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Powering change. Empowering India.

Join us to detox India from plastic the healthy way.

India Plog Run is a ‘first of its kind’ initiative by United Way India and Go Native which aims to address the growing menace of plastic pollution in the country. Plogging or ‘Plucking + Running’, channels the physical activity of running and picking trash to compel a bigger change in the environment.

Each runner will be equipped with a PlogKit which contains an apron, gloves and a carry bag.

The cost per kit is INR 499 (USD 8).

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George Aikara

Chief Executive Officer – United Way of Mumbai

George joined United Way Mumbai In April 2011. He has a management degree from SIBM, Pune, and has previously worked in sales and marketing positions in India and supply chain operations internationally.

Prior to joining UWM, he has based in Africa handling among other functions, CSR initiatives, forming strategic developmental alliances with international stakeholders, and forming self-help groups among agri communities. He has a strong interest and inclination towards furthering philanthropy, sustainable community initiatives, and organizations supporting the development of social enterprises. George is also a United Way Worldwide global fellow.

Mr.Dilip Gaur

Board Member

Dilip Gaur is the Managing Director of Grasim Industries Limited since 2016. He holds a degree in Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School and B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering.

Mr. Gaur started his career in the 1980s with Hindustan Unilever Limited as a Vice President- Manufacturing & Supply Chain. He is now a member of various Board and Group level committees like the Audit committee, Values committee, CSR committee, Finance Committee, etc. As a member of various Board Committees, he made a significant contribution to the strengthening of corporate governance process and structure in conformance changes in SEBI guidelines & Company law from time to time.

He is the Chairman of the CII National Committee on Textiles and Apparels since 2019 and a member of the ASEAN INDIA Economic Forum. His core expertise lies in P&L management in large global businesses; merger, acquisition & Divestment; Strategic cost management, Business Transformation/Corporate restructuring. Also in Business Model reengineering, Industry 4.0 and Digitalization, Innovation process management, Corporate Governance & Risk Management.

Mr.Govindarajan Narayanan

Board Member

Govindarajan Narayanan is the Managing Director of Aurobindo Pharma Limited, a dynamic and result-oriented leader. He holds a B.E in Mechanical Engineering from Annamalai University. He has close to 3 decades of experience across a plethora of domains in the pharmaceutical industry mainly Bulk Drugs, Finished Dosages, CRAMS, Biotechnology, Vaccines, etc.

Mr. N. Govindarajan has played a pivotal role in accelerating the company’s growth through identifying key businesses, key products & markets which significantly improved diversification & execution of the business and transparency. Before Aurobindo, he served as the Managing Director and CEO of Shasun Pharmaceuticals Limited where he was the driving force in developing new businesses.

Ms.Shruti Kashyap

Board Member

Shruti Kashyap is the Chief Information Officer and Head of IT- South Asia, Hindustan Unilever.  She has joined as UFLP and spent the first 7 years partnering different parts of HUL business – I&A, SAP rollout for Finance, Project IQ for CD, Digital Marketing.

Ms. Kashyap has done an International assignment on Digital 2.0 in 100VE UK for 1 year –landing a large digital transformation program across 30 countries. She leads the employer brand for IT and is very passionate about talent and people. She holds many recognitions like Unilever Global Compass Award for Digital 2.0 in 2017, KKT (India Mobile Radio) in 2014, Forbes India feature on Rural Coverage program for CD India tea.

Dr. Priti Adani

Board Member

Dr. Priti Adani is the Chairperson of the Adani Foundation for the past 25 years. She has been leading the 360-member strong team of development professionals working across India to design and implement transformative programs, in line with global sustainable development goals (SDGs).

During her early days, Priti Adani started her career as a dentist. In the year 1996, she was appointed as chairperson of the Adani Foundation. Prior to leading Adani Foundation, she has served other departments of Adani Group- Adani Institute for Education and Research, Adani Infrastructure Services, Adani Skill Development Centre, etc. as a Director. She has completed her Bachelors of Dental Surgery in Medicine from Government Dental College, Ahmedabad. She believes that women are the most critical stakeholders for the social development agenda of any state because when women are empowered it strengthens the root of a community.

Mr. Kapil Kumria

Board Member

Mr. Kapil Kumria is the Managing Director and CEO of one of the leading travel companies of India, Corporate Flyers Pvt. Ltd. with 20 years plus experience in Travel Industry.

He is personally involved in the important projects going on and symbolizes the biggest outbound tour operator in India doing the largest members logistics for incentives & conferences.

