Josh Bersin is an analyst, author, educator, and thought leader focusing on the global talent market and the challenges and trends impacting business workforces around the world. He studies the world of work, HR and leadership practices, and the broad talent technology market. He is often cited as one of the leading HR and workplace industry analysts in the world. He founded Bersin & Associates in 2001 to provide research and advisory services focused on corporate learning. Over the next ten years, he expanded the company’s coverage to encompass HR, talent management, talent acquisition, and leadership and became a recognized expert in the talent market. He sold the company to Deloitte in 2012, when it became known as Bersin™ by Deloitte. He currently sits on the board of UC Berkeley Executive Education.

Devdutt Pattanaik writes on relevance of mythology in modern times, especially in areas of management, governance and leadership. Trained in medicine, he worked for 15 years in the healthcare and pharma industries before he focused on his passion full time. He is author of 41 books and over 1000 columns, with bestsellers such as My Gita, Jaya, Sita, Business Sutra and the 7 Secret Series. He was a speaker at TEDIndia 2009 and spoke on Myths that Mystify, East versus West. His TV shows include Business Sutra on CNBC-TV18 and Devlok on Epic TV. He consults organisations on culture, diversity and leadership and also consults various television channels and filmmakers on storytelling.

Rajesh Nambiar is Chairman and Managing Director, Cognizant India. In this role, he enhances relationships with government agencies, chambers of commerce, universities, the media and key policy-making bodies. Prior to joining Cognizant in November 2020, Rajesh served as Chairman and President of Ciena India, a leading network solutions partner. He joined Ciena from IBM Application Services, where his positions included General Manager, Global Leader and Managing Partner of the Global Delivery & Services Integration Hub. Before joining IBM, Rajesh spent over 18 years at Tata Consultancy Services as a Regional Head in the eastern United States.

Mr Rajendra S Pawar is the Chairman and Co-Founder of NIIT Limited, a global leader in skills and talent development, and founder of NIIT University. Under his leadership, NIIT has played a key role in shaping the growth of the Indian IT sector, by creating skilled manpower to drive its momentum. Having revolutionized the IT Training industry, he is now involved in establishing an innovative model in Higher Education, the not-for-profit NIIT University. Acknowledging Mr Pawar’s contribution to the IT industry in India, he has been awarded the country’s prestigious civilian honour, Padma Bhushan, by the President of India in 2011. Actively involved in India’s key Chambers of Commerce, he has also led several ICT industry initiatives including NASSCOM (2011-12) as its Chairman. Currently Mr Pawar is the Chairman of NASSCOM Cyber Security Task Force that has been set up in response to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to see India emerge as a global hub of Cyber Security products and services. He is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Data Security Council of India.

Sapnesh Lalla is the CEO of NIIT Ltd, a global leader in skills and talent development, offering broad-based education and training solutions to corporations, institutions, and individuals in over 30 countries. Prior to his appointment as the CEO, Sapnesh served as the President of NIIT’s Global Corporate Business, which constitutes nearly seventy percent of NIIT’s total business. He led critical initiatives for the expansion of the company in North America and Europe including significant acquisitions like Cognitive Arts and Element K. Under his leadership, NIIT has grown to become a leading global learning outsourcing solutions provider with its Managed Training Services offering. Sapnesh is now in his 27th year at NIIT and has served in India and USA. He started his career as a Project Lead in the Learning Content Development team in 1992. Over time, he has held various management and leadership roles in product management, customer support, channel development, sales, and support functions. In 2006, Sapnesh was appointed the President of NIIT (USA), Inc. and has since been an integral part of the CEO's leadership team.

Sumit Sood is the Head of APAC for GlobalLogic in India. Leveraging his balanced understanding of business, service delivery, and technology, Sumit is responsible for managing and growing GlobalLogic’s India center operations along with broader expansion in the APAC region. With over two decades of experience in the IT industry, Sumit has a long history of building highly motivated and self-driven teams. He also focuses on helping organizations build and implement their digital strategies from expanding their online presence to integrating IoT enabled ecosystems. His primary master expertise lies in a new country startup, executive leadership, stakeholder management, business solutions, and technical architecture.

