Dr. R Balasubramaniam is the Founder, Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM) and Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement (GRAAM). He has deep domain expertise in NGO leadership, social businesses, and governance. He serves as a visiting professor at Cornell University and IIT-Delhi. A recipient of State and National Awards, he is renowned for his investigative work with the Karnataka Lok Ayukta. His books and mentorship globally inspire change.

Dr. Chintan Vaishnav is a socio-technologist and an engineer trained to design and build large-scale systems that possess both human as well as technological complexities. As a teacher, innovator, and entrepreneur, he has split his time between teaching and research at MIT and living and working with rural communities in India to build solutions that can overcome constraints fundamental to improving human conditions.

Dr Rukmini Banerji has extensive field experience working directly with rural and urban communities, and designing and implementing large-scale partnerships with governments to improve the learning of elementary school-age children. From 2005 to 2014, she led Pratham’s research and assessment efforts, including the well-known ASER initiative (Annual Status of Education Report). Dr Banerji is the 2021 recipient of the Yidan Prize for Education Development.

Dr. Ashok Dalwai is an Indian Administrative Service officer (Retd.) of the 1984 batch. He is an Agriculture Economist by education. In his long career, he has led several important initiatives at both field & policy levels in the states of Odisha & Karnataka, as well as the Union Government. He served for long as the CEO of the National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA) within the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, holding the rank of Secretary to GoI. He has chaired the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Doubling Farmers’ Income, producing a comprehensive strategy recognised nation-wide. He is now the Chairman of the Empowered Body supervising its implementation.

Aditya Natraj’s career in the development sector spans 18 years – first with Pratham in Gujarat for 5 years and then the Piramal Foundation for the last 13 years. Aditya is an Ashoka Fellow, an Echoing Green Fellow, and an Aspen India Fellow.
Aditya also serves on the governing board of the Quality Council of India, the Akanksha Foundation, and BridgeSpan India. He was awarded the Times Now Amazing Indian award in the education category.

Dr. Pramod Varma is the CTO of EkStep – a not-for-profit creating a learner-centric, technology-enabled platform with the aim of providing learning opportunities to 200 million children in India. He was also the Chief Architect of Aadhaar, India’s digital identity program that covered 1.2 billion people in only 7 years. He is also the architect of various India Stack layers such as eSign, Digital Locker, and Unified Payment Interface (UPI). He is an advisor to National Payment Corporation (NPCI), Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), and helps with many digital public infrastructure initiatives.

Dr. Soumya Swaminathan was most recently WHO’s Chief Scientist and before that, Deputy Director-General for Programmes. As WHO’s inaugural Chief Scientist, Dr. Swaminathan built the Science division with a focus on research, quality assurance of norms and standards, and digital health. A pediatrician from India and a globally recognised researcher on tuberculosis and HIV, she brings with her 30 years of experience in clinical care and research, which she has translated into impactful programmes. Dr. Swaminathan was also Secretary to the Government of India for Health Research, and Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research from 2015 to 2017. From 2009 to 2011, she served as Coordinator of the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, Geneva.