Mr. Kapil Kumria started this successful journey in 1983 with Diners Club, Mumbai. Headed Sales Department from 1983 till 1986 that gave a glimpse of his roaring career ahead. Stepping upwards, he joined Carlson in Sales & Marketing Department, the then IND Travel, through 1986 till 1989. Started using his exceptional skills of sales and marketing for himself and became a partner in one of the emerging organization rendering travel services to prominent corporate in India, Corporate Travel Pvt. Ltd. In the year 1997, he started Corporate Flyers Pvt. Ltd. with 100% ownership. His keen interest in charity and welfare motivated him to form an NGO, Khushii five years back. He is a founder member and treasurer with Khushii. Mr. Kapil is a founder member of the world biggest NGO, United Way Delhi, and actively involved in the community development programs.

Mr. Kumria earned his Bachelor’s degree in tourism from the University of Delhi and further on he went to Miami, US to pursue advanced course in Operations from Panam Airline Center following an advanced course in ticketing and operations from Lufthansa Airline’s German centre, Frankfurt, Germany. A keen Sportsman represented Delhi State in Basketball and later was an important part in college basketball team. He was a successful Captain of College Cricket Team as well.

Mr. Ramesh Kaza

Board Member

Ramesh Kaza is Senior Managing Director and Country Head of Information Technology (CIO) for India, where he has dual responsibility in providing end to end technology support for the State Street India organization & its entities, and also builds and manages the in-house knowledge capability for critical technology functions.

Ramesh joined State Street in Aug 2017, bringing with him over 30 years of diversified working experience, operated globally from Australia, US and India. Prior to joining State Street, he had a long stint of over 16 years with Bank of America, where he held critical positions operating from both US and India. With Bank of America, he led numerous transformational initiatives to optimize technology services. His most recent role was the global delivery Chief Information Officer, responsible for building and managing technology solutions for enterprise lines of business viz. Risk, Compliance, HR, Finance, Marketing, Audit & Enterprise Data.

Ramesh also held key positions globally with companies like Fidelity Investments, GE Capital, AMP Life, and Aspect Development.

Ramesh brings core knowledge in optimizing technology solutions for customers, building and managing a global workforce including best-in-class vendor management. He is also an active contributor to community development projects in the areas of Education, Health, Livelihood, and Environment through his volunteer work at United Way of Hyderabad. He serves the board of United Way of Hyderabad as the chairperson.

Ramesh holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics & Communication Engineering, a Master’s degree in Satellite Communication & Microwave Engineering, and an Executive leadership accreditation from Cornell University.

Mr. M. A. Alagappan

Board Member

M A Alagappan retired as the Executive Chairman of the Murugappa Corporate Board.  A scion of the Murugappa family – one of the oldest and most distinguished business families in India – Alagappan has from an early age been a dynamic business manager with strong entrepreneurial traits.

Equipped with vast experience and knowledge in managing diverse businesses, Alagappan has been actively involved with several leading industry associations.  He is the Honorary Consul of Hungary in India for the Southern Region. He is a Past President of The United Planters’ Association of Southern India and AIEO and the Southern India Chambers of Commerce and Industry (SICCI).

M A Alagappan takes a keen interest in social welfare and is the Managing Trustee of AMM Foundation that run schools and hospitals across India and is the Trustee of the AMM Arunachalam Trust and

He is also the Chairman of United Way Chennai and a board member of United Way India, a part of the United Way Worldwide Network, dedicated to community-friendly initiatives in the fields of education, healthcare, and creating equal opportunities and financial stability for the differently-abled.

He also serves as a member of the Governing Body of the Cancer Institute, a public charitable voluntary institution dedicated to cancer treatment, care, control, and research.

Alagappan is a tennis enthusiast and has played a key role in the development of the game in the country when he served as President of Tamil Nadu Tennis Association (TNTA) and Vice President of All India Tennis Association (AITA) for many years.

A Commerce Graduate from the University of Madras, Alagappan has also undergone a course in management studies from the University of Aston in Birmingham.

In January 2009, M A Alagappan was conferred an Honorary Doctorate by the Birmingham City University in recognition of his outstanding business achievements.

Rashid Khan

Manager – Finance

Rashid Khan has a Bachelor’s in the stream of Commerce. He has over 10 years of experience in the field of Accountancy and Finance and has previously worked with The Corbett Foundation and Quatrro FPO.

Rashid’s experience in the field of accounts & finance is to handle overall administration and maintenance of accounts, NGO Compliances, Auditing, Finalisation of accounts, Filing of annual Income Tax & FCRA returns, preparation & handling income tax scrutinies of Trust. Rashid now heads the Finance at United Way India.

