A room of builders.

Manu Chopra is the Co‑Founder and CEO of Karya. He works on using AI to bring accelerated earning and learning opportunities to low-income communities across the Global South. A Stanford graduate, Manu co-founded CS+Social Good in college and has taught several tech-for-good courses in Stanford’s Computer Science Department. Manu was named among Time’s 100 Most Influential People in AI. He is also an Echoing Green Fellow and a Draper Richards Kaplan Social Entrepreneur.

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Mr. Mirik Gogri, Head of Corporate Strategy at Aarti Industries, built a world-class R&D center with 400+ scientists. He leads Spectrum Impact, his family office focused on climate innovation, supporting 100+ organizations globally via grants, equity, and debt in areas like nuclear fusion, carbon capture, green hydrogen, and food tech. He founded SCALE to advance climate solutions in manufacturing and co-founded India’s Translational Research Initiative (ITRI). An IIT Bombay alumnus, he holds a dual degree in Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science.

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Mukhmeet Singh Bhatia is a seasoned civil servant with over 34 years of experiencespanning rural development, social development, labour welfare and public financialmanagement. His career spans diverse roles at the field, state, national, and international levels, demonstrating a deep commitment to public service and development issues.

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His field experience has primarily been in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha. At the policy level, he has held key positions including Joint Secretary in the 14th Finance Commission, Additional Secretary in the 15th Finance Commission, Director General of the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) , Chief Provident Fund Commissioner, EPFO and Secretary, Ministry of Minority Affairs. At the international level he has served as a Consultant in the Social Development Department of the World Bank in Washington, D.C.,and as a Governance Adviser DFID, United Kingdom Government, providing strategic insights on governance enhancements.He has done a Masters in Public Administration (International Development) from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and is also an alumnus of Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi. Mukhmeet is now an independent policy analyst focused on sustainable development, transparent governance and public financial management.

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Mayank Verma is an officer of the Haryana Civil Service (HCS, 2023 batch) and currently serves as the Joint State Project Director at the Haryana School Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad (HSSPP). In his role, he oversees initiatives aimed at strengthening school education across the state, including the deployment of vocational teachers and implementation of quality learning programs.

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Namya Mahajan is the Co-founder of Rocket Learning, a social enterprise that focuses on community-led early childhood development in India. Rocket Learning’s mission is to catalyze a high-quality, universal, and free early childhood development system, so all children, regardless of their family’s income or area of residence, can reach their full potential and thrive. Rocket Learning engages parents and primary caregivers by delivering bite-sized, localized content via WhatsApp, to their phones.

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Prior to launching Rocket Learning, Ms. Mahajan led the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) federation of 106 cooperatives in Gujarat, including childcare co-ops and advocacy, and spent time at McKinsey. She also serves on Indian government’s Expert ECE Curriculum Committee, is an Elevate Prize Winner (2023), Mulago Fellow (2022), Forbes 30Under30 Asia list (2022) and Draper Richards Kaplan Fellow (2021). She holds an MBA and a BA in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University.

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Nandita Sebastian is a development sector professional with over a decade of experience in impact measurement, monitoring and evaluation, and data-driven strategies. As Vice President – Data and Research at Generation India Foundation, she leads large-scale impact frameworks and digital transformation initiatives. She has previously worked with BCG, PwC, EY, and Sambodhi across education, health, and livelihoods sectors.

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Neelam Dhawan is an Independent Director on the Boards of Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) and ICICI Bank. At HUL, she serves as Chairperson of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee and the Risk Management Committee, and is a member of the Audit Committee, Corporate Social Responsibility Committee, and the Environmental, Social and Governance Committee.

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A veteran of India’s information technology industry, Ms. Dhawan has held leadership roles at HCL, IBM, Microsoft, and Hewlett Packard since 1982. Her last executive position was as Vice President, Asia Pacific and Japan, at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, until March 2018. Over the years, she has played a pivotal role in shaping India’s IT landscape, including serving on the NASSCOM Executive Council (2009–2017), where she contributed to industry strategy and public policy frameworks.

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She currently serves as a Non-Executive Director at Capita PLC, Fractal Analytics Pvt. Ltd., and Yatra Online Inc., and as Chairperson of Capillary Technologies. Ms. Dhawan is also on the Governing Board of IIIT Delhi and advises several organizations on business transformation.

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She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University, and an MBA from the Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi.

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With over 25 years of experience in social development, program management, and nonprofit leadership, Bhasin brings a wealth of expertise to her role as CEO of Digital Green - India. Prior to joining Digital Green, she served as CEO of Nasscom Foundation, where she transformed the organization and took it to the next level by championing technology for social good and worked to bridge the digital divide in underserved communities across India by impacting over 15M  lives positively. Before that, she spent two decades at Concern India Foundation as Deputy CEO, leading initiatives in education, health, and disaster rehabilitation, community development, particularly for women.

