Born in Philippines where his parents founded a school for disadvantaged youth, Mr. Timothy Neely after graduating from college, worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Africa. He served as a United Nations Foreign Service Officer and was appointed as a diplomat in China, Taiwan, The Philippines, India, Canada and Morocco. Mr. Neely has his expertise in economics, science, technology, and environmental reporting and issue analysis. His special interests include history, science and international relations.

Mr. Timothy Neely retired from full-time work in November 2015 and ever since then has been enjoying writing and travelling. He is presently in the Foreign Service Institute retirement/Job Search Program and is interested in making positive contributions to economic development and international understanding.

Dr. Pooran Chandra Pandey is presently a Resident Representative at Climate Scorecard, a USA based International Think-Tank. He is also a Member on the Board at the World Food Programme Trust for India. Besides this, he has also headed several organizations like Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute, UN Global Compact Network India, Times Foundation (Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd.), and Voluntary Action Network India. Dr. Pandey has been associated with Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India, All India Management Association and Ispat Industries Limited.

Dr. Pooran Chandra Pandey has been a ‘top of the class’ student with degrees from prestigious institutes such as the Jawaharlal Nehru University(India), Indian Institute of Management(India), Asian Productivity Organization (Japan), Swedish Institute (Sweden), London School of Economics and Political Science (UK), United Nations Global Impact (USA) and UNEP-Tongji Institute on environment for Sustainable Development (China).

His professional work on issues related to Sustainability, Circular Design, Sustainable Development, Climate Change and International Treaties, Environmental Policies, Multilateralism, International Project Collaboration, Energy Transition, Private Sector and Development Cooperation transcends geographies around and across Asia, Africa and Europe and stands referred to and widely quoted nationally, regionally and internationally.

Dr. Pandey is well travelled; writes and speaks at key forums in India and internationally on contemporary public policy issues and new development agendas shaping our local communities and global societies.

Prof. Sankar K. Pal is currently a National Science Chair, SERB-DST, Govt. of India. He is a Distinguished Scientist and former Director of Indian Statistical Institute, a former Distinguished Professor of Indian National Science Academy, and a former Chair Professor of Indian National Academy of Engineering. He worked at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Maryland, College Park in 1986-87; the NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas in 1990-92 & 1994; and in US Naval Research Laboratory, Washington DC in 2004. Since 1997 he is a Distinguished Visitor of IEEE Computer Society (USA) for the Asia-Pacific Region, and holds several visiting positions in Italy, Poland, Hong Kong and Australian universities.

He founded the Machine Intelligence Unit and the Center for Soft Computing Research: A National Facility in the Institute in Calcutta. He also introduced and promoted the soft computing research & teaching in India.

Prof. Pal was awarded the 1990 S.S. Bhatnagar Prize (which is the most coveted award for a scientist in India), 2013 Padma Shri (one of the highest civilian awards) by the President of India. He has also been bestowed with many other national and international awards such as the Khwarizmi International Award from the President of Iran, 2000-2001; 1993 NASA Tech Brief Award (USA); 2005-06 Indian Science Congress-P.C. Mahalanobis Birth Centenary Gold Medal from the Prime Minister of India for Lifetime Achievement; 2007 Sir J.C. Bose National Fellowship; 2015 DAE Raja Ramanna Fellowship.

His areas of expertise includes Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning, Image Processing, Data Mining and Web Intelligence, Soft Computing, Neural Nets, Genetic Algorithms, Fuzzy Sets, Rough Sets, Cognitive Machine and Bioinformatics.

Ms. Tanya Spisbah is Director, Women’s Economic Security, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australia. Formerly, a career diplomat with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for more than a decade, she served from 2014-17 at the Australian High Commission, New Delhi, specialising in Health and Technology Diplomacy for inclusive and sustainable growth. She is a renowned and influential expert on Australia-India relations, particularly with respect to health and sustainable development.

Ms. Spisbah’s specializes in International Relations, Multilateral and Bilateral Trade negotiations, Legal and Foreign Policy, Climate Change Advocacy, Gender Equality, International Trade Law, International Intellectual Property Law, Strategy, Policy Analysis, and Research Collaboration. Other areas of policy leadership that she is involved in includes smart cities and infrastructure, governance and investment.

She holds degrees in Law, Philosophy and Economics and a Masters of Law from University of Melbourne in International Trade and Development.

Ms. Tanya’s will be seen as the Australian delegate to the G20 Women’s Summit where she will be the head delegate in India’s G20 host year of 2023.

Mr. K.J. Alphons is a transformational leader, member of the Rajya Sabha, former Union Minister and Bureaucrat (IAS), and a social worker.

He served in the Indian Administrative Service from 1979 to 2006 when he voluntarily retired from the service. For his outstanding work, he was featured in Time Magazine’s list of 100 Young Global Leaders in 1994. He pioneered the Literacy Movement in India by making Kottayam in Kerala the first 100 percent literate town in India in 1989. He is credited with the demolition of 14,310 illegal buildings in Delhi, and reclamation of land worth Rs.10,000 crores, as Commissioner, Delhi Development Authority.

Mr. Alphons was appointed as Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Tourism. Under his leadership, India was ranked No. 3 in Global Tourism by World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) Report 2018.

Presently, he is an elected member of the Rajya Sabha and member of several committees and councils such as the Committee on External Affairs, Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Defence, the Executive Council of the Institute of Constitutional and Parliamentary Studies, and the like.

Mr. Alphons has several publications to his credit including, Making a Difference (1996), India Mattathinte Muzhakkam (Malayalam), 1996, and Badlav Ke Liye, 1998 (Hindi).

Mr. Ranjan Bargotra is an advertising and corporate leader with a track record of over 34 years of advertising and brand management. He is a former President at Crayons Advertising, instrumental in growing its business by 40 times during the last 24 years.

Mr. Bargotra has been associated with building and managing brands that are category leaders, FMCG products, Corporates, Governments/Ministries, and Top PSUs.

He joined ‘Uncle Chips’ as a Management Trainee and rose to the position of Brand Head first at Imageads and later at Clea Advertising, before his association with Crayons Advertising.

He specializes in Advertising and Branding, Strategic Planning, Insight Mining, Communication Strategy, People Management and Motivation, Team Building, Project Management and Execution, and Relationship Building.

Mr. Rajeev Batra has more than 36 years of work experience, a work career focused towards managing Corporate Affairs, Issues Management and Policy Advocacy for business enterprises.

He retired as the Group Head of Corporate Affairs function at Hindustan Unilever Limited. Earlier, in his immediately previous assignment, he was the Head of the Corporate Affairs at Asian Paints Ltd. He is presently engaged in an advisory role with various cos. and is an active international investor.

He is also the Co-founder and a former President of Public Affairs Forum of India
(PAFI), former Member of FICCI National Executive Committee, Former Co-chair of (FICCI) CASCADE Committee Against Smuggling and Counterfeiting, Former Treasurer (FICSI), Food Industries Capacity and Skills Initiative, member of UN Global Compact on Business and Human Rights and consulting member on various National Committees of leading business chambers like CII and FICCI.

Having earned his MBA from the University Business School in 1981, he is currently
pursuing an Executive Doctorate in Business Administration (PhD) on Leadership
Styles of Indian MNCs

Ms. Geeta Sudan is an independent financial services consultant with over three decades of experience advising companies and institutions on financial planning, corporate strategy and structuring, business growth, and merger and acquisition opportunities. She has served on the boards of some NGOs and schools and is actively involved in promoting educational and philanthropic ventures.

Ms. Sudan is also a well-known actor on the Delhi stage and has played roles in some Bollywood films. Her training in the hospitality business at the famed ‘Les Roches’ school in Switzerland equipped her with culinary and intercultural expertise that rounds out her multidimensional personality.

Dr. Rubina Mittal is the Director of Research and Innovation at the World Intellectual Foundation (WIF). WIF is a non-partisan think tank that focuses on governance and policy issues. Their goal is to publish policy documents that have a real impact on people’s lives. Some of their publications include papers on unlocking human potential, the cost of living index, natural disasters, and India’s draft culture policy.

Dr. Mittal is also a Professor of Operations Research at Delhi University with over 25 publications in conferences, journals, and book chapters. As a mathematician skilled in handling complex datasets and mathematical modeling, she mentors many start-ups. She serves as Co-Chair of the Education Committee at PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry and as an Executive member of FICCI’s Education Committee.

In addition to her work with WIF and Delhi University, Dr. Mittal is a core member of Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, an organization chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that promotes Gandhian values globally.