With a distinguished educational background, including a Chemical Engineering degree from NIT Trichy and a PGDM from IIM Calcutta, this individual boasts over 35 years of experience as an exceptional leader and transformation specialist. They have been the driving force behind the remarkable evolution of T S Mahalingam & Sons into a highly respected automobile after-market brand in South India, expanding its operations across multiple businesses and locations. As a pioneer, they revolutionized the financial services industry by introducing third-party loan products in collaboration with Citi bank and ventured into real estate, successfully delivering over 100 projects. Notably, they have made a significant impact on various alumni associations, serving as President of REC alumni (RECAL), President of the IIM Calcutta Alumni Chennai, and President of the Madras Management Association (MMA). Additionally, their role on the Chennai Angels’ Executive Committee showcases their dedication to fostering entrepreneurship and supporting budding entrepreneurs through mentorship and investment guidance, solidifying their reputation as a go-to figure in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
MRIDULA RAMESH is the award-winning author of the critically acclaimed The Climate Solution and Watershed, and the founder of Sundaram Climate Institute, which focuses on waste and water solutions. She is an active cleantech angel investor with a portfolio of over twenty start-ups, and is involved with several initiatives to spur climatetech entrepreneurship. A graduate with distinction from Cornell University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management, Mridula worked at McKinsey in Silicon Valley and is the executive director of Sundaram Textiles – the company was amongst the first textile companies globally to win the coveted TPM Excellence Award. She is part of the board of trustees of World Wildlife Fund, India, and chairperson of the board of governors at National Institute of Technology, Andhra Pradesh. She lives and experiments in Madurai in a (nearly) net-zero-waste home with her husband and two children.
Born at Trichy on 10.01.1967 to Shri. N.R. Dorai @ Vijayaraghavan, and Smt. Sharada Dorai, as second daughter. Father had worked as Executive Officer in a Private Company and mother is a home maker. Schooling at YWCA until 5th standard, Trichy, then from 6th onwards in Holy Cross Girls Higher Secondary School, Trichy. Completed Law Graduation at Trichy Law College and enrolled on 25.10.1989. Married R. Sundaram, a Chartered Accountant.
Practiced with Mr. R.S. Janakiraman at Madurai in Civil and Criminal Laws in Trial side and adduced legal opinions and skilled in scrutiny of documents. Practiced with Mr. T.N. Seetharaman and Mr. Subramanian at Chennai in Civil and Criminal Laws, Income Tax Laws, Laws of Writs and in Appeal Matters in Madras High Court. Practiced with Ms. Bina Gupta and Radha Rengasamy, Advocate on Record in Supreme Court of India at New Delhi in Civil and Criminal Laws and Laws of Writs, Company Law Board. Practiced with Mr. Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan at Delhi in Excise and Customs Laws, Service Tax Laws and Laws of Writs. Practiced with Mr. S.M.S. Johnny Basha, Standing Counsel for Tamil Nadu Electricity Board dealing with Government Matters arising under Electricity Laws, in Civil and Criminal Laws, Company Laws, Tax Laws and Laws of Writs in Madras High Court, Principal Bench and Madurai Bench. Served as Standing Counsel for Tuticorin Municipality, Karaikudi Municipality, Nagercoil Municipality, Town Panchayats. Served as Panel Advocate for M/s. Indian Overseas Bank, State Bank of India, Central Bank of India. Served as Nodal Counsel for UPSC. Served as Special Government Pleader for Tamil Nadu Government assigned with Education. Also handled cases for various Departments. Handled cases for Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation. Served as Income Tax Junior Standing Counsel and then Senior Standing Counsel. Served as Senior Panel Advocate for Central Government. Served as Mediator for few years.
Nirmala Lakshman has been appointed Chairperson of the Board of Directors of The Hindu Group of Publications.
Ms Lakshman holds a Ph.D. in post-modern literature and has more than four decades of experience as an editor, writer, and strategist for The Hindu’s publications.
In her years as Joint Editor of The Hindu, she led the re-launch of several feature sections and the creation of new ones, including as ‘The Hindu Literary Review’, ‘Young World’, and ‘The Hindu in School’.
She is the founder and curator of Lit for Life, The Hindu’s literary festival. Ms. Lakshman was the Chairperson of Kasturi Media Limited (KML), the publishers of The Hindu Tamil Thisai.
V Shankar is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and a Post Graduate in Business Administration from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.
After a brief stint working for an MNC, he founded CAMS (Computer Age Management Services Pvt. Ltd.) in 1988 – to provide a Stock Exchange like Platform to the Indian Mutual Fund industry – and ran it till he exited. CAMS is the largest company in its space in India, with a market share of ~70%, and is also one of the largest of its kind in the world. It is now a professionally managed listed entity.
His current activity involves mainly Public Investing, as well as engaging with his Alma Mater and institutions that facilitate entrepreneurship.
