Dr. Amit Prakash

Amit Prakash is a Professor and Head of the Department of Digital Humanities and Societal Systems (DHSS) at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB). He serves as the Convenor of IIITB’s Centre for Accessibility in the Global South (CAGS); he has also been involved in establishing and managing the Institute’s Centre for IT and Public Policy (CITAPP) and E-Health Research Centre (EHRC). His interests lie in Information Systems and Public Policy, particularly as they intersect with development sectors such as public health & nutrition, education & skill development, and food & livelihood security. The focus of his research and consulting efforts has been equity and inclusion in matters related to technology designs and policy choices.

Prior to joining academia, Amit worked for over fifteen years on advisory assignments involving IT and Governance policies and Digital Technology designs – at Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). He has chaired and served on national, international and regional committees and working groups tasked with formulating digital governance and development policies and has anchored the design and development of large award winning e-Governance projects.

Amit serves as an advisor and resource person for the United Nations Asia-Pacific Centre for ICT and Development (UN-APCICT) and has developed training content and conducted capacity enhancement sessions for senior government executives and political representatives across countries in the Asia-Pacific region. He is a Co-Founder and Trustee of Vision Empower  http://www.visionempowertrust.org/), a not-for-profit trust working on accessible education for visually impaired and a Co-Founder and Director at Vembi Technologies (https://vembi.in/).
Amit has a doctoral degree in Information Systems from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore and a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee.

Mr. Sudarshan Jain

Secretary General, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA)
Chairman, Indian Institute of Health Management and Research
(IIHMR), Jaipur
Senior Advisor, EQT Group

Sudarshan has a strong passion for business, healthcare policy and the education sector. He is currently the Secretary General of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) and the Chairman of the Indian Institute of Health Management and Research (IIHMR), Jaipur. He also serves as a Board Member of Abbott India, Sunshine Holdings PLC and various educational institutions, and is a Senior Advisor with EQT (Private equity firm). Sudarshan is on the Advisory Committee of the Biotechnology Ignition Grant, Government of India, Member of Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) and a Visiting Faculty at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM A). He is a Certified Executive Coach from the Coaching Foundation of India.

Sudarshan has a rich healthcare business experience of over 45 years and has contributed to shaping healthcare policy and improving access to healthcare in India. He has held several leadership positions in Abbott, J&J, Boots and leading Indian companies and last served as the Managing Director at Abbott Healthcare Solutions. His experience spans across Pharmaceutical, OTC, Hospital, Diagnostic and Nutrition businesses. He has been associated with over 30 brands which are among the top 300 in the Indian pharmaceutical market. He also served as Chairman of the Life Sciences Skill Sector Development Council (LSSSDC) of India under the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship. He has been the Chair of International Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association (IGBA) 2021. Till recently, he was associated with APAX partners as Seniors Advisor and also the board member of Healthium.

Sudarshan is the first Indian recipient of the Global Chairman’s Award at Abbott. More recently, IPA has been recognized as “Maverick Effect Pioneer Award 2024” at the Indian Merchant Chambers’ (IMC) and honored with the “Best Association Excellence Award” at the India Association Congress 2024. Sudarshan is an alumnus of St. Stephens College, Delhi and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM A).

Shri. Duvvuri Subbarao

Duvvuri Subbarao (Subba) served as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for five years (2008-13). Prior to that, he was Finance Secretary to the Government of India (2007-08) and Secretary to the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (2005-07).  

As a career civil servant in India for over three decades, Subbarao worked in various positions in the state government of Andhra Pradesh and in the central government in New Delhi. He was a Lead Economist in the World Bank (1999 – 2004) where his responsibilities involved advising developing countries on public finance management.

Subbarao studied at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He went to Graduate School at Ohio State University and later was a Humphrey Fellow at MIT studying Public Finance. He obtained his doctorate in public finance from Andhra University.

Subbarao’s book “Who Moved My Interest Rate” (2016) chronicling his experiences in leading the Reserve Bank of India through five turbulent year is notable for its exposition of the policy dilemmas facing an emerging economy central bank in a globalized world. His more recent book “Just a Mercenary” (2024) narrating his journey from a modest background to the top echelons of India’s civil service and then on to the helm of the country’s central bank has been acclaimed as a warm, engaging and earnest account of the leadership challenges he confronted in his career.

