Our Leadership

Governance

AKRSP(I) has always been closely governed by a set of eminent personalities of the country.Some of the great stalwarts from development and other sectors worked as board members of the organisation since its inception. We acknowledge the contributions of our previous Chairmen, Dr.Verghese Kurien and Dr. I.G. Patel who had those values which have been amply illustrated in terms of what AKRSP(I) is all about, as these have very much become a part of us. When Dr. I G Patel took over the board from Dr.Kurien, he brought a different flavour to the board but it was progressive and we saw a massive transformation during that time. The board has evolved since then and now members on our board which are keeping AKRSP(I) relevant to the times in which we live.

Our First Chairman

Dr. Verghese Kurien

He is known as the Father of the White Revolution in India. He was a social entrepreneur whose billion-litre idea, Operation Flood - the worlds largest agricultural dairy development programme, made India the worlds largest milk producer, surpassing the United States of America by 1998, with about 17 percent of global output in 201011. From a milk-deficient nation, India doubled milk available per person within 30 years, which made dairy farming Indias largest self-sustaining industry, with benefits of employment and income, credit, nutrition, education, health, gender parity and empowerment, breaking down caste barriers and grassroots democracy and leadership. Dr.Kurien guided AKRSP(I) through its initial period of establishment.

Our Second Chairman

Dr. I G Patel

Indraprasad Gordhanbhai Patel popularly known as I. G. Patel, was the fourteenth Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 1 December 1977 to 15 September 1982. As Director of the London School of Economics, he was the first person of South Asian origin to head a higher education institute in the UK and was well known for his formidable intellectual powers in the select company of central bankers and economic statesmen. Dr. Patel was instrumental in transforming AKRSP(I)s programme during his tenure.

Current Board Directors

Nasser M Munjee

Chairperson

Nasser Munjee was educated at the Leys School in Cambridge UK and then went on to do his Bachelor and Masters Degrees at the London School of Economics, UK. He spent a short while at the University of Chicago USA, before returning to India in 1977. He joined the Chairman of one of Indias leading development banks ICICI to establish the first housing finance company in India the first retail institution serving customers directly for their housing needs. Against many odds the HDFC group, as it is known today, grew to be a financial conglomerate with over 50billion in banking, insurance, mutual funds as well as its prime business housing finance. He rose to be an executive director on the Board with wide responsibilities. In 1997, the Finance Minister of India requested the Chairman of HDFC to consider setting up an infrastructure finance company as India faced acute challenges in this field. Nasser was asked to think through this challenge and, as a result, Infrastructure Development Finance Company was born. IDFC charted the course of private investment in infrastructure a sector that was dominated by the public sector with great success. Much of the conditions for private investment in infrastructure in India was created by IDFC between 1997 and 2004. Since 2004, Nasser has been pursuing his own interests in his own way. He sits on 15 Corporate Boards in India which include Tata Motors, Tata Chemicals, Cummins India, ABB India, Ambuja Cements (now part of the HOLCIM group). He is also Chairman of Development Credit Bank, Chairman of other Aga Khan institutions in India. He was the President of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry the citys oldest Chamber of Commerce and he has served on numerous Government Task Forces on Housing and Urban Development. He has deep interest in development of India particularly of underprivileged.

S.B. Ravi Pandit

Director

Ravi Pandit is the Chairman and group CEO of KPIT Cummins Infosystems Ltd. Ravi Pandit is a gold medallist and fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and an associate member of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India. A graduate of Pune University, Ravi Pandit has done his masters from Sloan School of Management, MIT, Cambridge, USA. He has extensive experience of over three decades in the fields of IT, corporate strategy formulation and management consulting. He also serves on the board of Finolex Cables Limited and Symbiosis International University. He has served as the president of Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agricluture and has been on the NASSCOM Executive Council twice.

N. Venkatram

Director

N. Venkatram (Venkat), is a senior partner in Deloitte India, after a successful 8 year term as the CEO of Deloitte India and South Asia up to 31 March, 2023. Prior to his appointment as CEO, Venkat was Managing Partner for Audit and Enterprise Risk Services (AERS), Deloitte India, and the Lead Client Service Partner on the Tata Group. Venkat was the first TMT leader of the India firm and also led the US GAAPIFRS practice. He actively contributes to various business forums, and is currently Chairperson of the CII Committee on Financial Reporting. He is member of the Corporate Bonds and Securitization Advisory Committee of SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) and a member of the Takeover Panel.