He have been conferred Entrepreneur of the Year award by TIE Chennai, the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta and the Distinguished Alumnus Award by the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.
He is a Rotarian, a Past President of TIE Chennai, and member of The Chennai Angels, the MMA and The Institution of Engineers. He is also on the Boards of IIT Madras Incubator, IIT Madras Alumni Charitable Trust and MMA.
He is currently Senior Vice President of MMA.
Business leader with over 25 years of diverse corporate and entrepreneurial experience. She has worked with and advised Governments & corporates.
Meera is an Independent Director on the Board of DBS Bank India.
As a strategy & Management Consultant her focus is largely on food & Agribusiness. She played a pivotal role as a founding team member at NCDEX (National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange) India, where she contributed to the creation of products and markets for agricultural commodity derivatives. Meera has worked with Cyanamid India, ICICI Bank, EID Parry and is also an Executive Coach for CXO’s & Entrepreneurs.
Meera holds a Master’s degree in Agricultural Economics with a specialization in Agribusiness from Michigan State University, Master’s degree in Management studies from Mumbai University, and a degree in Agricultural Sciences from Kerala Agricultural University.
Architect Ponni M Concessao, Aka Ponnamma Mukundan
Early Life & Education
Architect Ms.Ponni M Concessao was born in Chennai and is an alumni of the illustrious Presentation Convent Church Park School in Chennai, where she excelled in academics and won national awards in art.
A pioneer in women’s’ technical education, Ponni Concessao was the first women undergraduate student of the prestigious National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli, University of Madras, and graduated in June 1987 – a premier engineering institution in India. She graduated in the top2% of her class, winning design competitions, performing social service at the village level and holding leadership positions. She won the Distinguished Alumni Award from the National Institute of Technology for the Golden Jubilee Celebrations and received the Honor from His Excellency the President of India Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam.
She got her Master’s Degree from Cornell University, USA and later received her advanced professional studies specialization at Harvard University USA and was conferred with Honorary Doctorates from the University of Malaysia and Universita of Milano for Modern Architecture. Following her nation-building dreams she moved back to India in 1996 and along with her husband and founded Oscar & Ponni Architects in Chennai. Ponni M Concessao Architects have won 139 National, State and International awards for Architecture & Interior Design. . Her award winning work has covered all large prototypes of town planning, buildings and interiors in all parts of India. Her contributions include creating award winning designs, authoring and publishing technical papers, architectural education, conservation, women’s’ rights and nation building.
EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
- Schooling at Church Park Convent, Chennai, Tamilnadu State
- B.Arch 1987, University of Madras, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli
- M. Design. 1989, Cornell University, USA.
- Advanced professional Studies 1992, Harvard University, USA.
- Ph.D. in Modern Architecture, February 2008.
- Diploma Designing in Stone, Verona, Italy, October 2010.
- Honorary Doctorate in Architectural Science, Universita Milano, 2014.
Squadron Leader Mohana Singh Jitarwal is one of the first female fighter pilots of India. She was declared as the first female combat pilot along with two of her cohort, Bhawana Kanth, and Avani Chaturvedi. She was inducted into the Indian Air Force fighter squadron in June 2016 and formally commissioned by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. After the government of India decided to open the fighter stream in India Air Force for women on an experimental basis, she was one of the pilot to be selected for the program.
Mohana Singh completed her schooling from The Air Force School, New Delhi and BTech in Electronics & Communication from Global Institute of Management and Emerging Technologies, Amritsar, Punjab. Her father Air Commodore Pratap Singh (Retd) was a serving Indian Air Force personnel and mother Manju Singh is a teacher. While growing up, Singh was fond of sports like roller skating, badminton and other activities like singing and painting.
In June 2019, she became the first women fighter pilot of Indian Air Force to become a fully operational by day on a Hawk Mk.132 advance jet trainer at Bidar Air Force Station. She had completed more than 380 hours of incident free flying on Hawk Mk.132 with training in both Air-to-Air and Air-to-Ground fighting mode in 2019. She is part of No. 3 Squadron Cobras flying the MiG-21 at NAL Air Force Station, Bikaner.
On 9 March 2020, she was awarded with Nari Shakti Puraskar by President Ram Nath Kovind.
Sharanya Modi, based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, is currently a Human Resources – Efl at Efl (Expo Freight), bringing experience from previous roles at Cerebrus Consultants, Enterprise PLC and Cognizant. Sharanya Modi holds a 2005 – 2006 Master Of Arts in Management @ Lancaster University. With a robust skill set that includes Performance Appraisal, Team Management, Change Management, Human Resources, HR Consulting and more, Sharanya Modi contributes valuable insights to the industry.
Aparna Popat is a former India badminton player. She was India’s national champion for a record equalling nine times when she won all the senior national championships between 1997 and 2006.
