Kapil Setia is the Chief Architect of Chandigarh City Administration, Dept. of Urban Planning , Chandigarh. He is an alumni of the Chandigarh College of Architecture with Bachelor degree in Architecture and have total work work experience of over 30 years. Prior to joining the Chandigarh Administration in 2000 has served in CPWD New Delhi for about a decade working on various wide variety of public projects such as development of August Kranti Udyan at India Gate, SPG campus at Manesar, NPBGR Housing New Delhi etc. Besides these, he has been associated with projects like Indian Embassy in Riyad Saudi Arabia, NTPC Housing, Russian Information Centre, chain of Nirula’s Hotels. He has been involved in designing many prestigious works in Chandigarh i.e. revitalization of City Centre, Sector 17, High Court campus, UT Guest House, CCET campus. He was instrumental in preparing the Green Building Code for Chandigarh. He is convener member of the Chandigarh Heritage Conservation Committee and Board member of the Chandigarh Administration i.e. Chandigarh Housing Board, CITCO besides being a member of the Council of Architecture, a regulating body under the Architects Act, 1972. He is the key officer responsible for inscription of the Capitol Complex as a World Heritage site by UNESCO recently. He has undertaken new programmes announced by the Government of India like the Smart City under AMRUT scheme, GIS based Master Plan, Housing for all. Presently spearheading a committee on providing solutions for Ease of Doing Business through Online Building Plan Approval process by preparing Comprehensive Building Byelaws 2017. In his capacity as Chief Architect, Chandigarh, he has big contribution in controlling all the developmental works / regulatory functions of the Chandigarh Administration both in public and private domain.
Amit Sheth calls himself a ‘tinkerer’; graduated in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from BITS Pilani, going on to specialise in Product Design at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad; and now once again he is a student trying his hand at a PhD from the Industrial Design Centre, IITB, Mumbai. Amit founded an industrial design and engineering consultancy named “Mind’s Eye Design Pvt. Ltd.” in 1988. During the three decades of its existence , the practice has provided industry with design services in product design, corporate identity, wayfinding and signage design, exhibition and systems design, interior design & architecture and design strategy for corporates. For the last decade plus his main concentretion has been wayfinding and signage for townships, transport hubs and hospitals. Amit has served on several state and regional academic and scientific committees as well as for the CII. He has been a very active design teacher at design and management institutes such as NID, MICA, IIM-K, NIFT, Srishti, MIT (Pune), CEPT University & IIT Gandhinagar. He is currently at Nirma University, Ahmedabad; where he has set up a brand new design institute which offers a 4 years Bachelor of Design programme and is currently a Professor & Head of the Department of Design. In the areas of traffic and inclusivity, Amit was a core member of the Ahmedabad Traffic Consultative Committee for many years. He is also a core member of the Ahmedabad Disabilities Group which is concerned about inclusiveness in the built environment. Currently he is on the Traffic Cell Committee of the Raksha Shakti University which looks into finding out innovative solutions for traffic related problems. One of his major concerns has been the need of effective signage on our roads for the pedestrians and vehicle users and has presented many papers at various conferences on the same.
Dr. Sudhir Krishna was a member of Indian Administrative Service for 37 years, from 1977 to 2014 and superannuated as Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, wherein he steered the various national programmes & policies including the JNNURM and also developed the initial contours of the Smart Cities Mission. He also initiated the process of revision of the Urban & Regional Development Plan Formulation & Implementation (URDPFI) Guidelines of the GOI and the Master Plan for Delhi (MPD). He had held various other senior positions in GOI ands has numerous publications to his credit, on themes relating to public policy, management and urban & regional development. In 2015, he chaired two Committees set up by the Government of Delhi for framing a Draft Public Procurement Bill & for making recommendations on simplification/ abolition of licensing system. In April 2016, he was appointed as Chairman, the Fifth Delhi Finance Commission, which submitted its report in October 2017. He continues to remain involved with the urban development initiatives. He also chairs the Committee on Standards for Smart Cities of the BIS & a TIFAC Committee on Smart Habitats. He is also a national resource person for the DOPT on Leadership Skills.
Vivek Atray is a former IAS officer, an Advisor, Inspirational Speaker and Author. He wrote 2 novels "Move on Bunny" and "Dubey ji Bounces Back". His third book, a Life Skills advisory, is soon to be released. He also writes a column called Random Forays for the Hindustan Times. He is an Electronics Engineer from NIT Kurukshetra and has a diploma in French. He has several Talks including TEDx Talks that are available on Youtube. He is the founder of the Vibrant Networking Forum.
