Speakers

Dr. Pritam Kalaskar

Co Founder and Director M | O | C Cancer Care & Research Centre

Dr. Priyanka Sharma

Assistant Professor (Marketing Management), Indian Institute of Management Lucknow (IIM-L).

Mr. Rajiv Sharma

Managing Director Sterling Accuris Wellness Pvt Ltd

Mr. Vaibhav Doshi

Executive Director Somerset Indus Capital Partners

Prof. Dileep Mavalankar

Distinguished professor of Public Health & Former Director Indian Institute of Public Health Gandhinagar

Dr. Prahlad Rai Sodani

President IIHMR UNIVERSITY Jaipur

Prof. Mayank Kumar

Assistant Professor (Information Systems) Indian Institute of Management Bangalore

Dr. Sabine Kapasi

Healthcare Professional | Finance & Data Science Expert | Global Health Strategist

Dr. Shuchin Bajaj

Founder Director Ujala Cygnus Healthcare Services

Dr Vibhor Gupta

Director Medical Operations and Quality: Oncology Business

Somasundaram PR

Somasundaram PR (Som), a Chartered and Cost Accountant based in Mumbai, has over 39 years of corporate experience in Finance, Mergers & Acquisitions, Logistics, Strategy, Governance, and Banking across India and international markets. He served as Regional CEO for India at the World Gold Council for 11 years and is now an independent consultant, board member of a listed bank, and advisor in the bullion industry. Som was previously MD and CEO of Lakshmi Vilas Bank, held senior roles at Standard Chartered Bank including as member of the India management committee, and grew in various positions for over 14 years at Hindustan Lever.

Swaminathan Gurumurthy

Swaminathan Gurumurthy is a chartered accountant by profession and a high-standing corporate advisor. He has a deep understanding of policy and economics. He has been described as a ‘brilliant chartered accountant and exceedingly astute amateur lawyer’ by B.G. Verghese, an editor and writer. His writeups on politics, economy, and business have featured in the most eminent publications worldwide. His journalism, particularly investigative journalism skills, have gained him a lot of respect and have been immensely appreciated. He has ceaselessly campaigned against corruption at high places, exposing the bribery in Bofors arms deal and the nexus between corporates and governments. He is not a man who minces his words, nor does he pull his punches when he has to actually say something or do something. He has often said that he is not a seeker of power. His career in journalism has been vast and widespread, and this covers over four decades of experience. The issues raised by Gurumurthy became election issues, which led to the defeat of the most powerful government since independence. H. M. Donald, an Australian journalist, wrote that Gurumurthy’s work must rank among the most powerful examples of investigative journalism anywhere in the world, adding that he has a strong sense of probity. Business Baron magazine rated Gurumurthy’s knowledge of economics, finance, and accounts as ‘outstanding’. He is also a visiting faculty at IIT Bombay, in the areas of economics, finance, and management. He is also a distinguished professor of legal anthropology at Sastra University, Thanjavur. He has been considered one of the most powerful persons in India by the media. He has been ranked as 30^th most powerful person by India Today in 2017. Yet on the advice of his guru, the Param Acharya of Kanchipuram, he has very deliberately avoided all the positions of power offered to him by governments and corporates. He is also a founder and chairman of the board of trustees of the Vivek Ananda International Foundation, an independent think tank, which promotes quality research and studies on many policy issues. It is also a platform for dialogue and conflict resolution.

SACHIN JAIN

Sachin Jain joined the World Gold Council in March 2024. Based in Mumbai, Sachin is responsible for leading the World Gold Council's activities across the Indian gold market.

Sachin brings with him deep understanding of the Indian consumer and jewellery market, from strategic thinking to practical execution. He has over two decades of rich experience and understanding of the Indian consumer. Sachin has joined from De Beers where he has held several senior roles for the past 13 years. As Managing Director of DeBeers India, he has led the De Beers Forevermark business in India and the Middle East. 

Previously, Sachin has held senior positions for De Beers, Lladro, Swatch Group and Benetton.

About the World Gold Council

We are a membership organisation that champions the role gold plays as a strategic asset, shaping the future of a responsible and accessible gold supply chain. Our team of experts builds understanding of the use case and possibilities of gold through research, analysis, commentary and insights. We drive industry progress, shaping policy and setting the principles for a perpetual and sustainable gold market. For more information visit www.gold.org. You can follow the World Gold Council on X (Twitter) at @goldcouncil and LinkedIn.

Shri Pradeep Ramakrishnan

Shri Pradeep Ramakrishnan is a commerce graduate and qualified Company Secretary. He has a distinguished career of over 27 years, spanning multiple organizations and domains. He began his professional journey with Madras Fertilizers Limited in 1997-98 and subsequently served as the Company Secretary of Kothari Petrochemicals Limited, Chennai, until 2002.

From February 2002 to January 2024, he was with SEBI, where he held significant leadership roles. Between 2015 and 2020, he headed the Compliance and Monitoring Division, focusing on corporate governance, listing-related matters, BRSR, and the forensic accounting cell. Later, from September 2020 until his tenure at SEBI concluded, he led the Department of Debt and Hybrid Securities, handling corporate bonds, municipal bonds, and sustainable finance.

In February 2024, he joined IFSCA as Executive Director. Currently, he leads the Department of Capital Markets, overseeing Corporate Finance (Equity, Hybrid, and related products), Market Infrastructure Institutions (Regulation and Supervision), Sustainable Finance, Investment Funds, New Products & Services, and the Supervision of Intermediaries. Additionally, he heads the Department of Metals and Commodities, which includes divisions for Market Development, Market Regulation, and Market Supervision.

Shivanshu Mehta

Mr. Shivanshu Mehta holds the key portfolio of the precious metals business as  SVP & Head-Bullion at India’s largest commodity Exchange, MCX which commands  the lion’s share of the bullion derivatives market.  

He is currently a Director on the Boards of the India International Bullion Holding  IFSC Ltd. (IIBH), the India International Bullion Exchange IFSC Ltd. (IIBX) and India International Depository IFSC Ltd. (IIDI). 

He has over 24 years of experience in both physical and financial commodity  markets, specifically in non-ferrous and precious metals. 

He has been part of various Govt. and Regulatory working groups that have dealt  with the development of the Gold Industry, including groups set-up by the Ministry  of Finance, Niti Aayog and SEBI. 

Over the years, he has enriched market space with new and innovative products.  To the recent credit is the successful launch of the world’s first-ever deliverable  one-gram gold contract- Gold Petal futures, which has proven to be a record  success and has helped strengthen gold as an asset class.  

The MCX bullion team is credited with the product design and launch of India’s  first-ever Gold and Silver Options contracts in 2017 and 2018 respectively, that  have since seen record volumes off-late. 

Under his leadership, MCX Bullion team has designed the good delivery norms and  running the system of audits to enable locally refined gold to be delivered at MCX  for the first time in 2020-21. 

This initiative for the benefit of industry at large has seen significant successful  deliveries of gold. 

He started his career, being hand-picked to the Aditya Birla Group’s Group  Management Trainee Scheme (batch of 2000).  

In this commodity conglomerate, he spent six years including cross-functional  exposure in cement, sponge iron, viscose staple fibre, carbon black and base  metals industry. He has worked with world leader Grasim Industries Ltd. as  Product Manager in Viscose Staple Fibre division of the company.  

His journey with base metals started with Hindalco-which is a global name in non ferrous metals; where he worked with both Copper and Aluminium divisions in  product management and strategic roles. 

His classified work on the secondary Copper market of India (2002) proved to be a  benchmark for strategy formulation. 

He launched Hindalco’s foray into branded Aluminium roofing sheets across India  in 2003. 

Before MCX, he has also led the Base Metals team at NCDEX in the year 2006. 

He is recognized for his avid oratory skills and his strong relationships with the  metals, bullion and jewellery industry as also with the financial fraternity.

Vikram Dhawan

Vikram Dhawan is the Head of Commodities and Fund Manager at Nippon India Mutual Fund. With over two decades of experience in global commodity markets in Europe and Asia. He has previously held positions at The Bank of Nova Scotia, N.M. Rothschild & Sons Limited, Vedanta Plc, The Aditya Birla Group, and Nippon India AIF.

Shivaram Retail Gurukul

Shivaram is a business consultant and trainer to jewellers of all sizes.

He founded Retail Gurukul in 2012 as a Consulting & Training company with a focus on increasing their profits significantly – He calls them Vitamin M.

He was earlier Tanishq’s Head Merchandising, Training and Regional Sales for many years.

He has since worked with over a 1000+ jewellers across business planning, merchandising, sales training, customer experience and digital marketing areas.

Mr. Shail Soni

He has pursued his graduation in Gemmology certified by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and the International Gemological Institute (IGI), with extensive experience across various key roles in the gemology industry.

His career began as a Gemmological Appraiser for Saudi Customs at SGL-Riyadh, followed by his role as a Gemmologist at SGL-Mumbai. He later advanced to become the Head Gemmologist and Operations Head at IGL-India, where he managed and oversaw critical gemological processes and operations.

Currently, he is a full-time faculty member at the International School of Gems & Jewellery (ISGJ), where he has the privilege of teaching and mentoring aspiring professionals in gemology. He is also the founder of CLM Jewels LLP, a private jewelry brand known for its bespoke designs and exceptional craftsmanship.

With a strong foundation in gemology and years of industry experience, he is committed to contributing to the growth and innovation of the jewelry industry.

Mr. Ramakrishnan Padmanabhan

Mr. Ramakrishnan Padmanabhan is an expert in the global precious metals market with nearly two decades of experience in banking, bullion, and market strategies. Currently serving as the General Manager of the Department of Metals & Commodities at the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), Mr. Ramakrishnan Padmanabhan plays a pivotal role in shaping the regulatory framework and developing innovation in the metals and commodities sector in GIFT-IFSC, India’s only International Financial Services Centre (IFSC).

Prior to joining IFSCA, Mr. Ramakrishnan Padmanabhan held leadership roles at prestigious financial institutions such as YES Bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), and Axis Bank. With expertise spanning bullion trading, risk management, and client relationship development, Mr. Ramakrishnan Padmanabhan was instrumental in setting up and managing precious metals desks in banks and implementing market-driven strategies.

Throughout his career, Mr. Ramakrishnan Padmanabhan has been recognized for strategic insights into market conditions, a thorough understanding of regulatory frameworks, and a commitment to developing value-driven financial solutions. 

As a committed professional, he continues to serve as a strategist in his current regulatory capacity, driving the advancement of India's position in the global metals and commodities landscape.