After stepping down from RBI, Subbarao was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the National University of Singapore and later at the University of Pennsylvania. Most recently, he has been visiting faculty at Yale University School of Management.  

Mr. Ajit Mauskar

Ajit Mauskar – Director, Market Infrastructure, India, Middle East and North Africa, World Gold Council,

Ajit Mauskar, joined the World Gold Council in March 2021. Based in Mumbai, Ajit is responsible for leading the Market Infrastructure initiatives of World Gold Council in the Indian, Middle Eastern and North African gold markets.

Ajit is a seasoned banker and has over 25 years’ global experience in the banking sector specialising in precious metals and commodities. Prior to joining the World Gold Council, Ajit started the commodities department and was the Global Head for Commodities for a leading regional commercial bank in the Middle East having diverse customer base in multiple countries. Earlier to that, he was one of the founding members of Scotiabank’s bullion business in India.

Mr. Moses Bodea

Moses Bodea is an Executive Assistant at GoldInvest, where he combines operational precision with strategic foresight to drive innovation in the precious metals and fintech industries. With a strong foundation in high-value logistics and executive operations, Moses plays a pivotal role in shaping initiatives across digital transformation, supply chain, and organizational growth.

Recognized for his integrity, cross-cultural fluency, and results-driven mindset, he serves as a trusted advisor and execution partner to senior leadership—bridging the gap between vision and implementation. His work reflects a deep commitment to operational excellence, sustainable growth, and the modernization of gold trading in an increasingly global and technology-driven landscape.

Mr. Arnav Datta

Currently working as Vice President & Head – Collaterals, Warehousing Operations & Delivery settlement at Multi Commodity Exchange Clearing Corporation Ltd., Mumbai.

Over 22 years of experience in various Business Development and Operational domains of different Products, Commodity Exchange, Clearing Corporation Operations, Repository services, electronic receipt and Mandi operations, Surveying, Inspections, Logistics, Supply Chain Management and Warehousing Operations. Well versed with all bullion, food, agricultural and non-agricultural commodities’ handling, storage, movement, quality, prices and trade. Have worked in past with NCDEX, SGS India, Bureau Veritas and CDSL. Post Graduate in Management and also in Plant Breeding & Genetics.

Mr. Avinash Gupta

Mr. Avinash Gupta, based in Hyderabad and representing Mamraj Mussadilal Jewellers, is a renowned personality in the Gems & Jewellery Industry with an illustrious track record of leadership and service. Over many years, he has played a pivotal role in the All India Gem & Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC), particularly during his impactful tenure from 2016 to 2022. Known for his proactive approach to legal and compliance matters, he has championed key industry issues such as GST implementation for the jewellery sector, import duty reforms, and several other critical policy interventions that have safeguarded the trade’s interests.

Mr. Gupta has represented GJC on prestigious international delegations to Shanghai, London, and Turkey, where he studied global gold exchanges and contributed valuable insights for the successful establishment of the India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX). His deep understanding of market dynamics, regulatory frameworks, and international best practices has been instrumental in shaping several landmark initiatives for the industry.

A respected name with a reputation for integrity and innovation, Mr. Gupta is a long-standing and highly valued member of GJC. In 2025 he was elected as Vice Chairman and the next Chairman of GJC from 2027, he continues to bring a wealth of experience, strategic vision, and a strong commitment to fostering growth, transparency, and excellence across the gems and jewellery sector. His dedication to strengthening trade relations, both domestically and globally, ensures that the Indian jewellery industry remains competitive and future ready.

Mr. Harshit Gupta

Harshit Gupta is a seasoned business leader and strategic growth architect with deep expertise in consumer businesses, alliances, and financial services. Currently serving as Head – Digital Consumer Business at MMTC‑PAMP, India, he is responsible for steering the company’s digital consumer portfolio—driving partnerships, business strategy and growth in one of India’s leading precious-metals brands.

Harshit’s professional journey spans across B2C and B2B domains in the BFSI and digital consumer landscape, underpinned by a “consumer-first” mindset and a track record of innovation and transformation, with reputed institutions such as the State Bank of India and the Aditya Birla Group. His leadership has also earned him recognition as a “40 Under 40” industry standout.