Mr.Sunit Mehra

Board Member

Sunit heads the Private Equity and Board practices for Hunt Partners, India’s finest Leadership and Board Advisory firm. He is an advisor to several Indian business houses and MNC’s on matters of People Strategy and Governance and has co-authored the India Board Report, India’s foremost research paper on Corporate Governance in conjunction with the CII, PWC, and AZB. Sunit is a founder member of the Indian Association of Corporate Independent Directors (ACIND).

Sunit is closely associated with Third Sector Partners (TSP), India’s foremost ‘not-for-profit’ Human Capital and Board Advisory firm for the development sector.  TSP in turn spawned Katalyst, which focuses on women in STEM to bridge the socio-economic gender gap, and build women leaders.  In its 13th year since inception, the Katalyst program currently has over 1500+ alumni and students, who are being funded, mentored, and trained for corporate success.

Sunit is ex-Chairman – United Way of India, the world’s largest philanthropic organization, donating in excess of INR 300Cr in India. He has in the past held positions of Chairman – United Way Mumbai, Vice Chairman – American Chamber of Commerce – Mumbai, and Treasurer – Wharton Alumni Association of India. He is a global winner of the prestigious World of Difference Award – TIAW, USA.

Sunit received a business degree in Marketing Management from the Wharton School, and a degree in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Rakesh Agrawal

Board Member

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Rakesh Agrawal

Board Member

Mr. Sunil Mehta has over thirty-seven years of proven leadership experience in banking, financial services, insurance, and investments with leading global and domestic financial institutions namely Citibank, AIG, SBI, PNB, and YES Bank amongst others. In 2013, he left AIG where he was the Country Head & CEO for AIG India in 2000. Subsequently, he started SPM Capital Advisors Pvt. Ltd. Mr. Mehta is the Chairman and Managing Director of SPM Capital Advisors Pvt. Ltd., a leading boutique business advisory and consulting firm in India.

As Country Head & CEO for AIG in India, Mr. Mehta was responsible for all AIG businesses in India covering Insurance, Financial Services, Real Estate, and Investments amongst other businesses. He set up AIG’s insurance JVs with Tatas and was also responsible for expanding AIG’s presence across ten businesses in India which included Life & Non-Life Insurance, Private Equity, Asset Management, Real Estate, Home Finance, Consumer Finance, Software Development, Mortgage Guaranty, and Aircraft Leasing. He was on the Board of all AIG Companies in India and on the Board of IDFC Ltd. for several years.

Prior to joining AIG, Mr. Mehta worked with Citibank for over 18 years where he held various senior positions covering operations, sales & risk process re-engineering, risk management, public sector business, and corporate banking. His last assignment was Corporate Bank Head for Citibank India and Senior Credit Officer.

Mr. Mehta has been appointed the Non-Executive Chairman of YES Bank Limited by a Government of India Notification dated March 13, 2020. Mr. Mehta was Non-Executive Chairman of Punjab National Bank from March 2017 till February 2020. He was an Independent Director on the Board of State Bank of India from June 2014 to March 2017. He is presently a Board Member of ACC Ltd. (A subsidiary of LafargeHolcim Group), Sashakt India Asset Management Ltd., Welmo Fintech Pvt. Ltd., and Bodytronix Fitness Pvt. Ltd. Mr. Mehta was on the Board of IL&FS group companies and a startup digital non-life insurance company – Acko General Insurance Ltd.

In addition, he a Senior Advisor to notable international/domestic corporations amongst his other business responsibilities at SPM Capital Advisors Pvt. Ltd.

Mr. Mehta was asked to Chair the Committee on Resolution of Stressed Assets by the Honorable Finance Minister of India. Other Members of the Committee included the Chairman of State Bank of India, Managing Director of Bank of Baroda, and Deputy Managing Director of SBI. The Committee presented the Sashakt Report on Resolution of Stressed Assets to the Finance Minister on July 2, 2018. The report is under implementation and made significant progress with the adoption of the Inter Creditor Agreement (ICA) by the Regulator and all major Banks/NBFC’s in addition to other recommendations.

Mr. Mehta is closely engaged with various Think Tanks and Chambers of Commerce. He is the founding Board Member of the Asia Society India Centre and a Past Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM India). He is currently on the India Advisory Board of the US India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF).

Mr. Mehta has strong interests in building sustainable communities and is the Immediate Past Chairman of Action for Ability Development and Inclusion (Formerly The Spastics Society of North India). He is actively engaged with The United Way and on the Boards of United Way India and Mumbai. He was the Chairman of both these organizations and also a member of the Global Transition Board of United Way Worldwide.