Suraj Nandakumar is an Urban Planner and Architect by training, having graduated from Politecnico di Milano and University of Illinois, Chicago; he has led large urban infrastructure projects in India and abroad. Suraj is the co-founder of RECITY Network Pvt. Ltd., an organization envisioned for participatory planning projects and collective problem-solving. His expertise extends to Holistic Solid Waste Management, urban infrastructure, town planning, riverfront development, landscape, and tourism planning projects.
Santosh is the MD & CEO of Future Brands Ltd., a branding services company that creates and manages a portfolio of brands and offers consulting services in the brand and consumer space. Before taking up this assignment, he was the President of McCann-Erickson, one of India’s premier advertising agencies. A post graduate from IIM Ahmedabad, his interest lies in studying the evolving nature of consumer culture in India. He wears two hats, one as an authoritative voice in matters relating to brands and consumers and the other as a social commentator, making sense of the complex changes India is undergoing. His experience spans brands and companies like GM, Coca-Cola, Pepsico, Unilever, Titan, Marico, ITC Foods, TVS Motors, Reckitt Benckiser, Dabur, GSK, Godrej, J&J and Perfetti among others.He has also advised on brand and category development strategies, portfolio management and product development as well as consulted many International brands on their India entry strategies. He has served on the board of ING Vysya Bank and is currently on the boards of ACK Media Ltd., Future Consumer Products Limited, Oxfam India, Breakthrough and Centre for Advocacy & Research. He is also a member of the Governing Councils of Mudra Institute of Communication, Ahmedabad & Praxis Business School, Kolkata. He has been writing a weekly column for the Times of India for over a decade and is author of Mother Pious Lady- Making Sense of Everyday India, a book that examines how the everyday life of middle class India has evolved. He has addressed several national and international seminars on a broad range of subjects encompassing marketing, consumer culture and contemporary social issues and has served on several award juries, including those for the National Film Awards as well as the Tata Literature Live Awards.
Deeply passionate about advertising, blackjack and single malts, Sonal Dabral studied Visual Communication at India’s leading design school – the National Institute of Design. Over a 25 year career, Sonal has led agencies to creative glory in 3 different markets across Asia. At Ogilvy Mumbai in the 90's, he helped drive the agency from creative anonymity to India’s No.1 agency. He did the same with Ogilvy Kuala Lumpur leading the office to become the most awarded in Malaysia and one of the region's hottest within just three years. In the process winning Malaysia’s first-ever Gold at an international award show- a One Show Gold. Ogilvy Singapore was next, where he led his team to become No.1 in the Creative Ranking in Asia, and the third most awarded office in the world at Cannes Lions 2007 – a first for an Asian agency. He returned to India in 2011 to head Bates, followed by a stint at DDB Mudra. International Advertising Association (India chapter) recently picked Sonal as the Creative Leader of the Year for the year 2017. Having spent a significant part of his career with the Ogilvy network, September 2017 saw a homecoming for Sonal as he took over the mantle of Vice Chairman and Group Chief Creative Officer at Ogilvy India. Sonal has spoken at major festivals and events like LIA, TEDx and PechaKucha nights besides numerous engagements across the globe. A jack of all trades, in an earlier avatar Sonal has been a favourite TV host on prime time television and a Bollywood scriptwriter. Recently in Nov2017, Sonal has debut as a playwright when a play written by him staged in Singapore.
Vineeta Shetty is the London-based founder of The Smart Citizen, a platform for sharing proven practice in urban innovation and governance across hemispheres. TheSmartCitizen.Org profiles nations, regions and cities that have smart strategies and skilful tactics to share as liveable, sustainable and inclusive territories. Vineeta has counselled organisations such as Nokia, Patni, Deloitte Tohmatsu and previously been executive editor of Communications International, providing coverage of developments in Europe, Africa and Asia in telecommunications policy, regulation, business and technology. She has also had two-year stints as communication officer and events manager in the UN and Commonwealth systems.
Shrinivas Kowligi is Partner – Smart Cities and Urban Transformation, Government and Transaction Advisory Services at Ernst & Young LLP, India. As the Urban Sector leader, he provides oversight and strategic guidance for EY’s work in urban infrastructure and municipal services, covering project advisory, policy formulation, institutional reforms and technology-led sector transformation. With over 20 years of core consulting experience he has led several projects in the urban infrastructure domain, spanning across countries in the ASEAN region as well as multiple states across India. Immediately prior to joining EY, Shrinivas was associated with IBM Global Services as the Leader - Smarter Cities for the ASEAN region and was based in Singapore. He also led urban infrastructure projects in multiple geographies including Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam amongst other countries. Earlier he has also worked with PwC, where he helped build the urban infrastructure practice, with a focus on municipal management. Shrinivas also helped plan and execute large mandates at the national and state government level. He is a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from University of Pune and holds a PG in management from the Institute of Rural Management, Anand.
