We stand United, every step of the Way.

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 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 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 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 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. Sunit Mehra heads Hunts’ Private equity practice across Asia and is the Founder Managing Partner of the firm. Sunit started his search career with Horton International, a high-end executive search firm in the US in 1996, and later moved to India to head Hoton’s India’s operations. Sunit has worked with a large number of corporate boards and is an advisor to several Indian business houses on Corporate Governance. He has co-authored the India Board Report, India’s foremost research paper on Corporate Governance, in conjunction with the CII. He was previously the Managing Director of Omni Business Machines Ltd, a telecommunications product manufacturing and distribution company.

Sunit is also a Founder Director of Third Sector Partners, (TSP), a not for profit search firm, which hires senior management talent for the development sector. TSP, in turn, spawned Katalyst, a program that strives for the economic empowerment of underprivileged girls through higher education, thereby enabling them to grow the senior management bandwidth of corporate India. Sunit is a Founder Trustee of UWM and in the past, Sunit has been the Chairman of- American Chamber of Commerce, Mumbai, and Treasurer of the Wharton Alumni Association of India. Sunit received a business degree in marketing management from the Wharton School, and also a degree in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

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 Katarki graduated from National Law School of India University in 1996 and enrolled as an advocate in the same year. He is a Partner at IndusLaw, a national multi disciplinary law firm.

Suneeth practises in the areas of mergers & acquisitions, private equity and venture capital investment. He also advises on various aspects of Intellectual Property including trademark protection and software licensing agreements

Suneeth is involved with organizations concerning mental health. His other interests include nature conservation and travel

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.

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.

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.

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.

Homi Khusrokhan is a Commerce Graduate from Bombay University and a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and a M.Sc. (Econ.) from the London School of Economics and Political Science. He worked for 29 years with Glaxo & Burroughs Wellcome in India and retired in 2000 as Managing Director of both companies. He then joined the Tata Group as MD of Tata Tea Ltd. on a 3 year assignment and then moved to Tata Chemicals Ltd in 2004. He retired as MD of Tata Chemicals in December 2008. After his retirement from the Tata Group, he now serves on the Boards of several companies in a non-executive or advisory capacity and is presently a Vice President of the Bombay Natural History Society. In February 2009, he was appointed a Special Adviser to the Government-appointed Board of Satyam Computer Services Ltd. to assist with the turn-around of the company and the induction of a new strategic investor.

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.

Ramesh Kaza is the Senior Vice President and 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 and its entities, and also build and manage the in-house knowledge capability for critical technology functions.

Ramesh came to State Street with over 28 years of diversified working experience, operating globally from Australia, US and India. Prior to joining State Street, he had a long stint of over 16 years with the Bank of America, where he held critical positions operating from both US and India. With the 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 and Enterprise Data.

Ramesh also held key positions globally with companies like Fidelity Investments, GE Capital, AMP Life and Aspect development. Ramesh brings in core knowledge in optimizing technology solutions for customers, building and managing 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 Hyderabad as the chairperson.

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

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 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.

Swapnil has been working in the Finances & Admin Department in social work from the past 9 years along with 2 years in the corporate sector. He has worked with GFATM Project (The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria) for SAATHII in Maharashtra and Goa.

Throughout his professional journey, he has met with opportunities to work with various people and organizations like Prayas (Pune), Gaurav, Aaraju Foundation, Humsaya foundation, thus helping him grow his skills. Having gained knowledge and experience about finance management, budgeting, data analysis, FARA, TDS, provident fund, income tax return, charity commissioner rules, handholding support, advocacy, reproductive and child health, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, adolescent health and sexuality and SHGs, Swapnil now heads the Finance at United Way India.

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.

Jayanti Shukla joined United Way Mumbai in 2008. Prior to this assignment, she worked with the New India Assurance Co. Ltd, a multinational insurance company, as their Regional Manager at the company’s Delhi Regional Office. She later worked with IL&FS Investsmart Insurance Brokers Ltd. as Vice President for corporate and insurer relations.

Jayanti is an Independent Director on the boards of two of the group companies of Standard Chartered Bank, namely Standard Chartered Securities (India) Ltd., and Standard Chartered Investment and Loans (India) Ltd. She is on the CII Task Force for India@75 and is a member of the CSR Committee of the Indian Merchants Chamber.

She is also an alumnus of the Hunt Partners Independent Directors Club. Jayanti holds an M.Phil from the University 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 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 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 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.

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.