Mr.Suneeth Katarki

Vice-chairman

Suneeth is a founding and managing partner of INDUSLAW. He has extensive experience in mergers & acquisitions and private equity investment. He also does a lot of work in the technology space including fintech and regulatory aspects of tech, fintech, and data privacy.

Suneeth has received many accolades over the years including being consistently listed as a band one lawyer for corporate/M&A and a highly rated lawyer for private equity by Chambers and Partners Asia Guide. Chambers and Partners Global Guide has consistently recognized him for corporate/M&A. Legal 500 has also recognized him as one of the leading lawyers in Investment funds, technology, and intellectual property.

Suneeth has also been named in India Business Law Journal’s A-List of top 100 corporate lawyers in India for the last few years based on extensive research by India Business Law Journal, and nominations received from thousands of in-house counsel and India-focused lawyers at international law firms. Asialaw Profiles 2021 & 2020 recognized him as “Distinguished Practitioner” for Corporate and M&A after listing him as “one of the leading lawyers of India” for many years.

He speaks regularly at conferences and has authored many academic articles. He has a special interest in wildlife, travel, and sports and is involved in several philanthropic activities.

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Suneeth is a founding and managing partner of INDUSLAW. He has extensive experience in mergers & acquisitions and private equity investment. He also does a lot of work in the technology space including fintech and regulatory aspects of tech, fintech, and data privacy.

Suneeth has received many accolades over the years including being consistently listed as a band one lawyer for corporate/M&A and a highly rated lawyer for private equity by Chambers and Partners Asia Guide. Chambers and Partners Global Guide has consistently recognized him for corporate/M&A. Legal 500 has also recognized him as one of the leading lawyers in Investment funds, technology, and intellectual property.

Suneeth has also been named in India Business Law Journal’s A-List of top 100 corporate lawyers in India for the last few years based on extensive research by India Business Law Journal, and nominations received from thousands of in-house counsel and India-focused lawyers at international law firms. Asialaw Profiles 2021 & 2020 recognized him as “Distinguished Practitioner” for Corporate and M&A after listing him as “one of the leading lawyers of India” for many years.

He speaks regularly at conferences and has authored many academic articles. He has a special interest in wildlife, travel, and sports and is involved in several philanthropic activities.

Mr.Gulshan Kumar Sachdev

Chairman – United Way India

Gulshan Sachdev is an entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is best known as the co-founder of Quaker Chemical in India a JV Company headquartered In Pennsylvania, the USA, a landmark event that demonstrated the ‘coming of age’ of Indian companies on the global map. Under his visionary leadership, his enterprises became a truly global company.

Equipped with vast experience and knowledge in managing diverse businesses, Gulshan continues to be a key strategist in making the Business more resilient to uncertain business circumstances. He has successfully completed setting up a new Manufacturing Plant with state-of-art technology using Artificial Intelligence.

Recently, Quaker & Houghton combined where Gulshan lead the merging of the two companies successfully in close coordination with a leading Global consulting firm managing transformative change with Teams while engaging closely with key stakeholders. He is the Chairman of Houghton & D A Stuart in India.

Gulshan is closely engaged with various professional organizations and has served on various committees in pursuit of both business excellence as well as social service activities. He launched the Kolkata Chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce in 2006 and served as its Founder Chairman from 2006 – 2009 and continues to be on the Board of National Executive Committee of AMCHAM India. Gulshan’s strong interest in building sustainable communities, he is a Founder Board Member of United Way India and also established the Kolkata Chapter of United Way India – the 8th one in the India Network and is the past President of the Rotary Club of Metropolitan & Chairman of the Rotary District 3290. He is also the recipient of an award from Mother Teresa for his contribution to the well-being of the less privileged. He is the Chairman of United Way India.

Meenakshi Ramesh

Executive Director & CEO – United Way of Chennai

Meenakshi is extremely passionate about transforming social issues and has held leadership positions as well as volunteered with several organizations in the space. She is currently Executive Director and CEO of United Way Chennai, an organization that carries out holistic and sustainable interventions across sectors such as education, health, environment, livelihood, and disability. 

She is a founding trustee of Citizen Matters Chennai, an online magazine for increasing citizen engagement in solving urban civic issues. She has spent over seven years with Pratham, India’s largest NGO in education.

Meenakshi also spends her time volunteering for cleanliness drives and other civic initiatives. She has earlier worked with CRISIL and holds an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad.

