Mr. R. Gopalan, who holds Masters in Public Administration & Management from Harvard University, MA in Economics from Boston University and Bachelor degree in Chemistry from Madras University, has a rich experience in economic and financial administration of the country with long stints in Ministry of Commerce and Finance Ministry, and in Manufacturing and Services Sectors.

As an Officer of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Mr. Gopalan held various responsible positions including inter alia, Member of Public Enterprises Selection Board, Secretary Department of Economic affairs, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, CMD Taminadu Newsprints and Papers Ltd, MD Tidel Parks Ltd, MD Tamilnadu Agro Industries Corporation Ltd, Director Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals etc.

During his career spanning 36 years, Mr. Gopalan gained rich experience in establishing and managing venture capital funds; heading industrial undertakings, managing infrastructure financing, Managing Financial Institutions, Creating Institutions & Corporates, negotiating for India in multilateral trade negotiations and formulating policies for the country in finance, trade and economy.

Currently, Mr. Gopalan serves as Member on the Board of Directors & Audit Committee of Sundaram Clayton Ltd, Board of Hindustan Power Projects Pvt Ltd, Chairman of ANA ARC Ltd (an Advisory Board of Start-up fund). Mr. Gopalan also serves as Strategy Consultant to a few Companies.

Mr. Adesh Kumar Gupta 63, Chartered Accountant, Company Secretary and AMP from Harvard is a professional with rich experience of over 40 years in Corporate Strategy, M&A, Business restructuring, Fund raising, Taxation etc. During his distinguished career of over 3 decades in Aditya Birla Group, Mr. Adesh Gupta held various senior positions (including Board positions) in companies in various fields including Indian Rayon, Birla Global Finance, Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd and Grasim Industries Ltd. Post his retirement as Whole-Time Director & CFO of Grasim Industries Ltd. Mr. Adesh Gupta is working as insolvenc y professional and currently service on the board of various boards which includes Care Ratings Ltd, Vinati Organics Ltd.

Mr. Adesh Gupta was awarded with Best CFO award by ICAI, IMA and Business Today. He had also represented FICCI as a Member of NACAS (National Accounting and Auditing Standards) which was instrumental in setting up Accounting Standards in India.

Ms. Alicia Yi is B.A. in Economics from the Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois and has completed her Executive Education, YPO Presidents Program, from Harvard Business School. Ms. Alicia Yi has held a series of leadership roles working with top tier industry executives across consumer goods, retail, hospitality, travel, leisure, consumer health, media and entertainment. Currently, she is the Vice Chair of Korn Ferry’s Global Consumer Market based in Singapore. She is also a member of the Board & CEO Services Practice, Human Resources Practice, and Private Equity Practice. With a strong human capital consultancy background, Ms. Alicia Yi has conducted high profile C-suite search assignments for global multinational as well as high growth Asian companies. She regularly serves as a trusted advisor to boards in building and developing high performing leadership teams and CEO succession. As a champion of diversity and inclusion, she helps companies in strengthening leadership at the executive and Board levels.

She is on the Advisory Board for Women’s Forum for the Economy & Society and also a frequent speaker on leadership, human capital strategy and diversity & inclusion. Ms. Alicia is an active member of the Young President Organization (YPO): Global Learning Committee, Global Taskforce of Champion Lifecycle, Singapore Chapter Chair and Singapore Chapter Learning Officer.

Mr. Ashok Kurien has been in the business of building brands for over 35 years now, particularly in the fields of Media, Marketing and Communications. An early bird, he has a keen eye of driving start-ups in emerging businesses, helping in guiding them to size and scale.

He is associated with a startup manufacturing Face Masks, Water Filters (without electricity) and Menstrual Hygiene - he has co-invented ‘Saafkins’, the ideal solution for the billion women who can't afford sanitary napkins, making it affordable and reusable, all this for the poor and the marginalised.

Ashok Kurien is one of the founder-promoters of ZEEL. He is also founder and promoter of various business ventures including Ambience Advertising (now Publicis India), Hanmer & Partners - one of India’s top-3 PR agencies.

A Chartered Accountant and MBA from the London Business School, Manish is one of India’s most respected financial experts and investors.

From 2006 to 2011, he was CEO of Enam Securities, India’s leading investment bank. He led its $400 million merger in 2011 with Axis Bank to create Axis Capital Ltd., which he led as MD & CEO until the end of 2013. Under his leadership, Enam/Axis mobilized ~ 25% of all equity funds raised in India and were the house banker to several leading Indian business groups.

From 2014 to 2016, he served as Chairman of TPG Growth in India and from 2017 to 2019 as Senior Advisor to TPG Group, one of the world’s largest PE firms.

He currently serves as independent director on boards that include Zee Entertainment, Westlife Development (McDonalds), Shoppers Stop, Auxilo Finserve Pvt Ltd, Parksons Packaging Limited among others. He also serves on the Governing Board of Flame University.

He is a Board Member of Livinguard AG, a healthcare technology company based in Switzerland.

Mr. Chokhani is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization. He has served as a member of SEBI’s Alternative Investment Promotion Advisory Committee and also as Co-Chairman of the Capital Markets Committee at the IMC. He has been a visiting faculty member at IIM-Kozhikode and has served on the International Alumni Board and scholarship panels of the London Business School.

He practices Vipassana meditation, is a trained singer and enjoys travel, reading, cricket and tennis. He is married and has one son.

Mr. Piyush Pandey (DIN 00114673) (Age 64), MA from St. Stephens College, Delhi and a Post Graduate in History from University of Delhi has a rich experience of over 37 years in the field of Advertising, all with Ogilvy India. Besides his current role as Executive Chairman of Ogilvy India, he was made the Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy Worldwde in January 2019. He is the only Indian to have won three Grand Prizes at the London International Advertising Awards. He was awarded the Clio Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012 and the Lion of St. Mark, alongwith his brother Prasoon Pandey, at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity in 2018 – the first Asians to be given this recognition. In 2016, he was awarded the Padma Shri in recognition of his distinguished service in the field of Advertising and Communication, the first Indian to be awarded in this field. He also published his first book ‘Pandeymonium’ in 2015. Mr. Pandey has been a brand ambassador for Indian advertising at many international and Indian forums and was also a mentor at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership. He is best known for his creative work. He believes advertising must talk to the hearts of people, and that the best reward of good work is when people on the streets it is aimed at, talk about it. His work has won over 1,000 awards nationally and internationally.

Apart for being the Whole Time Director of Ogilvy & Mather Private Limited, Mr. Pandey is a member on the Board of Directors, of D B Corp Limited, Pidilite Industries Limited, Eighty Two Point Five Communications Private Limited, Quintessentially Lifestyle Services (India) Private Limited and Brand David Communications Private Limited. As an Independent Director on the Board of D B Corp Limited, he has also been appointed as a member of the Audit Committee and Stakeholders Relationship Committee.

As the Managing Director and CEO of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., Punit has been extremely successful in enhancing the company’s performance and in driving the company towards its set goals. His futuristic vision and sharp acumen in the new media domain, has led the company to a global stature today. Punit is also responsible for expanding the company’s international presence across 173 countries, and its reach to over 1.3 billion viewers.

Punit was also listed amongst the top 100 CEOs of India, in a study published by Business Today. He was conferred the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Media’ award at the Managing India Awards hosted by AIMA & bagged the prestigious IAA Leadership Award under the category of “Media Person of the Year Award”. Punit has also been awarded the esteemed Medaille d’Honneur Award at MIPTV.

He plays an active role in shaping the future of the M&E industry as the Chairman of BARC India. He also serves as a Board of Director for the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF).