Dr. Amit Kapoor

Dr. Amit Kapoor is Professor of Strategy and Industrial Economics at Management Development Institute; Honorary Chairman at Institute for Competitiveness studying firms, clusters and economies; India Commissioner for the Competitiveness Institute, Sloan Affiliate; and member of the Collective. He is an affiliate faculty for the Microeconomics of Competitiveness course of Institute of Strategy and Competitiveness, Harvard Business School. He offers the course at Management Development Institute, Gurgaon. Prior to his appointment with MDI, Gurgaon he was with IIM, Lucknow and has also been the Chief Economist with Datamonitor PLC. He is a Ph.D. in Industrial Economics and Business Strategy and an accomplished academician and has received the ESSID Scholarship and MIT DCA Scholarship. Amit has been a faculty and consultant in the domain of strategy, innovation and competitiveness. He is a Ruth Greene Memorial Award winner for writing the best case of the year, by North American Case Research Association (NACRA). He has been invited by Kennedy School of Government & Harvard Law School, Harvard University; World Economic Forum at its India Economic Summit and Asia Summit to present his views on various issues and themes like strategy, outsourcing and economic development. In all he has been a speaker at over 50 industry forums, international conferences and events across the globe. He has been a resource for journalists and expert committees. He has made contemporary contribution towards thought on dynamics of evolution of firms and impact of regulation on the performance of firms. His research interest lies in the fields of Enhancing Competitiveness, Competitive Advantage and Leveraging Technology for Success. He is the author of India City Competitiveness Report and India State Competitiveness Report. In addition he has written numerous cases, memos, reports, articles in academic journals and popular media publications like Images Retail, Outlook Business, Realty Plus, Economic Times, Business Standard, Hindu Business Line etc. He has worked with organizations like Intel, PepsiCo, Airtel during his consulting assignments.

Anurag Batra

Anurag Batra is an entrepreneur, media observer and a journalist rolled into one. Batra is a B. Tech in Computer Sciences, a degree, which he acquired before joining Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon, one of India’s leading Business School. Batra is the Managing Director and Editor-in-Chief of exchange4media group which includes exchange4media.com, PITCH, IMPACT, Realty Plus and Franchise Plus.In 2006 the prestigious Management Development Institute (MDI) and Batra’s Alma matter awarded Batra the “Most Distinguished Alumni of the Decade Award”. Anurag Batra is also a member of the Sales & Marketing committee of the Delhi Management Association and President of the Franchising Association of India, Northern chapter. Batra is passionate about Magazines and is on the Executive Committee of the Association of Indian Magazines (AIM). Batra wants to give back to the industry and his love for teaching comes into play in his position as the Chairman of the Advisory Board of FMCC (Futuristic Media Communication Centre), a leading Media and Communication School in India.

Dr. Christian Kettels

Dr. Christian Ketels is a member of the Harvard Business School faculty at Professor Michael E. Porter’s Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness. He holds a PhD (Econ) from the London School of Economics and further degrees from the Kiel Institute for World Economics and Cologne University. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the Stockholm School of Economics and Director of The Competitiveness Institute (TCI), a global network of professionals interested in competitiveness and cluster development. Dr. Ketels has led cluster and competitiveness projects in many parts of the world, has written widely on economic policy issues, and is a frequent speaker on competitiveness and strategy in Europe, North America, and Asia. Dr. Ketels currently serves on the advisory boards of The Baltic Development Forum, the Center for Strategy and Competitiveness at the Universidad de los Andes, ORKESTRA The Basque Competitiveness Institute, the academic advisory council of Invest in Sweden Agency, is a special advisor to the Asia Competitiveness Institute, is a member of the selection committee for the Spitzencluster-Initiative launched by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany), and is a member of the European Commissions’s European Cluster Policy Group.

Ifor Ffowcs-Williams

He Is recognised globally as a leader in the development of clusters: Training economic development professionals in the process of cluster development; The start-up and review of cluster, innovation and competitiveness programmes; Establishing local cluster development initiatives; Leading cluster workshops; Speaking at economic development conferences on five continents. Global client base includes World Bank, IFC, OECD, UNIDO, Commonwealth Secretariat, Swedish Aid Programme (Sida/SAREC), US Aid and New Zealand Aid. Also national, regional and local economic development agencies across Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Botswana, Cambodia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Iceland, India, Ireland, Kenya, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mozambique, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad, U.A.E., Uganda, USA, Wales … His Specialties are Introducing the relevance of cluster based economic development and presenting interactive cluster training workshops.He is a frequent presenter at competitiveness and economic development conferences. He is thefounder and Past President of The Competitiveness Institute (Barcelona, Spain), the global organisation for cluster practitioners. He is on the board of Advisors of Pan African Competitiveness Forum.Ifor is a Founder and Past President of The Competitiveness Institute (Barcelona, Spain) and currently a member of the Advisory Board. TCI is the global organisation for those with an interest in cluster based economic development. He has served as New Zealand Vice President, Australia New Zealand Regional Science Association International (ANZRSA)