Supriya Tripathi

Marketing & Communications

Supriya belongs to Journalism and Mass Communication background and holds a post-graduate diploma in Communication for Development from Xavier Institute of Communications. 

She has worked as a Communication Officer earlier and has experience working with several organizations as a volunteer. Being a communicator, she is very compassionate to work in the developmental sector and it keeps her motivated.

Supriya’s key skills include communication planning and implementing, as well as monitoring communication strategies, with good media management skills.

She believes that effective communication is the key to bring out a change in society and ultimately it reaches out to those individuals and groups with the most acute needs and deprivation — and this endeavor fuels her passion.

 

Aritra Moulick

Associate Manager – Operations

Aritra belongs to the social work background and has completed his post-graduation in Social Work in Public Health from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). Aritra has volunteered in various not-for-profit organizations across India working in the thematic areas of Health, Livelihood and Community Development.

He has worked at TISS Center For Excellence in CSR erstwhile National CSR HUB as a Programme Officer for two and half years and has also been part of the TISS AESDII team. During his time at NCSR Hub, Aritra has been engaged in due-diligence of non-profit organisations, research studies for public sector enterprises as well as private companies , proposal evaluations of CSR projects and has conducted extensive field visits.

Aritra has one research publication on “Lived Experiences of Women in SEX Work & Their Mental Health Concerns“ – a qualitative study at Sonagachi, West Bengal in TISS DSPACE REPOSITORY.  His interest areas include Community Health, Preventive and Social Medicine, Sustainable Livelihoods Community Development  with special interest in communications and operations.

Thomson Jacob Fernandes

Manager – Operations

Thomson Jacob Fernandes is a dynamic professional with an experience of more than 6 years across various domains of development sector ranging from Project Management, CSR Compliances & Operations and Disaster Management – State Disaster Management Authorities etc.

He had completed, Masters in Social Work from Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work, Mumbai and Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management from M.S University of Baroda, Vadodara. His academic background of Business Management along with Social Science brings in a diverse perspective of Humanitarian effort with market linked business linkages.

He has co-authored research papers and published papers with WHO Journals on “Impact of Non Communicable Diseases among Indian Trucking Community”. With an absolute desire to build relationships across domains, his interest lies in innovations, strategy and communications.

Mr. Sunil Mehta

Board Member

Mr. Mehta has over 34 years of proven leadership experience in banking, financial services, insurance and investments with Citibank and AIG. In January 2013, he left AIG where he was the Country Head & CEO for AIG India, since 2000. Subsequently, he started SPM Capital Advisers Pvt Ltd, initially a JV with Mirabaud Securities, UK and Percy Mistry of Oxford International, UK.  Mr. Mehta is the Chairman and MD of SPM Capital.

Mr. Mehta was an Independent Director on the Board of State Bank of India till March 2017. He is presently Chairman of Punjab National Bank, IIML Asset Advisors and Board member of IL&FS Investment Managers Limited. In addition, Senior Advisor to notable PE firms, World Business Capital Inc., Squire Patton Boggs, Verisk Analytics amongst other responsibilities. He is a former Senior Consultant to the Albright Stonebridge Group, USA.

As Country Head & CEO for AIG in India, Mr. Mehta was responsible for all AIG businesses in India covering – Insurance, Financial Services, Real Estate and Investments amongst other businesses. He set up AIG’s insurance JVs with Tata’s and responsible for expanding AIG’s presence across ten businesses in India which included Life & Non-Life Insurance, Private Equity, Asset Management, Real Estate, Home Finance, Consumer Finance, Software Development, Mortgage Guaranty and Aircraft Leasing. He was on the board all AIG companies in India and also on the board of IDFC Ltd for several years.

Prior to joining AIG, Mr. Mehta worked with Citibank for over 18 years where he held various senior positions covering – operations, sales & risk process reengineering, risk management, public sector business and corporate banking. His last assignment was Corporate Bank Head for Citibank India and Senior Credit Officer.

Mr. Mehta is closely engaged with various Think Tanks and Chambers of Commerce. He is the founding Board member of The Asia Society India Centre and a past Chairman of American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM India). Mr. Mehta has strong interests in building sustainable communities and is the immediate Past Chairman of Action for Ability Development and Inclusion (formerly The Spastics Society of North India). He is actively engaged with The United Way and on the Boards of United Way India and Mumbai. He was also the Chairman of both these organizations and also member of the Global Transition Board of United Way Worldwide.

Mr. Mehta is a graduate from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University. He is a Fellow Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and alumni of the Wharton School of Management, University of Pennsylvania, USA.

