Mumbai. With her love for the arts and passion for Mental Health, she has trained in Expressive Arts Therapy and Dance
Movement Therapy. As a Mental Health Professional she has worked with children, adolescents, young adults on the Autism spectrum, corporate employees, and People with
Parkinsons and their caregivers as well.

She views mental health concerns as those that are created through multiple causes and conditions existing in and around the individual. Therefore, “the problem is the problem, the
person is not the problem”. She facilitates mental health journeys for individuals and groups while also advocating for better environmental conditions for the same.

Her practice believes in the unique experience, needs, and healing potential that resides within each individual. She plays the role of a facilitator to walk with you as you begin to know and
understand yourself better, this unique potential, and are able to live more fully than before.

Ms. Parul Kumtha

The President of Forum for Autism, a parent support group, Ms. Parul Kumtha is also a counsellor at Ummeed Child Development Centre and Adult Support Kendra.

She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture (with Honours) from the University of Mumbai. She has diversified her qualifications by studying Conservation of Biodiversity at the Bombay Natural History Society and Built Heritage Conservation Studies with the Mumbai Metropolitan Region-Heritage Conservation Society.

If there is anyone in Mumbai who is a stalwart in the advocacy for special needs, it is Parul. She comes with strong experience in advocacy, parent and family support and school outreach.

Vineet Saraiwala

Vineet Saraiwala is the Founder & CEO of Atypical Advantage, India’s largest Inclusive Platform to generate economic livelihood for Persons with disabilities.

He did his Post Graduation (PGP) from IIM Bangalore (IIMB) & prior was responsible for making shopping accessible for millions of Persons with disability in India with the Future Group.

He travels alone on the Generosity of Strangers, Treks, Cycles & Runs in high places of Ladakh. He is a lifelong volunteer & believes that a generation of compassion is the only way to make the world a better place.

Amar Jain

Amar Jain is a corporate lawyer who has worked in various areas as part of his professional engagement. These areas include Contract Management, which involves compliance, identification of risks and issues, deliverables and obligations, review of statement of works, master services agreements, among others. He has also worked in Indian and international capital markets, which encompass Initial Public Offers, Qualified Institutions Placements, Rights Issues, Bulk and Block deals, Corporate Advisory, and global depository receipts.
Additionally, he has experience in Banking & Finance, which includes External Commercial Borrowings, Foreign Currency Denominated Bonds, rupee and foreign currency term loans, and letter of credits. Amar has worked with law firms Trilegal and Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, respectively, and Accenture India.

In addition to his legal expertise, Amar is a Certified Professional in Web Accessibility. This certification, obtained from the International Association of Accessibility Professionals, is held by only around 219 people worldwide as of November 2019. It enables Amar to provide consultancy and training on making websites and apps accessible for everyone, including persons with disabilities.

Amar himself has blindness as defined under the Rights of Persons With Disabilities Act, 2016. Despite this, he has received several awards for his work. These include the NCPEDP Mphasis Javed Abidi Public Policy Award by the National Centre For Promotion of Employment of People With Disabilities and Mphasis Limited, for his work in the area of public policy. He also received the Sarojini Trilok Nath national award for best role model from the National Association for the Blind in Delhi.

Govind Iyer

Govind Iyer retired as a Partner at Egon Zehnder, a Global leadership advisory Firm. Prior to joining Egon Zehnder, Govind worked at Proctor & Gamble, Coca-Cola, and Heinz.

Govind is currently an Independent Director of Infosys Limited & also an advisor to Warburg Pincus India.

Govind has served on the Wharton Executive Education Advisory Board and is an active University of Pennsylvania alumnus. He has served on the Advisory Board of Asian Venture Philanthropy Network (AVPN).

Govind is a founding board member and Chairperson of Social Venture Partners (SVP) India, is a board member at GIVE India, an advisory Board member of The Convergence Foundation (TCF) and is a #LivingMyPromise signatory.

Govind has a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Regional Engineering College, Trichy, and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

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