Mr. Mahendran K

With over three decades of distinguished experience, Mahendran is a seasoned professional specializing in Commodities, with a particular focus on Precious Metals, Minerals, and Banking. His career spans working at leading PSUs, MNCs, and Private Banks across India, where he has developed a deep understanding of key business drivers and market dynamics. Mahendran’s expertise covers Marketing, Risk Management, Compliance, Logistics, Accounting, Audit, Business Strategy, Sourcing, Retail, Derivatives, Treasury, and Trading.

In the Precious Metals sector, Mahendran’s leadership is exemplified by the successful establishment of a profitable bullion business vertical within a bank. This accomplishment involved navigating complex regulations, forming strategic partnerships with international banks, and implementing robust bullion trading and accounting systems.

Throughout his career, Mahendran has cultivated strong relationships with clients, international banks, and key industry stakeholders. His strategic insight into business development, revenue growth, and risk management has consistently driven success across diverse markets.

A natural leader, Mahendran excels in fostering collaboration and aligning teams with organizational goals. His ability to inspire, guide, and motivate teams, combined with his extensive industry knowledge, has earned him good recognition in the commodities and banking sectors.

Harshal Barot

Harshal, Senior Consultant (India and Middle East), has more than a decade’s experience as a precious metals analyst. He is jointly responsible for Metals Focus’ research on India, elsewhere in South Asia, and parts of the Middle East. Harshal is also a regular contributor to Metals Focus’ work on price forecasts and macroeconomics.

Mr. Ashok Kumar Gautam

Mr. Ashok Kumar Gautam is the first Managing Director & CEO of India International Bullion Exchange IFSC Ltd. (IIBX) at GIFT City. He joined IIBX in his present leadership role in February 2022. He is credited with introducing some of the Global first initiatives at IIBX including every 30 minutes settlement of Bullion Depository Receipts. 

Mr. Gautam is a finance professional with over 38 years of experience in various tenets of banking and financial management; such as Treasury, Bullion, Financial Institutions, Transaction Banking, Cash Management Services, Relationship Management, Credit, International Banking, Trade Finance etc. 

Mr. Gautam was earlier Executive Director & Head Treasury with IDBI Bank Ltd., with added responsibilities of Cash Management Services, Government Business Group & Financial Institutions. Before that during his 11-and-a-half-year stint at Axis Bank, he was Executive Vice President and Head Financial Institutions Group (FIG) and held leadership positions of Head Global Markets, Treasury and Head Transaction Banking - Corporate & Financial Institutions. During his tenure at Axis Bank he spearheaded the Bullion business for more than 8 years.

During his over 22 years’ experience in State Bank of India, Mr. Gautam was Head of the first Central Treasury of the Bank at Hong Kong covering all branches from Sydney to Male, Treasury at Singapore office and the Regional Dealing Room at Overseas Branch New Delhi, among other leadership roles. 

Mr. Gautam has earlier represented Banks at various industry bodies:

• On the Board of Fixed Income, Money Market & Derivatives Association, i.e., FIMMDA as Director.
• On the Board as Additional Vice Chairman and member Managing Committee of Foreign Exchange Dealers Association of India, i.e., FEDAI. 
• Secretary, Forex Association of India, i.e., FAI.
• Invitee to the RBI committee on Financial Benchmarks.
• Member of the RBI Working Group on Interest Rate Options.
• Member, India Customer Advisory Board of Thomson Reuters.
• Member, Finance & Banking Committee, Indian Merchants’ Chamber.

Educational & Professional Qualifications:

B.Sc. (Mathematics & Statistics); MBA (Finance);

CAIIB; Diploma in Bank Management; Diploma in Treasury, Investment & Risk Management from Indian Institute of Banking & Finance (IIBF);

Certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM) from Global Association of Risk Professionals, USA (GARP);

Axis Executive Leadership Program conducted by Duke Corporate Education;

Strategic Innovation and Leadership Program by Tuck Executive Education at Dartmouth.

Speaker

Mr. Gautam is frequently invited by Institutes, Trade bodies, Colleges and Associations as a speaker and has addressed various National and International seminars and conferences.

Prof. Sundaravalli Narayanaswami

Associate Professor of Public Systems Group, Chairperson-IGPC, IIMA

Sudheesh Nambiath

Manager, DMCC

Prof. Anish Sugathan

Associate Professor of Strategy, IIMA

Mr. Harshad Ajmera

Managing Director, SECRETARY OF AGRM (ASSOCIATION OF GOLD REFINERIES AND MINTS), J J Gold house

Mr. Hasmukh Dholakiya

Founder, H K Designs

Mr. Prabhakar Sangoormath

Former Executive Director, Hutti Gold Mines

Mr. Kinjal Shah

Head of Asian Development, Responsible Jewellery Council, RJC-Asia

HARESH ACHARYA

He is a director of Parker group which is actively involved in bullion market since 25 years. He is a member of Product committee and advisory board of NSE, BSE, MCX, and IFSCA.