Suneeth

M. A. Alagappan

Board Member

M A Alagappan retired as the Executive Chairman of the Murugappa Corporate Board. A scion of the Murugappa family – one of the oldest and most distinguished business families in India – Alagappan has been a dynamic business manager with strong entrepreneurial traits.

He serves on the Board of Directors of AVT Natural Products Ltd. and Vasan Helathcare Pvt. Ltd. He also serves as a member of the Advisory Group for Diageo India Pvt. Ltd. (“Diageo India”)

Equipped with vast experience and knowledge in managing diverse businesses, Alagappan has been actively involved with several leading industry associations. He is the Honorary Consul of Hungary in India for the Southern Region. He is a former President of The United Planters’ Association of Southern India, AIEO, and the Southern India Chambers of Commerce and Industry (SICCI).

Being a tennis enthusiast, he plays a key role in the development of the game in the country. He is the President of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association(TNTA) and Vice President of the All India Tennis Association (AITA)

M A Alagappan takes a keen interest in social welfare and is a trustee of the AMM Arunachalam Trust, and AMM Foundation, which run schools and hospitals across India. He also serves as a member of the governing body of the Cancer Institute, a public charitable voluntary institution dedicated to cancer treatment, care, control, and research.

A Commerce graduate from the University of Madras, Alagappan has also undergone a course in Management Studies from the University of Aston in Birmingham.

In January 2009, M A Alagappan was conferred an Honorary Doctorate by the Birmingham City University in recognition of his outstanding business achievements.

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Gulshan Kumar Sachdev is the CEO of Quaker Chemical India Ltd., a subsidiary of Quaker Chemical Corporation of the US, a pioneer in the field of speciality chemicals. He is the man behind giving Quaker a strong foothold in India, responsible for all aspects of its steel and metalworking businesses throughout the country, and business expansion in neighboring countries. Gulshan continues to lead from the front and is currently involved in setting up a state-of-the-art Quaker India manufacturing facility. He has over 30 years of experience in managing various business processes focused on consolidation and diversification. Prior to his current position, he served as Managing Director of Asianol Lubricants Limited.

Gulshan serves on the Board of several other Indian companies. In addition, he is also a member of different professional organizations including the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Indian Chamber of Commerce among others and has served on various committees in pursuit of both business excellence as well as social service activities.

Gulshan established the Kolkata Chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce and served as its Founder Chairman from 2006 to 2009, and also as a National Executive Committee Member of AMCHAM India. Giving a push to his interest in community service, in December 2010, Gulshan took the initiative to launch a Kolkata branch of the global, volunteer-led non-profit United Way Worldwide – 8th unit in the India network. He is a past President of the Rotary Club of Metropolitan and Chairman of the Rotary District 3290 Committee on Anti-Drug Abuse Programs, and a recipient of an award from Mother Teresa for his contribution to the wellbeing of those less privileged.

Mr. Amit Goradia

Honorary Treasurer

1.Joined Pioneer Equipment Co. Pvt. Ltd. as Management Trainee in 1973. After variousassignments in the Company, joined the Board of Directors of Pioneer Equipment in1980. Headed Pioneer Equipment Co. Pvt. Ltd. from 1981 to 1990.

2.From 1985 to 1992 was instrumental in planning the toothbrush manufacturing unit ofM/s. Dye Azo Pvt. Ltd.

3.In 1993 was instrumental in promoting Jewel Brushes Pvt Ltd. as manufacturers of ToothBrushes.

4.In 2000 promoted Coronet Products Pvt. Ltd. a Joint Venture with M/s. Coronet WerkeGmbH, Germany for manufacture of Household Care and Dental Care Products.

5.In 2007 all the companies of the Jewel Group as also Coronet Products Pvt. Ltd. havebeen amalgamated into one Company, Jewel Consumer Care Pvt. Ltd. which is now aleading manufacturer of Oral Care and House Hold Care products in Asia with exports toover 50 countries around the world.

6.Mr. Goradia is also a founder Director of Kunkel Wagner (India) Pvt. Ltd a Joint VentureCompany with Kunkel Wagner Processtechnologie GmbH, Germany. Kunkel WagnerProcesstechnologie GmbH are world famous manufacturers of specialized FoundryEquipments and Turnkey Plants. Jointly with the principals Kunkel Wagner (India) Pvt.Ltd. have been supplying plants in India and to various countries in Asia and Africa.

Institutional Activities:

-Was member of the Executive Committee of Federation of Indian Chambers ofCommerce and Industry (FICCI) & was Chairman of Gujarat State Council of FICCIfrom inception till 2007.

