Advisory Board
Aditya Somani
A V Somani is an entrepreneur and over the last 25 years he has stewarded and built various companies in diverse manufacturing and service sectors like building products, pre-engineered metal buildings (Everest Industries), real estate (White Knight Constructions), digital (companiesdeal.com), retail distribution (Pepsi), travel (Everest Travels) and textiles (Woman). He is an alum of University of Pittsburgh (MBA), S.P. Jain Institute (PGDBM), and Sydenham College (MCom and BCom).
He is fascinated by various programs on Lean Manufacturing, Fast Construction and Singularity Universes, concepts that he has attempted to build in his organisations. A V is deeply involved in several social organisations. He serves in education (Mahesh Shikshan Sansthan Jodhpur and Global Advisory Board of the Chancellor of University of Pittsburgh, USA), philanthropy (Centre for Advancement of Philanthropy), religion (Samaj Kalyan Kendra), urban conservation (Asiatic Society of Mumbai) and corporate (Praj Foundation).
Divya Vishwanathan
Divya is a co-founder and designer at Tropic Design & Innovation. Tropic partners with purpose-driven organizations that currently tackle the compelling challenges of our time. Divya has a background in design research, user experience and system design and has previously worked at IDEO, a leading global design and innovation firm.
An alumni of Srishti School of Art Design & Technology, she has led projects and design teams across diverse sectors for Fortune 500 companies, government organisations, nonprofits and educational institutions around the world.
Kiran Sethi
Kiran Bir Sethi is an Indian designer, educationalist, education reformer, and social entrepreneur. With a design degree in visual communication from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, she began her career designing restaurant and bar, writing for newspapers. While she had always been interested in design thinking and designing experiences, it was when her children started going to school that Sethi recognized her real calling. Dismayed by the unfriendly and rigid atmosphere in schools, she set up the Riverside School.
The Riverside School in Ahmedabad, followed by aPriCh, and finally Design for Change which is today the largest movement of and by children – for and by the children. Over the years, Kiran Riverside and Design for Change have garnered accolades and Awards. Some of the recent ones are: The Earth Prize, the Rockefeller Innovation Award, The Lego Reimagine Award, The Lexus prize, and the Light of Freedom Award.
Nandita Dugar
Nandita has over 25 years of work experience in the nonprofit education sector. She is currently on the board of the Akanksha Foundation and The Circle. She was part of the core founding team at Teach For India, and was involved in creating the strategic blueprint for its launch in India. Nandita has also served as the interim-CEO of Akanksha in 2008.
Her prior experience includes working in the UK and India at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Unilever, and HDFC Bank. She has a Master’s degree in ‘Engineering, Economics and Management’ from Oxford University.
Shaheen Mistri
Shaheen Mistri is the CEO of Teach for India, and serves as one of its founding board members. She has earned global recognition for her dedication and commitment to the fight for educational equity. Shaheen is an Ashoka Fellow (2001), a Global Leader for Tomorrow at the World Economic Forum (2002), and an Asia Society 21 Leader (2006).
Shaheen also serves on the boards of Ummeed, The Thermax Social Initiatives Foundation, The Akanksha Foundation, The Indian School Leaders Institute, and Design For Change, and is an advisor to the Latika Roy Foundation. She also serves as a committee member for the National Council for Teacher Education. Shaheen has a Master’s Degree in Education from the University of Manchester, England.
Vaibhav Chhabra
A Mechanical Engineer turned Carpenter and Educator with a degree from Boston University. Founded Makers Asylum in 2013 which is India’s first community makerspace in India, equipped with various co-located labs that facilitate prototyping of interdisciplinary ideas.
The key focus of this space is to share the joy of making and encourage community members to develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and creative skills. He is also a visiting faculty at IIT Bombay, a global shaper with the World Economic Forum, a member of the French President’s Young Leaders Club and many others.
Vijay Bhat
Vijay is a Cancer-Coaching pioneer and the co-author of ‘My Cancer is Me: The Journey From Illness To Wholeness’. He has spent a leadership decade both to CEOs and organisations, for 15 years.
Prior to that, he spent over 20 years in Branding/Communications with Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, living in Mumbai, Singapore, Hong Kong and London. Vijay is a sought-after keynote speaker on the subjects of Cancer, Stress-Wellbeing and Leadership.