Mr Joseph Joshy C J

Chief Technology Officer and Head - FinTech Department, International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA)

Mr Yashraj Erande

India Leader, Financial Institutions Practice, and Global Leader, Fintech Practice

Ms Sugandh Saxena

Sugandh is CEO of the Fintech Association for Consumer Empowerment (FACE) in India

Mr Anirban Dutta

Head - Digital Acquisitions, Hyper Personalisation & Conversational AI at IDFC FIRST Bank

Dr Chetan Ghate

Director

Institute of Economic Growth

Dr Prachi Mishra

Director and Head, Ashoka Isaac Center for Public Policy

Ashoka University

Dr Ajit Ranade

Vice Chancellor, Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics

Former Chief Economist, Aditya Birla Group

Mahesh Vyas

Managing Director & CEO

Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt Ltd

Dr. Barry A.N. Bloom

Bio: Barry A.N. Bloom, Ph.D. is President and Chief Operating Officer of Xenia Hotels & Resorts, Inc., a NYSE-listed real estate investment trust. Additionally, he currently is an adjunct faculty member at Florida International University.

Company Name:  Xenia Hotels & Resorts, Inc.

Country: USA

Prof. N. Edward Coulson

Bio: Professor of Economics and Public Policy and Director, Center for Real Estate, Paul Merage School of Business, UC Irvine

University: Paul Merage School of Business, University of California, Irvine

Country: USA

Prof. Franz Fuerst

Bio: Professor Franz Fuerst is Professor of Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of Cambridge as well as a Fellow/Director of Studies at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

University:  University of Cambridge, England

Country: UK

R.V. Verma

Bio: Chairman Encore ARC Earlier Positions held Chairman AU Small Finance Bank CMD, National Housing Bank Member-cum-Chairman PFRDA Central Registrar and MD CERSAI

Company Name:  AU Small Finance Bank

Country: India

Dr. Tirthankar Patnaik

Chief Economist, NSE India

Prof. Sumitash Jana

Assistant Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, IIT Delhi

Krishan Mishra

CEO, FPSB India

Rajesh Krishnamoorthy

Independent Director – AMC, PGIM India Mutual Fund

Joydeep Roy

India Financial Services Advisory Leader, PwC India

Dr. Dipesh Shah

Executive Director (Development), IFSCA, GIFT City

Prof. Joshy Jacob

Professor, Finance & Accounting, IIMA [MODERATOR]

Prof. Vinod Singhal

Charles W. Brady Chair
Professor of Operations Management
Georgia Institute of Technology
Scheller College of Business

Title and Brief Details of the Talk

Financial consequences of supply chain risks and strategies for building resilient supply chains

This talk will present empirical evidence on the effect of supply chain risks on financial performance based on measures related to stock prices and profitability. It will compare the performance effects of three different types of supply chain risks: supply chain disruptions, product introduction delays, and excess inventory. The talk will also discuss strategies that firms can use to build resilience in supply chains and how to make the business case for adopting such strategies.

Brief Bio

Vinod Singhal is the Charles W. Brady Chair Professor of Operations Management at the Scheller College of Business at Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA. He has a Ph.D. from University of Rochester, Rochester, USA. Prior to joining Georgia Tech., he worked as a Senior Research Scientist at General Motors Research Labs.

Vinod’s research has focused on the impact of operating decisions on accounting and stock market-based performance measures. His research has been supported through grants from the US Department of Labor, National Science Foundation, the American Society of Quality, and the Sloan Foundation. He has published extensively in academic journals and has made more than 200 presentations at different universities. His research has been recognized in the practitioner community through his many articles in industry-practitioner journals and frequent invited presentations as keynote speaker at practitioner conferences. His research has been cited over 200 times in practitioner publications such as Business Week, The Economist, Fortune, Smart Money, CFO Europe, Financial Times, Investor’s Business Daily, and Daily Telegraph. His research has been extensively cited in academic publications, with over 14,500 citations. His paper “An empirical analysis of the effect of supply chain disruptions on long‐run stock price performance and equity risk of the firm” was voted by the POMS members in 2024 as one of the top-ten papers published in Production and Operations Management in the last 30 years.

Vinod is a Departmental Editor of Production and Operations Management, and Associate Editor of Management Science. He is a Fellow of the Production and Operations Management Society. He is a Fellow of the Production and Operations Management Society. He served on the Academic Advisory Board of the European School of Management and Technology, Germany.
Vinod’s teaching interests include operations strategy and supply chain management. He has contributed to teaching at an international level, as well, by offering research workshops in countries including Australia, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom.

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Prof. Robert Glenn Richey, Jr.

Harbert Eminent Scholar in Supply Chain Management, Auburn University’s Harbert College of Business

Prof. Debjit Roy

Professor, Operations and Decision Sciences, IIM Ahmedabad & Co-Chair, Centre for Transportation and Logistics

Prof. Sandip Chakrabarti

Prof. Samrat Roy

Assistant Professor, Operations and Decision Sciences, IIM Ahmedabad

Dr. Manish Bansal

Associate Professor

Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, USA

Abstract. Transportation and logistics problems are challenging combinatorial optimization problems that require computationally efficient and effective tools for solving them. In this tutorial, I will present a few mathematical optimization tools that can be leveraged for addressing these challenges. We will begin with integer programming which is a powerful method to formulate and solve combinatorial optimization problems. Since solving integer programs with large-scale deterministic data can still be computationally expensive, we will discuss cutting plane-based approaches and how dynamic programming-based for certain classes of transportation problems can be more efficient. In many applications, it is critical to make strategic long-term planning decisions such as locating warehouses, emergency healthcare or evacuation centers, even with uncertain input data parameters. To handle the uncertain data in optimization problems, stochastic, robust, and distributionally robust programs have gained attention in the research community and to some extent in industry as well. I will share the benefits of these modeling frameworks, and present some challenges associated with solving these programs along with ways to address them.