NSN Murty is the Smart Cities Leader for PwC India. He has over 16 years of Indian & global experience in Strategy, Project Delivery, P&L Management and Smart Cities. As a Thought Leader on smart cities, he designed several projects in the area of Smart Cities, Public Safety, Urban Transportation and Sanitation and leads the Smart Cities Practice and works with clients on delivering Urban Planning, Strategy, PPP, ICT Planning, Procurement Services, PMO and Implementation Services. He is currently leading several engagements including Smart City Mission at various states in India. He is also providing strategic inputs to the team on Naya Raipur Smart City, Delhi WiFi Strategy, Ease of Doing Business in Smart Cities for British High Commission and support to PwC Japan on execution of Varanasi-Kyoto MoU. Prior to PwC Murty worked for EY and IBM where he played a key role on City Sanitation Plan for one of the oldest cities in India, Surveillance Solution for Indian City, and PPP models assessment for Solid Waste Management Projects for a State Government.
A Doctorate in Management from IIT Delhi, and Rank holder in MBA from CUSAT, Dr. Darlie O Koshy was trained at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), New York in Fashion Marketing & Merchandising, and had founded the Fashion Management Department at NIFT, New Delhi which he headed as Sr. Professor & Chairperson from 1987 to 2000. As the Director and Governing Council Member of the iconic National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad and the founding Chairman of the National Design Business Incubator (NDBI) for two terms of office (2000-2009), Dr. Koshy had initiated and developed the “National Design Policy” which was approved by Govt. of India in 2007 which envisaged inter-alia setting up of 4 NIDs, ‘India Design Council’ as well as initiating the ‘Good Design Indian Mark’ for Indian Products & Services. Dr. Koshy’s “Indian Design Edge” published by Roli Books is the only Contemporary authentic publication setting the contexts, concepts and strategies for a “’Design enabled India”. Dr. Darlie Koshy is the only Indian to have served three times as the Executive Board Member on the Board of ‘World Design Organization’ known earlier as ICSID. Dr. Darlie Koshy since January 2009 has been the DG & CEO of ATDC & IAM and have succeeded in bringing about a major transformation to ATDC which has now over 200 directly-run ATDC - AVI & ATDC - SMART centres across India in 23 states for Vocational training in Apparel sector. The awards conferred on Dr. Darlie Koshy include ‘International Holden Medal Award of Textile Institute Manchester, UK’ in 2016, (2 nd Indian to be conferred this major International award) “Star of Italian Solidarity” one of the highest civilian awards of the Government of Italy (2009), ‘IIT Delhi Alumni Award’ for contribution to “National Development (2008)”. “Premio II Ponte : citation and Award (2008), by the “Fondazione Europea Guido Venosta” for contribution to Design For Development and Quality of Life and several other significant recognitions. Dr. (Sr. Prof.) Koshy is a well-known visionary Educationist, International Speaker, Author of three critically acclaimed books including ‘Indian Design Edge’ and a much sought after Design Management Strategist for Fashion, Lifestyle and Retail industries and a member on the Boards of Apparel, Home Furnishing & Made-ups Sector Skill Council, Lakme-IMG Fashion Week, Executive Committee of AEPC and also in an Independent Director on the Board of Future Life Style Fashions.
A Doctorate in Management from IIT Delhi, and Rank holder in MBA from CUSAT, Dr. Darlie O Koshy was trained at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), New York in Fashion Marketing & Merchandising, and had founded the Fashion Management Department at NIFT, New Delhi which he headed as Sr. Professor & Chairperson from 1987 to 2000. As the Director and Governing Council Member of the iconic National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad and the founding Chairman of the National Design Business Incubator (NDBI) for two terms of office (2000-2009), Dr. Koshy had initiated and developed the “National Design Policy” which was approved by Govt. of India in 2007 which envisaged inter-alia setting up of 4 NIDs, ‘India Design Council’ as well as initiating the ‘Good Design Indian Mark’ for Indian Products & Services. Dr. Koshy’s “Indian Design Edge” published by Roli Books is the only Contemporary authentic publication setting the contexts, concepts and strategies for a “’Design enabled India”. Dr. Darlie Koshy is the only Indian to have served three times as the Executive Board Member on the Board of ‘World Design Organization’ known earlier as ICSID. Dr. Darlie Koshy since January 2009 has been the DG & CEO of ATDC & IAM and have succeeded in bringing about a major transformation to ATDC which has now over 200 directly-run ATDC - AVI & ATDC - SMART centres across India in 23 states for Vocational training in Apparel sector. The awards conferred on Dr. Darlie Koshy include ‘International Holden Medal Award of Textile Institute Manchester, UK’ in 2016, (2 nd Indian to be conferred this major International award) “Star of Italian Solidarity” one of the highest civilian awards of the Government of Italy (2009), ‘IIT Delhi Alumni Award’ for contribution to “National Development (2008)”. “Premio II Ponte : citation and Award (2008), by the “Fondazione Europea Guido Venosta” for contribution to Design For Development and Quality of Life and several other significant recognitions. Dr. (Sr. Prof.) Koshy is a well-known visionary Educationist, International Speaker, Author of three critically acclaimed books including ‘Indian Design Edge’ and a much sought after Design Management Strategist for Fashion, Lifestyle and Retail industries and a member on the Boards of Apparel, Home Furnishing & Made-ups Sector Skill Council, Lakme-IMG Fashion Week, Executive Committee of AEPC and also in an Independent Director on the Board of Future Life Style Fashions.
