Governing and Advisory Board
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 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 Bombay and National Stock Exchange) and Havells India (Listed on Bombay Stock Exchange); Board Member on Addverb Technologies Limited, 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, 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, Consultants, 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 organisations; 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.
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 strategists 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 best investment destination in the world in the coming years.
Shishir Joshi
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.
Manish Agarwal
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.
Mr. Paresh Sukthankar
Mr. Paresh Sukthankar is 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 on the Board of Management of 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 Reserve Bank of India and Indian Banks’ Association. Prior to joining HDFC Bank, he worked in 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) from 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 to promote philanthropy and volunteerism in India.
Mental Health & Wellness Initiative – Mentors
Dr. Avinash Nivritti Supe
MS, FCPS, FICS, DNBE, PGDME, DHA, FMAS, FAIS, FAIGES, MHPE (UIC)
- Ex – Director, Medical Education and Major Hospitals, MCGM, Mumbai
- Emeritus -Professor of Surgical Gastroenterology, Seth G S Medical College
- Ex- Dean, KEM Hospital, Ex-Dean- Sion Hospital
- Secretary – Asia Pacific Hepato Biliary Association
- President Elect – Indian Association of Surgical Gastroenterology
- Past President Indian Chapter of Indian Association of Hepatobiliary Pancreatic
Association;
- Past – President of Academy of Health Professions Educators of India,
- Ex- Academic Council member / Ex – BOS member MUHS,
- Founder Director, GSMC FAIMER Regional Institute,
- Chairman and Member Expert group MCI, Ex – Chairman – MCI Reconciliation Board,
- Editorial Board – Medical Education, Journal of Post Graduate Medicine
- Past – Associate Editor, The Clinical Teacher
- Chairman- GI surgery – National Board of Examinations
- Member – National committees- Ministry of Health and Family welfare
- Recipient of over 43 National and International awards, fellowships and medals.
- B C Roy award, ANBI, MMC, MUHS and National Board awards for best teacher.
- Recipient of International College of Surgeons fellowship,
- Trained at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center – New York and Hamburg
- FAIMER Fellow 2002, International Fellowship in Medical Education 2007
- Master in Health Professions Education – University of Illinois, Chicago- USA
- Visiting Faculty, Tata Institute of Social Sciences
- Prestigious Dr GM Phadke, Network, Bangalore, Dr Dholakia, Dr SP Deodhar, GOA
state, Dr Bhadre, Dr S R Talwalkar, Dr. M J Joshi, Dr M J Mehta and AMASI orations;
- Publications in National and International journals – 263 (Pubmed 121); 5 books,
- Faculty and speaker all over the world – more than 376 presentations
- Wild life, Nature and Medical Photography. Awarded Honorary Membership of
Photographic Society of India.
- Centurion Donor Award – Govt. of India – donated blood – 121 times
- Marathi Book – Arogya Sampada , more than 200 articles in weekly/ media
Dr. Henal Shah
- Professor (Additional) & HOU Department of Psychiatry, Nair Hospital, Mumbai
- She has obtained her Master’s in Psychiatry from KEM Hospital and has had experience at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Glasgow.
- She is keenly interested in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry and presented and published in this field.
- During her tenure as the President of the Bombay Psychiatric Society, work was done in the field of child and adolescent suicide in the form of creating awareness and channels of communication.
- She is the Chair, Scientific Committee, IPS WZB, subcommittee school education/counselling, Indian Psychiatric Society
- She has obtained a Masters in Health Professional Education from University of Maastricht and is a global faculty for Foundation for Advancement in International Medical education and Research (FAIMER), Philadelphia and Co Director of FAIMER Institute in GSMC , Mumbai.
- She has received the International Fellowship for Medical Education (IFME) awarded by Foundation for Advancement in International Medical Education and Research, (FAIMER) Philadelphia, and Bai Savitribai Phule award by the Mayor of Mumbai for excellence in work and contribution to health services of MCGM (Municipal corporation).
Dr. Kersi Chavda
In his various avataars, he was also the
Currently chair of the IPS TF dealing with college psychiatrydealing with school psychiatry and counselling
Dr. Chetna Duggal
Advisor and Head, Mental Health-Wellness Initiative for Project Mumbai
She is a practising psychotherapist and works with children, adolescents, couples and families. She is the trustee of Apnishala, an organisation working towards making life skills education accessible to children from underprivileged contexts. As part of outreach work she launched the School Initiative for Mental Health Advocacy (SIMHA) under the Centre of Excellence on Adolescents and Youth (CoEAY). She was a committee member for curriculum development for the ‘Mental Health’ theme for ‘School Health Program’ under the aegis of ‘Ayushman Bharat’ launched by MHRD and MoHFW.
She is currently guest editor for the ‘Psychological Studies’ Journal and was the guest editor for the Special issue on ‘Spirituality and
Psychology’ of the journal.
Her research interests include psychotherapy practice, training and supervision, and adolescent and youth mental health.
