KNOW YOUR HONCHOS
Adarsh Gupta, Executive Director, Liberty Shoes Ltd
Adarsh Gupta, executive director, Liberty Shoes Ltd., scripted the future of Liberty Shoes over the last 20 years. An avid learner and a commerce graduate from Kurukshetra University in Haryana, Adarsh has a diploma in footwear design from ARS Sutoria Institute, Milan, Italy. Widely travelled, he understands the global business scene quite emphatically. The first in his family to look beyond the footwear business, with his Liberty Bathroom Solutions the new company will offer quality-driven customers the finest in luxurious bathroom products.
Ajay Bansal, Orange Hara
Ajay Bansal was instrumental in establishing Yum Restaurants as one of the largest restaurant companies in India, with Pizza Hut and KFC brands. A chartered accountant, Bansal led Yum in various positions including CFO and director business development, responsible for Indian subcontinent. After a stint as CEO of Satyam Cineplexes, he has recently led the launch of a chain of upscale Indian cuisine restaurants under the brand name Orange Hara.
Ajjay Bijli, Managing Director, PVR Ltd
A Harvard Business School alumnus and Hindu college graduate, Ajjay Bijli has provided tremendous impetus to the PVR expansion agenda. The company’s unconsolidated total income was Rs 1,078.4 million in fiscal 2006. As of July 2006, PVR Ltd comprised 18 cinemas with a total of 70 screens spread over Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Indore.
Ajay Khanna, Executive Director-Retail, DLF Universal
Ajay Khanna is currently with DLF Universal Ltd, as executive director - retail. Earlier to this, he was working as CEO with JK Corp. Ltd. He started his career as advertising trainee with Lintas, and subsequently worked with Dunlop India Ltd as zonal manager/head office, profit centre head.
Ajay Mehra, CEO, Edvance Learning
Ajay Mehra is CEO of Edvance Learning. After completing his
MBA, Mehra joined Lakme Ltd from the Tata Group as a management trainee. Thereafter he joined Trent Ltd – the Tata retail foray – as vice president-marketing, and was responsible for setting up the Westside chain of stores. Thereafter, he was COO, Times Retail, a division of Bennett Coleman & Co.
Ajay Naqvi, Director, Shark Designs
A thorough advertising professional, Ajay has worked with the best in the industry; Ogilvy Bombay, Bates Singapore and Indonesia. Ajay is scripting a turn around of Shark Design Studio. In his capacity as strategic partner he heads up the design vertical and has been instrumental in positioning SDS as a retail communication partner to clients like Unilever, Lipton, Yamaha and Salora.
Ajay Kaul, CEO, Domino’s Pizza India Ltd
Ajay Kaul is the chief executive officer of Domino’s Pizza India Ltd. In his professional career of around 19 years, he has worked for esteemed organizations including American Express Travel Related Services Co, Modiluft and TNT India & Indonesia.
Kaul is a B.Tech from IIT Delhi and an MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur. His personel interest lies in music and sports including golf among others.
Anchal Jain
Associated with Promostyl for 14 years now, Anchal's credentials include launching of his own brand "I.C.U on the beach" in the stiffly competitive European Market in 2002. The Men's Beachwear brand now sells in 19 countries. He also created partnership with the world's largest holiday brand called "Club Med" in form of a global license. His latest achievement is the successful launch of 'NUN', a lifestyle retail brand for teenage girls.
An MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, Anchal started his career with the Apparel Fabric Division of Madura Coats. During his second job with Stencil Apparels, Anchal helped Stencil become the largest selling shirt brand in India in a space of two years. Anchal ventured into his own business in 1991 and quickly established himself in the International Fashion Industry. He created Primetex based in Paris in 1996.
Anshuman Singh, CEO, Future Logistics & Solutions
A mechanical engineer and an MBA, Anshuman Singh is the CEO of India’s first consumer logistics company – Future Logistics & Solutions Ltd. Anshuman has recently been recognized by Business Today as one of India’s Hottest Young Executives and has been featured in programs like Big Fish on NDTV Profit.
Anuj Puri, Chairman and Country Head-Jones Lang Lasalle Meghraj
As Chairman & Country Head of Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, one of India’s largest premier real estate service providers, Anuj Puri oversees a team of over 3,300 staff in 10 cities across India. He is responsible for overall direction, strategy and growth of the firm. With over 18 years of experience ranging from feasibility studies and program requirement derivation to fund and investor sourcing, he has expertise in planning, undertaking demand assessment studies and transactional services including marketing strategies based on technical real estate market analysis. A respected leader in the Indian real estate industry, he enjoys strong relationships with both private investors as well as local and global corporates.
Earlier on, he worked as management accountant in his firm Anuj Puri & Associates, New Delhi, and did a stint as chartered loss adjuster in Colin Farley & Associates, UK.
Akhil Chaturvedi, Managing Director, Provogue Ltd
He is a science graduate and holds a Masters degree in Management Studies from SP Jain Institute of Management Studies. Akhil Chaturvedi is the founder member of Provogue (India) Limited and is currently looking after corporate planning, technology and supply chain function of the company. Akhil plays a key role in all HR and legal matter related to the company business. He has varied experience in marketing FMCG products and worked with leading MNCs and Indian companies including Wimco Ltd, Balsara and Ion Exchange India. He has also worked with the UK-based Coopers and Lybrands Consulting Group on brand strategies. Amit Burman, Vice Chairman, Dabur India Ltd
Amit Burman, Vice Chairman of Dabur India Ltd has played a significant role in India's foray into processed foods business with the setting up of Dabur Foods Ltd.
A MBA degree holder from University of Cambridge, a M.Sc. degree in Industrial Engineering from Columbia University, USA and a B.Sc. degree in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA, Amit began his career at Dabur's Industrial Engineering Department where he was responsible for induction of machinery, method improvements, manpower reduction and improving product packaging. He has worked in the Manufacturing Strategy Department at Colgate Palmolive, New York, USA also at the Colgate Palmolive Kansas plant which manufactured soaps and detergents. In 1990 he trained at Tishcon Corporation New York, USA where he was responsible for safety of stock and optimum inventories.
Ambareesh Murty, Country Manager, eBay India
Ambareesh Murty, 35, is the country manager of eBay India. A member of the eBay Asia Pacific Leadership team, Ambareesh is responsible for the eBay portfolio in India consisting of the eBay India marketplace and the eBay India motors marketplace.He has joined eBay India in December 2005 and held a host of executive roles in eBay India over his tenure.
Before joining eBay India, Ambareesh has worked with Cadbury Schweppes PLC and credited for several successful brand initiatives under his belt. He also spent a couple of years with ICICI Prudential as vice-president marketing and customer service. He has set up a successful financial training and advisory firm of his own in Bengaluru, India.
Ambareesh holds a B.E. in civil engineering from the Delhi College of Engineering and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.
Arun Dey, chief executive – automotive Reliance Retail
Prior to joining Reliance Retail, Arun was working with Maruti Udyog Ltd., Gurgaon as head -true value operations. He has over 26 years of diverse experience in various industries – automobiles, paints and retail. In Maruti he spearheaded the “Maruti True-Value” initiative by setting up a national chain of automobile stores.
Anaggh Desai, Chief Executive Officer, Damas
Anaggh Desai joined Gitanjali Gems Ltd in 2005 as the group president, marketing & commercial. His job function covers corporate planning, marketing and all commercial activities of the group with emphasis on processes, governance, distribution channels and new initiative management. His 18-year career covers a broad spectrum of industries – right from market research, hospitality and mail order, to courier and logistics, travel and dotcom. Anaggh holds a Masters degree in Business Administration and a post-graduate degree in Marketing Management from the University of Baroda, Gujarat.
Andreas Gellner, Managing Director, adidas India
Andreas Gellner is managing director of adidas India from 2004. He is responsible for managing the overall business of adidas in India, and aims to take the brand to a leadership position in the growing Indian market. In 2000, Gellner became one of the youngest-ever managing directors of adidas as the MD of adidas Malaysia. He holds a Masters degree in Business Administration from Portland State, US, and a university degree in Business from Stuttgart, Germany.
Andrew Levermore, CEO, HyperCity
As CEO, Andrew Levermore is responsible for the entire gamut of operations at HyperCity. Levermore’s career spans over 23 years in both luxury and value retail. Prior to joining K Raheja Corp, he was in executive buying and merchandising management with Macro, South Africa.Anindya Mukherjee, Senior Vice President, Sonodyne International Ltd
Anindya Mukherjee joined Sonodyne International Ltd in 1999, and today he is the senior vice president. Earlier to this, he was responsible for quality control and process management with Ford in Ohio.
Arun Mahajan, Managing Director, Style Spa Furniture Ltd
A banker by profession, Arun Mahajan has been associated with KK Birla group for the last eight years. During the last three years, he has been heading the furniture business of the group as managing director, Style Spa Furniture Ltd (formerly Gautier India Ltd) and Indian Furniture Products Ltd. There has been substantial growth in the business during the period, which also saw the smooth transition of brand change from Gautier to Style Spa.
Archana Prakash has 10 years of experience across Corporate, multinational
and staffing companies spanning core functions in areas of business development, marketing, operations and human resource activities.