With his strong foundation in product and distribution strategy, strategic partnerships, and scaling digital ecosystems, Harshit offers the panel a unique vantage point at the intersection of financial services, consumer behaviour, and digital commerce.

Mr. James Jose

James Jose is the promoter and Managing director of CGR Metalloys pvt ltd ,Kochi , a BIS licensed gold refinery, operational for the past 30 years . He is the founder & past secretary of Association of gold refineries and Mints and President of  the Precious Metals Refineries Forum  -PMRF , the all India association of gold and silver refineries .

Also pioneer in gold and silver hallmarking , with India’s first BIS recognized hallmarking centre -CGR Hallmarkers pvt ltd ,Cochin  and is the  President of the  Hallmarking Federation of India , the all India association of hallmarking centres . He is also a member of the Mtd10  technical committee, that formulates the national standards for the  gold, silver and diamond industry, since 2002 .

Mr. Keyur Shah

CEO – Precious Metals Business, Muthoot Pappachan Group

Keyur Shah has been with the Muthoot Pappachan Group since October 2012. 

He is the CEO of Muthoot Exim Precious Metals Business, part of the Muthoot Pappachan Group, which specializes in development and marketing of precious metals related products and services. His role includes development of a new business vertical for the Group that caters to the Indian consumers via strategic initiatives and customer friendly precious metals solutions and product offerings including new age digital offerings.

Prior to his current role, Keyur was the Director (Investment Projects) at the World Gold Council where he was instrumental in development and implementation World Gold Council’s Investment Strategy in India that included the Gold Savings Retail Programmes via Banks & Post Offices, Gold linked Micro-Finance programmes, Gold Accumulation Plan, etc. 

Keyur has 29+ years of experience in Strategic Business Planning & Implementation, Product Development, Brand Management and Communication, and Business Development Activities. His career has spanned various geographies like USA, the Middle East and India in organizations like World Gold Council, Motorola, M&C Saatchi, Leo Burnett and Wipro Infotech. 

He holds a Bachelors Degree in Electronics Engineering and an MBA in Marketing. 

Mr. Hemant Verma

Manager, IFSCA

Hemant Verma is an engineering graduate from IIT Jodhpur and a post graduate from IIM Lucknow. He is currently working as Manager in the Market Development and Supervision Division, Department of Metals and Commodities at the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA). He has been associated with the regulation, supervision and development of the bullion ecosystem in GIFT IFSC and previously, has also worked in the Market Regulations Division of the Dept of Metals and Commodities and in the Department of Capital Markets at IFSCA. He is part of the team currently involved in the drafting of the IFSCA Good Delivery Guidelines.

Mr. Muhammad Shafi Poyilan

Muhammad Shafi Poyilan is an AML/CFT Expert at the UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism. He is an experienced financial crime compliance professional with more than 17 years of experience in AML/CFT domain in private and public sectors. He is currently pursuing PhD from IIM Kozhikode with research interest in AML/CFT. Before joining the Ministry of Economy and Tourism, Muhammad was working for various regional and local banks in the UAE in their AML/CFT Compliance functions.

Ms. Rhea Chaterji

Ms. Rhea Chaterji is a dynamic business leader with a foundation in law from the LSE. She holds over a decade of experience in financial services & fintech, including at KPMG and Rainmaking Innovation. Rhea is currently the Co-Founder & COO at SafeGold, where she leads the Consumer vertical.

Mr. Sabyasachi Ray

Executive Director, The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, India

Mr. Sabyasachi Ray’s name is synonymous with the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), India’s apex body representing the gem and jewellery trade. Over the past two decades, his visionary leadership has been instrumental in transforming GJEPC from a key national trade association into Brand GJEPC — a globally recognized and respected industry institution.

With a remarkable tenure spanning 25 years at GJEPC in various capacities, Mr. Ray currently serves as its Executive Director. Throughout his career, he has been a guiding force in unifying the diverse segments of India’s gem and jewellery industry into a cohesive and dynamic entity that has positioned India as the preferred sourcing and manufacturing destination for gems and jewellery worldwide.

A strategist and policy architect, Mr. Ray has played a pivotal role in shaping national policies like Special Notified Zone on gems & jewellery and representing the sector’s interests before the Government of India. His innovative initiatives like IJEX Centre in Dubai or Swashthya Ratna, the unique health insurance schemes for workers  have consistently focused on fostering an enabling environment for MSMEs, facilitating export growth, establishing industry standards, and enhancing India’s global market presence through trade promotion and branding initiatives.