Ulla has over 30 years’ experience in the leadership of international ICT & Telco business in sales, marketing, R&D, regional business and country management as well as corporate ventures. Prior to joining Avanto Ventures she hold the position of managing director of Comptel India and Bangladesh until end of 2016. She has pioneered in multiple new ventures such as one of the world’s firsts interactive data- and content- service in the pre-smartphone era and is a patent holder of Management of service products in a mobile network. She is recognized values leader with entrepreneurship and customer delight promoter. Today Ulla is building an Indo-Finnish ecosystem for advanced passenger mobility utilizing the corporate venturing experience of Avanto Ventures Oy, which include the most talked about event in 2016 in Finland, when the largest Finnish private bank launched mobility as a service business based on electric cars. The passion of Ulla is fully aligned with the mission and values of Avanto Ventures: "Doing good for the people and the planet".
Working with owners and CEOs, Sudhir has used his expertise in Design and experience in Business processes to lead assignments that shape the future of Industry. He is especially passionate about creating instinctual business processes based on user perceptions and behaviors. A reputed pioneering Design and Business transformation consultant, Sudhir has 28 years of diverse experience working in India, traveling extensively in Asia region and speaking at various events & universities.
Founded in 1990, Design Providence is a multi disciplinary practice in the field of Interior Architecture and Product Design. Mark held office as Vice President with the Victorian Chapter of the Design Institute of Australia, also as Director with Arts & Recreation Training Victoria, and Artists & Industry. Highly regarded for expertise in furniture design, the practice has work represented in the National Gallery of Victoria, exhibiting both local and international, recently (2002) winning the ISSI - DIA Design Innovation Award presented by the Victorian Government Lead Minister for Design, the Honourable Lynne Kosky. Mark completed a Master’s Degree in Industrial Design at RMIT, the research topic entitled 'Belonging' investigated the role the physical environment plays in the form of artefacts. Mark received an honorarium to present his findings at the International Interior Architect & Designer (IFI) Conference in Ireland in September 1997, and a paper titled “Sedition of the Gift’ at the ‘Design Sutra’ conference in Mumbai, India in December 2003, and numerous papers with CII NID Design Summit on Design Thinking. Working in Service Design and Design Thinking since 2010 becoming a Partner with Amsterdam based DesignThinkers Group & Academy in 2013. Mark has presented on Design in India since 2003 and more recently has been honoured in acceptance as a Incoming Leaders Fellow of the Australia India Institute, participated in the International Council of Societies of Industrial (ICSID) Interdesign Workshop “Humanising the Metropolis” Mumbai, also presented at IIT Delhi, IIT IDC, Mumbai, NID and DYPDC Center for Automotive Research & Studies, Pune as well as the NatCon InDesia in Kolhapur in 2014. He is advisor to the India Design Festival, the Delhi Design Festival and judge of the India’s Best Design Studio / Project Awards 2017
Ulla has over 30 years’ experience in the leadership of international ICT & Telco business in sales, marketing, R&D, regional business and country management as well as corporate ventures. Prior to joining Avanto Ventures she hold the position of managing director of Comptel India and Bangladesh until end of 2016. She has pioneered in multiple new ventures such as one of the world’s firsts interactive data- and content- service in the pre-smartphone era and is a patent holder of Management of service products in a mobile network. She is recognized values leader with entrepreneurship and customer delight promoter. Today Ulla is building an Indo-Finnish ecosystem for advanced passenger mobility utilizing the corporate venturing experience of Avanto Ventures Oy, which include the most talked about event in 2016 in Finland, when the largest Finnish private bank launched mobility as a service business based on electric cars. The passion of Ulla is fully aligned with the mission and values of Avanto Ventures: "Doing good for the people and the planet".