She studied at J. B. Petit High School in Mumbai and attended a pre-university course at Mount Carmel College in Bangalore. Aparna also holds a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from the Mumbai University.
Aparna started playing badminton in 1986 in Mumbai. As an 8-year-old, when she approached Anil Pradhan for coaching, he saw a spark in the girl and told her parents “Give me this girl and I will put her on the map of Indian badminton”. Being a national champion himself, he helped her develop skills required to face the many challenges of the game.
In 1994, she shifted to the Prakash Padukone Badminton Academy in Bangalore to further expand her capabilities. Training under the legendary Prakash Padukone, a former All-England champion, she built up her fitness and learned techniques to be more competitive at the international level.
Yearning to expand her learning, in 2002 she shifted to the Sports Authority of India training centre at Kengeri, Bangalore where she learnt the nuances of the game under coach Gangula Prasad.
The highlights of her achievements at the international level are participation in 2 Olympic Games, 1 Asian Games, a silver medal at the World Junior Championships in 1996 and 4 medals in 3 Commonwealth Games appearances. She reached career-high world ranking of 16.
Popat received the Arjuna Award in 2005, one of the highest sporting honors awarded by the Government of India.
She was one of seventeen participants from around the world—and the lone Indian—to be selected for the Global Sports Mentoring Programme, an initiative promoted by then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and ESPN. This prestigious programme was aimed at empowering women and girls through sport.
Bharathi Bhaskar is an Indian Orator in Tamil language. She participates in the talk show Pattimandram that was telecasted on Sun TV.
She has completed her B. Tech degree in Chemical Engineering and MBA degree from Anna University. She is a public speaker for more than 10 years. She worked as Vice President in Citi Bank at Chennai With close to 30 years of Consumer Banking experience, she is known for implementation of Regulatory guidelines, innovating, and implementing ideas to achieve Operational Excellence, strong understanding of compliance and controls in the banking industry.
She started to give speeches from her school days and has conducted many programs like Magalir Panchayathu and Vaanga Pesalam aired on Sun TV. She also participates in the debate programs of Solomon Pappiah.
She is also a good writer and has written many short stories that were published in the Tamil Weekly magazine Kalki. She pens many motivational articles in various magazines including Dinamani. She has written a book named “Nee Nadhi Pola Odikondiru” which was serialized in Aval Vikatan magazine.
Ekta Kumar is a novelist, journalist and an artist who uses various mediums to express her observations on the state of society. She was a news anchor with Times Now, and now writes opinion pieces for Outlook, Times of India, Forbes, the wire etc. She also does television interviews, podcasts and panel discussions both in India and abroad. She collaborates with several European organisations on human rights, to promote SDG’s and gender equality. Her first book Box of Lies is centred around women who are grappling with a sense of alienation and loss. It is an Amazon Bestseller.
She is a Chartered Accountant and an MBA from IIM Calcutta, as well as a Fellow, EUVP (European Union).
Preethi Srinivasan, born in 1979, led the under-19 Tamil Nadu women’s cricket team to national championships in 1997 before a life-altering accident rendered her quadriplegic. Co-founding Soulfree, she advocates for spinal cord injury rehabilitation and prevention awareness among Indian youth. A former state champion swimmer, she excelled in various events. Preethi shares her insights on disability issues through public speaking engagements.
Graduating with honors from Upper Merion Area High School, USA, she pursued a Bachelor’s in Medical Sociology from the University of Madras. Her father’s job afforded her diverse cultural exposure. Her mother, Mrs. Vijayalakshmi Srinivasan, has been her unwavering support.
Preethi’s Soulfree aims to “transform the lives of persons with disabilities.” Her impactful contributions have garnered numerous awards, including Vijay TV’s “Sigaram Thotta Pengal – Ray of Hope,” Raindropss’ “Woman Achiever of the Year 2014,” and the Femina “Penn Sakthi” award. She’s also been honored with the Kalpana Chawla award by the Tamil Nadu CM, among others.
Gp Capt R Vijayakumar (Retd), VSM, boasts a distinguished career in the Indian Air Force and currently serves as the Executive Director of the Madras Management Association (MMA) since April 2007. Throughout his tenure, he significantly contributed to MMA’s growth and reputation. With over three decades in the Air Force, he held pivotal roles, including Director of Financial Planning and Financial Advisor to the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Western Air Command. Recognized for his service, he received the Vishisht Seva Medal and four Commendation Medallions. An alumnus of Loyola, Chennai, he holds diverse educational qualifications, including LLB, Master’s in Industrial Relations & Personnel Management, and Management Studies. Under his leadership, MMA earned the Best Management Association in India award by AIMA for thirteen consecutive years. Beyond work, he’s an avid golfer and active in philanthropy, serving on the Executive Committee of St. John Ambulance Association and P S Educational Society, while also presiding over P S Matriculation School, North (SRKM, Mylapore).
