Team

Board of Directors  

Arun Shourie is among India's best known commentators on current and political affairs. Among other portfolios, he held the office of Cabinet Minister of Disinvestment, Communications and Information Technology, India. The Indian Express ranked him as the 38th most powerful Indian in 2010.              

He was acclaimed as a “Star of Asia” by Business Week in 2002. He was also acclaimed as “The Business Leader of the Year” by The Economic Times jury, for his pioneering and dogged work on privatization. In a poll of Indian CEOs, he was acclaimed as “The Most-outstanding Minister” of Mr. Vajpayee’s Government. He is the recipient of numerous national and international awards, including the Magsaysay Award, and one of India’s highest civilian awards, the Padma Bhushan.

Mr. Shourie was an economist with the World Bank, and Editor of the Indian Express. He is widely regarded as the initiator of Investigative Journalism in India. The International Press Institute, Vienna, acclaimed him as one of 50 “World Press Freedom Heroes” whose work has sustained freedom of the press in the last half-century. 

He has written 24 books on a variety of topics ranging from constitutional law, modern Indian history, religious fundamentalism, governance in India, to national security. His latest book, Are We Deceiving Ourselves Again?, on India’s China-policy, was released in October 2008. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Syracuse University, USA, and a Bachelors degree from St. Stephen's College, Delhi. 

Binod Kumar Bawri is a leading intellectual, visionary, and entrepreneur in India. He is the pioneer of industrialization in North-East India. For over forty years he has dedicated himself to the economic and social enhancement of North -East India. His efforts have resulted in uplifting the lives of thousands of people from economically challenged backgrounds.  

He is the Founder and the Chairman of Calcom Cement, the largest private-sector enterprise in North-East India. Calcom provides direct and indirect employment to over 25, 000 people annually. Mr. Bawri has over thirty years of experience in the cement industry, and forty years of business experience in manufacturing. At the age of twenty-one he set up one of the first manufacturing industries in North-East India. 

He is the Founder of 'Ideopedia', an organization that disseminates cutting-edge information and ideas to over five thousand of India's 'top influencers'. The readers, India's top brass, are leading policy makers and opinion makers.  

He is the Founder of the Jamuna Devi Saraswati School, Assam. A large number of  impoverished children have availed of  free education at the school. He is the founder of My Home India, a non-profit initiative that helps integrate children from North-East India, into mainstream society in India's metropolitan cities. He is the Promoter of an eye-hospital in Meghalaya. Mr. Bawri's father was a freedom-fighter who worked closely with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. In the 1930's, his father was a delegate of the Tripura Congress from Assam.

He is a distinguished Rotarian and Past President, Rotary Club, Shillong. During his Presidency, he organized the '1984 Walkathon'. Mother Teresa proudly participated in the Walkathon. He is a Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary Foundation. He helped extensively promote the SPIC-MACAY Foundation. As part of his SPIC-MACAY initiatives, he hosted national maestros like Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia, amongst others. He holds a Bachelors degree in Economics, from St. Anthony's College, Shillong.

Krishnan Srinivasan is an Indian diplomat, scholar, and the former Foreign Secretary of India. As Foreign Secretary, he was the functional Head of the Indian Foreign Ministry, and the highest ranking diplomat in the country. From 1995 - 2002, he was also the Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations in London.

He was also the Indian Ambassador/ High Commissioner to Zambia and Botswana, Nigeria, Benin and Cameroun, the Netherlands and Bangladesh. He is a member of Christ Church Oxford's Senior Common Room and High Table. From 2002 - 2005 he was a Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, and a Fellow of the Centre for International Studies, Cambridge

From 2002 - 2008 he was a Fellow of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London. From 2003 - 2004 he was a Fellow of the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Studies. From 2006 on he has been a Fellow of the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Kolkata, India. In 2008 he was a Fellow of the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study, Uppsala, Sweden. In 2005 he was elected Honorary Professor at ASCI, Hyderabad, India. In 2002 he was awarded a Hind Ratna. In 2007 he was made a Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Valeur, Cameroon.

He has been featured in The International Who's Who, 2008, a publication that provides hard-to-find biographical details for over 20,000 of the world's most prominent and influential personalities, from heads of state to sporting greats. He has written four nonfiction books, and three fiction books. He was educated at Bedford School, and at Oxford University.  

Advisory Board 

Marian Chertow is an Associate Professor and Director, Industrial Environmental Management, Program on Solid Waste Policy, Yale University. Professor Chertow has been Director of the Industrial Environmental Management Program at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies since 1991.

Professor Chertow’s research and teaching span the study of industrial ecology, business/environment  issues,  waste management, and environmental technology innovation. Her primary research projects are the study of industrial symbiosis involving geographically based exchanges of wastes, materials, energy, and water within networks of businesses in the US, China, and India; and a multi-year study to assess long-term resource sustainability questions on Hawai’i Island. 