-Member of the Managing Committee of the Federation of Gujarat Industries since1988 and has held various Executive Positions including President (1999 & 2000).

-Chairman of Baroda Citizens Council, (BCC) Vadodara from 2000 to 2009. BCC is aleading NGO working for the betterment of Baroda since 45 years.

-Chairman of the Board of United Way of Vadodara from 2009 to 2013. Has been aTrustee since 1991

-Vice Chairman & Trustee of Shram Mandir Trust a leading NGO taking care ofLeprosy patients.

-Chairman of Baroda Citizens Council Credit Society.

Kamakhya Prasad Sengupta

Board Member

He presently holds the position of Co Chairman, DCG Data Core Systems (India) Pvt Ltd., a part of DCPL Group of Companies and subsidiary Data Core Systems, Inc US. He is also an active member of the Governing Bodies of Saroj Gupta Cancer Research & Hospital, Thakurpukur and Aurobindo Seba Kendra Hospital. He is also the Partner, Sengupta & Roy, a firm of Chartered Accountants.

In his earlier positions he was the Ex CFO of PwC, VP (Finance) and Stone India Ltd. a Duncan Group of Companies.

He was also the Ex Chairman,  American Chamber of Commerce ( Eastern Chapter) and Ex Chairman Eastern India Regional Council of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Shweta Singla

Director – Resource Mobilization

Shweta has 18 years of a diverse set of experiences across revenue creation, strategy consulting and entrepreneurship. Having worked with global brands like Swarovski, JC Penney and Walmart, and across geographies spanning USA, Europe, Japan and SE Asia for over a decade, her career is rooted in international business.

Most of Shweta’s experience has been in the luxury space, specifically in the jewellery sector. During this period she was instrumental in turning a niche diamond company into one of India’s leading exporters, instituting partnerships with some of the world’s biggest jewellery retailers and wholesalers. At Swarovski, she led a variety of projects including reshaping the India strategy for its crystal jewellery business, evaluating its potential foray into diamond jewellery in India and advising the conglomerate on its M&A strategy. 

Shweta holds an MBA degree from IESE Business School, Barcelona. Since her MBA she gradually ventured beyond the luxury sector and went on to co-found a food-tech start up. Her transition into the social sector has come on the back of a desire to catalyse change and create impact at scale. At United Way, she has played a pivotal role in shaping strategy to multiply impact and build capacities, developing new revenue models and mobilizing resources through key corporate partnerships.

Manish Michael

Chief Executive Officer

Manish has been associated with the United Way network in India for over a decade. Since his college days, he has been engaged with the development sector in various capacities. Passionate about nurturing social initiatives, scaling up not–for–profit organizations, and advising businesses on community investments, Manish is a certified Corporate Social Responsibility professional from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

He was awarded the prestigious Ford Foundation Fellowship to do a Master’s degree in Human Rights and Development from the University of Essex in the United Kingdom. In 2016, Manish was selected as an emerging leader by United Way Worldwide to undertake an Executive Leadership Development program with Centre for Creative Learning, Harvard Kennedy School and Deloitte University in the United States of America. Manish has served communities across the country and in West Africa.

Rajesh Krishnan

Executive Director – United Way of Bengaluru

Rajesh Krishnan has wide experience in Sales, Marketing and Business Development and has spent many years in multinational companies such as Consul, APC (later Schneider Electric) and CommScope. He held various leadership roles at both, National and Asia Pacific level.

He holds a degree in Industrial Engineering and is a first-rank holder from Karnataka University. He also has a Master’s Degree in Marketing Management from Bhavan’s College. His strong views like ‘be the change you wish to see’, made him change course and take up teaching in a low-income school, where he taught Science, Mathematics, and English to over 140 children from Grades 3 to 7.

He joined United Way Bengaluru as a volunteer towards the planning and implementation of Nandi Hillathon. Convinced that Social Engineering is where his passion lies, he has joined United Way Bengaluru. A stickler to detail he has a penchant for cooking, travel, and history.

Rajendra Kubal

Administrative Assistant

Rajendra has been working with United Way India from the past couple of years and is always ready to assist in the operational tasks of the organization. Committed, passionate, and always ready to serve, he truly showcases all that United Way India is about — service to the community.

Sachin Golwalkar

Chief Executive Officer – United Way of Delhi

Sachin has over 21+ years of rich and diverse experiences in and outside India.

Prior to leading United Way Delhi, he has served in leadership positions in two of the largest child-focused organizations in India where he managed large and diverse program portfolios (education, health, livelihood, water and sanitation, disaster response, etc.).

