Steering Committee

Mr. Kris Gopalalakrishnan

Chairman – Axilor Ventures, Co-founder and former CEO – Infosys

Mr. ‘Kris’ Gopalakrishnan served as the Vice Chairman of Infosys from 2011 to 2014, and as its CEO & MD from 2007 to 2011, and is one of the co-founders of Infosys.

Recognised as a global business and technology thought leader, he was voted the top CEO (IT services category) in Institutional Investor’s inaugural ranking of Asia’s Top Executives. He was selected as one of the winners of the 2nd Asian Corporate Director Recognition Awards by Corporate Governance Asia in 2011. In 2009, Kris was also selected to Thinkers 50, an elite list of global business thinkers. He was elected President of CII, India’s apex industry chamber during 2013 – 14, and served as one of the co-chairs of the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, 2014. In January 2011, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan, the country’s third highest civilian honour.

He serves on the Board of Governors of IIT Madras, and IIM Bangalore. He is the Chairman of the Board of Governors of IIIT Bangalore, and is also on the Board of Trustees of the Chennai Mathematical Institute. Kris holds a master’s degrees in physics and computer science from IIT Madras.

Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi

Director – IIT Madras

Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi joined the faculty of IIT Madras, his alma mater in 1986. He took over as Director, IIT Madras in September 2011.

Prof. Ramamurthi’s areas of specialisation are communications and signal processing. His research work is in wireless networks, modulation, wireless data, and audio and video compression. He was awarded the University of California Regents Fellowship during his doctoral studies. He is a founding member of the TeNeT group of IIT Madras, active in developing telecom and networking technologies, and incubating companies to develop and market products based on these.

He is currently also honorary Director of the Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology, a public-private initiative at the IIT-M Research Park to make India a wireless technology leader.

Prof. Ramamurthi is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, and of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He is also an Honorary Fellow of the International Medical Sciences Academy. He was awarded the Vasvik Award for Electronic Sciences and Technology for the year 2000, the Tamil Nadu Scientist Award for Engineering and Technology for the year 2003 and the India Semiconductor Association TechnoVisionary Award for the year 2011 and the Doyens of Madras Award for the year 2014.

He has a B. Tech degree in Electronics from IIT Madras in 1980 and has done his M.S. and Ph. D in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara, in 1982 and 1985 respectively.

Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala

Institute Professor – IIT Madras

Dr. Jhunjhunwala is considered the pioneer in nurturing Industry-Academia interaction in India towards R&D, Innovation and Product Development. TIE conferred upon him the title of Dronacharya for his contributions to the cause of entrepreneurship, as he incubated and nurtured over 100 companies at IIT Madras. He heads the IITM Incubation Cell and Rural Technology and Business Incubator (RTBI). He founded and had been leading the Telecommunications and Computer Networks group (TeNeT), and has also conceived and built the first Research Park (IIT Madras Research Park) in India. Dr. Jhunjhunwala has been Chairman and member of various government committees and has been on Boards of several education institutions in the country. He was a Director on the Board of State Bank of India, Bharat Electronics, HTL, NRDC, IDRBT, VSNL and BSNL. Currently he is a Board member of Tata Communications, Mahindra Rewa, Sasken, Tejas Networks, TTML, Intellect, Exicom, BIRAC and Chairman of Technology Advisory Group of SEBI.

He was the founder chairman of Mobile Payment Forum of India, member of Kakodkar committee on IITs and NITs, review committee of AICTE, and has been a chair of a MHRD committee on Quality Enhancement in Engineering Education.

Dr. Jhunjhunwala was conferred the Padma Shri in 2002, Shanti-Swarup Bhatnagar Award, Vikram Sarabhai Research Award, H. K. Firodia Award, Silicon India Leadership Award, Millennium Medal at Indian Science Congress, UGC Hari Om Ashram Award, IETE, Ram Lala Wadhwa Gold Medal, JC Bose fellowship, Bernard Low Humanitarian Award and many more. He is fellow of IEEE, INSA, NAS, IAS, INAE and WWRF. He has also been conferred an Honorary Doctorate by University of Maine and Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden.