For supply chain resilience, vulnerability analysis of a transportation and logistics network is the most important task for decision makers. A distinct aspect of uncertainty faced in this analysis is the limited availability of relevant historical data and varying levels of risk-appetite (ranging from risk-neutral to most conservative to risk-receptiveness) of decision makers because of incomplete information of probability of occurrence of events such as natural disasters and cyber/physical attacks. I will introduce distributionally ambiguous interdiction problems that are characterized as Stackelberg games played between two players: an interdictor and defender. The interdictor is a player who makes interdiction decisions using limited resources to degrade the defender’s performance, and the defender makes decisions after observing the interdiction decision. These modeling frameworks also have applications in disrupting domestic sex trafficking networks and illegal drug supply chain networks. We will discuss the shortest path, maximum flow, facility location, feature selection (with application in machine learning), and cameras view-frame placement (with application in telerobotics) interdiction problems, and how to mitigate the impact of data corruption for these problems.

Bio. Dr. Manish Bansal is an Associate Professor, Grado Early Career Faculty Fellow, and Operations Research Program Area Lead with Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech. He did bachelor’s in electrical engineering from National Institute of Technology in India, and M.S. with thesis and Ph.D. from Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Texas A&M University. Prior to joining Virginia Tech, he was a postdoctoral fellow in Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences at Northwestern University. His research is focused on the theory of mixed integer programming, stochastic and distributionally ambiguous optimization, game theory, and location science along with their applications in logistics and supply chain management. He has received multiple grants from National Science Foundation, Department of Defense, Automotive Research Center at University of Michigan Ann Arbor, and Commonwealth Cyber Initiatives. He has published papers in journals such as Discrete Applied Mathematics, SIAM Journal on Optimization, Journal on Global Optimization, and Mathematical Programming, among others. Dr. Bansal has served as president of INFORMS Junior Faculty Interest Group and Engineering Faculty Organization at Virginia Tech, and currently, he is a senator in the faculty senate of Virginia Tech. He is also an affiliate faculty with the National Security Institute, and Center for AI and Data Analytics at Virginia Tech.

Dr. Shashank Rao

Dr. Shashank Rao is the Jim W. Thompson Professor of Supply Chain Management at Auburn University. He previously held a faculty appointment at Nova Southeastern
University in Fort Lauderdale, FL. He holds a BS in Environmental Engineering (VTU-India), an MBA in Marketing (TAPMI, India), an MS in Statistics, and a Ph.D. in Operations
and Supply Chain Management (University of Kentucky). Prior to entering the academy, Rao was a relationship manager at Citigroup and also spent time in the construction
sector. His research interests focus on Internet Retailing, Logistics, and the broad intersection of Development Economics and Supply Chain Management. He has published several
articles in every empirical journal in the SCMList including the Journal of Operations Management, Journal of Business Logistics, Production & Operations Management, Decision Sciences Journal, and Journal of Supply Chain Management. He also serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Business Logistics in addition to serving on the editorial board of several other leading Logistics & SCM journals. Dr. Rao serves as a frequent speaker at academic conferences, executive education seminars, and professional meetings. Recent consulting assignments include work with Target, Aptar Pharma, MercuryGate, Tempur-Sealy International, and the US Department of Labor. He has also served as a visiting professor at the Indian Institute of Technology—Bombay, one of the leading business schools in India.

About the editorial session with Journal of Business Logistics
The mission of the Journal of Business Logistics (JBL) is to advance the logistics and supply chain management field by publishing high-quality, scholarly research that enhances both the theoretical and practical understanding of logistics. JBL aims to serve as a bridge between academic theory and business practice, addressing issues of relevance to practitioners, policymakers, and researchers in areas like logistics strategy, supply chain management, transportation, distribution, warehousing, and emerging technologies. The journal focuses on disseminating research that provides actionable insights for improving supply chain efficiency, effectiveness, and innovation, contributing to the broader field of business logistics and supply chain management. In this session, the senior leadership of the journal will discuss details regarding our editorial philosophy, the submission and review process, expectations from submitted papers, our commitment to authors, and so on. Additionally, we will answer audience questions as they arise. The session aims to be a developmental outreach event whose goal is to encourage authors to submit their very best work to the journal in the future.

Prof. Pankaj Setia

The IIMA Chair Professor
Professor of Information Systems and Strategy
Founding Chairperson, Centre for Digital Transformation

Profile : https://www.iima.ac.in/faculty-research/faculty-directory/Pankaj-Setia

Title of the talk: Purpose: The Drive for Digital Transformation

Prof. Rohini Pande

Rohini Pande is the Henry J. Heinz II Professor of Economics and Director of the Economic Growth Center at Yale University. She is also the faculty director of Inclusion Economics at Yale. She is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, an Econometric Society fellow, and a former co-editor of American Economic Review: Insights. Pande received the 2018 Carolyn Bell Shaw Award from the American Economic Association for promoting the success of women in the economics profession and the 2022 Infosys Prize in Social Sciences. Formerly, Pande was the Rafik Harriri Professor of International Political Economy at Harvard Kennedy School.