Tinni Sawhney

Director

Tinni Sawhney has over 25 years of experience on sustainable livelihood development in rural India and has worked extensively on issues of agriculture and livestock development for smallholder farmers. She is currently the Director Programmes at the Aga Khan Foundation (India), and has previously worked with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisations South Asia Pro Poor Livestock Policy Programme, the Danish International Development Assistance (DANIDA) and the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Dr. Pradip Khandwala

Director

Dr. Pradip N. Khandwalla was educated at Bombay University (B.Com.), Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (M.B.A.), and Carnegie-Mellon University (Ph.D.). He is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. He has been a consultanttrainer to a large number of organizations. He has served as a Member of the Board of Directors for over 12 well-known Corporations including NTPC, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, and Bank of Baroda amongst others. Currently, he is on the Board of Cadila Pharma, Gujarat Gas, Grow Talent and AKRSP(I). He is also on the governing council of Academy of Human Resource Development. He has served as a member of the National Renewal Fund, Government of India, and as a Trustee, India Brand Equity Fund of Government of India. He was twice a member, Appointments Board of the Government of India for short-listing heads of public sector banks and financial institutions. Earlier, he was a member of the Planning Commission of Gujarat State, and a member of the Science Advisory Committee of the Cabinet, Government of India. Professor Khandwalla taught at McGill University, Canada, and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He held the L&T Chair in Organizational Behaviour at IIM-A from 1985 to 1991. He was the Director of IIM-A from 1991 to 1996. He has authored 16 professional books, over 100 papers and articles in Indian and foreign journals, and four books of poems in English. He has served on the editorial advisory boards of several of the worlds leading journals of management and organizational research. Also, he has won many awards, including Ford Foundation Doctoral Fellowship (U.S.), Seagram Research Award (Canada), four Best Book of the Year awards, and a Lifetime Achievement Award given by Indian Academy of Management amongst others.

Kasim Ali F Merchant

Director

Kasim Ali F Merchant is a graduate of Science and Law from Bombay University. By profession, he is a practicing lawyer (specializing in civil matters) at Bombay High Court since past 30 years. He has been involved with community service since young age and has held various important positions in the Aga Khans Network. He has been awarded the title of Honours as Alijah and Rai by H. H. Aga Khan. Further, he has served as a Board of Director for the Development Credit Bank and has been a member of H. H. Aga Khans Council for India (heading legal portfolio for more than six years). His involvement with the Masonic Lodge dates back to 1976. He has been a master of Lodge Perseverance of the Scottish Constitution, and is a member of the Lodge Imperial brotherhood. He is an office bearer of the District Grand Lodge of India (S.C).

Bakul Virani

Director

Bakul Virani completed his Masters in Computer Application (MCA) in 1992 and joined L&T Infotech. After experiencing technical and sales roles in USA, he moved to operations in India. Currently he heads Resource Management at L&T Infotech. He has been a Director of Focus India, an organization working on Disaster Management. He was Chairman of the Aga Khan Economic Planning Board which provides economic advice and services to members of the Ismaili community.

Wajahat Habibullah

Director

Wajahat Habibullah is the former Chief Information Commissioner of India. He has been a member of the Indian Administrative Service since 1968. During his service, he has been a secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Textiles and Department of Consumer Affairs. He has authored several books and received the Rajiv Gandhi Award for Excellence in Secularism in 1994. He also received the gold medal for distinguished service from the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir in 1996. He has a bachelors degree in history from St. Stephens College, New Delhi and a masters degree in history from the University of Delhi. He has also done a certificate course in Frontiers in Infrastructure Finance from the World Bank Institute in Goa.

Ishaat Hussain

Director

Mr. Ishaat Hussain is a Non-Executive Director of Tata Sons Limited and was the Finance Director of Tata Sons Ltd. for over a decade. Mr. Hussain has been with the Tata Group for 30 years. Prior to joining the Tata Sons Board in 1999, he held various positions in Tata Steel Limited and was the Finance Director of Tata Steel Ltd. for ten years from 1989. Mr. Hussain is a graduate in Economics from the Delhi University and a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants England & Wales (ICAEW). He has also attended the Advanced Management Programme at the Havard Business School. Besides being on the Board of Tata Sons Ltd., he represents Tata Sons on the Boards of various Tata Companies. Mr. Hussain has been a member of the Board of Trade of India and is currently the Chairman of the SEBI Committee On Disclosure & Accounting (SCODA). He was a member of The Committee for Reforming the Regulatory Environment for doing business in India (Damodaran Committee), the Bihar State Industrial & Investment Advisory Committee and the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC). He is also a Trustee of the India Foundation of the Arts & The Marg Foundation. Mr. Hussain is on the Advisory Board of Bain (India board) and the Murugappa Group.