Arvind K Singhal, Chairman, Technopak
Arvind Singhal started his career with DCM Group, thereafter taking on the mantle of managing director at KSA Technopak. Currently, he is the chairman of Technopak. Singhal is an active participant at various professional associations and industry fora, and is also a regular contributor to various publications. He has given guest lectures at various institutions in India including IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Lucknow, Indian School of Business – Hyderabad, MDI – Gurgaon, NIFT – Delhi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Delhi, and NID – Ahmedabad.Dr. Ashok Gulati, director, IFPRI
Dr. Ashok Gulati is currently IFPRI director in Asia based in IFPRI’s New Delhi Office. During January 2001 to February 2006, he was Director of the Markets, Trade and Institutions Division of IFPRI in Washington D.C. Before joining IFPRI, Ashok Gulati was a NABARD chair professor at the Institute of Economic Growth in Delhi ; chief economist at the National Council of Applied Economic Research, Delhi.Ashish Kapur, Managing Director, Yo! China
The Young Turk, Ashish Kapur is the managing director of India's first and largest Chinese food chain Yo! China . A bright graduate in Telecom and Electronics Engineering from McGill University, Canada, he participated in GE's global Leadership Program and worked with GE in Financial & Quality Management across North America and India. For his excellent contributions in the turnover of the food chain, he was awarded 'Young Restaurant Entrepreneur Award 2006'. Yo! China was recognized as the 'Best Fast Food Restaurant 2005' and 'Young Achievers Award' are some other feathers to Mr. Kapur's cap. He is an active industry speaker at various forums including India Retail Forum, FICCI and TiE.
Ashish Chordia, Chief Executive Officer, Thanks
Ashish Chordia, chief executive officer/founder of THANKS, has played a significant role in transforming luxury retail in India. After obtaining his Bachelor of Science from Marshall School of Business (University of Southern California), he started working with Deloitte in the management consulting field, based in the United States of America. Chordia entered the luxury goods business by acquiring exclusive rights from renowned European luxury companies and began to establish the foundation of a luxury conglomerate, which would retail luxury products including but not limited to: cars, yachts, super bikes, fashion articles, and jewellery.
Atul Jain, Country Head, Jumbo Electronics
A mechanical Engineer from IIT Delhi and a MBA from IIM Kolkata, Atul jain is the country head of UAE's leading technology retailer, Jumbo Electronics. Atul holds an experience of 18 years in the consumer goods, retail and telecom sector. He started his career at 23 as a Branch-in-charge for Bihar & Jharkhand for UB group. He was associated with esteemed organizations including McDowell's and Coca-Cola for over eleven years. Atul Jain has also served as the CEO of first retail convenience store chain in the country, 24/7 Retail Stores Pvt Ltd. Atul is a weekend golfer and his personal interest include amateur theatre.Atul Ujagar, Country Director - India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nike Inc.
Atul Ujagar is the country director of Nike India and responsible for apparel sourcing operations for South Asia (India, Srilanka and Pakistan) since 2001. Ujagar is a bachelor in mech. engineering, New Delhi (1987-1991) and a post graduate in apparel marketing and merchandising from National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) Delhi (1992-1994).
Prior to the current India assignment, Ujagar has been working in S.E. Asia (Thailand and Indonesia) for 4 years where he managed key functions of apparel sourcing. Ujagar is a three time “Nike Apparel Maxim Award” winner and has also been felicitated with “Excellence Award for Contribution to Business and Society” by NIFT in the year 2005.
Aziz Merchant, Director, Brandz International Inc. UAE
He is a B.Engg (hons) and has done his MBA in Marketing from the United Kingdom. Aziz Merchant is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK. He has worked with Chalhoub Group, the Middle East luxury goods retailer and distributor, for eight years as strategy and business development consultant. Aziz facilitated mergers and acquisitions of international brands for the Middle East as well as the subcontinent, both at distribution and retail levels. Aziz founded Brandz International Inc., a channel management company offering solutions for market entry, market penetration, and market reposition on representation basis.
Badrinath Gulur Director South Asia, Social Accountability International
Badrinath Gulur is the director, Social Accountability International (SAI), South Asia. He is also the CEO of a Swiss-based consulting company called Four-D Management Consulting.
Gulur holds masters degree in Urban Environmental Management from the Netherlands and has over 15 years of experience in quality, environmental, health and safety and social accountability training, consulting and auditing. He has been involved with several brands like Gap Inc., Nike, Carrefour, H&M, Inditex, Zara, Arcadia, K – Mart, Tommy Hilfiger, Tesco and Sainsburys on their compliance initiatives for the last eight years.
Barbara Wold
Barbara Wold is a business speaker, presenting topics from sales and marketing to customer service and tourism. She is an international speaker who has "WOWED" over 300,000 people from all 50 of the US, Puerto Rico, Guam, Canada, Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, India and the United Arab Emirates.
B A Kodandarama Setty, chairman, Vivek Ltd
B A Kodandarama Setty has transformed Viveks from a 400 sq.ft single-store outfit into India’s leading retailer of consumer durables. Setty plans to make the Viveks Group into a 200-store chain at the national level over the next three years. He has also been associated with the formation of the Retailers’ Association of India.
BD Nathani as president – north, SMPL
BD Nathani is the president – north of Squarefeet Management Private Limited (SMPL). He has a varied experience in sales, marketing and retailing for around 30 years. A true salesman who started his career in 1978 as sales executive finally achieved his ambition to become director sales & mktg. It has been a long but very satisfying and successful journey. During his 30 years of stint with FMCG, OTC, footwear, apparels & lifestyle brands he has been instrumental in most successful product and brand launches which include halls, Chiclets (WARNER-Hindustan),Garlic Pearls, Naturelle Herbal Shampoos / Soaps (RANBAXY), Lotto Sports Shoes, WOODLAND, Hi-Tec, New Balance and CROCS.
Nathani has been a visiting and Guest faculty at many reputed Management Institutes which includes BIMTECH, APEEJAY, FDDI, PEARL, GNIM and IPM
Bernd Biehl, Deputy Editor in Chief, Lebensmittel Zeitung
With 20 years of journalistic experience in the retailing business Bernd Biehl is the deputy editor-in-chief of trade and business-to-business, Lebensmittel Zeitung.
He has been a keen reviewer of the evolution of the different food retailing formats all around the globe including UK, USA and Japan. His special interest area is the global development of collaboration between retailers and suppliers, as in the global ECR initiative, and in category management. He also covers core management issues in marketing and strategy.
Prof. Dr. Bernd Hillier, President, European Retail Academy & Chairman, EuroShop Exhibitor Council, Germany
Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier is Managing Director of the European Trade Institute since 1985. He is the president of EuroShop-worldwide exhibition for retail investment goods.
He is the member of a number of other national and international committees, apart from his teaching activities in Germany, and at the Moscow academy of business at the Government of Moscow. His book “EuroShop” published in 2004 has become standard shop fitting literature. He has a degree in Economics and doctor's degree in Political Science from the University of Hamburg.
BM Vyas, MD, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation
BM Vyas joined Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), India's food products marketing organisation – as managing director in 1994. He championed the movement of total quality management across the supply chain cycle, and within a span of 14 years increased sales five-fold, from Rs 980 crore to Rs 5,200 crore. Vyas developed and successfully launched 30 new products.
GCMMF specialises in the marketing and distribution of a wide range of dairy products in India and abroad. Most of the GCMMF brands – be it Amul, Sagar, Dhara, or Nutramul – are today market leaders in their categories.
B Madhivanan, General Manager, ICICI Bank Ltd
Madhivanan Balakrishnan joined ICICI Bank in 1999 as head of marketing for ICICI Bank Credit Cards, and was a part of the team that launched the ICICI Bank card product in India (January 2000). He was promoted as business head for ICICI Bank Cards Center in the year 2002.
Madhivanan is a member of various advisory forums for the payment industry and is also associated with the RBI Committee on micro-payments. He has had his formal education in management from IIM Calcutta and joined ICICI Bank Cards Center with a strong background in sales and marketing and business development across consumer business companies, among them Pepsi Foods Ltd and Goodlass Nerolac Paints Ltd.
BS Nagesh, managing director Shopper’s Stop Ltd
B S Nagesh, managing director, Shopper’s Stop Ltd, joined the K Raheja Group in 1991 to set up their retail business. Prior to joining Shoppers Stop, Nagesh worked with Blow Plast, Orson and Corona. He has won scores of awards and titles over the past few years for his vision and managerial expertise.
Bharat Jain, CEO, Niknish Retail Ltd.
Bharat Jain is chief executive officer to Kolkata based lifestyle gift store chain, Niknish Retail Ltd. for 6 years now. He is a B.Com. graduate and is an evolution from trader to retailer. He has worked with a television manufacturing unit in his early days.
Bhaskar Bhat, Managing Director, Titan Industries
Bhaskar Bhat, a Mechanical Engineering graduate from IIT, Madras, (1976), did his Post-graduation in Business Management from IIM Ahmedabad (1978). Most of his working experience has been in sales and marketing. Bhat started his career as a management trainee at Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing Co. Pvt. Ltd in 1978. After spending five years there, he joined the Tata Watch Project initiated at Tata Press Ltd. Since 1983 he has been associated with the Tata Watch Project, which later became Titan Watches Ltd and is now Titan Industries. At Titan, Bhaskar Bhat has handled sales and marketing, HR, international business and general managerial assignments. He took over the reins as managing director from April 1, 2002.
Bijay Sahoo, President & Chief People Officer, Reliance Retail
Bijay Sahoo has a rich experience of over 20 years in strategic talent management in multinational and leading national companies in India and abroad. In his earlier assignment, Sahoo was the senior vice president and global head - HR at Wipro Technologies, and a director on the board of Wipro Spectramind. He has good experience of setting up HR practices for startup organizations – IDBI Bank, Coopers and Lybrand HR Consulting Practice, several business divisions of Wipro Technologies, and now Reliance Retail. Sahoo is an Economics (Hons) Graduate, with Masters in Personnel Management.