Pande’s research, which has influenced policy in South Asia and globally, focuses on how institutions shape power relationships and patterns of economic, political, and environmental advantage in low-income countries. She is interested in the role of public policy in providing the poor and disadvantaged political and economic power, as well as how notions of economic justice and human rights can legitimize and enable such change. With Inclusion Economics India Center, she is working with Indian state governments on gender-inclusive rural development and digital policies and with Inclusion Economics Nepal Center she is evaluating policies to strengthen quality of policy-making by elected local governments.

Pande received a PhD in economics from the London School of Economics, a BA/MA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Oxford University, and a BA in Economics from Delhi University.

Prof. Adrija Majumdar

Adrija Majumdar is a faculty member and the current chairperson in the Information Systems area at IIM Ahmedabad. Her research interests include social media, online communities, crowdfunding, and text mining. Her research articles have been published in international journals such as Information & Management, International Journal of Information Management, Information Systems Frontiers Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Technology Forecasting and Social Change, Communications of AIS, International Journal of Production Economics, etc. She completed her PhD from IIM Calcutta in Management Information Systems.

Prof. Anirban Adhikary

Prof. Anirban Adhikary is the Dean of Faculty and Research, Associate Professor, and Young Faculty Research Chair at IIM Udaipur. His research primarily focuses on sustainability issues in supply chains, exploring innovative solutions to address environmental and social challenges.

Shri Alpan Raval

Alpan Raval is the Chief AI/ML Scientist at the Wadhwani Institute for Artificial Intelligence, a non-profit devoted to developing and deploying AI for social impact across the global South. The institute currently build AI solutions for public health, agriculture and education. Alpan has been working in the applied AI space for over two decades, initially as a professor at the Claremont Colleges in California, and later at D E Shaw Research, Amazon, and LinkedIn. He is an author of a book on network biology, Introduction to Biological Networks.

Alpan holds a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Maryland, USA and an undergraduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur.

Shri Chetan Savla

Chetan Savla is President – Sustainability and Strategic Projects at Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Within his career with Kotak group of over 30 years, Chetan has led the Sustainability practice for the Group since 2021.

Prior to that, Chetan was Head of Group Strategy at Kotak Mahindra Bank for 4 years and he worked for 18 years as an investment banker with Kotak Mahindra Capital Company. As a part of his work in investment banking, Chetan led over 80 capital market transactions to raise over USD 18 billion for corporate India, as well as advised Indian and global companies in their M&A transactions.

Chetan is a 1991 MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.

Shri P. S. Narayan

Mr. P. S. Narayan has been instrumental in the creation of Wipro’s sustainability initiative and has stewarded it since its inception in early 2008. Wipro’s sustainability charter is built on the core principle that business and social purpose must reinforce each other in addressing several key challenges around ecology and education.

In addition, Mr. Narayan is Visiting Faculty at the Azim Premji University where he teaches in the MA (Development) program. He is also Visiting Faculty at Xavier School of Sustainability, Xavier University, Bhubaneswar.

Mr. Narayan conducts learning sessions regularly on Sustainability at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and Indore. He is involved in sustainability advocacy as a member of several industry forums.

He is currently the Chairman of the Bangalore chapter of CII-Godrej Green Business Center. Prior to his current role, Mr. Narayan was the Global Head of Information Systems for Wipro’s IT business, when he was chosen as one of CIO’s global 25 Ones to Watch. A graduate in Electrical Engineering with a post-graduation in Management, Narayan has more than 27 years of cross-disciplinary experience in Business Development, Enterprise Systems and Corporate Sustainability.

Mr. Atul Mittal

Atul is an accomplished, creative and entrepreneurial senior executive with
twenty-four years’ professional experience. Atul has demonstrated proven
success in community mobilization, carbon financing, brand development and
establishing renewable energy products like solar-cookstoves-water purifiers and
now biogas. Worked with big brands like British Petroleum, Philips Electronics,
Max New York Life, Wockhardt and then social start-ups like d.light solar and
MicroEnergy Credits.

Currently Director, Commercial with Sistema.bio, which is a social enterprise
which provides smallholder dairy farmers with biogas technology, service and
financing. It allows smallholder farmers to increase agricultural productivity and
net income, while improving the environmental sustainability of their farms. Since
Mar 2019, Atul is trying to establish biogas for smallholder farmers in India, South
Asia and East African countries by working through partnerships. He is actively
working with private dairies, foundations, rural entrepreneurship organisations

and government to make biogas – not only for cooking, but also for biofertilizer,

electricity generation and livelihood operations making every farmer of India self-
reliant.

Atul has outstanding sector expertise in social marketing, social franchising, small
enterprise development, integrated development management, with particularly
strong track record in renewable energy products, & livelihood programs which
he has successfully run in India, South Asia and East African countries.

Mr. Syed Farhan

Syed A A Farhan is a Associate Director at PwC India with around 11 years of experience. His work focuses on,
carbon markets and climate finance with clients from both the Public and Private Sector across sectors including
forestry. He has extensive experience in carbon market advisory including experience in carbon markets
advisory, both Compliance market (CDM) and Voluntary Markets (VCM). He has led projects within and outside
India focusing on research and assessments as well as capacity building. He was one of the lead authors for a
detailed study of the availability and future projection of Carbon Market Mechanisms for MoEFCC, India. Hehas
also supported Article 6 negotiations for COP26 at Glasgow and is currently a key member for the development
of the Indian Carbon Market.

