Society

Mr Senapathy “Kris” Gopalakrishnan is the Chairman of Axilor Ventures, an accelerator that helps start-ups during the early stage of their business journey. Kris served as the vice chairman of Infosys from 2011 to 2014 and the chief executive officer and managing director of Infosys from 2007 to 2011. Kris is one of the co-founders of Infosys. Recognized as a global business and technology thought leader, he was voted the top CEO (IT Services category) in Institutional Investor’s inaugural ranking of Asia’s Top Executives and selected as one of the winners of the second Asian Corporate Director Recognition Awards by Corporate Governance Asia in 2011. He was elected president of India’s apex industry chamber Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for 2013-14 and served as one of the co-chairs of the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2014.

In January 2011, the Government of India awarded Mr. Gopalakrishnan the Padma Bhushan, the country’s third-highest civilian honor.

Mr Gopalakrishnan serves on the Board of Governors of Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), is the Chairman, The Council, IISc Bangalore, and is the Chairman, Board of Governors of IIIT, Bangalore. He is the Chairman of the Vision Group on Information Technology of Karnataka Government, the Chairman of RBIH (Reserve Bank of India Innovation Hub) and the Chairman of CII Centre of Excellence in Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Start-ups (CIES).

Mr Gopalakrishnan is the chairman of Itihaasa Research and Digital which publishes history of Indian IT industry as “itihaasa” (http://www.itihaasa.com/) microsite as well as reports on industrial and academic research in India. He is the Co-author of “Against All Odds – The IT Story of India”.

Mr Gopalakrishnan invests in promoting research on Brain sciences, aging related disorders as well as investing in start-ups and start-up ecosystem. His family philanthropy is Pratiksha Trust and investment arm is Pratithi.

Mr. Gopalakrishnan holds master’s degrees in physics and computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Kris is a Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineers (INAE) and an Honorary Fellow of Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) of India.

Prof. Yogesh Singh is the Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi, since 8^th October 2021 with additional charge as Director, School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi and Chairperson, National Council for Teacher Education, Delhi.

His high administrative acumen is evident from the fact that he has served as Vice Chancellor, Delhi Technological University; Director, Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology, Delhi and Vice Chancellor, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat.

He is an academician par excellence and has obtained Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra. He has an impressive track record of quality teaching, innovation and research in the area of Software Engineering with ‘h’ index 33, citation index 3789, 250 publications and has supervised 23 PhD.

Professor Mehta is a researcher in the area of chemical Sciences and is presently University Distinguished Professor at the University of Hyderabad. In the past he has held positions at IIT/Kanpur, Vice Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad, Director of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Srinivasa Ramanujan Research Professor of the Indian National Science Academy, CSIR-Bhatnagar Fellow, National Research Professor of Government of India and Lilly-Jubilant Chair Professor at the University of Hyderabad. He has published nearly 600 research papers, mentored over 100 doctoral and post-doctoral fellows, and delivered over two hundred named and distinguished lectures worldwide. He has received over a hundred medals, awards, and honorary Doctorate degrees both within the country and worldwide.

His diverse research interests mainly focus on organic synthesis, natural products, conceptualization and creation of new molecular entities, and stereogenesis. During the past decade, as a member of an international group, Professor Mehta has been promoting chemistry as a sustainability science. He has been actively involved with science policy and higher education issues both nationally and internationally.

Professor Mehta is a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), a Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Fellow, of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Trieste, Foreign Member, Acadèmi Royale des Sciences d’Outre-Mer, Belgium, and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (Hon. FRSC) among others. He is a Fellow of the three Science Academies in India and was the President of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), International Council for Science, Paris (ICSU), and the Chemical Research Society of India (CRSI) among others. He has been conferred ‘Padma’ award by the President of India, ‘Chevalier de la Legion d “Honneur’ by the President of France, and ‘The Cross of the Order of Merit’ by the President of Germany.