He represents India and The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) in the international Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, in collaboration with the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India.

Mr. Ray represents GJEPC and the Indian gem & jewellery industry across several high-level national and international forums, including:

1. Director, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)
2. Member, BIS MTD10 Working Group
3. Member, Precious Metals Advisory Committee (PMAC), IFSCA
4. Member, Monitoring Committee of the InCent-LGD Project, Ministry of Commerce & Industry
5. Adviser/Expert Panelist, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)

An alumnus of Calcutta University with a degree in Business Management specializing in Marketing, Mr. Ray’s professional experience prior to joining GJEPC includes leadership roles in Office Automation, Tea Exports, and Business Services sectors. His multifaceted expertise continues to drive innovation, policy advocacy, and global engagement for the Indian gem and jewellery industry.

Mr. Somasundaram PR

P.R. Somasundaram” (often referred to as Somasundaram PR) was the Regional CEO of India for the World Gold Council (WGC), a role he stepped down from in 2024 after more than a decade of service. He was instrumental in establishing India’s first industry Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO) for the gold market and has since been focusing on setting up this transformational body. He has also had a distinguished career spanning over 30 years, including roles within the Unilever Group.  

Key contributions and roles:

• World Gold Council: He served as the Regional CEO for India, leading the WGC’s activities and providing insights into the Indian gold market and investment trends. 
• Self-Regulatory Organization (SRO): He played a pivotal role in establishing the SRO for the Indian gold industry, aiming to enhance consumer trust and bring structural reforms. 
• Industry Leadership: Somasundaram provided commentary on the Indian gold industry’s dynamics, including the impact of market volatility and the growing trend of digital gold investments. 
• Unilever Group Experience: His early career included extensive experience across various Unilever Group companies in India and abroad. 

Mr. Thomas Matthew

Mr. Thomas Mathew serves as the Executive Director of Joyalukkas Jewelry, one of the pioneering companies behind the Indian jewelry retail sector. The company has an annual turnover of over 30,000 Crore and it operates 178 stores across 12 countries employing close to 10,000 personnels.

Mr. Thomas holds a Master’s Degree in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State University, USA, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from SRM University, Tamil Nadu.

Mr. Thomas has amassed over eight years of experience working with globally reputed organisations such as Apple Inc., GlobalFoundries, and Siemens Energy Inc. During his tenure at Apple, he served as Product Manager for the iPhone team, where he ensured world-class production standards, spearheaded quality initiatives, and resolved complex operational challenges.

In 2024, Mr. Thomas returned to India to lead the operations of Joyalukkas India, focusing on driving innovation, quality, and operational excellence across all facets of the business. His leadership is characterised by a deep commitment to continuous improvement, technological advancement, and sustainable organisational growth.

With a rare blend of technical mastery, strategic insight, and managerial vision, Mr. Thomas Mathew is poised to steer Joyalukkas India into its next phase of expansion and excellence.

Mr. 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  he 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.

Mr. Surendra Mehta

Surendra Mehta is a qualified chartered Accountant from 1988 batch.

He has been appointed as National secretary of 106-year-old association India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA) since 2012. He is also precious metal advisory committee member at IFSCA, Government of India.

He has in-depth knowledge of Gold eco system and has delivered more than 500 lecture on gold policy, Hallmarking, Bullion exchanges etc and gold related regulation.

He is one of key person for giving idea about Gold Monetization Scheme (GMS) and sovereign gold bond (SGB). He is on product advisory committee of all the commodity exchange. He represents Government on behalf of IBJA for all national issue related to Gold. He was key person to get IBJA gold benchmark rates approved with Reserve Bank of India and Ministry of Finance. He regularly features on various media channel to give his candid views on gold. His quotes and write ups in print media are most awaited in jewellery industry. He is said to be master in interpretation of law related to Gold industry. He is also on steering committee of world gold council for setting up of bullion exchange and bullion bank. IBJA has set up its offices in 31 states under his able leadership. He is key person in implementing OECD guidelines for gold industry.

He regularly features on Zee business and CNBC related to gold views.

Thank you.