Bijou Kurien, president & chief executive – Lifestyle Division, Reliance Retail
Bijou Kurien has about 27 years of experience in Indian Industry. A
post graduate in Management from XLRI, India, he joined Hindustan
Lever Ltd., as a management trainee in 1981. After a successful stint
of 6 years in various capacities in Sales, Marketing and Projects, he
joined Titan Industries Ltd, India’s leading manufacturer and marketer of watches and jewellery. He also headed the team which established Timex Watches Ltd. in India.
Bipin Gurnani, Chief Executive Officer, Business Development Joint Venture, Future Group
Bipin Gurnani had earlier worked with Piramyd, joining them as general manager, operations, in 2001 and then graduating to the position of COO in 2005. He was responsible for operations, buying and merchandising, and logistics for Piramyd Megastore and TruMart. In total, Gurnani has over 12 years of experience in hospitality and six years in retail. Prior to joining Piramyd, he was with Taj Group of Hotels and Ramada Grand Hotel, Australia. Gurnani completed his graduation from Lucknow University and holds an Associate Diploma in Sales and Marketing from Australia.
Biren Vaidya took over as managing director, Egana India Pvt. Ltd, in 1999. Drawing on his experiences and introducing ingenuous new marketing ideas, Vaidya took the company from strength to strength, establishing it as a truly national brand with more than 250 stores across 40 cities.
Bruce K Rowley, Director - Global Brand and Communication, INVISTA
In his role as global brand and communication director, Bruce K Rowley is responsible for the development of brand strategy, communication planning and trademark protection for an expanding portfolio of brands including LYCRA fiber, COOLMAX fabric, TACTEL fiber, SUPPLEX fabric and freshFX fiber and fabric.Prior to joining INVISTA, Rowley spent 15 years in Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Singapore developing and implementing global communications for brands such as LEXUS, NISSAN, AXA insurance, Peninsula Hotels, ExxonMobil, Hewlett Packard and DHL.
Chinar Deshpande, CEO, CrITi (Creative IT India)
With over 6 years of enriching experience as a CIO (out of a total 17 years of professional tenure in the field of information technology), Chinar has led various complex and innovative IT initiatives with direct business impact. His achievements have reflected in him winning the CIO 100 Award in 2006.
C Gopalakrishan Consultant, Supermarket Retail Solutions
C Gopalakrishna is a refrigeration engineer by profession and graduated from Oklahoma State University. In the 1990s, he started the franchising concept under the Nilgiri's brand as part of an expansion programme.
CK Venkatraman Chief Operating Officer, TANISHQ
A B.Sc in Mathematics and Post-graduate Diploma holder in Management, CK Venkatraman worked in MAA Bozell and Mudra Communications for five years. He joined Titan Industries in 1990, and was heading the Advertising function. By 1994 he was marketing head in the company. Venkatraman took over as business head of the Titan Brand in 2003 and was looking after sales, marketing and retailing. In January 2005 he was appointed chief operating officer for the brand Tanishq.
Chakor Jain, Business Head, LEE India
Chakor Jain, the business head for Lee India, is currently responsible for the Lee business in India, and overlooks the sales, marketing and overall business operations of Lee.
Jain has been associated with Arvind for more than 10 years now. He embarked on his career with the Lalbhai group in 1994 and has been working with many different business facets of the apparel industry.
Jain originally worked with Arvind Mills, and started Arvind office in Bangladesh, following which he worked as the business development manager, Arvind Worldwide Inc., USA, and finally as the head of business at Arvind Overseas, Mauritius before joining Arvind Brands as the business head for Lee India.
Chakor holds an MBA from Symbiosis, Pune, in 1994 after completing his Engineering in 1991.
Chetan Desai, Director – Retail, Raymond Ltd
Chetan Desai heads the retail chain of Raymond, which has over 30 stores located across India. He has over 28 years of general management experience in India and abroad, with 10 years' working stint at Kenya.
Chetan Shah, Country Head, Pepe Jeans
Chetan Shah is country head, Pepe Jeans (India) Ltd, since 1991. He took over the reins of the Indian operations at the age of 29, to become the youngest Pepe employee to head overseas business. Chetan started his career with a two-year tenure in a consultancy firm in the United States, working closely with Wall Street. In 1989, he joined International Business Division of Pepe Jeans at their global headquarters in London.
Chitranjan Dar, Chief Executive Officer, ITC (LRBD)
After qualifying as a mechanical engineer with a management degree, Chitranjan Dar joined ITC Ltd in its printing and packaging division in Chennai in the year 1981. Within this division he moved across locations and functions, and was at various times handling assignments in sales and marketing, manufacturing, projects and chain management. In 1998 he moved to Bhadrachalam Paperboards Ltd as head of sales and marketing. In 1999 he was inducted into DCM Shriram to set up 250 agri retail outlets in India . In December 2002, Chitranjan Dar was made chief executive of the Lifestyle Retailing Business Division of ITC Ltd.
Damodar Mall, group customer director, Future Group
Damodar Mall is the group customer director, Future Group.
Prior to this he was the CEO –Innovation & Incubation of Future
Group. He has also handled operations of the Pantaloon Retail (I) Ltd as the CEO. He has 10 years experience in sales and brand management at Hindustan Unilever.
Devita Saraf, CEO, VU technologies
This 26 year old lady is an executive director of Zenith Computers, India's second largest PC manufacturer and chief executive officer of VU Electronics, Devita Saraf, graduated with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration with a specialization in Marketing from the University of Southern California in 2003.For her innovative contribution in the Information technology in such a short span she has been honored with 'IT People Woman Leadership Award 2006'.
Devita is the Founder and Chairperson of Young Bombay Forum, part of The Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry - the oldest body of commerce in India. She is also on the Executive Council of MAIT [Manufacturers Association of Information Technology]. She is an executive committee member of FICCI and a part of MENSA - an international society of people whose IQ ranks in the top 2% of the world's population. She has been ranked by India Today as one of the Top 50 Young people in India.
Dheeraj Gupta, Managing Director, Jumboking Foods Pvt.Ltd.
The founder of Jumboking national chain, Dheeraj Gupta is a Hotel Management graduate from IHM, Mumbai with a master degree in Financial Management from Symbiosis Pune. In the past 7 years, he has single handedly driven the organization to open 45 outlets all over India.
Prior to opening Jumboking, Dheeraj started a mithai business, which he had to wind up within 18 months because of lack of funds.
Dheeraj not only put up his own single product stores but also convinced others to invest in the brand through the franchise model.
Dinesh Malpani, CCA & CEO, Food Express Retail Pvt.Ltd.
Dinesh Malpani is the chief executive officer Food Express, a chain of super stores in South India. He is a commerce graduate who did an Accelerated Management Programme from ISB. In his early days, he was involved in his family business of gemstone exports.
Dr Darlie O’ Koshy Executive Director and Ex-officio Member, National Institute of Design
Dr Darlie O Koshy is the executive director and ex-officio member of the governing council of National Institute of Design (NID). Koshy has been involved in a major transformation of NID through upgradation of design support infrastructure, introduction of 15 PG programmes, and new educational systems, financial restructuring, setting up of R&D campus of NID in Bangalore.
Koshy started his career in the handloom sector. Later, he became a founding faculty member at the National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi. He also served as the managing director of Kerala State Handloom Corporation and chairman of Kerala Garments Ltd and also the founding general manager of National Handloom Development Corporation, Lucknow.
Koshy took his PhD in Management from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi. He is also a rank holder in MBA with specialisation in international marketing. He had attended advanced training for one year during 1987- 88 in fashion management at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York.
Dr Hemant C Trivedi, professor in retail
Dr Hemant C Trivedi is a professor in retail and is currently associated with executive programme in Communications Management at MICA. Prof. Trivedi has a Ph.D. in Management. He has over 30 years of industry experience. He was associated with Bhavnagar University for more than 10 years, heading the Management Programme at the University.
Dr Mini Mathur, subject matter expert in Retail Management
Dr Mini Mathur is a subject matter expert in Retail Management and currently managing post graduate programmes in Retail Communications and Visual Merchandising at MICA. She has more than a decade of experience in teaching and training. She has been instrumental in setting up the retail programmes, currently being the fourth batch at MICA. She did her doctoral research on Retail Formats in India. She was awarded an ‘Advanced Diploma in Retailing’ by City & Guilds, UK.
Dr Rajesh Shukla, Senior Fellow, NCAER
Dr Shukla has specialised in Statistics and is currently leading the Division of Sample Survey and General Economics as Senior Fellow (Chief Statistician) at NCAER. He has been involved for more than a decade in primary and secondary
data based socio-economic studies (baseline, impact and longitudinal) on a range of topics like agriculture & rural credit, household income and expenditure, consumption, savings, investment, energy, tourism, science and technology, etc.
Dr Rana Mehta, Head, Healthcare Consultancy, Technopak
Dr. Rana Mehta heads the Healthcare Consultancy at Technopak. He is a Medical graduate with a masters in Hospital Administration. He has extensive experience in the strategising, planning, commissioning and operations of hospitals in South Asia customising healthcare solutions to varying socio economic, geographic and demographic imperatives.
Dr Tarun Panwar, Professor & HOD – Retail and Fashion Marketing Department, Pearl Academy of Fashion
Dr Tarun Panwar is a PhD, MBA and has studied Retail at Fashion Institute of Technology, NewYork. He has 18 years of experience in academics and Industry with leading brands in India and US. He has keen research interest in fashion retailing. He has presented several papers in International conferences including six papers in prestigious IFFTI conferences. In his current capacity he heads all academic activities of Retail and Fashion Marketing departments.