R. RAGHUTTAMA RAO

CEO

R. Raghuttama Rao, fondly called Raghu, is the Chief Executive Officer of GDC. Former Chief Mentor of ICRA, a credit rating and analytical firm in South Asia and a subsidiary of Moody’s, his last executive role was as MD & CEO of IMaCS. IMaCS is a management consulting business founded by him as a subsidiary of ICRA, which has an operating footprint in over 20 countries.

He was a member of ICRA’s start-up team in 1991 and has helped developed many areas of ICRA, including credit rating, management consulting, analytics, IT and research. Raghu has wide consulting experience in areas of public policy, risk, strategy and capacity building. Prior to ICRA, Raghu has also worked with Larsen & Toubro Limited and Maruti Suzuki Limited.

Raghu has a post graduate diploma in management from IIM Ahmedabad and is a Bachelor of Technology in M.E from IIT Madras. He is a qualified management accountant and was a Fulbright scholar at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA.

RAJIV JAIN

Chief Operating Officer

Rajiv has been known for wearing many hats through the span of his professional career. For over three decades, Rajiv has played diverse roles as a business leader, start-up mentor and performance coach with leading Indian and international corporates in solar modules, telecom & power BOP products, tyres, textiles and paints industries. He has served as a Managing Director, Chief Operating Officer and Profit Centre Head among his numerous roles. Rajiv built his functional competencies in the early stages of his career in Business Strategy, Human Resources, Business Development, Marketing, Project Management, Setting up New Businesses, Cross-border Partnerships and Technology Transfers. As part of a sabbatical break, Rajiv also devoted a year heading a USAID South-South cooperation project focussed on farmers in Kenya, Malawi and India.

Rajiv’s mantra for business outcomes is partnering with C-suite teams for proper goal setting, building result-oriented & culturally aligned teams, strengthening management systems & business processes and working at grassroot level to strengthen communication and engagement.

Rajiv did his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad and graduation from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi. He is a TQM champion (certified by JUSE, Japan), Business Excellence Assessor (certified by CII – Institute of Quality), LEAN Start-up trainer (certified by GDC – IIT Madras), Development Centre Assessor (trained by SHL) and an NLP trained Performance Coach. Rajiv has also undergone extensive training in Managing Grants & International Cooperative Agreements.

Rajiv’s love for travel and exploration has taken him to over 35 countries, and even inspired him to work in Bangladesh and Indonesia for extended periods — adding depth and flavour to his cross-cultural and global business learnings. He is associated with various not-for-profits in fields of mental disabilities, youth mentoring and helping marginalized women. His hobbies of fitness, long distance running, meditation and adventure travel are his ways of challenging himself on his personal growth journey to create value for businesses and society.

ANAND KV

Chief Learning Officer

KV has a deep understanding of innovation and entrepreneurship, the start-up ecosystem in India, and training and coaching methods. In his earlier avatar, he was a Senior Business Leader in pay television, cable, broadband and e-commerce industries. He was a member of the founding team and has served as the Chief Service Officer of Tata Sky Ltd. He played a pivotal role in implementing revenue management and customer experience strategies, systems, policies and processes at Hathway Cable & Datacomm Ltd. during its digitalization as the President of Digital Platforms. KV designed and created the Customer Experience Blueprint at Flipkart as its Senior Vice President. Prior to these assignments in India, he spent several years in the Middle East and Hong Kong with STAR TV in numerous leadership roles and a short stint at BSkyB in the United Kingdom.

Post his corporate career, he has been working with the Deshpande Foundation (Hubli), and several other accelerators in India in designing and delivering programs for start-ups. He was appointed as a Consultant and Chief Mentor for Youth Co:Lab India in 2020, an initiative by UNDP and Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), India. KV also coaches and mentors Change Makers, Social Entrepreneurs and Fellows of a leadership programme for aspiring young Women Leaders.

KV is a Cost and Management Accountant by education (CMA), a Professional Certified Coach (ICF), certified MBTI and Strong Interest Inventory professional and an NLP practitioner.

THRIVENI P

Lead Program Manager, GDC

Thriveni has been an integral part of GDC for over two years. With her extensive industry experience, she develops optimal solutions to create enhanced value to her clients. Her enthusiasm to learn, adapt and grow has led her to be ahead of the curve.

Thriveni has garnered rich expansive of over 14 years in software product design & development at renowned IT firms such as Wipro, HP (Austin Texas), Fitech Systems, Washington State University, Maryland State Archives, and Micros at Columbia, Maryland.