Prof. Sudipta Sarangi

Department Head and Professor of Economics at Virginia Tech

Pamplin Hall, Virginia Tech Fax: (540) 231-9288

Blacksburg, VA 24061-0316

E-mail: ssarangi@vt.edu

Tel: (540) 231-7981 3016

Prof. Sudipta Sarangi is currently Professor and Head of the Department of Economics at Virginia Tech. He was a Distinguished Professor of Business Administration at Louisiana State University and a Program Director at the National Science Foundation. He spent the 2023-24 academic year at the Collegium de Lyon as a Fellow of the French Institutes for Advanced Study. His research spans network theory, experimental and behavioral economics, and development economics. Prof. Sarangi received his Ph.D. in Economics from Virginia Tech after obtaining his B.A. in Economics from the University of Delhi and his M.A. in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics. 

Prof. Sarangi has consulted for major international organizations, including the World Bank and FAO, and serves on various editorial boards, including journals like Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Public Economic Theory, Oxford Open Economics, and Economic Modelling. One of his most important works is his 2020 Kuznets Prize-winning paper on “ancestral ecological endowments and missing women,” which explores how ecological factors from the past affect current gender differences. He is also the author of The Economics of Small Things, a book written for non-economists that uses commonplace phenomena to explain economics. 

Prof. Sarangi currently serves as a member of the Infosys Prize 2025 in Economics jury, which honors economists who are revolutionizing our understanding of networks, behavior, and development.

Prof. Amar Sapra

Amar Sapra is Professor in the Production and Operations Management area at IIM Bangalore.  He completed PhD at Cornell University and BE at IIT Roorkee. Prior to joining IIM Bangalore, he taught at the University of Florida and Cornell University in the United States.  Outside of IIMB, he was an independent director on the board of Future Supply Chain Solutions Ltd from 2017-23. 

His research interests include Supply Chain Management, Pricing, and Inventory Management. His research has been published in top-tier journals such as Operations Research, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Productions and Operations Management, and Information Systems Research. One of the chapters from his PhD dissertation received the prestigious Best PhD Student Paper Award in Operations Management in 2003, given annually by the Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Society. He serves on the editorial review board of the journal, Production and Operations Management. He has also co-authored a book titled, Principles of Inventory Management: When You Are Down to Four, Order More (published by Springer in 2010). He received an Honorable Mention for Best Published Paper in Scheduling and Logistics Track in IIE Transactions (Journal) during 2013 to 2014 for ‘A Continuous Time Analog to the Martingale Model of Forecast Evolution’.  He regularly contributes to popular media on articles related to operations and supply chain management.

His teaching experience, spanning nearly two decades, includes teaching high-rated courses on Supply Chain Management, Inventory Control, Operations Management, Spreadsheet Analytics, Simulation, and Optimization.

Prof. Saravanan Kesavan

Saravanan Kesavan is Professor of Operations and Dean of the BITS School of Management (BITSoM) in Mumbai, India.

His research examines retail operations with a focus on responsible business practices, labor management, and automation, and has been published in top journals and featured in leading outlets including the New York Times and The Economist. He is the associate editor at Management Science, M&SOM, and POM. He has received numerous teaching awards, including fourteen MBA Teaching All Star awards at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Dr. Kesavan earned his doctorate in Technology and Operations Management from Harvard Business School.

Prof. 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.

Prof. Vinod Singhal

Charles W. Brady Chair

Professor of Operations Management

Georgia Institute of Technology

Scheller College of Business

e-mail:  vinod.singhal@scheller.gatech.edu

http://scheller.gatech.edu/directory/faculty/singhal/index.html

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.

Prof. Anant Mishra

Prof. Anant Mishra is the Director of Research and Professor of Supply Chain at the College of Business & Management, VinUniversity in Hanoi, Vietnam, bringing over more than two decades of academic experience in the US to advancing research and teaching in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.

Prior to this role, he was the Andrew Van de Ven Professor in Supply Chain at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota. His research interests derive from contemporary issues in the areas of innovation, public sector operations, public health supply chains, and emerging markets. His research has been published in leading academic business journals such as Management Science, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Production & Operations Management, and the Journal of Operations Management.