Dr. Leslie D. Bourquin, Associate Professor and Food Safety Specialist, Michigan State University
Dr. Bourquin is an Associate Professor and Food Safety Specialist in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition and the National Food Safety and Toxicology Center at Michigan State University.
He provides consultation, education and training on general food safety practices, Good Agricultural Practices, Good Manufacturing Practices, Good Hygiene Practices and HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) for food producers and processors, foodservice workers, and government agencies throughout the United States and internationally.
During the 2007-08 academic year, Dr. Bourquin is conducting research on “Food Safety Risk Governance” as a Fulbright Scholar at theUniversity of Sciences and Technology of Lille in France.
Devangshu Dutta, chief executive, Third Eyesight
Devangshu Dutta is chief executive of Third Eyesight, a management consulting firm focused on consumer products and retail, whose clients include brand leaders and some of the largest companies in their respective markets.
Devyani Rama, Head, India, World Luxury Council
Raman is heading the World Luxury Council in India. As director of operations, her mission is to collate the right brand mix of premium products and bespoke services from an international luxury-standardization perspective. Raman has successfully introduced the World Luxury Council concept in India. She led the team during the WLC launch in the presence of HRH Prince Michael of Kent (senior advisory board member), in both Delhi and Mumbai in February 2005.
Dharmesh Jain, Chairman and Managing Director, Nirmal Group of Companies
Dharmesh Jain is handling Nirmal Lifestyle Limited, Nirmal Holding Limited. Nirmal Lifestyle Theatres Pvt. Ltd, Nirmal Super Market and Nirmal Hospitalities. Apart from that, he is also the joint secretary of Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (Managing Committee). He has a Bachelor’s degree in commerce from RA Podar College in Mumbai. Jain is author of the book There is a Winner in You.
D Shivakumar, Vice President and Managing Director- Mobile Phones, Nokia India Pvt Ltd
D Shivakumar is the managing director – Mobile Phone for Nokia India. In his role, Shivkumar is responsible for growing Nokia’s mobile phones business in India while providing strategic direction and operational focus. Besides working at consolidating Nokia’s market presence, he also focuses on building the Nokia brand, driving partnerships and strategic alliances and developing the capabilities of the Nokia organisation in India.Shivakumar has over two decades of experience in the consumer market in India and has been heading consumer electronics business for Philips India as senior vice president and executive director on the Philips India board. Prior to this he has spent several years with Hindustan Levers in various sales, marketing and business head roles.
Dipali Goenka, Director, Welspun Retail Ltd
Dipali Goenka is the director of Welspun Retail Ltd since the past two decades. She has single handedly driven Welspun’s Retail initiative from concept to execution and set up the aspirational brands including “SPACES”, “WELHOME”. She has also been instrumental in setting up a Design studio which today ranks amongst the best in the industry.Outside Welspun, Goenka has actively participated in the Young FICCI Ladies Organization and also initiated the set up of Welspun Vidyan Mandir High School (Anjar, Gujarat).
Einar Gústafsson, MD, Bakkavör Asia
As managing director of Bakkavör Asia, a leading provider of fresh prepared foods and produce with operations in nine countries Einar Gústafsson oversees a team of 20,000 employees and got a turnover of £1.5 billion.
Before joining Bakkavör Group, Gústafsson completed two turnaround efforts in the seafood industry in the United States, after spending his initial career at Deloitte Consulting. He holds a BSc degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California, and an MBA from Columbia Business School in New York.
Gareth Ackerman, Chairman, Pick 'n Pay Holdings Ltd., Chairman, CIES WFBSC & Board Member, CIES
Gareth's expertise is built on many years of industry experience across multi-levels and aspects of the retail industry, Family Business, Investment, Philanthropy and Consulting.
He is the Chairman of the CIES World Food Business Summit Committee and Board member of CIES. Gareth is currently Chairman of Pick 'n Pay Holdings Limited (Pikwik), a board member for a number of companies, a trustee of Foundations and Trusts and Chairs the Ackerman/Pick 'n Pay Foundations.
As executive chairman and co-founder of Pleiad Capital, Gareth is very involved with Pleiad's Private Equity investments and Corporate Finance and Strategic Consulting advisory activities. Gareth is also actively involved with YPO and is also currently doing a lot of work in the PBO and sustainable business field, focusing on business development, the environment, sustainable development, job and wealth creation and poverty alleviation and has recently spoken in this area at the World Economic Forum Africa Summit and at the FMI Midwinter Conference in Orlando and CCFA conference in Beijing.
Gautam Jatia, CEO, Starmark
PGDBM from IIM Kolkata and a B.Com. graduate, a yarn salesperson to chief executive officer of Starmark, a retail store chain of Emami Retail Pvt Ltd, Gautam Jatia has come along a long way on the path of success. With more than 9 years experience in this organization, Gautam has made Starmark a large format leisure retail store with his wide knowledge in retail management softwares and creating a customer friendly environment.
Gibson G Vedamani, CEO, Retailers Association of India
Gibson G Vedamani is the first CEO of Retailers Association of India and is successfully spearheading its growth for the last four years. With over 20 years of experience in retailing, Gibson has held significant positions in organisations like Bata, Shoppers Stop, Piramyd Retail and Reliance Webstore.
Girdhar J Gyani, Secretary General, Quality Council of India
After 37 years of service in HRD and quality management, Girdhar J Gyani, security general, Quality Council of India (QCI) has been entrusted with the task of pursuing “Mission India: Quality India” through nationwide quality campaign.
He is elected director on board at International Accreditation Forum (IAF) representing low- and medium-income economies. He is senior member of American Society of Quality (ASQ), and member of Institute of Quality Assurance, UK. Gyani has been conferred with the 16th Lal C Verman Award for year 2002 in recognition of his distinguished contributions in the field of ‘standardization & quality control’. He is also recipient of Rotary Centenary Award in year 2004 for excellence in the field of quality.
Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief & Publisher of the two leading trade magazines - food-service (since 1982) and FoodService Europe & Middle East (1998), Gretel Weiss is a recognised expert with insider knowledge of the chain-restaurant industry (market analyses, conceptual case studies and trends) and Co-organizer of the European Foodservice Summit.
Graeme Payne, Solicitor, Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP
Graeme Payne is the Solicitor at Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP since 2000. His practice covers the breadth of brand focussed transactional advice, particularly in the retail sector. In 2007 he was seconded to Dell where he worked with both the UK and emerging market teams on matters ranging from domestic distribution agreements to advising and coordinating multi-jurisdiction retail focussed licensing projects.
As part of Payne’s practice he advises international retailers on the terms and conditions for promotions and marketing campaigns. As part of these campaigns he assists clients with their brand strategy and brand exploitation.
The majority of Payne’s work is international. He has extensive experience of coordinating and managing multi-jurisdiction brand licensing projects.
Gurpreet Wasi, President, Go Fish Retail Solutions
Gurpreet Wasi is co-founder and president of Go Fish Retail Solutions, India’s leading retail consulting and solutions company. Gurpreet has over 15 years of experience in Marketing and Retailing, and has held senior / top management positions with leading brands in the fashion, apparel and food service sectors. She has also consulted with market leaders in FMCG, large format retail, luxury retail and specialty retail.
Gunender Kapur, President & Chief Executive, Foods Business, Reliance Retail
With a degree in Engineering and MBA, Gunender Kapur is the President & Chief Executive for Foods Business Reliance Retail since 2006.
He started his career as a Management Trainee with Hindustan Lever and soon became the “Executive Director Foods & Sr. Vice President Foods – South Asia Region. In 2004, Gunender was appointed as CEO of Unilever Nigeria Plc.
Harminder Sahni has been working with Technopak since 1996 on various strategy, marketing and operations projects for fashion industry clients.As managing director, Harminder is also currently heading the Retail sector business at Technopak. Prior to this was heading the Fashion Sector as associate director. Harminder has focused on strategy and marketing related issues confronting his clients. He has been instrumental in delivering diverse assignments, developing a strategy for diversification and / or forward / backward integration, launch of new brands, implementation of new projects for clients and for brand licensee & supply partnerships between Indian and international firms.
He has consulted for clients in India, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Hong Kong, Europe, North America and South America (while on a transfer to KSA, NA), including manufacturers, marketers and retailers.
Harish Bhatt, Chief operating officer, Time Products Division, Titan Industries
Harish Bhatt is serving his second innings at Titan Industries as chief operating officer of the watches division. He was earlier vice president (sales and marketing), Tanishq, and became the jewellery division’s chief operating officer in 2003. In the interim, he was president (marketing) at Tata Teleservices.Harish Bhatt, a BE (electronics) graduate from BITS Pilani (1985) with a PGDM from IIM Ahmedabad (1987), joined Tata Administrative Service (TAS) in 1987. He has over the past 19 years handled several senior assignments within the Tata Group companies, including Tata Tea and Tata Chemicals.
Henrik Andersen, Managing Director (Middle East & India), SSP
Since joining SSP 20 years ago, Henrik has held several senior positions within SSP, where he has built up considerable expertise in the areas of commercial and business development, project management and general management.
Henrik has played a central role in the establishment of several major mobilisation projects within SSP, most notably project managing the establishment of SSP Asia Pacific in 1997-99, from Singapore. More recently, he was Vice President Finance of SSP Global and then latterly Commercial Director Central Europe & Middle East from 2004-07, based in Frankfurt. Henrik was given responsibility for establishing SSP’s strategically important Middle East and India business in 2007.
Henrik has a degree from Copenhagen Business School and is an Insead Management School alumni. Henrik is fluent in Danish, English and German. He lives with his family in Dubai.
Hemchandra Javeri, CEO, Home Solutions Retail (India) Ltd
Hemchandra Javeri is one of India’s leading retailers and a pioneer with several innovations and successes. He was chief executive officer, Home Solutions Retail India Ltd, a part of the Future Group in 2007-08. Prior to this he was
Senior Executive President, Madura Garments Lifestyle Brands and Retail. Skilled and trained in Footwear design and manufacturing in England, Inder Dev Singh Musafir is the founder of one of the fastest growing industries in shoe business in India having a portfolio of several national and international brands, M&B Footwear Pvt.Ltd.
Inder Dev may have followed his poet and politician grandfather's surname but he has followed a complete different path by building a casual footwear company from scratch to a turnover of 100 crore in 14 years. After this non-stop success, he plans to take his company to the next level by building an exclusive retailing network for M&B products
Jai Subramaniam, co-founder, Shop 4 Solutions
Jai Subramaniam, co-founder of Shop 4 Solutions, is a chartered accountant with 30 years of experience in the financial/real estate markets with a deep insight into the workings of the retail industry. He was also the director in the
Landmark chain of book/leisure stores. Kanaka Bysani is a Senior Consultant at Shop 4 Solutions with 7 years of experience in the retail industry having worked with RPG group’s retail business and Coffee Day Xpress.
James Bettle, Director–Asia-Pacific operations, Ben Sherman
James Bettle is the director of Asia- Pacific operations of Ben Sherman from last six years. He is responsible for retail, licensing, distribution and marketing across the Asia-Pacific region delivering a consistent brand vision and strategy through keeping true to Ben Sherman’s British, Mod Heritage.
Prior to this, Bettle has held roles as brand director at Canterbury, commercial manager at Aquascutum and sales manager at Nautica.
Bettle graduated with a BA Hons degree in Management Economics & Textiles from Leeds University and is a chartered textile technologist.
Jay Gupta, CCE & MD, The Loot
Jay Retailing and Merchandising Pvt. Ltd. is the promoter of 'The Loot', multi brand retail chain which is handled by Jay Gupta. He is a B.Com. graduate from SIES college, who has successfully commenced the operations in India in 2004 with 'Loot' as a value retail chain. He has effectively spread head 52 stores in the country with presence in as many as 49 cities.
Jayant Kochar, Managing Director, Go Fish Retail Solutions
Jayant is one of the pioneers of organised retailing in India, having successfully launched the French lifestyle brand LACOSTE here over 15 years ago. He went on to conceptualise and create the iconic chain of Espresso Bars - BARISTA, following that with AMORETTO’s. He now heads GO FISH, the country’s leading specialised retail consultancy.
JH Mehta, President, Spencer’s Retail
JH Mehta is a managing graduate from IIM, Ahmedabad. He joined Hindustan Lever as management trainee in 1974, and has worked in a wide variety of functional and business assignments there. In 2000, he became a member of the management committee, HLL. Since July 2006, he has taken over as president, Spencer’s Retail, RPG Group.
Jim Terwee, Export Director
Jim Terwee has been part of the G-Star team since 1994. His is responsible for overseeing international sales activities. He supports coaches, manages and monitors the sales organisations and its team members in the Northern European countries and Asia.
Before joining G-star he had previous working experience in retail and wholesale.
Joseph C. Andraski (Joe), President and CEO of the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Solutions Association (VICS)
During his quarter-century career at Nabisco Inc., Joseph Andraski led a team that has become almost legendary for its logistics innovations. Joe serves today as President and CEO of the Voluntary Interindustry Commerce Solutions Association (VICS), an organization of retailers, suppliers, information systems solution providers, and others that are working together to develop processes and technologies that improve supply chain efficiency.
Joe recently created and launched the VICS CPFR Certification Program. He received a special commendation from Michigan State University, the Salzburg Leadership Award from Syracuse University, the Frank O'Hara Alumni Award for Management from the University of Scranton. Joe has also received the Distinguished Service Award from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), and the VICS Roger Milliken Career Achievement Award. He was also named Logistician of the year by Penn State University.
Johann Weinzettl, CEO of SSP, Central Europe and Middle East
Johann Weinzettl is chief executive officer of Central Europe and Middle East division of SSP, which represents one of the market leaders in travel concession catering.
Johann graduated from the Hotel and Tourism Management School in Salzburg, Austria, in 1975. He began his working life in the hotel business, working for InterContinental Hotels and Sheraton in Austria, Germany, Kuwait and Turkey. Johann joined SSP in 1992, in Turkey, as area manager, airport restaurants. He then moved to the then head office in Copenhagen as VP, operations, and in 2000 he became head of the SSP global business team in Chertsey, UK.
In April 2004, Johann was appointed CEO of Central Europe and he is now based in Frankfurt. He also has overall responsibility for SSP’s Eastern European and North African business, as well as the Middle East.
Parameswaran, former COO of Style Spa Furniture Limited - a KK Birla group company, has been specifically mandated to drive the Home Adornment retail business of Ebony Gautier. In his role as the CEO of Ebony Gautier, Parameswaran spearhead the company’s long term and development strategy which would include undertaking expansion of Ebony Gautier specialty retail stores across the country over the next two years.Parameswaran comes with a strong background in sales and marketing, sourcing and operational experience, having started his career 22 years ago with Singer India Limited. He had been with Style Spa since its inception in 1997. As the COO of Style Spa, Parameswaran played a significant role in setting up & nurturing the brand in India. Under his leadership, the company significantly expanded its presence in India.
Kabir Lumba, Executive Director, Lifestyle International (P) Ltd
Kabir Lumba was earlier the president of Lifestyle, where he headed the buying and merchandising functions, while playing a key role in the company’s strategic planning and expansion. Before that, Kabir spent two years at Pantaloon as chief executive officer (CEO), in 1997-99, and also served as chief operating officer (COO) at Proline India, in 1999-2004.
Kajal Dhawan
Kajal Dhawan is a retail researcher, educator and designer, with more than a decade of relevant experience in the fields of manufacturing and retailing in India. She started her career as an entrepreneur, manufacturing quality garments for a private label, and then went on to pursue her interest in retail with a study of retail markets in UK.Kamal Gianchandani, COO, BIGFlix.com
Kamal Gianchandani has been at the helm of operations at BIGFlix.com as the Chief Operating Officer, Reliance Entertainment (Home Entertainment) since November, 2006.Prior to joining Reliance ADA Group, Kamal was working as the COO (Pictures) of PVR Pictures Ltd and headed the film distribution business. He was responsible for acquisition and exploitation of Hollywood and Indian films besides being actively involved in the formation and expansion of the company’s film production business. He was involved as a core team member in the two film production deal with Aamir Khan Production Pvt Ltd.
Prior to that as the Business Head - Cinemas for E-City Entertainment (I) Pvt Ltd he was involved in project planning and management of their multiplexes besides setting up the day to day operations. In his 1st stint at PVR, he was involved in their multiplex business from it’s inception in 1995 and worked across functions such as Operations, Business Development & Project Management, in various capacities.
Kamal graduated with Honours in Commerce from Hindu College, Delhi University and pursued his MBA (Finance) from Institute of Management Education, Pune University.
Kishore Biyani, CEO, Future Group
A postgraduate in Marketing, Kishore Biyani heads Future Group. He made his foray in modern retailing in 1997 with the opening of the first Pantaloon outlet in Kolkata. Today future group employs over 30,000 people and operates around 11 million square feet of retail space, has over 1000 stores across 63 cities and 65 rural locations in India. The group covers the entire Indian consumption space through its multiple business verticals including Future Retail, Future Capital, Future Brands, Future Space, Future Logistics and Future Media. At recently concluded Images Retail Award (IRA) 2008, Biyani captured 'The Most Admired Retail Face of the Year' award. Biyani is a passionate reader and devotes time to understanding major retailers and retail movements across the world. He is also keenly interested in studying human behaviours.Lakshmi Menon Bhatia, Director, Global Partnerships, Social Responsibility, GAP Inc
Lakshmi Menon Bhatia is the director of Global Partnerships, Social Responsibility, GAP Inc. Prior to this she spent over seven years with several NGOs and social welfare organisations in India.
She is currently the point person in India for Gap Inc. to help develop a sustainable strategy in conjunction with other stakeholder groups including the government, UN organisations, other brands or retailers, NGO's and trade unions to address the complex issue of 'Child Labour' in the Garment Supply Chain.
Lakshmi’s responsible efforts at a global level has resulted in formulation of a number of highly successful partnerships including with the Global Union Federation for the Apparel Industry on Freedom of Association/ Collective Bargaining issues in the Gap Inc. Supply chain.
She has been involved in a number of successful negotiations in Supplier factories for Gap Inc. as well as for other Brands as a Board member of the Ethical Trading Initiative. She has driven brand collaboration on common issues in the supply chain resulting in the setting up of various brands or retailers working groups in a number of countries including India.
Laurent Le Mouël, Art Director, Promostyl
With a genuine expertise over fields such as fashion, beauty, design, industry, food, Laurent Le Mouël is incharge of the Promostyl’s Influence Design Book. He also oversees numerous exclusive projects with prestigious international brands. He has been a master decoding trends for over 22 years.
Manoj Chakravarti, Senior Advisor-Corporate, Titan
Manoj Chakravarti, after passing out from Scindia School Gwalior, read Economics at St. Stephen's College, Delhi and finished his post-graduation attending the Delhi School of Economics under distinguished professors Amartya Sen, Jagdish Bhagwati, K N Raj and Joan Robinson. Both these institutions are amongst the premier academic institutes in the country.