He has experience working with diverse stakeholders and partnerships, which include civil societies, governments and for-profit corporations. He managed large programs using diverse sources of funding and has deep exposure to programs across several thematic areas and countries. He is a post graduate from The Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and is an Aspire Social Leadership Fellow

Dipanwita Das

Director, Regional Director – United Way of Kolkata

Dipanwita Das has 22 years of corporate work experience with brands like Vodafone, Telenor and Reliance. She has been through the entire telecom lifecycle from its inception to its present avatar. Her forte is customer service and operations, setting up of new processes, and managing all aspects of customer interaction in alignment with the other departments.

She last worked as DGM service delivery head for the eastern region at Reliance Communication. She also teaches the children of slum-dwellers, who are first generation learners, in association with a charitable trust in her neighborhood. She holds an MBA from the Institute of Business Management, Jadavpur University, Kolkata.

Dr. Binita Verdia

Deputy Director – United Way of Baroda

Dr. Binita Verdia oversees the administration, programs, and strategic plan of the organization including community outreach, fundraising, and branding. She holds a PhD in Tissue Culture (published 12 research papers in National and Internal journals), an MBA (Master in Operation Research), and a PGMSM (Marketing and Sales Management). She has done a gender course from PRIA and a LAMP (Leadership and Management in Health Research) course from INCLEN, New Delhi. She has a rich work experience of 21 years across the corporate and development sectors.

She is the Vice-President of Jain International Women Organization. She is also the jury member in categories of outstanding CSR, NGO, and women entrepreneur of FGI (Federation of Industrial Association – 100 years young Chamber of Commerce recognized by Ministry of Commerce and Industry, GOI) for two consecutive awards in 2017 and 2019. She is also an active member of the Jain youth group.

She has served in GSFC Science Foundation for 7 years and in esteemed NGOs such as Seva Mandir, Rajasthan as Head Planning and Monitoring and Evaluation Cell. She anchored Rural Development course for international undergraduates. At Deepak Foundation she was a Senior team member in CSR and HNR-CS before joining United Way of Baroda. Her experience is in the areas of fund-raising for the organization, implementation, proposal development, evaluation, and monitoring of various sectors such as health, education, women and child development, occupational health, and clinical services. She has also been instrumental in the designing and development of the Sustainable Enterprise Center of Deepak Occupational Health Centre.

Apart from these, she was Co-investigator for Childhood Pneumonia research study in the urban, rural and tribal areas of Gujarat funded by INCLEN. She conducted a study on child migration funded by Child Fund and willingness to pay for health services funded by Sanford World Clinics. She has attended, presented and awarded best poster and paper presentations at various conferences at INSA, and also conducted various effect and impact studies on the development sector.

Rekha Srinivasan

Executive Director – United Way of Hyderabad

Rekha joined United Way of Hyderabad in January 2013. She has 19+ years of pan-India experience in community development. She has worked with various communities which are facing challenges – women, workers in unorganized work sectors, tribal communities, fishing communities, and rural and urban poor. Most of the work has been oriented towards empowering socially and economically disempowered communities.

She started her career as a lecturer of Journalism. Her passion for community development brought her to work with over 200 NGOs and CBOs in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. She has rich experience of lobbying with the government for policy change. She provided leadership to two large people’s networks to lead right-based campaigns. The networks are Andhra Pradesh women’s network in Andhra Pradesh and Forum for Crèche and Childcare Services (FORCES) in Karnataka.

She has authored over 10 forward-looking documents for large funding organizations like Sri Ratan Tata Trust, Alliance Network, Skillshare International – Value chain of Non-timber forest produces, ISB, and Goldman Sachs. Her documents were on Women Entrepreneurship Development Program, Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), Hyderabad, and National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) for GO of AP.

Her passion to teach, promote volunteerism and enthuse students to work in the social development sector lead her to organize student development programs for students from National Institute for Rural Development – Hyderabad, Osmania University, and social work students from various MSW colleges.

In her current role, she is responsible for operationalizing the vision, mission, and goals of the organization as both its programmatic and administrative head. Rekha has a Master’s degree in Mass Communication with a specialization in print media, advertising, and public relations.

Melanie Godinho

Associate Manager – Operations

Having studied Banking and Insurance and now pursuing her Master’s in Environmental Sustainability, Melanie has been working with United Way India since the past 2 and a half years.

Coming from a household that caters food, Melanie is always excited to cater to people throughout her career in the organization she works for. Having worked with various firms pertaining to administration in India and Dubai, Melanie is now looking forward to bringing United Way India’s philanthropic services to her community in Mumbai.