Apoorva Oza

Director

Apoorva Oza is a mechanical engineer with a diploma in rural management from the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA). He has also done a course on Strategies for Change Managing NGOs from Cranford University, United Kingdom, and a three-month course from Cornell University, USA. Apoorva Oza started his career as a Deputy Manager (Projects and Engineering) with Gujarat Dairy Development Corporation. He joined AKRSP (India) as a Programme Coordinator in 1988 and moved up to the position of Senior Programme Executive in 1994. He has served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AKRSP (India) from 2001 to 2022. Currently He is Global Programme Lead in Agriculture and Climate Change at Aga Khan Foundation. He is also a trustee of several NGOs like Society for Womens Action and Training Initiative (SWATI), MahitiAdhikar Gujarat Pahel (MAGP) and Arid Communities and Technologies (ACT). He is also the founder trustee of many NGO networks like Pravah (drinking water), Sajjata Sangh (agriculture livelihoods) and Charkha (media advocacy).

Naveen Patidar

Chief Executive Officer

Naveen Patidar is the Chief Executive Officer of Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (India)., a pioneer development agency in rural livelihoods. He has national and international level exposure to development related works particularly in the field of rural livelihoods. He has professional experience of over 15 years in designing and managing large development projects in the areas of Sustainable Agriculture, Youth Empowerment, Livelihoods, Financial Inclusion, and Women Empowerment. He has expertise and experience of working with communities living in extreme poverty. During his tenure as program head of the organisation, he led the transformation of programs through promoting innovations, better designing of programs and use of digital technologies. His current interests include climate change, work & enterprise, and civil society development. He is computer engineering graduate followed by post-graduation from the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA).

Nadir Bhalwani

Director

Nadir Bhalwani is a graduate from Mithibai College and an MBA from KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research (University of Mumbai). Nadir has completed Global CIO Certification Executive Program from Indian School of Business (ISB) Hyderabad. Nadir has around 24 years of experience in the field of IT Infrastructure Operaons, Software Application Development, Project Management, Data Science, and Information Security. Currently he is working with Care Ratings Ltd. as Chief Information & Technology Officer. Nadir is also on the Sectional Committee for Finance of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). He is a prominent speaker at various forums and has been on eminent panel discussions along with other technology leaders on topics like AI, Cloud Computing, Identity Management, Automaton, & Future Technologies. He regularly writes articles and gives his views in print media and online technology journals. Jamati Service Nadir has served as a REC teacher for 8 years. He was a member for Aga Khan Education Board for Western India for two terms. Focus Director for a term. Member Aga Khan Economic Planning Board for India for two terms and Honorary Secretary for one term. Trustee on Diamond Jubilee Trust for 11 years. Honorary Secretary for Aga Khan Social Welfare Board for India one term. Currently he is the Vice President for Council for India.

Sunita Narain

Director

Sunita Narain is a Delhi-based environmentalist and author. She is currently the Director General of Center for Science and Environment (CSE) and Editor of the fortnightly magazine, Down To Earth. Sunita Narain plays an active role in policy formulation on issues of environment and development in India and globally. She has in her over 4 decades of work conducted in-depth research on the governance and management of the environment and directed campaigns on air pollution control, community water management, pesticide regulation and sustainable urbanization etc. She has also worked extensively on climate change, with a particular interest in advocating for an ambitious and equitable global agreement. Her effort to combine science-based evidence and solutions with a pro-poor perspective to mainstream environmental concerns in public policy and society has been richly awarded in India and internationally. She was a member of the Indian Prime Ministers Council on Climate Change and has been awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour. In 2005, CSE was awarded the Stockholm Water Prize under her leadership. In 2016, Time Magazine listed her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Narain also appeared alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the documentary Before The Flood and talked about the impact of climate change on the Monsoon in India and how it affects farmers communities. She continues to serve on national and international committees on environment and work to research and build awareness about the urgency of action on environment and development.