Beyond her work commitments, Thriveni has shouldered vital responsibilities as a senior software consultant at Uniphore Systems at IITM Research Park. She has also volunteered at PALS (Pan-IIT Alumni Leadership Series), Chennai as a core team member.

Thriveni has graduated with a B.E (Computer Science & Engineering) from College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna University. She has won the Gold Medal for securing the highest CGPA in her batch.

When she is not busy being a software engineer, she loves to read her favourite authors and unwind with a walk. She also nurtures her interests in Yoga and acupuncture therapy.

Surya Kumari K.

Program Manager

Hailing from the education industry, Surya Kumari K has 4+ years of experience, working as the admission counsellor at IB World School. Being a global educator has widely expanded Surya’s scope of exposure, helping her inculcate similar values in her work.

Over the years, Surya has carefully invested in an array of skill sets. The same include database management as well as time and team management. Surya’s strong communication skills and the ability to be a good orator, give her an edge over many of her colleagues. Her robust decision-making skills and the ability to organize efficiently go a long way in helping her achieves her goals. In addition to this, Surya’s exceptional ability to offer valuable counselling makes her a great addition to any organization.

Popular for generating leads through various available sources, helps Surya’s cause of active marketing. Her expertise lies in talking to corporates, making her home brand more visible than ever before. Besides active curriculum briefing and counselling for new admissions, Surya also helps in following up for fee payments and works closely with the finance team. She is certainly the best person for addressing queries and hand-holding foreign national registrations. Coordinating with the management, aiding orientation sessions, documenting new student files and organising field trips and career counselling fairs are some of the functions she most efficiently performs. Harmonisation with the corporate team for Model United Nations and completing paperwork for Times Education Icons Awards have been the highlights of Surya’s career so far.

Surya’s has pursued Advanced and Master Level specialization in Overseas Education as well as International Career Counselling. Besides this, she holds a diploma in MS Office and IT Fundamentals. Surya is also well versed in C &C++ Programming Language

E.Sheeba Grace Priscilla

Office Admin

E. Sheeba Grace Priscilla is an enthusiastic administrative assistant, with 15+ years of experience. Being a highly motivated, approachable and well-presented person, Sheeba has vast experience of working competently, as part of a busy office team.

Sheeba has been a part of many prestigious organizations, that have added many new dimensions, to her vast work experience. She began her career as a Front office Exe. / Sales coordinator with Hotel Abu Palace and India Medtronic Pvt Ltd. She has served as Administrator cum Tecno Trainer / Sales for Wella Professionals as well as an Executive Admin. with Indo German Chamber of Commerce. Sheeba also holds experience as the Relationship Manager / Business Development Manager with Dr. Batra’s Positive Health Clinic (P) Ltd. Her stint as Secretary cum Admin. Asst. with VA Tech Wabag Ltd is an added feather to her cap. Sheeba has been working as the Executive Administrator cum Coordinator Events & Programme at IIT Madras Alumni Association, for the past year.

Sheeba possesses a proven ability to generate innovative ideas and solutions to problems. It is her special skill to read and analyze incoming memos, submissions, and reports, that gives her an extra edge to determine their significance and plan their distribution.

One of Sheeba’s top competencies also involve opening, sorting, and distributing incoming correspondence as well as filing and retrieving corporate documents, records, and reports, rather swiftly. Besides preparing responses to correspondence containing routine inquiries, Sheeba takes care of office supply management, maintaining records management systems, and performing basic bookkeeping work. Preparing agendas, making arrangements for committee, board, and other meetings and planning and maintaining schedules for executives also fall under her purview.

Sheeba holds a Bachelor Degree in Commerce, from Madras University and is fluent in English, Tami and Hindi.

Gokul Chandrasekar

Content & Communication Manager

Gokul handles GDC’s content and communication requirements. He has over 13 years of experience in print, broadcast and digital media – as writer, editor and producer. His reports on politics, economy and justice have been published by international media, including Reuters.com, Bloomberg TV, Interworld Radio and El Mundo.

He has a Masters degree in Electronic Media from College of Engineering, Guindy. He was the Climate Change Media Partnership (CCMP) fellow from India in 2010 and Panos Global AIDS Programme fellow in 2011. In his last assignment, Gokul managed the Tamil Nadu news desk of The New Indian Express.