Dr.P.M. Bhargav (Former Vice Chairman Knowledge Commission)
Widely regarded as the architect of modern biology and biotechnology in India, Dr. P.M. Bhargava is currently Chairman of The Medically Aware and Responsible Citizens of Hyderabad, the Sambhavna Trust, Bhopal, and the Basic Research, Education and Development Society (BREAD), New Delhi. In the past he has been the Vice Chairman of the National Knowledge Commission, Founder Director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, President of the Society of Biological Chemists of India, President of the Indian Academy of Social Sciences, President of the Society for Scientific Values, and President of the Association for Promotion of DNA Fingerprinting and Other DNA Technologies. Educated at Varanasi and Lucknow, he obtained his PhD at the age of 21 and since then has produced four books, over 125 major scientific publications and over 400 articles and other write-ups in reputed publications all over the world. He has been advisor to several well-known pharmaceutical and other industries, Chairman of three companies and Member of the Board of many others. He has been a member or Chairman of over 125 major national and international standing committees and has been connected with numerous scientific, social and cultural organisations. The recipient of over 100 national and international honours and awards including the Padma Bhushan, the Legion d'Honneur and the National Citizens Award (India), Dr. Bhargava has travelled in over 60 countries, delivered over 250 invited lectures in 125 odd foreign institutions, participated in over 100 international meetings and delivered over 1600 invited lectures in India.
Seetha Coleman-Kammula, PhD (Founder, Simply Sustain, LLC)
Seetha Coleman-Kammula, retired senior vice president of Basell/ Shell, co-founded Simply Sustain, LLC. Simply Sustain is a consulting firm based in Newark, Del., that guides companies to be profitable by doing business in ways that benefit both the environment and society. Dr. Coleman-Kammula serves on the Corporate Environmental Advisory Council of Dow Chemicals and is affiliated with the Sustainable Development Consortium at MIT, Society for Organizational Learning, which brings companies together to exchange experiences and stories of company’s change efforts. Dr. Coleman-Kammula is a board member at Developing Indigenous Resources – a non-profit organization that focuses on preventative health care.
Mr. Ali Asghar – CEO, Roshan Vikas
Ali Asghar was a businessman by profession when he got his first lessons in community work and microcredit after the 1990 communal riots in Hyderabad, India. He went on to be a co-founding member of COVA, a national network that works for communal harmony and peace all over the country. As part of COVA’s economic empowerment programme for women in the old city of Hyderabad, Asghar conceptualised and initiated a thrift and credit program which grew into a Mutually Aided Co-operative Thrift Society called Roshan Vikas. Today Roshan Vikas has a membership of over 5000 women from both Hindu and Muslim communities and is looking to work with Social-Impact to scale and reach significantly more women.
Mr. Gurcharan Das – Ex MD Procter & Gamble
Gurcharan Das is an author, consultant and public intellectual. He is the author of the international bestseller, India Unbound, which has been published in many countries and languages and filmed by the BBC. He writes a regular column for the Times of India, Dainik Bhaskar, Eenadu, Prabhat Kabar, Vijay Karnataka, Mathrubhumi, Sakal, Daily Ajit and occasional guest columns for the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Foreign Affairs, Time and Newsweek magazines. Gurcharan Das graduated with honors from Harvard University in Philosophy and Politics. He later attended Harvard Business School (AMP), where he is featured in three case studies.
Penguin has published his novel, A Fine Family, which is being made into a film. Oxford University Press has published his anthology, Three English Plays, consisting of Larins Sahib, a prize-winning play about the British in India, which was presented at the Edinburgh Festival and other cities. Mira, another play, was produced off-Broadway to critical acclaim from New York critics. 9 Jakhoo Hill has had a successful run in major Indian cities. Penguin has recently published his book of essays called The Elephant Paradigm.
He was CEO of Procter & Gamble India and Vice President, Procter & Gamble Far East between 1985 and 1992, and later Vice President and Managing Director, Procter & Gamble Worldwide (Strategic Planning). Prior to P&G, he was Chairman and Managing Director of Richardson Hindustan Limited from 1981 to 1985, the company where he started as a trainee. In 1995, after a 30-year career in 6 countries, he took early retirement to become a full time writer. He currently consults with a number of companies on global corporate strategy, and is associated with a private equity fund. He has served on the juries of the McKinsey award for the best Harvard Review Article (2005) and $500,000 Milton Friedman prize (2004).
