Parmesh Shah

Dr. Parmesh Shah, Global Lead for Rural Livelihoods & Agricultural Jobs, The World Bank Group Parmesh Shah is the Global Lead for Rural Livelihoods and Agricultural Jobs at the World Bank. He provides leadership to Bank’s work in these areas and supports the development of global knowledge and learning in these areas to offer solutions to clients and other development partners. His current areas of interest are economic and social organizations and networks of the poor, making markets and public services work for the poor, social entrepreneurship, ICT-based innovations in agriculture and rural development, promotion of on-farm and off-farm jobs and public-private and people partnerships for rural poverty reduction. He is currently involved in developing a regional program on scaling up digital agriculture in Africa region involving setting up ecosystems for entrepreneurship and incubation. He holds a D Phil in Development Studies from Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and B Tech degree in Agricultural Engineering from Pantnagar in India.

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Samir Behl

A seasoned President and Company Officer with very broad global experience of living and working on four continents (America, Asia, Australia, Europe) with top-tier consumer packaged goods companies like Unilever, Kellogg’s, General Mills/Pillsbury and Amway. Strong P&L management skills with significant experience in General Management, Marketing and Innovation to drive continued strategic growth and business performance. Firm believer in leveraging the global trend of Digital Transformation while fully embracing diversity along with forging deep relationships with people. Samir has participated in Leadership positions on several Industry Boards/Committees:

• Board Member of USIBC (US-India business advocacy organization to increase bilateral trade including investment flows between the two nations).
• Executive Council member of AmCham Europe.
• Member of Seldia CEO Council (Europe Direct Selling organization)
• Advisory Board of Australian Academy of Transformative Education Pty Ltd.
• Advisory Board of Sydney Study Tour Pty Ltd.

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Ajay Muttreja

Ajay Muttreja is Strategy Advisor & Mentor to multiple departments of Government of India & foreign organisations operating in India, Incubators, Accelerators, Innovation Centres, Angel Investors, Venture Capital Funds, Educational Institutions,  and many startups ( including social impact enterprises). Ajay is an Accelerated Scale-up Advisor, Jury, Investment Expert, Think -Tank and hand-holding virtual partner to many of these organizations. Ajay retired as CEO & Board Member of Tecnova in April 2016 after 29 years in the organization. He is former Industry Advisor to Royal Government of Bhutan (1985-87). Ajay has over 35 years of global corporate experience and has been engaged in various leadership roles:

• Business Development & Sales in 50 countries for high value B2B engagements
• Leading Project Teams involved in delivering complex turnkey projects in India
• Executive Search of CXO's for start-ups of Multi-national companies
• Finalising 100+ technology partnerships & strategic collaborations in 30+ countries
• Strategic and tactical support for global expansion of Indian companies

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Chitranjan Dar

Until he retired in 2019, Chitranjan Dar has been responsible for overall supervision of Quality Assurance, ITC Life Sciences & Technology Centre, Central Projects Organization and Environment, Health & Safety. He started his career in ITC's Packaging and Printing business in 1981. In 1998, he was seconded to the then ITC Bhadrachalam Paperboards Limited as head of Marketing and was elevated to the Board of that company in 1999. In 2003, Chitranjan joined the Lifestyle Retailing Business Division as its Chief Executive and continued in that role till he moved in August 2008 to the Foods business as Chief Operating Officer. He took over as Divisional Chief Executive of the Foods Business in August 2009 and continued in that role till May, 2015. Chitranjan is an engineer from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and an MBA graduate from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

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Rohit Bhasin

Rohit Bhasin is a Chartered Accountant of repute with over 34 years of experience in leading organisations such as Standard Chartered Bank, AIG Inc, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Rohit is a trustee on the PwC India Foundation. He was a senior partner in the Deals Practice of PwC and India Head of the Valuation and Strategy team. He was also a member of PwC India’s Leadership Team (ILT) and its Global Network of Valuation Leaders. He was also an Independent Director on Board of GE Capital Services India and Fortis Healthcare Limited. Rohit is currently on the Board of:

• Board of Governors of Welham Girls School, Dehradun
• Governing Board of Azad Foundation, an NGO working with poor women and enabling them to acquire livelihood with dignity
• Governing Council of Mobile Creches, a pioneering NGO working for the rights to early childhood development.
• Board Member of Srijan, (Self-Reliant Initiatives through Joint Action)

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VS Kannan Sitaram

Kannan Sitaram’s over 30 year career has spanned a substantial part of the Indian FMCG landscape including Foods, Beverages, Home Care, Health Care and Personal Care. He worked in leadership positions at Ponds and then at Hindustan Unilever for many years and was Vice President Strategy at Unilever’s Head Office in London. He was thereafter Chief Operating Officer of Dabur India where he led the transformation of their businesses in India, Nepal and Bangladesh through organic growth and highly successful acquisitions. As Operating Partner, India Equity Partners, he helped IEP acquire a controlling stake in Innovative Foods, which markets the Sumeru range of frozen products. He took over as the CEO and MD of this company and managed IEP’s exit to Peepul Capital in Jan 2016. He is currently Venture Partner at Fireside Ventures, a fund investing in early stage consumer businesses. As Venture Partner, he is actively involved in the investment strategy of the fund and in building the eco system and is deeply engaged with some of the investee companies. Kannan studied at IIT Madras and IIM Ahmedabad. He has also participated in executive programs at the Carnegie Mellon School of Business and the Kellogg School of Business.

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