Dr. Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals, is a distinguished global healthcare leader, entrepreneur, and humanitarian. She chairs G20 Empower India and previously served as President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Dr. Reddy drives innovation in healthcare through technology adoption and has received recognition for her contributions, including an Honorary Doctorate and the title of Honorary Consul of Brazil. Her initiatives include Apollo Clinics, Apollo Knowledge, and Apollo Philanthropy. Dr. Reddy actively influences policy and advocates for public health, and her leadership has earned her numerous prestigious awards.

Soumya Swaminathan was most recently WHO’s Chief Scientist and before that, Deputy Director-General for Programmes. Returning to India, she took over as Chairperson of the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) in February 2023.

A paediatrician from India and a globally recognised researcher on tuberculosis and HIV, she brings with her 30 years of experience in clinical care and research and has worked throughout her career to translate research into impactful programmes. Dr. Swaminathan was Secretary to the Government of India for Health Research and Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research from 2015 to 2017. In that position, she focused on bringing science and evidence into health policy-making, building research capacity in Indian medical schools, and forging south-south partnerships in health sciences. From 2009 to 2011, she also served as Coordinator of the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases in Geneva. 

She received her academic training in India, the United Kingdom and the United States of America, and has published more than 480 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters. She is a Fellow of the US National Academy of Medicine, the Academy of Medical Sciences of the UK and a Fellow of all the science academies in India. She has received several honorary doctorates, including from Karolinska institute, EPFL, Lausanne and the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. She serves on several national and global advisory bodies and committees. She is an adjunct Professor at Karolinska university in Sweden and Tufts university in Boston, USA. 

She is a Board Member of the Alliance Bioversity, Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), FIND, Population Foundation of India and others. She is also a Governing Council Member of the Tamil Nadu Climate Change Mission and Chair of ICMR’s Scientific Advisory Board.

As WHO’s inaugural Chief Scientist, Dr Swaminathan built the Science division with a focus on research, quality assurance of norms and standards and digital health. She played a key role during the pandemic in coordinating scientific efforts at the WHO, as well as in setting up Covax, with a focus on equitable vaccine distribution to Low and Middle Income Countries.

Rajiv Gandhi, born 11 July 1962, is a first generation entrepreneur.

A B.com graduate from Bombay University, he started a proprietary trading company in 1985 in Mumbai for distributing animal health products.

He then transformed that proprietary business into Asia’s largest single location animal vaccine and health products manufacturing company based in Ahmedabad under the name of Hester Biosciences.

Hester is now a 710 people strong organisation which recorded a turnover of INR 254 crores in the financial year 2022-23, earning a net profit of INR 33 crores.

Hester subsequently expanded its animal vaccine manufacturing activities by setting up plants in Nepal and in Tanzania respectively.

In 2016, Rajiv was awarded the ‘Outstanding Entrepreneur of the Year’ by the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA).

Rajiv holds positions at:

1. Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) Gujarat State Chapter, as Chairman
2. Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA), as Vice President
3. National Advisory Committee for Animal Husbandry and Dairying Sector, constituted by The Government of India, as a member
4. Sardar Vallabhbhai Global University, Ahmedabad, as member of the Governing Council
5. Kamdhenu University, Gandhinagar, as member of the Governing Council
6. Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, as member of the Governing Council

Rajiv is a strong proponent of Indian culture. He enjoys discussions on history and politics. He believes that a role of a leader is not to create more followers, but to create more leaders.

Dr. Abhay Karandikar is currently Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Science of Technology (DST). Before joining DST in October 2023, he served as the Director, IIT Kanpur from April 18th, 2018 to September 25th, 2023 (on lien from IIT Bombay). He also served as Dean (Faculty Affairs) and Head of the Electrical Engineering Department at IIT Bombay. He spearheaded a national effort in setting up Telecom Standards Development Society of India (TSDSI), India’s standards body for telecom with participation of all stakeholders. Prof Karandikar was the founding member and former Chairman of TSDSI. He was also Member (Part-Time) of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) during 2018-21. Prof Karandikar has several patents issued and pending, contributions to IEEE, 3GPP standards, contributed chapters in books and large number of papers in international journals and conferences to his credit. Prof Karandikar was awarded with IEEE Standards Association’s Standards Medallion for his contributions to global telecom standards.