Manoj started his career with India Foils Limited - a pioneering packaging company then a part of the TI-Reynolds/British Aluminium group where he worked for 13 years. Work wise, he then migrated to the Middle East to join one of the largest trading organisations there -The Bahwan Group, where again he worked for 13 years, in Muscat, Dubai and Saudi Arabia in various capacities, including heading the Seiko and Casio divisions and was a part of the geographical expansion team of The Bahwan Group.
Manoj joined Titan Industries, a part of the well-known Tata Group in August 1996 as General Manager-Retailing, heading the Retailing department and then moved into heading corporate affairs and Europe operations in May 2003 and soon became vice-president. He is currently Chief Operations Officer at the Centre for Corporate Governance and Citizenship-Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, and, at the same time retains his Chair at Titan Industries as Senior Advisor-Corporate, where he, is involved with Corporate Sustainability, Communications and Leadership Development. He has widely travelled across the world and his hobbies include playing the keyboards and bonding with pets.
Man Mohan Malik, Chairman & CEO, Himalya International Ltd
Man Mohan Malik aged 52 Years is the founder of Himalya International Ltd and has had presence and involvement in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India for the last 26 years. He is an honors graduate in Physics along with degree in Law from the University of Delhi, India. He built up the company with a penny in his pocket after loosing all the fortune he inherited from his father at the age of 20. The six years of continuous loosing streak in multiple business activities taught him the rules of ruthless world of business and built up his resolve to fight back.
He re-started with new found determination and established his first successful manufacturing plant in 1979 at the age of 26 years and has never looked back since then. He has the grit, the technical and business expertise attained from several different businesses such as yarn and textiles, chemicals & minerals and agriculture and food processing. On top of it all he has a knack of discovering and assessing an opportunity, follow it up passionately and holding steadfast in face of adversity. He has steered the company through thickest of times and continues doing that with a missionary zeal.
Mala Raj, Consultant, Cartesian Consulting
Mala Raj, a Bangalore University rank holder and PGDM from IIM Bangalore, is a consultant with Cartesian. She spent the first few years of her career in media planning with Ogilvy and Grey (then Trikaya Grey). She shifted focus to direct marketing and CRM in 1991 and was responsible for the account planning function in OgilvyOne. After 13 years of her service with OgilvyOne across their Bangalore, Delhi and Mumbai offices, she started freelancing as an independent consultant in the area of direct marketing and customer loyalty in 2004. She is now consulting exclusively for Cartesian in the customer loyalty space.
(Cartesian Consulting is committed to bringing precision to marketers' efforts through its loyalty and analytics practices.)
Marc Treves, Business Development Director- Retail, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, India
Marc Treves, as business development director- retail in Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, India, leads the business development initiative of company’s retail strategic business unit in India. He is working in various segment of the retail market: advisory, leasing and mall marketing.
Prior to joining Jones Lang LaSalle, Treves was the director– retail and marketing at Apple Computers (Russia).
Treves holds master degree in Marketing, Milan, Italy and done BA in Political Science from Geneva University, Switzerland.
Mark Abell, partner, Field Fisher Waterhouse
Mark is highly rated as a leader in the field of franchising by The Legal 500 legal directory and An International Who’s Who of Franchise Lawyers (Law Business Research). He has been named “the Guru of franchising” in the Chambers legal directory and rated as the UK’s number one franchising lawyer. He is also rated as one of the world top 5 franchise lawyers by Chambers Global 2008. Mark acts as an expert to the WIPO and WTO on franchising.
Mourad Amarsy, CEO, Princesse Tam-Tam
Madagascar born and educated in Antananarivo then in France where he got a MBA at Institut Superieur des Affaires in 1987, Mourad Amarsy created and managed during 20 years as chief executive officer Princesse Tam-Tam which turned out to be one of the most valued brands in women's underwear in France and in Europe. In mid 2006, he decided to sell out its business to a large Japanese clothing company. He remained chief executive officer of the brand until June 2007.
Moreno Petrulli, Managing Director, Mitor
Moreno Petrulli is the managing director of Mitor - an Italy based fashion and textile consulting company. He has over 20 years experience of working with the most relevant textile and fashion companies around the world with a network of 20 consultants specializing in the different fields of fashion.
M.S.Rao, President, Heritage Foods (India) Ltd
Dr. M.S.Rao has been in charge of the Dairy & Food Retail business of Heritage Foods since 2006. Heritage’s integrated agri-operations are the backbone of its retail operations which include 55 retail stores spread across Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, and milk products that have strong market presence in entire South India and Maharashtra.
Dr. M.S. Rao is a Post Graduate and Doctorate in Zoology. He has served the state and central governments for about two decades as a member of the IAS. Prior to his current assignment, he was Joint Secretary with the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India.
Neel C Raheja, Managing Director, K Raheja
He has over 11 years of industry experience in real estate, retail, hospitality and entertainment, with special focus on hospitality and mall development. Neel Raheja has visualised and developed the Inorbit shopping mall at Malad, Mumbai. He is also involved in the Crossword retail venture and takes active interest in customer satisfaction and human resource development aspects of the Shoppers’ Stop business. He was responsible for the development of the first phase of the company’s hotel complex comprising Marriott Executive Apartments and Renaissance Mumbai Hotel & Convention Centre.
Nikhil Chaturvedi, Managing Director, Provogue (India)
Nikhil Chaturvedi is a first-generation entrepreneur with more than 14 years of experience in various facets of business. A founder member of Provogue (India) Ltd, he has been responsible for overall operations and growth since its inception in November 1997. In 1998 the company launched Provogue, a brand designed for the contemporary Indian with a high style quotient. With Provogue, Nikhil has been instrumental in shaping fashion from concept to consumer with his hands-on management style of functioning
Olivier Horps, Vice-President– Marketing Asia- Pacific, General Manager– Commercial, Greater China & South East Asia, Club Med
Olivier Horps joined Club Med APAC headquarters early July 2007; he is in charge of marketing and sales for Asia-Pacific. He reports to Caroline Puechoultres, president and chief executive officer of Club Med Asia Pacific and he is part of the APAC Executive Committee.
Prior to joining Club Med and since 1996, Horps worked for the worldwide known company Procter & Gamble holding various positions.
Previously, Horps was group manager Ariel at P&G (2004-2005) based in France; Group Manager Ariel at P&G (2002-2003) based in Japan; Brand Manager Future Fabric Care at P&G based in Japan (2000-2001); Assistant Brand Manager (1996-1999) based in France and Sales/Marketing Executive for L’Oreal Parfumerie (1994-1995) based in Malaysia.
Throughout his international career, Horps has acquired a high knowledge and experience across cultures and retailing channels within Western Europe and Asia.
Horps completed his graduation from ESSEC, one of the 1st French business schools.
Oscar de Mello, country head, Hay Group India
Oscar de Mello is country head of Hay Group, a global management consulting firm that works with leaders to transform strategy into reality.
Pramod Kumar Gothi, Managing Director, Morarjee Textiles Ltd
Pramod Kumar Gothi, born in December 1949 is a gold medallist in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT, Roorkee, 1971 batch. Presently he is heading the Textile division of Ashok Piramal Group as managing director of Morarjee Textiles Ltd (MTL).
Gothi possesses more than thirty six years of work experience in diversified industries. After working in reputed companies such as Hindustan Copper Ltd.,(5 years), Hindustan Electro-graphite (5 years), Carbon Corporation Ltd. (4 years), he joined Piramal Enterprises in 1985 where he first headed G.P. Electronics as executive director and pioneered the successful Greenfield project. Subsequently, he moved to Miranda Tools as executive director and under his guidance turned around the company to a profitable enterprise.
Later Gothi moved to Corporate office as president of Piramal Enterprises wherein he undertook the assignment of long term strategic planning for the Textile Division along with McKinsey & Co.
Gothi holds various positions in many organisations including chairman of Mill Owner’s Association (MOA), director on the board of the Cotton Association of India.
Pratichee Kapoor, principal consultant, Technopak
Pratichee is a principal consultant with Technopak in the Retail & Consumer Goods practice. At Technopak, she has had experience of working on various retail and consumer projects involving market entry and expansion strategies. She has also worked on reports, like “India Consumer Trends 06-07” and “India Luxury Trends 2006”.
Priyadarshini Narendra, associate vice president, Mindscape
Priyadarshini Narendra is an associate vice president in Mindscape, the consumer insights division of Technopak. Mindscape consults with clients in the areas of shopper insights (in partnership with Envirosell, US, founded by Paco Underhill), design and innovation insights (in partnership with Foley Designs), and trend spotting.
Purvin Patel, COO, Radhakrishna Foodland Group
Purvin Patel is chief operating officer of Radhakrishna Foodland Group, a part of Radhakrishna Group, known for its innovative retail stores, wholesale broadline distribution with accounts like Apna Bazaar, customised distribution & logistics (CDL), & third-party logistics (3PL).
Purvin had also worked with one of the world’s largest retail groups – Asda-Walmart in the UK, to be precise. He spent 17 years with Asda and subsequently joined Asda-Walmart as general manager, retail operations.
An IITM - IIM graduate, R Subramanian is the founder of retail chain Subhiksha. He started his career with Citibank and later joined Enfield India. He later started a finance based organization Vishwapriya in the early '90s and was the first one to bring securitization, retail finance and IPO finance into India. He chose food retailing over software when the finance markets went bust in 1996, making him one of the first food retail visionaries in India.
Riding on the neighbourhood store concept, he is today at the forefront of the Indian Retail revolution with over 1100 Subhiksha stores operating across the country. He now plans to reach his target of a mammoth 4000 Subhiksha stores by 2010.