M Muneer

He is a leading management consultant and author based in India and Dubai. He has over 20 years of management experience having worked across industries and countries. He has worked with GE, Ford, Saatchi, and Lowe before moving on to setting up his own companies. He is a serial entrepreneur having set up two companies in the knowledge management and consulting space. He is also in the process of setting up two major institutes, one for innovation to drive grassroots innovation and the other to mentor leaders. He has written several highly popular management columns across India and the Middle East in the areas of marketing and services. The publications include The Economic Times, Khaleej Times, Business Today, The Hindu Business Line, Financial Express, Business World and many others. He has written two books in English and 7 in regional languages, the latest being Capitalising on Customers. He is currently working on two books, one on Measure Marketing and the other on Strategy Execution. He is also planning a major column on execution leadership. He has spearheaded India Inc’s global foray through a major tie up with India’s leading industry body, the Confederation of Indian Industries, with the CII-CustomerLab India Scorecard Initiative. He is also working with the Government of India on a SME Scorecard Initiative to help small and medium businesses in India achieve execution excellence. He has been advocating the use of BSC and other tools in government to the President, Prime Minister, Finance Minister and several Chief Ministers in India to accelerate the country’s economic growth, improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its governing bodies, and enhance its global stature.

Prem Puri

He carries a rich thirty-five years experience with International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) in the following Responsibility areas:

• Worldwide Director of Solutions for the Distribution sector: Distribution Sector covered three Industries. The Consumer Goods Manufacturing, Travel and Transportation (All modes) and the Retail Industry
• Director of Transportation Industry Sector (Europe Middle East & Africa): Responsible for IBM’s business in Travel and Transportation business in the above geographies. Deeply involved with the changing model of Global Supply Chain Networks and the transformation of Freight and Third Party Logistics Industry as well as the Railways and Airlines.
• Director of European Supply Chain Management Unit:: Responsible for implementing leading edge supply Chain Management Solutions in all Industries. Managed a group of SCM Consultants and Supply Chain Software Experts in various European countries

Sandeep Mann

His key domain is Competitiveness of firms, industries and the BRICS city/state economies. He has witnessed global strategy of many Fortune 500 firms from close quarters, facilitating Mergers and Acquisitions, besides anchoring a multitude of SMEs. He facilitates Foreign Direct Investment flow into specific sectors and specific locations across various Economic Zones. He gives COO and Projects leadership to many firms. His intuitive sense coupled with application of advanced econometric methodologies lends a unique rigor to his analyses. He runs a parallel corporate advisory practice across C-Suite placements and mentoring board members. He has placed 400+ VPs/ CXOs over multiple industries, an experience that endows him with hands-on business perspectives. He supports initiatives furthering board diversity, sustainable private sector development and life-long learning. Executive Coaching and Mentoring at Board level is his prime engagement these days. He is fun to talk to, as he throws numerous thought triggers, all sharp and incisive. He is a BTech, an MBA, is PMP certified and is a Law graduate. He is Founder-Mentor of  OTG – Off the Grid B-School, a school focused on strategy and innovation programs.

Sanjay Verma

As the Executive Managing Director, South Asia, Cushman & Wakefield, Sanjay overlooks operations in South Asia, including New Zealand and Australia. As part of the senior Asian leadership team, he plays an important role in increasing the company’s market share within the region and is responsible for assessing expansion opportunities in other emerging markets; thereby enabling integrated service reach and widened delivery to clients. Sanjay continues to focus on the expansion of the highly successful India operations by way of both organic and acquisitions led growth and evaluate several opportunities enhancing service delivery capabilities and reach. He has been a vociferous proponent of the people having the habit of raising hand, and saying, ‘I will do it’.  People are to be never scared; rather are always to be the first to speak and act. He has exhorted all to foremost have a personal value system; to be known for this personal value system.

Santhosh Babu

Santhosh started Training Alternatives and steered the journey to ODA; he is now focusing on supporting growth and transformation of organisations and communities. In the past he worked in Education, Psychology and Ecology related professions before starting Training Alternatives. He focuses on Transformations related projects, Leadership development and CEO coaching. He looks at organizations as ecological systems and help you understand hidden inter connections within your organization. System Behaviour, Large group interventions tools like Appreciative Inquiry and Future Search, Deconstructionist approach and mindset change techniques are the tools that he likes and uses depending upon the nature of the intervention. He has done interventions for Airtel, Sterlite Group, Microsoft, Ranbaxy, Deustche Bank, Maruti, Hewitt, VST, etc and been a keynote speaker for large number of sales conferences. His articles have been published in the Financial Express, Economic Times, Business Standard, DNA and Hindustan Times. In his pastime he does a mass hypnosis show in IITs and IIMs for their festivals. Teaching students in a primary school in Bhutan, Training Dogs, designing and conducting environmental education camps in the wilderness are some of the things he did other than Organisation Development Interventions. Art, Literature and Deep Ecology are subjects that he loves to discuss while he has a few drinks.

Ram S Jakhu

Professor Jakhu teaches and conducts research in international space law, law of space applications, law of space commercialization, government regulation of space activities, law of telecommunications and Canadian communications law, and public international law.

He is the managing editor of Space Regulations Library Series, a member of the Editorial Boards of the Annals of Air and Space Law and of the Utrecht Series in Air and Space Law, a member of the Board of the International Institute of the Space Law International Astronautical Federation, and the Chairman of the Legal and Regulatory Committee of International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety.