Kishore Darak is Manager, Education at Tata Trusts. With over 20 years in the school-education sector, he focuses on teacher development, systemic reform and bridging research with practice. His work spans teacher well-being, implementation studies in underserved districts, and policy-oriented initiatives in collaboration with research institutes.

Kumaresh Pattabiraman is LinkedIn’s India Country Manager, leading the company’s vision to create economic opportunity for every member of the workforce. Stepping into this role in October 2024, he is focused on driving LinkedIn’s vision through product innovation, strategic partnerships, and a skills-first approach to ensure no one gets left behind in today’s changing ways and world of work.

With over 11 years at LinkedIn, Kumaresh has played a pivotal role in evolving the company’s AI-powered products to drive personalization and engagement at scale for more than 135 million members in India and over a billion globally. As Senior Director of Product, he led key initiatives that enhanced the platform experience for LinkedIn members and customers, making it more meaningful and valuable in ways that matter the most.

Before joining LinkedIn, Kumaresh gained deep expertise in engineering and product innovation during his time at Microsoft. Working on advanced machine learning and search technologies, he contributed to the development of large-scale systems that improved user relevance and enhanced product capabilities. With 15+ years of experience in the global tech industry, Kumaresh is a people-first leader with the ability to drive strategic product and business decisions while building impactful solutions at scale.

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In addition to his professional accomplishments, Kumaresh is a strategic thinker and problem-solver—skills that he applies to his work and personal interests as an avid chess player. He also balances his professional life with his role as a father of two, which he considers his most rewarding challenge.

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Kurush Irani is the President- Group Head of CSR at Bajaj Finserv Limited. He's responsible for designing the overarching strategy for the Group's Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives and formulating goals, policies and programmes. He looks after the development and execution of various plans to identify the environmental impact of the Company's operations and value- creating sustainability initiatives.He has been with Bajaj Finance Limited since 2015. He was leading Operations and Customer Experience and was instrumental in implementing technology solutions to deliver scale and build strong customer relationships to further the growth of the organisation.

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In the last three years, Kurush took additional charge of the development, deployment and institutionalisation of the BFL digital ecosystem through the Bajaj Finserv App. He has previously worked with leading organisations like Genpact, Capital One and Citibank. Having worked for 8 years with the organisation, Kurush has taken on the new role of President-Group Corporate Social Responsibility. Skilling, holistic development and the well-being of children and youth are Kurush's primary focus areas, concording with the implementation of the Company's business strategies and operational objectives.

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He studied his engineering at Mumbai University and subsequently did his masters in management from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management

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Madan Padaki is the founder and CEO of 1Bridge, a village-commerce network focused on delivering digital services and products to rural India, bridging gaps in access, choice, and convenience. He is also a co-founder of the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) — a mission-driven alliance that brings together government, business and civil society to ignite a mass entrepreneurship movement across India. In his advisory capacity, he currently serves as a Strategy Advisor to UNICEF India for the YuWaah initiative, supporting youth empowerment and transitions to productive work.

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A serial entrepreneur, Madan co-founded MeritTrac, India’s first large-scale skills-assessment company, which was acquired by Manipal Education. Over time, his work has spanned rural livelihoods, education, youth transformation, and social innovation. His leadership is rooted in blending impact and scalability — from grassroots rural commerce to systemic entrepreneurship ecosystems. Madan’s educational background includes an engineering degree from the National Institute of Engineering (NIE), Mysore, and an MBA from SPJIMR, Mumbai. He also co-founded Sylvant Advisors, which supports education-sector entrepreneurs through strategy, investment, and scaling

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Madhukar is a dynamic leader with over two decades of diverse global experience in technology and business leadership. Prior to joining NextWealth, Madhukar held various key roles and was the Chief Operating Officer at Mu Sigma Inc., where he drove revenue growth, doubled profitability, and led innovative initiatives.

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With a background that includes stints at Sirion Labs, Ankya Labs, Oracle, and i2 Technologies, Madhukar is known for his expertise in operations, strategic partnerships, and driving organizational success.

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He holds a BTech degree in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and a Master of Science degree in Operations Research from The University of Texas at Austin.

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Madhur is the CEO and Co-Founder at Varaha ClimateAg, where he's building the world's largest smallholder-focused tech platform for high-quality, nature-based carbon credits. Madhur leads a team of 100+ to develop regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, enhanced rock weathering and biochar projects, already covering 1,100,000+ acres across India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Kenya. Prior to co-founding Varaha, Madhur served as the 'Digital Business Lead' for the South Asia arm of a major AgriTech startup where he built three distinct business verticals and a multi-functional team of 85+ members from scratch. He also served as the first ‘India Country Director’ for a global social enterprise - PxD, which was co-founded by Economics Nobel prize laureate (2019) Michael Kremer. During his time, Madhur grew the smallholder farmer user base from 5,000 to 700,000+ farmers across 60+ districts in 6 states, and also expanded the team from 15 to 170+. Before this, Madhur successfully led supply chain and procurement projects for Godrej Agrovet in rural India. Madhur has a background in Engineering and an MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He hails from the Himalayas and is an avid wildlife photographer.

Ms. Madhuri Dhariwal is an educator and policy enthusiast with a deep commitment to advancing equitable access to quality education and social welfare. She currently serves as Director, East Zone at Indus Action, where her work focuses on systemic reform and ensuring that vulnerable citizens have access to a high quality of life through research-driven public policy. Prior to joining Indus Action, Ms Dhariwal worked with organisations including the Akanksha Foundation, Safal Partners, The School Fund, and UNICEF. Her professional experience spans teaching, coding, consulting, and initiatives in diversity, gender, and inclusion. She has worked extensively with children and continues to advocate for using the arts as a medium to convey ideas and inspire social change. Ms. Dhariwal received her Ed.M. in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a B.Ed. from PRSU Raipur, and a B.A. from Sophia College, Mumbai. She is passionate about building bridges between policy design and grassroots implementation to create sustainable, inclusive impact.

Maharshi Vaishnav serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Motilal Oswal Foundation, based in Mumbai. He brings over 20 years of cross-functional experience spanning strategic planning, non-profit management, program execution, fundraising, partnership development, and advocacy across private and non-profit sectors in Asia.

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Prior to this, Maharshi led Educate Girls as CEO, where he partnered with state governments and communities across 30,000 villages in rural India, helping enroll over 1.5 million out-of-school girls. A Master’s graduate in Public Policy from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan, he also holds a business degree and has transitioned from the private to the development sector with a strong focus on leveraging education to unlock the potential of underserved communities.

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