Raghav Gupta, President, Technopak Advisors
Raghav Gupta is a president, based in Technopak’s Gurgaon office. He joined the firm in 1997 and, after a two year spell in France and the UK, returned to India and Technopak in early 2008. Gupta has over 10 years experience in strategy and operations consulting, with domain expertise in fashion, retail, consumer products, education and financial services and on-the-ground experience in Asia, Europe, Africa and North America.
Rajan Bharti Mittal, MD, Bharti Enterprises
An Arts graduate from Punjab University and an alumnus of Harvard Business School, Boston, USA, Rajan Bharti Mittal is managing director of Bharti Enterprises and group lead director of Bharti’s Wholesale and Retail Business.
Rajan, who has rich experience in the field of marketing and brand management, is actively involved in overseeing the activities of the group at the corporate level. He is chairman of the Board ESOP Compensation Committee and a member of the Board HR Committee.
Rajan is the chairman of FICCI Retail Committee and member of FICCI’s executive and steering committees, managing & standing committees of PHDCCI, council of management of All India Management Association, and executive committee of International Chambers of Commerce.
Raju Shete, Chairman, Radhakrishna Foodland
At a tender age of seventeen, Raju Shete took over from his father in 1979, the family business, which calls itself Radhakrishna Group. The annual turnover was Rs 7 lakh then which is today today estimated to be about Rs 650 crore.
With manpower of over 16,000, the Radhakrishna Group has attained a reputation of being a leader in the food related domain with operations in contract foodservice, foodservice distribution, retail solutions, logistics, food vouchers and exports. The company is providing Wholesale Broadline Distribution with accounts like Apna Bazar, and logistics, distribution and back-end solutions to top retailers and corporates such as Pantaloon, Metro Cash & Carry, McDonald’s, Subway, Pizza Hut, HLL, Cadbury, Amul, ITC, Venky’s and Chambal Fertilisers, among others. It is also into front-end retail with its Foodland Fresh. A Radhakrishna Group initiative, Foodland Fresh today has the largest number of outlets in the food and grocery format in Maharashtra.
Radhakrishna Foodland has won SAP ACE 2007 – Award for Customer Excellence in the Retail segment for Best Retail Implementation.
Rajiv Mathur, President & CEO, Aakansha Management Group
Started his career as a management trainee with Shriram Group; after serving Shriram Group for 15 years, he quit. However, he refused all the job offers he got thereafter. Started Aakansha Management Group in early 90’s with the prime objective of providing management consultancy to all kinds of organisations.Today, Rajiv Mathur spearheads the firm’s foray into complete learning solutions that help the clients’ to acquire, apply and retain relevant skills, knowledge, abilities and attitudes towards achieving bigger goals and objectives.
He is now a well-known management consultant, motivational speaker, trainer, commentator, writer and facilitator in HR management with specialization in people and organization development.
Rajesh Balaraman, principal, Diamond Consultants
Rajesh Balaraman is a principal in Diamond’s India practice. With over 13 years of global consulting and industry experience, he has led initiatives across a wide range of strategic and operational issues helping clients increase revenue, reduce costs and enhance operational efficiency.Rajneesh Mahajan, director – transaction services-retail, Cushman & Wakefield, India
As director at Cushman & Wakefield, Rajneesh Mahajan is responsible for expanding and developing the retail services vertical in India, suggesting and overlooking the expansion strategies for
a clientele mix of retailers as well as mall developers. Based in New Delhi, Rajneesh provides direction to the retail business vertical and has a very comprehensive understanding of all facets of retail real estate.
Rakhee Nagpal, Managing Director, Dynamic Vertical Solutions
Rakhee Nagpal is the founder and managing director of Dynamic Vertical Solutions (DVS). Rakhee’s vision for DVS, stems from her understanding about the ubiquitous reach of international best practices that are furthering the adoption of scalable business solutions in booming industries of retail and hospitality in India and abroad.In her capacity as the managing director of DVS, Rakhee is focused on providing the strategy and vision that allows DVS to attain its goal of gaining leadership in providing comprehensive business solutions for organizations of all sizes in the retail and hospitality sectors. Under her able leadership, DVS has been able to reach its target of 1000+ stores within the first year of its establishment and has also begun treading the path of growth, by expanding to the Middle East and US.
With rich industry experience of over 13 years, Rakhee has managed various positions at companies like Merrill Lynch, UK and Barclays, UK. She was Director as well as Marketing Manager of Navision India, founded by her late father, Mr. Yashvir Nagpal.
Rakhee holds a in bachelors degree in economics & business finance and a masters degree in marketing from London University and her hobbies include reading and traveling.
Rakesh Pandey, CEO, Kaya Ltd.
Rakesh Pandey is the CEO of Kaya Ltd. since its inception in 2002. As CEO of Kaya, both for India and International markets, he aims to bring effective and innovative skin solutions backed by world class technology and service while also extending the Kaya brand to other innovative solutions for the consumer. Rakesh has over 25 years of experience in India and Europe in the arenas of projects and supply chain, business development, HR and business strategy.
Rama Bijapurkar
Rama Bijapurkar is one of India's most respected thought leaders on market strategy and consumer related issues in India. She is also a keen commentator on social and cultural changes in the evolving liberalising India. She has her own market strategy consulting practice and works with an impressive list of Indian and global companies, guiding the development of their business-market strategies. She describes her mission as bringing "market focus to business strategy". Bijapurkar serves as an independent director on the boards of Infosys Technologies, CRISIL, Axis Bank, Godrej Consumer Products, ENIL (Radio Mirchi), Give Foundation (a not-for-profit company), Subhiksha Trading Services Ltd and Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd.
Bijapurkar's work experience has been in market research and strategy consulting and includes leadership positions with McKinsey & Company, MARG (now AC Nielsen India), and full time consulting with Hindustan Lever (now Hindustan Unilever India).
Rajinder Takhar, chief operating officer, Paras Group
Being with Paras Build-call Pvt Ltd as chief operating officer for more than one year Rajinder Takhar brings to the company more than 21 years of rich cross industry experience having served at the helm of affairs of top notch MNC and Indian Companies at key positions.
Paras Group of companies has diversified into independent business verticals in the categories of dairy, healthcare, processed water and real estate. Winning the Best Upcoming Builder award in the recent Indian realty Achievers Awards 2008, held at Delhi, Paras Buildtech has earned the name in conceiving and executing large sophisticated real estate projects in both commercial and corporate segments. The company is already into residential, commercial, and retail and further is planning to enter IT Parks, Leisure and Hospitality, Health and Fitness. In the real estate sector, Paras has already made a mark by building Paras Downtown Centre, Gurgaon with a buildup area of over 1 lakh square feet. In the tri city area, Paras has one residential and one commercial project as Paras Panorama on NH21 at Kharar, Mohali and Paras Downtown Square, Zirakpur respectively.
Radha Chadha, Managing Director, Chadha Strategy Consulting
After working with leading advertising agencies JWT, Ogilvy & Mather, Grey Worldwide, and Bates Asia, Radha Chadha established her own brand consultancy in 2000 in Hong Kong. She has held senior strategic planning positions, and led the thinking on brands such as American Express, HSBC, British Airways and Mandarin Oriental.Radha Chadha has worked on assignments in India, China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and Hong Kong.
Radha Chadha is a faculty member of the prestigious Tsinghua Ogilvy Branding States Program, a collaborative effort between Beijing’s Tsinghua University and Ogilvy & Mather.
Radha has done MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad with a specialization in Marketing, and BA in Math from St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi.
Ramesh Poddar, Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Siyaram Silk Mills Ltd
Ramesh Poddar is the vice chairman & managing director of Siyaram Silk Mills Ltd, a flagship company of the Rs 1500 crore Siyaram Poddar Group. Joining the business soon after he completed his Bachelor of Science, he has been the key architect behind the success of Siyaram’s, making it one of the most respected fabric manufacturing company in India.
Apart from being an able businessman, Poddar is also involved with social activities in a large way, wherein the Poddar family has established and is running a higher secondary school for girls at Fatehpur, Sekhawat (Rajasthan). He is currently the ‘President’ of FAITMA (Federation of All India Textile Manufacturer’s Association).
Ratan Jalan, CEO, Apollo Health and Lifestyle Ltd
Ratan Jalan is the CEO, Apollo Health and Lifestyle Ltd. The Apollo Clinic, promoted by the company, was awarded Best Franchisor of the Year Award for two consecutive years.Ravi Naware, Divisional Chief Executive, ITC Limited, Foods Business
A Chemical Engineer from IIT Mumbai and a MBA, Ravi S Naware, Chief Executive, ITC Foods, joined the technical function of the Tobacco Division of ITC in 1974. During his tenure with the Tobacco Division, he successfully handled various responsibilities including Operations Management, Quality Management and ERP deployment. He was Executive Vice President (Technical) before establishing and assuming charge of ITC's next sunrise venture- the ITC Foods Division as the Divisional Chief Executive in 2002.
With around 600 employees and more than 200 products, Ravi Naware’s Food Division of conglomerate ITC Ltd reaches to more than two million outlets and aspires to be leading player in India’s packaged food industry.
In his present role, S Srinath has been responsible for creating, marketing, managing and promoting all the consumer businesses at the New Bengaluru International Airport (the first private Greenfield Airport in India) including Domestic and International Retail, Food and Beverage, Forex, and other value added services.Sadashiv Nayak, CEO, Food Bazar
Sadashiv Nayak joined Pantaloon Retail in 2004 as head of operations for Western Zone, this responsibility entailed driving top line across the fashion, food and GM categories through Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar and Pantaloons as well as Centrals. He took over as CEO for the Food Bazaar business in 2007.Shri Sanjay Bhatia, Managing Director, Hindustan Tin Works Ltd and Rexam-HTW Beverage Can India Ltd
LLB, Sanjay Bhatia is the managing director of Hindustan Tin Works Ltd and also of Rexam-HTW Beverage Can India Ltd (a joint venture with Rexam PLC UK). In addition, he is a director at Hi-tech Surfactants Ltd (a joint venture with Unilever).