Most recently, he served as Department Editor at Journal of Operations Management, and he is currently a Senior Editor at Production and Operations Management as well as Department Editor at the Decision Sciences Journal. Beyond his editorial responsibilities, he serves as a reviewer for Management Science, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, and Production and Operations Management.

He has worked with and advised companies on a range of supply chain issues (relating to sourcing, production, distribution, and analytics). These companies include Best Buy, Bühler Industries, Cafe Imports, Emerson Electric, General Mills, Heraeus, Len Busch Roses, Lutron Electronics, Medtronic, Polaris, Seeonic, Stratasys, Tokyo Electron, and Winnebago Industries.

On the teaching front, he has designed and taught custom Executive Education courses, Executive MBA courses, MBA/Masters level courses, and Undergraduate courses in Supply Chain, Strategic Sourcing, Project Management, Technology Management, and Business Statistics.

Educational Background

• PhD, Business Administration, University of Minnesota, 2009
• MS, Statistics, University of Minnesota, 2009
• Tech, Industrial Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), 2001

https://vinuni.edu.vn/people/anant-mishra/

Prof. Gireesh Shrimali

Head of Transition Finance Research
Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, University of Oxford

Prof. Gireesh Shrimali is the Head of Transition Finance Research at the Oxford Sustainable Finance Group, University of Oxford, where he leads work on advancing the role of finance in enabling a credible and equitable transition to a net-zero economy. He also serves as the Technical Lead in the Secretariat for the UK Transition Plan Taskforce, established by HM Treasury in 2022.

In addition, Prof. Shrimali is a Visiting Scholar at both the Center for Climate Finance and Investment at Imperial College London and the Singapore Green Finance Center at Singapore Management University. He previously served as Director of the India Program at the Climate Policy Initiative, and as a Research Fellow with the Sustainable Finance Initiative and the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance at Stanford University. His academic experience includes teaching at Johns Hopkins University, Middlebury Institute of International Studies, the Indian School of Business, and the Indian Institute of Management.

Prof. Shrimali’s research explores renewable-energy finance and policy, the catalytic role of capital in achieving net zero, and pathways for mobilizing long-term, low-cost finance for clean-energy transitions. His work also covers ESG and climate-finance issues, including climate-risk measurement and management, net-zero transition strategies, transition bonds, and Scope 3 emissions. His research has provided policy-relevant insights into areas such as India’s renewable-energy policies, U.S. federal and state-level policy impacts on clean-energy deployment, and sustainable business models for off-grid energy in developing economies.

Prof. Shrimali holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University, an M.S. from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, and a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. Before his academic career, he spent over nine years in the technology industry, designing high-speed networking and computing systems.

Prof. Kanti V. Mardia

Professor Kanti V. Mardia, OBE, Senior Research Professor  at the University of Leeds, is a pioneer in multivariate analysis, directional statistics, and shape analysis. His contributions have advanced statistical science and interdisciplinary research worldwide. His honours include the Guy Medal in Silver (RSS), the Wilks Memorial Award (ASA), and the OBE in His Majesty’s New Year Honours List 2023. The Royal Statistical Society  established the annual Mardia Prize in 2016, and the University of Leeds inaugurated the Mardia Triennial Lecture Series in 2024 in recognition of his lasting influence.

Dr. Manas Gaur

Dr. Manas Gaur is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) in the Department of Computer Science, where he directs the Knowledge-infused AI and Inference Lab (KAI²-Lab). Recognized as an AAAI New Faculty Award recipient in 2023, Dr. Gaur has established himself as a pioneering researcher in Neurosymbolic Artificial Intelligence. Dr. Gaur is also authoring an upcoming book on “Knowledge-Infused Learning” with Cambridge University Press, further solidifying his position as a leading voice in trustworthy and explainable artificial intelligence. Before joining academia, Dr. Gaur gained valuable industry experience as a Senior AI Research Scientist at Samsung Research America’s AI Center and served as a Visiting Researcher at the prestigious Alan Turing Institute in the UK. He earned his PhD from the Artificial Intelligence Institute at the University of South Carolina in 2022, where Dr. Amit Sheth advised him after completing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Delhi Technological University in India. Dr. Gaur’s research excellence has been supported by multiple prestigious fellowships, including the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Data Science Fellowship and Dataminr AI for Social Good Fellowship, and his work has earned best paper awards from IEEE Internet Computing and IEEE Intelligent Systems. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the International Semantic Web Conference (ISWC), Associate Editor of ACM Transactions on Computing for Health, Organizer of Workshop on Knowledge-infused Learning, and Advisor to multiple startups in India and the US.