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She is passionate to serve the intersectionality of technology, gender, climate and agriculture. Bhasin is an alumna of India’s prestigious Delhi School of Social Work, Delhi University. She is also a fellow of the Japan-India Transformative Technology Network (JITTN) by Salzburg Global, and has been featured among the “50 Women in Technology Leadership” by one of India’s leading IT magazines.

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Ms. Biswas is the Head of the NuSocia Translational Research Center, where she leads the organization's work at the intersection of evidence and social development. Prior to her current leadership role, she honed her expertise in rigorous evaluation and research methodologies at the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie). In her work, Ms. Biswas applies a systems thinking lens to dissect complex social initiatives and advocate for more equitable and effective implementation. Her published research includes "Upskilling for Women: A Clarion Call or a Gender-biased Solution?" in the Economic and Political Weekly, "A theory of change roadmap for universal health coverage in India" in Frontiers in Public Health, and an "Evidence gap map of performance measurement and management in primary healthcare systems" in BMJ Global Health, contributing significantly to the discourse on workforce development and health systems.Ms. Biswas received her Master of Public Health from The George Washington University.

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Nishant started his career as a technology enthusiast, focusing on software development and eCommerce solutions.

Having spent over 13 years at Flipkart, Nishant has gained extensive experience in building and scaling businesses. His efforts were crucial in establishing Flipkart’s marketplace platform, a venture that has significantly contributed to the growth of lakhs of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) across India. 

Nishant joined Walmart.Org in 2022, where he is the boots-on-ground connect between the Walmart Foundation and its grantees. The Walmart Foundation enables market access for lakhs of smallholder farmers in India. It is this deep commitment towards creating inclusive growth that excited Nishant to embrace this role.

Driven by his passion towards shared growth, he  dons the role of Head of Sustainability at the Flipkart Group, focusing on integrating sustainable practices within the company's operations and broader strategy.

Nishant’s passion extends to advocating for diversity and inclusion in the workplace. He is actively involved in several initiatives aimed at fostering a more inclusive environment. His focus areas include creating better opportunities and workspaces for women, Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), and individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community, thereby enriching the corporate culture with diverse perspectives and inclusive policies.

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Nishant Pandey is the New York based CEO of the American India Foundation, providing strategic leadership to its operations globally. He is an economist by training, anthropologist by heart and entrepreneur by mind-set. He began his career as a banker but soon realized that development sector was his calling. He joined Oxfam as its Programme Officer for South India where he designed and developed multi-state, multi-stakeholder, value-chain programmes on the theme of ‘power in markets’. Subsequently, he moved Oxfam’s global HQ in Oxford (UK) to lead on programme development and management in 12 countries in Middle East, Eastern Europe and the CIS. Before moving back to India as AIF’s Country Director, Nishant was based in Jerusalem where he led one of the most complex and challenging operations as Oxfam’s Country Director for the Occupied Palestinian Territory & Israel.

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Nishant firmly believes in the power of win-win partnerships. In his career spanning 24 years, he has forged several multi-stakeholder initiatives involving civil society, governments and corporate partners, big and small, global and local. Nishant speaks and writes routinely on development issues, corporate social responsibility and public-private partnerships (PPP). He appears regularly on media outlets such as NDTV, CNN News18, Republic World and TV Asia. He has authored Op-eds for reputed outlets such as The Economic Times and The Hill and has been quoted in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and NPR. He has been invited as a speaker at events and conferences organized by Harvard University, Georgetown University, CGI-New York, Asia House (London), European Commission, UNDP, Unicef, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), NASSCOM and many others. Nishant is a founding-member and Vice-Chair of the India Philanthropy Alliance and a member of the Advisory Council of the Indian School of Leadership.

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Nishant acquired his Master’s in International Development & Finance as a British Chevening scholar. He also holds M.A. in Economics, B.A. in Anthropology and Advanced Management Programme from the Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK.

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Nita works on Co-Impact’s partner sourcing, grant making, and program partner support efforts across Asia, collaborating closely with the Regional Director to shape and implement regional strategic initiatives.

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With two decades of rich experience spanning implementation and funding organizations, Nita excels in program implementation, program design, advocacy, capacity building, and fostering meaningful collaborations. Most recently, she worked as Senior Programme Manager for Asia at Porticus. There, she spearheaded operations in India, overseeing grants and projects that championed education, active citizenship, and youth engagement. Gender, equity, and social inclusion have been fundamental aspects of her work. Across diverse roles, she has collaborated closely with various state departments, implementing programs and influencing policies.

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Nita’s entrepreneurial spirit and experience with startup organizations have enriched her perspective. Her previous roles with esteemed institutions such as the Language and Learning Foundation, Centre for Knowledge Societies (READ Alliance), Absolute Return for Kids, British Council, and Room to Read have honed her expertise in program management, program evaluation, and partnership development. Nita is based in Bangalore, India, with her family.

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