Mr.Sanjay Bhatia actively participates in organizations like PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, FICCI, CII etc. He is the chairman of Indirect Taxes Committee Of PHDCCI, Member of Managing Committee-PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Indian Institute of Packaging Governing Body. He is also the Vice President of Metal Container Manufacturers Association of India and All India Manufacturers Organisation (Northern Zone).
Sanjeev Chadha, CEO Beverage Business, PEPSICO ( South Asia)
Sanjeev Chadha is the Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo’s beverage business in South Asia. He has held several positions through his 18 years with PepsiCo. Prior to his current role, he was PepsiCo’s Chief Commercial Officer for Asia Pacific, based out of Hong Kong. He started his career with Unilever, and was with JWT prior to joining PepsiCo.
Sanjeev likes hiking, skiing, reading and travelling and he is a graduate of Hindu College, Delhi University, and an MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad.
Sankarson Banerjee, CEO, futurebazaar.com
Sankarson Banerjee has 14 plus years of rich experience in industries like finance, retail and internet commerce and software services. He started his career IBM India and later handled various assignments with Indbazaar.com, Decannet Designs TDA Capital Partners and MphasiS.He has been involved with the internet in India from its very early days, helping launch the e-commerce for Rediff, Shoppers Stop, Indbazaar, ShareKhan and many others.
Sanjay Kapoor, Joint Managing Director, Genesis Colors Pvt Ltd
A banker turned entrepreneur, Sanjay Kapoor entered the Indian fashion Industry in the mid 90s and gets substantial credit for leading to the corporatisation of the industry. Post acquiring a slew of premium Indian fashion labels and taking them to the world, he has expanded his vision of luxury retailing by the introduction of European luxury brands into India.His long-term vision enables Genesis Colors to be the first company in the Indian fashion circuit to obtain private equity. Modeled on the lines of global fashion conglomerates, the company has posted an impressive 80 per cent year on year growth for the last few years. Kapoor stands as an epitome of a distinctive and a dynamic business success story – a stature that is only growing by years as he transforms Genesis Colors into a fashion colossus through his impeccable business acumen.
Sanjay is an MBA from the University of Rochester and lives in Delhi with his wife Nasib. He is an active member of the YPO (Young Presidents Organization) and TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs).
Siddharthan Sundaram, director, retailer services, The Nielsen Company
Siddharthan Sundaram is working with The Nielsen Company, India as director-retailer ervices.The Nielsen Company is a global information and media company with leading market positions in marketing information (ACNielsen), media information (Nielsen Media Research), online intelligence (NetRatings and BuzzMetrics), mobile measurement, trade shows and business publications (Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek).
Siddhartha Shankar
In the last 12 years, Mr. Siddhartha Shankar has established himself as a master in tackling financial hurdles for his clients. His expertise is to structuring Financial Products for companies to cover their financial risks that were generated due to their international exposure to Money and commodity markets. Many national and international corporate houses still seek his opinion as a Diamond Business Consultant. His versatile personality has even touched the sphere of healthcare sector and Alternative medicine. He has been involved with the technical teams to develop various healthcare products he has also authored numerous articles related to Alternative medicine. He has been involved with the marketing systems of Google, Yahoo and other search engines to achieve the maximum effectiveness of their campaigns. In Healthcare sector his expertise lies in Spa Management and Development, Product Conceptualization, Web-based marketing of Health Related Products.
Srinath Sridharan, senior vice president & head of strategic alliances Wadhawan Holdings Pvt Ltd
Srinath Sridharan is in the Group Corporate Office of Wadhawan Group with direct investments in direct-to consumer businesses in food and grocery, food and beverages, lifestyle retail, financial services, hospitality, venture capital fund, education and real estate.
Srihari Kotela, Director, FoodCert India Pvt. Ltd
Srihari Kotela has promoted FoodCert India (FCI), which came into existence in 2001 for taking up registration activities for international quality standards falling within the food-chain scope.
Now, FoodCert India Pvt. Ltd is functioning under the offices of FoodCert BV, The Netherlands, which is accredited by RvA and UKAS, UK.
Surjit Singh, COO - Business Development Brandhouse Retails Limited
Surjit Singh is the COO of Business Development Brandhouse Retails Ltd (BHRL). He is responsible to create a national foot print for BHRL brands and also for property acquisition, project implementation [setting up stores] and developing new business through alliances with reputed, international retail brands.Singh has over twenty years of experience across media, retail and entertainment sectors with leading companies in India and abroad. Singh has been associated with Akbarallys, Zee TV, Magnasound, Crossroads, India.com to name a few.
Singh is BA graduate in Economics and Commerce from Mumbai University, 1986 with specialization in Marketing from K.C. College of Management Studies Mumbai.
Subodh Kant Sahay, Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Govt. of India
Subodh Kant Sahay (born 11 June 1951) is a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He represents the Ranchi constituency of Jharkhand, and is a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) political party. He is the Minister of state in Ministry of Food Processing Industries in the Manmohan Singh government in India and was Union the Minister of State for Home in V P Singh government.
Sumantra Banerjee, Head, RPG Retail
Mr. Banerjee is a member of the RPG Management Board. RPG Enterprises is one of India's largest industrial conglomerates.
Sumantra Banerjee is responsible for both Retail and Power portfolios. Under his stewardship Spencer’s Retail has moved forward aggressively towards a pan India presence. Established in 1996, Spencer’s currently has a retail footage of over 1.3 million square feet and over 350 stores in 50 cities across India.
Mr. Banerjee is an Engineering Graduate from IIT Kharagpur followed by MS Polymer Science and MBA in Marketing & Finance, both from USA. He worked with Monsanto in USA and returned to India after 10 years in the US.
Tim Eynon, director, Provogue India Ltd
Tim Eynon is a director of Provogue (India) Ltd and the chief executive officer of the Provogue subsidiary, Prozone- Liberty International, the shopping center design, development and management business, which is developing large scale regional shopping centers across India. He is widely travelled and has been conducting business in India for the past 30 years.
Vandana Maithani, president, Technopak Advisors
Vandana Maithani is an Associate vice president in Mindscape, the Consumer Insights Division of Technopak. Mindscape consults with clients in the areas of shopper insights (in partnership with Envirosell, US founded by Paco Underhill), design and innovation insights (in partnership with Foley Designs), and trend spotting.
Vanessa Kullmann, Founder & CEO, Balzac Coffee Corp.
Vanessa Kullmann is founder and main shareholder of Balzac Coffee, a coffee bar chain in north Germany. She has 35 coffee shops in Germany. Last year, Kullmann received the Hamburg Start-up award, and this year, the Veuve Clicquot jury chose her for the Business Woman award.
Kullmann had trained as a textile manager after she graduated from school, with the idea of becoming a fashion designer. In 1996, during a stay in New York, she developed a taste for coffee shops. After opening her first coffee bar in Hamburg in 1997, she completed a two-year Master’s degree in gastronomy and franchising at Cornell University, USA.
Vikram Bakshi, MD, McDonalds, North & East India
With an extensive experience spanning 25 years in diverse businesses of real estate, hospitality and retail. Vikram Bakshi heads McDonald in North & East India.
Mr. Bakshi's role in institutional work includes, among others, being the Chairman of various CII Committees on Tourism, and Retailing and Member of several CII National & Regional Councils, and has been the Vice-President of the Hotel & Restaurant Association of Northern India. Mr. Bakshi is the dynamic Chairman of National Restaurants Association of India. He is an accomplished and acclaimed speaker on several critical business issues including the modernisation of the Indian food retail industry.
Vivek Dahiya, Director, DTZ
Vivek Dahiya is a director with the Indian operations of DTZ in the occupational and development markets team. With nine years of real estate research/consulting and transactions experience, Vivek has successfully advised numerous Indian/overseas corporate clients on their expansion, consolidation and investment strategies for the Indian sub-continent.
At DTZ, Vivek set up the office in Delhi and is responsible for expanding the business across India. While continuing to focus on the Tenant Representation business of DTZ, Vivek initiated new business lines for DTZ in India, namely Landlord Representation, Land and Building Advisory and Retail Advisory. He currently manages these businesses in North, West and East India.
Vinod Nair, managing partner, India practice of Diamond Management & Technology Consultants
Vinod Nair is the managing partner of the India practice of Diamond Management & Technology Consultants. Based in Mumbai, Nair has worked with senior management at a variety of clients on issues such as successful market entry strategies, analytical marketing techniques to improve customer lifetime values and cost-saving operational improvements.
V. Vaidyanathan, Executive Director, ICICI
V. Vaidyanathan, Executive Director on the Board of ICICI Bank is responsible for Retail banking, SME Banking and Rural Banking managing 950 strong branch networks, the SME business, the Credit Cards, Mortgages, Automobile Finance and Personal loans. His contribution in this sphere is widely recognized in Industry circles and in the ICICI Group.
At 38, he was appointed as an Executive Director on the Board of ICICI Bank. He is on the Board of ICICI Home finance, ICICI Lombard Limited (General Insurance) and ICICI Securities Limited. He has served on the Boards of CIBIL, India’s first credit bureau, and the SMERA, the rating agency from SIDBI. He is an alumnus of Birla Institute of Technology and Harvard Business School.
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