Dr. Rishi Bal

Dr. Rishi Bal is Head of BharatGen. He is an Entrepreneurial product development leader with a deep technical background. Experience building industry-leading products & teams in SaaS, AI, search, advertising & privacy. Led development of products from concept to over a billion dollars in revenue.

Dr. Shantanu Shankar Bagchi

Dr. Shantanu Shankar Bagchi is a seasoned expert in Operations Research and Supply Chain Engineering, currently serving as a Senior Member of Technical Staff at Micron Technology, Inc. With over 17 years of experience in mathematical modeling, simulations, and business research, he has consistently driven innovation and efficiency across academic and industrial domains.

Dr. Bagchi holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research from IFHE University, where his thesis focused on optimal ordering policies under stochastic demand and supply. He also earned an M.Sc. in Physics from Satyendra Nath Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences and a B.Sc. in Physics from the University of Calcutta.

His career spans roles in academia and industry, including faculty positions at IMT Hyderabad and IBS Hyderabad, and a research stint at the University of Toledo, Ohio. At Micron, he has led and contributed to high-impact projects in capacity planning, materials optimization, subcontractor strategy, and production allocation.

Dr. Bagchi has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and authored several case studies for Ivey Publishing and The Case Centre. His areas of expertise include stochastic modeling, multi-criteria decision making, predictive analytics, and supply chain optimization.

Prof. Julien Cayla

Julien Cayla is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Nanyang Business School. Professor Cayla is passionate about bringing anthropological theories and methods to study market phenomena. His work has been published in outlets such as the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Marketing, Organization Studies and Sloan Management Review. His research has been featured in a range of media outlets such The Atlantic, the BBC and Channel News Asia. Professor Cayla is also the founder of the Consumer Culture Lab (https://cclab.iimu.ac.in/). He is currently serving his second term as Associate Editor of the Journal of Consumer Research.

Dr. Kushagra Bhatnagar

Dr. Kushagra Bhatnagar , Assistant Professor of Marketing at Aalto University School of Business. Kushagra’s research examines marketplace frictions – how consumers and organizations navigate social, cultural, and emotional complexity and vulnerability. He draws on concepts from sociology and anthropology to make sense of these frictions in contexts such as AI-fication of care, the construction of luxury hospitality, and smart self-tracking wearables. He has been recognized as Aalto University School of Business’ Researcher of the Year 2023-24. He has taught in Aalto’s Executive MBA programs in Korea and Taiwan and has been a visiting scholar at leading business schools in Europe and Asia. Before joining academia, he worked as a brand strategist and consultant, leveraging cultural anthropology approaches to solve marketing and business challenges.

Prof. Reetika Gupta

Reetika Gupta is an Associate Professor at the Department of Marketing, ESSEC Business School and is currently serving as Deputy Dean (APAC). Her cross-functional research interests span across both marketing and information systems and she has published in the Management Information Systems Quarterly, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Business Ethics and Journal of Business Research. She has served as the Editor-in-chief of the Journal of Consumer Marketing. 

Dr. Minu Kumar

Minu Kumar is a Professor of Marketing at San Francisco State University (SFSU) and is the Co-editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Product Innovation Management (ABS 4, A* ABDC Journal). JPIM is owned by the Product Development Management Association (PDMA). He has served the JPIM-PDMA community in various roles such as Associate Editor and Academic Vice-President among others. At SFSU he is also the Founder-Director of the Responsible Innovation and Entrepreneurship (RI&E) Research Initiatives . He earned a Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy, a Masters in Business Administration (Concentration in Pharmaceutical Marketing, 2002) and a Ph.D. in Marketing. Professor Kumar has published in journals such as the Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Consumer Psychology, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Product Innovation Management among others in the areas of Innovation, New Product Design & Development, and Entrepreneurship. His academic entrepreneurship work has directly helped the university raise several millions of dollars for I&E programs (See news article: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/SFSU-says-25M-crypto-gift-is…). He has also worked for or consulted with firms such as Barilla, SAP, Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals, Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Schering Plough Pharmaceuticals, Medtronic, Glaxo Smithkline, among others on product design & development, sales, and marketing projects.