Prof. Balagopal Vissa

Prof. Bala Vissa is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise and The André and Rosalie Hoffmann Chaired Professor of Family Enterprise at INSEAD. His research focuses on entrepreneurial leadership, particularly in emerging economy settings – examining both new ventures operated by first-gen founders as well as mature organizations operated by next-gen scions of family businesses. His research delves into topics such as the structuring of upper echelon teams (these include founding teams of new ventures, boards of family businesses, investor teams of VCs, Family Offices etc.), the emergence of family business groups, the links between successful entrepreneurial exit and social impact, efficacy of entrepreneurship training and so forth. He is an invited speaker and advises entrepreneurial companies and professional investors on these topics.

Prof. Vissa has received numerous research awards and currently serves as Associate Editor at the Strategic Management Journal; in addition, he previously served as Associate Editor at the Academy of Management Journal. He also served as elected Chairperson of the Entrepreneurship & Strategy interest group of the Strategic Management Society.

He teaches topics related to entrepreneurial leadership, corporate venturing, transitions in family businesses and scaling up new ventures - in degree programs as well as in executive training programs, using a variety of pedagogical approaches including simulations, workshops and case-based learning. Currently he is directing INSEAD Leadership Programme for Senior Executives - India and numerous client-specific programs (CSPs).

Prior to finishing his doctoral studies at London Business School, Prof. Vissa was involved in setting up and growing new businesses in different specialty chemical niches for Unilever in India.

Prof. Mats Alvesson

Professor of Organization Studies at the University of Bath, UK and is also affiliated with Lund University, Sweden

Debashish Ghosh

Debashish Ghosh is a senior Human Resources professional with over 20 years of experience in managing end-to-end functions in HR. Over these years, he led both global organizations and Indian conglomerates across multiple industries and locations. His core expertise lies in organization culture transformation, change leadership, and talent management.

Debashish is currently working as the Senior Vice President and Country HR Head of Berkadia, a Berkshire Hathaway and Jefferies Financial Services Co. Prior to joining Berkadia, he was associated with GE, Genpact, and the Ramoji Group managing multiple roles in HR.

Debashish is an Executive Education Alumnus of IIM Calcutta and a Marshall Goldsmith Certified Executive and Teams Coach. He is also a certified practitioner of several behaviour and personality assessment tools.

Debashish has been awarded with two of the most prestigious HR credentials in the world - Senior Certified Professional® from Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM-SCP®), and Global Talent Management Leader (GTML™) from Talent Management Institute.

His contribution towards Human Resources function has been recognized by the industry. His recent achievements include:

• Recognized by Siliconindia magazine as one of the “Top 10 most promising HR Leaders 2020”.
• Featured in Forbes India magazine (Oct '21 issue) as "India’s 50 Best HR Leaders 2021"

Debashish passionately advocates the cause of industry-academia collaboration. He sits in the Industry Advisory Boards/Committees of several Universities, B-schools and Colleges.

Debashish is a sought-after public speaker and has delivered guest lectures/keynotes in over 200 educational institutions and industry forums.  He is also a LinkedIn influencer with over 75K followers.

Debashish is a trusted mentor for many students and young professionals. Topmate, a mentoring platform, has recognized Debashish as one of the top 1% mentors worldwide. LinkedIn has also recognized him with the “Top Mentoring Voice” badge.

Prasad Kumar

Prasad Kumar is the Founder of Human Endeavour Associates, a niche consultancy firm specializing in strategic advisory for owner and partner led companies, family businesses and corporates.

He has worked in senior executive roles, with many leading companies, partnering in their growth and success.

His experience with Family Business Advisory and Corporate Development spans over five decades.

Most of his engagements are long term partnerships, integrating the cultural and structural dimensions for Growth, Governance and Institution Building. Helping organization and people to get “future ready” is key to his mission.

He is engaged in coaching of Board members, top management and senior leaders across industries and is an active Life Coach to business leaders.

His last positions were Business Chairman and member of the GMR Group Holding Board, Chairman of RAXA (Homeland Security).

He founded Parampara Family Business Institute and was its Vice Chairman and Managing Director. Post retirement, he is now Advisor and Academic Council member.

He has been member of:

• The Economic Times Advisory Panel on Family Business
• The Economic Times Advisory Panel on Corporate Board Governance

A postgraduate in Management and accredited in Applied Behavioral Sciences, Prasad has been a Certified Professional of the International Association of Facilitators and a Life Member of the Association.

He teaches specialized modules in Family Business, Leadership and Succession at IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, Indian School of Business (ISB), SP Jain Institute and many other leading business schools.

He has also been Executive-in-Residence at the Kellogg School of Management, NW University, Chicago, USA.

Prof. Ashish Pandey

Prof. Ashish Pandey is an Associate Professor with Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai. Prof. Ashish teaches the courses on organization development, human resource management, and self-mastery to students of postgraduate levels for the last ten years. Prof. Ashish has published more than forty research articles in reputed national and international journals and handbooks in the field of spirituality at the workplace, mindfulness. He is in the editorial board of Frontiers in Psychology and Humanistic Management Journal. The most recent recognition of Prof. Ashish's work includes the Best Paper award during the Indian Academy of Management Meeting 2020, Fretzer scholarship to his three Ph.D. students (Academy of Management, MSR division, 2020), Outstanding Reviewer (Academy of Management, MSR Division, 2019), recognition by Fowler Centre of Case Western University for the years 2016 and 2018 (AIM2Flourish for the cases written on sustainable development based business models with his students ), and Best Paper during Doctoral Consortium with his Ph.D. student (Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, 2018). Prof. Ashish is regularly engaged in consulting work for Organizations and Leadership development with organizations across industries.

