We are proud to present you our new Keynote Speakers
We are proud to present you our new Keynote Speakers
The Indian Blade Runner. Kargil war survivor. First amputee marathon runner of India. Limca record holder. Inspirational speaker. Was "Declared Dead" in an Army Hospital in July 1999 during the Kargil war. 14 years hence he returned as India's first Blade runner. He showed the world how the spirit in a true warrior can make a handicap into a Handy- capable person. In 1999, during the Kargil war, a shell exploded next to Major D P Singh, and he was almost shredded...
Chef Brar was born in Lucknow, India. When fairly young, he was inspired by the local Kebab vendors in Lucknow to pursue his love of food and was also a volunteer apprentice to one of them. Eventually he joined Institute of Hotel Management, Lucknow, for a more formal initiation into the culinary world. After completing his education at IHM, Chef Brar began his career at the Taj Mahal Hotel. In 2001, at Fort Aguada Beach Resort in Goa, he opened "Morisco"...
General (Dr) Manoj Mukund Naravane (Retd) is a highly decorated and widely respected leader with over four decades of service in the Indian Army, culminating in his appointment as the 28th Chief of the Army Staff. His illustrious military career spans strategic command roles, national security policymaking, international diplomacy, teaching, authorship and thought leadership. A veteran of the Sikh Light Infantry, he has commanded operations along India’s most sensitive frontiers, including the Western, Northeastern and Northern borders and has served...
Bhaichung Bhutia, also known as the “Sikkimese Sniper”, is a former Indian national footballer and is considered as the epitome of the rise of Indian football. He was born on 15 December 1976 in Tinkitam, Sikkim and played as a striker all his career. Bhutia is known for his powerful shots and his pinpoint accuracy in front of goal. His hunger for goals and his passion for the game made him the father-figure of Indian football. Bhaichung has also captained the national side...
Richa Kar is the Founder of Zivame, India's largest intimate wear platform, a pioneer in making intimate wear shopping respectful and comforting for all Indian women. Zivame was started in 2011 and is one of the few early startups that has seen the entire cycle of fund raising and exit to a large corporation. Richa has more than a decade of experience in Retail Marketing, Branding, and Operations. She has worked with companies like Spencer’s Retail, Oracle and SAP in the...
Leander Paes is one of the greatest tennis legends in history, celebrated for his unparalleled achievements on and off the court. He is India’s first and only Olympic tennis medalist and the first Asian male to be inducted into the prestigious International Tennis Hall of Fame (2024). Known globally for his lightning-fast reflexes, strategic brilliance, and an indomitable will to win, Leander’s career exemplifies excellence, resilience, and inspiration. Over an illustrious career spanning more than 38 years, Leander has achieved extraordinary...
From a small village in Coimbatore, India, came a ‘man’ who revolutionized the menstrual hygiene industry in India! Mr. Arunachalam Muruganantham is a household name in many villages across the country and now globally, and his name is now strongly associated with women empowerment. In a country where Menstruation is a taboo subject even amongst women, he came forward with an innovation that opened dialogues and conversations regarding the same. He is the inventor of the world’s first Low Cost Sanitary...
Conferred with the Padma Shri, Rohan Bopanna is a Grand Slam Winner, Asian Games gold medalist, multiple Olympian and member of the Indian Davis Cup team for over 20 years. At 43, Rohan Bopanna is the oldest player to be ranked World No. 1 in Tennis history while he continues to play doubles at the highest levels of the sport. Hailing from Kodagu, he started playing tennis at age 11 alongside playing hockey and football, until deciding to pursue tennis professionally...
Geetha Kannan is a versatile entrepreneurial leader and a pioneer for the Women in IT movement in India. With over 30 years of global experience spanning business, technology and people, her focus has always been to raise the bar, build teamwork and drive far-reaching impact. As founder of Wequity, Geetha’s vision is to holistically provide high quality, integrated and accessible resources to expand equality of outcomes for women and their network supporters in technology. Through her career Geetha has taken on...
Naina Lal Kidwai is Chairperson Rothschild India and Senior Advisor Advent Private Equity, and a non-executive Director on the boards of Global and Indian companies and Past President of FICCI. She retired as Executive Director on the board of HSBC Asia Pacific and Chairman HSBC India. An MBA from Harvard Business School, she is the recipient of several international and Indian awards and honours including the Padma Shrifor her contribution to Trade and Industry. She is engaged in Indian and Global initiatives...
Major Vandana Sharma represents the face of today’s multi-talented Indian woman who pursued excellence in every field, from the country’s defence to the corporate sector over a rich and diverse career over 25 years. Major Sharma played a back-end role in the Kargil War in 1999 and her military contribution to the Kargil War of 1999 have been recorded and commended in the Military History of Army Ordnance Corps. Vandana was the Linkedin Top Voice, India for 2019. She has been...
Smita Tharoor is a Global Motivational Keynote Speaker. She is a Thought-Leader on the Unconscious Bias and how it influences us all. She has spoken at conferences globally, from Berlin to Philadelphia, Bangalore to Penang. Smita is an entertaining, erudite, dynamic, story teller who shows us how our personal narratives influence all the decisions we make. Among her topics are Emotional Resilience, Change Management, Leadership in times of uncertainty, Empowerment of Women in the workplace, as well as other similar...
Nusrat Durrani is a pioneering American media executive, filmmaker, and pop culture futurist. He is renowned for producing transformative, multi-platform storytelling and branded entertainment for commercial and social impact. Nusrat kept MTV front and center in the global youth marketplace in senior leadership roles from 1996 until 2016 by boldly and unflinchingly advancing the conversation around music culture, race, color, gender, and sexual identities. His inclusive vision and resolute allyship to underrepresented identities led him to develop platforms and content...
A mechanical engineer by education, Sonam Wangchuk has worked in the field of education reform for over 3 decades and has been instrumental in changing the face of education in the mountains. His sessions throw a whole new perspective on innovation and entrepreneurship that embraces social change. In 1988, he founded SECMOL (Students’ Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh) that aims to reform the government school system in Ladakh. In 1994 he was instrumental in the launch of Operation New Hope,...
Prajna's thinking and work unfolds at the intersection of culture, environment, and progressive storytelling for change. She is committed to exploring and sharing how visionary cultural practices bend, meet, and mingle in transformative ways with rapidly changing practices of work, productivity, and knowledge production. Over the past fifteen years, her journey has involved research and leadership positions within the corporate art world in diversity-driven institutional initiatives, gallery exhibitions, and scholarship; in academia through teaching and publishing; and by way of...
Sjoerd Marijne had a dream to win a medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo with the women's hockey of India. He didn't win a medal but something much bigger and that is the hearts of all Indians and inspired 1.3 billion people who saw a team that didn't win a match at the Rio Olympics and now finished 4th and wrote history for India. Working with girls he didn’t understand and in a totally different culture without his family he...