 
Prior to Yale, Professor Chertow spent ten years in environmental business and state and local government including service as President, Connecticut Sources Recovery Authority, charged with developing a billion dollar waste infrastructure system for the state. She is a frequent international lecturer and has testified on waste, recycling and other environmental issues before committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Professor Chertow is on the editorial board of BioCycle Magazine; the Journal of Industrial Ecology; the Council of the International Society of Industrial Ecology; the Advisory Board of Soltage, Inc; and is a Founding Member,  Energy and Environment Thought Leaders Council, Duke Energy Corporation.  She serves on the founding faculty of the Environmental Management Program, National University of Singapore; and she is a Visiting Professor, Nankai University National Center for Innovation Research on Circular Economy, China. She holds a B.A. from Columbia University and an M.P.P.M., Ph.D., from Yale University.

Dr. S.V. Mahadevan is an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine/Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. He has taught there since 1999.  He is Associate Chief Division of Emergency Medicine and the Emergency Department Medical Director,  Stanford University Medical Center. Dr. Mahadevan is director of Stanford Emergency Medicine International. He co-directs the International Emergency Medicine Fellowship at Stanford.

He has written, traveled, and taught widely, presenting over 250 invited lectures worldwide and authoring over 80 journal articles, book chapters, and multimedia publications in the last ten years. Dr. Mahadevan has spent time teaching emergency medicine in West Africa, Egypt, China, Thailand, Jamaica, Nepal, Ethiopia and India. He was instrumental in setting up India's first paramedic training institute in Hyderabad, India, in 2007. His interests include medical education, trauma care, pre-hospital care, and international emergency medicine.

He is lead editor of the textbook, An Introduction to Clinical Emergency Medicine, which was awarded the 2006 American Medical Writers Association Award: Physicians Category. Dr. Mahadevan is a distinguished educator and has received numerous teaching awards including the Council of Residency Directors, National Faculty Teaching Award (2003), the Stanford Emergency Medicine Resident Bedside Teaching Award (2002-2003), the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Scientific Assembly Rookie Speaker of the Year Award (2004-2005) and the ACEP Scientific Assembly Outstanding Speaker of the Year Award (2006-2007) Honorable Mention.

 

M. R. (Madhavan) Rangaswami is a software executive, investor, entrepreneur, corporate eco-strategy expert, community builder and philanthropist. Recognized as a software business expert, he participated in the rapid expansion of the Silicon Valley software industry during his tenure as an executive at both large and small software companies.

He has been a strategic advisor to several fast-growing companies in Silicon Valley. In 2007, he founded the Corporate Eco Forum, an organization which aims to improve the ROI of eco-strategies at Global 500 companies. The Forum authors a series of research reports on corporate sustainability and publishes The EcoInnovator, which aggregates eco-business news and opinions. 

In 1997, he co-founded Sand Hill Group, a software consulting and investment group. The firm was one of the earliest “angel” investment firms in Silicon Valley. In 1997, he co-founded the SHG Foundation, a fund devoted to enabling U.S.-based non-profit organizations improve the lives of low-income women and children worldwide. He has held global VP marketing positions at Baan Company, Avalon Software, and Oracle Corporation. He was profiled on the front page of the Wall Street Journal and has been named in Forbes' "Midas 100 List" as one of the most influential investors in technology. He holds an MBA from Kent State University and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Madras.

Steering Committee

Ritesh Bawri is the Founder of Think India.  He is the Managing Director of Calcom Cement. He has spent the last seven years building and running cement plants in East India. He was the founder of Cijen, an analytics and software company based out of California. Ritesh is the President of the University of Michigan Indian Alumni Association. He is a part of the Steering Committee that organized the first India Business Conference at the University of Michigan, Ross School of Business. He has actively promoted the culture of North-East India through art. His company designs an annual calendar that showcases unique aspects of the region, like Historic Monuments, Ethnic Sports, etc. One of the calendars was launched by Dr. A.P.J. Kalam, Former President of India. Ritesh is on the Board of several charitable organizations. He is President,  Rotary Club, East Kolkata and a Paul Harris Fellow.  He has a patent pending in the United States. He holds an MBA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, and a Bachelors degree in Economics, from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai.

Malvika Bawri is the Co-Founder and President of Think India. She is the Founder of a software startup. She is the Founder of 'Ideopedia', an organization that disseminates cutting-edge information and ideas to over five thousand of India's 'top influencers'. The readers, India's top brass, are leading policy makers and opinion makers. She runs an antiquarian business. She was the CSO of the BK Group, India. She was the Co-Founder of Cijen, an analytics and software company based out of California. She has a patent pending in the United States. She used to design high-fashion limited edition handbags that infused fashion with art. She has been designing high-fashion apparel since the age of sixteen. Her other interests include writing, image styling, art, yoga, and hiking. She holds an MBA from Pepperdine University, USA.

Seema Gururaj is a part of Think India's Steering Committee. Seema is a non-profit strategy consultant and a social entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. She promotes 'Design Thinking' which is the process of visualizing what might be, to seek new and innovative solutions that has helped solve key issues for her clients. She co-founded Asian Professional Women in Technology [APWT] in 2007. APWT is a 600+ members, networking and collaboration organization based in Silicon Valley. APWT enables women in technology and in business, share experiences, insights and ideas. APWT has helped foster greater professional success for many of its members. Seema was formerly a Lead User Interface Developer with a focus on User Centered Design at IBM for 7 years. She won the IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement and the IBM Invention Achievement Awards. She has a patent pending and several publications to her credit. She holds an MS from Syracuse University, New York.