Prof. Sankar Sen

Sankar Sen is the Lawrence and Carol Zicklin Chair in Corporate Integrity and Governance, and professor of Marketing at Baruch College/City University of New York.  Sen received his PhD from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and has held full time or visiting positions at Temple University, New York University, Boston University, and the Sasin School of Management at Chulalongkorn University.

Sen’s primary research interest lie at the intersection of CSR/sustainability and consumer behavior. In particular, he investigates when, how and why consumers and employees respond to companies’ sustainability/ corporate social responsibility endeavors. Sen is also interested, more generally, in prosocial behaviors, social marketing, and moral perspectives on consumption behavior. Sen’s research has appeared in both academic and practitioner journals. He has consulted with numerous companies and his research has been cited in various media outlets. He has presented his research in academic, company and industry forums all over the world, and his book, Leveraging Corporate Responsibility: The Stakeholder Route to Maximizing Business and Social Value, was published by Cambridge University Press.  

Sen is an associate editor at the Journal of Consumer Psychology, and serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, and Academy of Marketing Science Review. Sen teaches at the undergraduate, MBA/MS, Executive MBA/MS and PhD levels.

Dr. Shekhar Misra

Dr. Shekhar Misra is currently a professor at the University of Galway, Ireland. He previously served as a professor at Grenoble École de Management in France. Dr. Misra earned his Ph.D. in Marketing from Indiana University, USA. His research adopts a multidisciplinary approach, integrating perspectives from marketing, organizational behaviour, and economics. With extensive experience in the corporate world, Dr. Misra is deeply committed to addressing managerially relevant and substantive marketing questions through rigorous empirical analysis and advanced econometric methodologies.

An internationally recognized scholar, Dr. Misra’s primary research interests include upper echelons research in marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), along with related areas such as green innovation. His work has been published in several top-tier marketing and management journals, including the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS), the International Journal of Research in Marketing (IJRM), the Journal of Product Innovation Management (JPIM), and Industrial Marketing Management (IMM).

Dr. Misra has presented his research at major academic conferences such as the American Marketing Association (AMA) and the European Marketing Academy (EMAC) conferences. His research has also been featured in prominent business outlets such as the Harvard Business Review and Fortune. He currently serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Business Research, overseeing its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) track.

Dr. Shilpa Madan

Shilpa Madan is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University. Prior to this, she was a faculty member at Virginia Tech, USA, and a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Columbia Business School, New York. Shilpa aspires to use consumer behavior research to help people live better, more fulfilling, and more sustainable lives.

Shilpa’s work has implications for sustainable living, consumer well-being, and public policy. Her research has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of International Business Studies, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Psychological Science, Journal of Consumer Psychology, and Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, among others.

Shilpa enjoys writing for a wide audience and her articles have appeared in various practitioner oriented and popular press outlets such as the MIT Sloan Management Review, Harvard Business Review, Stanford Social Innovation Review, WARC, Behavioral Scientist, and others.

Before her PhD, she has a decade of corporate experience in consumer products organizations (Unilever and Castrol/BP), in which she held both national-level and global-level marketing roles across multiple developing and developed markets.

Please visit her website, www.shilpamadan.com, to know more.

Dr. Tripat Gill

Dr. Tripat Gill is an Associate Professor of Marketing and the Laurier Research Chair in Consumer Insights and Innovation at Wilfrid Laurier University (Waterloo, ON, Canada). He has been a Marketing faculty for more than 20 years in leading universities in Canada and U.S.A. He has also been visiting faculty in universities in Australia, Netherlands and India.

Dr. Gill does research in the domains of innovation, technology marketing, artificial intelligence, consumer behavior, brand management and the applications of evolutionary psychology in marketing. He has been awarded research grants for over $1.50 million from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and the Marketing Science Institute (Boston, USA). 

Dr. Gill has published his research in leading journals in Marketing (including the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Business Research, Psychology & Marketing, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, and Marketing Letters), and in journals of other associated disciplines (including the European Journal of Innovation Management, Journal of Service Theory & Practice, Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, Journal of Social Psychology, Evolution and Human Behavior, Applied Economics Letters and Ethics and Information Technology, and Nature Human Behavior.