Bimaljeet Singh Bhasin (Bimal) is the President of Skills and Careers Business (SNC) India Operations. He is responsible for driving NIIT’s SNC business, which focuses on providing career related learning and talent development programs to individuals and enterprises in India. Bimal has a diverse career experience of over 2 decades that spans leadership roles focused on building, scaling and transforming businesses. He is an MBA from Symbiosis Institute of International Business, Pune and an alumnus of the University of Chicago Booth’s School of Business - Accelerated Development Program.

In his two and a half decade long innings at Kotak, Virat has led over 10 diverse business lines cutting across Assets and Liabilities. He took on the mantle of managing the branch banking business in November 2007. Some of his career milestones include managing the first JV of the Group with an overseas partner, Ford Credit as its Managing Director. In the recent past, Virat has successfully managed the integration of ING Vysya Bank’s retail distribution network with the branch banking network of Kotak.

Global Head, Talent & Organizational Transformation at UST

Kavita is a skilled, hands-on practitioner with over 20+ years of experience in the Learning & Organizational Effectiveness field, with a strong track record of high impact to complex, large-scale global businesses, especially with regard to moving the needle on organizational transformation and change management initiatives. She is a result-oriented leader with a demonstrated ability to build high performance teams and establish a culture of operational and service excellence. A proactive problem solver skilled in analyzing issues and executing solutions targeted at improving performance, she excels at partnering with cross-functional and cross-line of business groups to accelerate attainment of key performance measures.

As the Chief People Officer at Persistent Systems, Sameer Bendre is responsible for Persistent’s global HR, people engagement, talent acquisition and development initiatives. Sameer brings with him over 20 years of technology, finance and operations experience. was responsible for establishing the Persistent’s Nagpur and Hyderabad Centers and was the Head of Operations for the Nagpur center before taking over as the Chief People Officer. Prior to Persistent, Sameer was CEO of his own company, Nagpur Motors Pvt. Ltd. manufacturing electric motors. As an active member of the entrepreneurship and social community, Sameer was responsible for hosting the TiECon in Nagpur for three consecutive years and was co-founder of the TiE Nagpur Chapter.

Anuj is a business executive with more than 28 years of experience in IT Services and Management Consulting. He has served in markets across North America, South Asia, and ASEAN. He has deep experience in managing key client CXO Relationships and driving growth. Anuj leads IBM Practices globally across all Client Innovation Centers. His role also includes personal ownership of, and direction to, all Technology Practices and Technology Garages/Labs at the largest IBM Client Innovation Center which is in India. He is also the Operations leader for the center in India, and owns all related functions, be it Business Operations, Resource and Capacity Management, Learning and Knowledge, and Reskilling.

Group Chief Human Resources Officer, ICICI Bank

Mr. Srirang Thirumalai Kumara, Group Chief Human Resources Officer, heads Human Resources function & Infrastructure Management Services Group for ICICI Bank Limited. He also oversees the human resources function for ICICI group companies. He is a Member of Monash Research Academy, the Research Advisory Council of IIT Bombay, Member of IMD, Switzerland’s Executive Education Advisory Council, Member of Society of Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Member of the Governing Body of The International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore (IIIT-B), Member of the CII National Committee on Leadership & HR, and former Board Member of the National HRD Network.Mr. Srirang holds an MBA degree in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations, and Bachelors in Industrial Engineering. He has been with the Bank since 2001.

Head, Human Resources, Axis Bank

Ms. Rajkamal Vempati is the Head of Human Resources at Axis Bank, one of India’s largest private sector banks. Having started her career in HR as a Consultant with Hewitt Associates, she went on to be a part of the Global HR Leadership Program at GE Capital. Prior to Axis Bank, she was heading Human Resources for ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited. A firm believer in the merits of a diverse and inclusive organization, Ms. Vempati has been the Chairperson at the CII’s Indian Women’s Network and led discussions on the topic at various forums.