Prof. Veena Vohra

Dr Veena Vohra is Professor – Human Resources and Behavioral Sciences and Vice Dean (Accreditation, Ranking, Industry, Alumni) at the School of Business Management, NMIMS, Mumbai. Veena is PhD (Leadership and Emotional Intelligence) and holds an MBA as well as MS in Psychotherapy and Counselling.

After a brief corporate stint at Dabur India Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services, she has been with School of Business Management, NMIMS, Mumbai for the last 20 years. She teaches Case Study Research Methodology and Qualitative Research in the PhD program as also Organizational Behavior, Change Management and OD, Building Resilient organizations, Emotional Intelligence, and Appreciative Inquiry in the MBA and MBA HR programs.

Veena has designed and chaired the impactful MBA HR program, served as the chair of the flagship MBA program at School of Business Management. She also served as Associate Dean (Programmes and Student Learning Experiences), driving several innovations in student centric learning and the institutionalization of several academic administrative practices.

Currently the EQUIS Accreditation Project Coordinator for SBM, Veena has been instrumental in leading the successful EQUIS accreditation of SBM. She has received several awards for her services and teaching, including the Prof Indira Parikh 50 Women in Education Leaders Award.

Veena’s research, consulting and training interests lie in the domains of organizational behaviour, organization development, leadership and emotional intelligence. Veena partners with Align HR and is on the Advisory Council of Contextus, both boutique consulting firms offering transformative human capital solutions

Veena has published a number of research papers and case studies on managing change, in international journals. She has co-authored books on organizational development, talent management and human resource management. She has recently completed a research project capturing the decade long OD journey of an Indian multinational organization. Her research profile can be accessed here:

https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=TDW1D2MAAAAJ&hl=en

Prof. Samrat Gupta

Area: Information Systems
Affiliation: Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA)
Topic: Social Network Analysis and Applications
Link: https://www.iima.ac.in/faculty-research/faculty-directory/samrat-gupta

Prof. Sumit Kunnumkal

Area: Operations Management
Affiliation: Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad
Topic: Assortment optimization
Link: https://www.isb.edu/en/research-thought-leadership/faculty/faculty-directory/sumit-kunnumkal.html

Prof. Noshir Contractor

Noshir Contractor is the Jane S. & William J. White Professor of Behavioral Sciences in the McCormick School of Engineering, the School of Communication and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He investigates how social and knowledge networks form and perform. He is the former President of the International Communication Association. He is also a Distinguished Scholar of the National Communication Association and a Fellow of the Academy of Management, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Computing Machinery, the Network Science Society, and the International Communication Association. He received the Lifetime Service Award from the Communication, Digital Technology, & Organization Division of the Academy of Management. Additionally, he received the Simmel Award from the International Network for Social Network Analysis (INSNA). He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras where he received a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. He has a Ph.D. from the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Southern California.

Anuraag Aekka

Anuraag is a Research Consultant in the Development Research Group at the World Bank. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from NYU Stern in 2024. His research combines general equilibrium models of firm dynamics with microdata to study how various frictions affect aggregate productivity.

Prof. Sudarshan Kumar

Prof. Sudarshan Kumar is a faculty member in the Finance and Control group at IIM Calcutta. He is B.Tech. (Hons.) in Civil Engineering from IIT Kharagpur, and PhD in Finance from IIM Ahmedabad. He primarily works in the area of quantitative finance, fixed income, derivatives and has published in many prestigious journals including European Journal of Finance, Journal of Complex networks,  Journal of Futures Markets, and Applied Economics.

Prof. Anirban Adhikary

Prof. Anirban Adhikary is the Dean of Faculty and Research, Associate Professor, and Young Faculty Research Chair at IIM Udaipur. His research primarily focuses on sustainability issues in supply chains, exploring innovative solutions to address environmental and social challenges.

Prof. Snehal Awate

Snehal Awate is a faculty of Strategy at S. J. Mehta School of Management of IIT Bombay.  Her research is at the intersection of strategic management and international business. She studies firms’ knowledge management strategies by employing network analyses. Her research has appeared in several top ranked journals such as Strategic Management Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, Global Strategy Journal, Journal of Economic Geography, Journal of International Management, and California Management Review. She is a senior editor for Asia Pacific Journal of Management. Some of her current network-based research projects explore capability development and catch-up using internal and external firm networks.

Prof. Anand Shrivastava

Anand Shrivastava is an Associate Professor of Economics at Azim Premji University, Bangalore, and a Faculty Fellow at the Centre for Sustainable Employment at the University. He completed his PhD in Economics at the University of Cambridge. He also has an MPhil and a Graduate Diploma in Economics from the University of Cambridge and a B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. His PhD research consisted of theoretical and empirical work on the economics of conflict. Since then he has worked on labour economics, economics of networks, and on interactions between economics and issues of history, politics and religion.