About Medha

Finance expert and more detail-oriented than Chris, Kumar spent most of his career at the 'same company' - DSP, DSP Merrill Lynch, then Bank of America Merrill Lynch, retiring in 2018 as the CFO for India. A CA rank holder, Kumar is the epitome of process and procedure, exactly what a non-profit needs when it reaches a certain size. Advising the team on how to improve its overall financial systems and risk-management, Kumar recently joined our advisory board. 

Investor turned development expert, Luis has managed to succeed at two very different careers. A founding team member at HDFC, ChrysCapital, and IDFC PE, Luis changed avatars to focus on the social sector ten years ago. He now serves on the boards of The Centre for Civil Society, CORO, and Take Charge, and oh yeah, he has recently started a Public Policy School. Luis is an incredible dot connector and has made dozens of valuable introductions for Medha.

Maitrayee is a professor and consultant who brings her extensive background in information and communications technology to her research and teaching on development issues. She has taught at the Indian Institute of Management, Kashipur, Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of ICT, and the Central University of Gujarat. She recently joined our board at just the right time, as everything goes online in the context of a deep digital divide across the country.

Manoj is a role-model and successful entrepreneur in the financial inclusion space, Co-founding, and leading Microsave for the last 15 years. Despite his diverse experience, he focuses his advice on HR-related issues most of the time and reminds us of how important it is to build a team that can take the mission forward. He also is well known for telling Chris and Byomkesh that Medha was a ‘risky venture’ when they were just starting out.

Praveen is a seasoned development professional with expertise in child rights. He has more than 15 years of experience with leading organizations such as Child Rights and You (CRY), Arpan, and TechnoServe. Praveen has been a trusted advisor to Medha since before we even started and a board member since 2011. We always leave a Praveen gyaan session with a few unique insights and ideas we're excited to implement right away.

Agricultural development expert and former Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Dr. Sharma was instrumental in drafting the State and National Agriculture Policy, as well as other policies governing intellectual property at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. Dr. Sharma has been informally mentoring us since 2018, and recently joined the advisory board to help us better address the needs of aspiring agri-entrepreneurs.   

Shalu is an all-around business strategy expert and design-thinker. She has developed innovative solutions for some of the world's largest companies at Bain, and for the last ten years has been designing for social impact as IDEO.org's Economic Prosperity Managing Director. Informally cheering Medha on since its inception, she joined the board in 2018 to help us build the team and partnerships required to get to the next level of scale.

Sheila is a corporate finance leader with over 30 years of experience across TIAA, Credit Suisse, and Thomson Reuters. She is equally as passionate about her philanthropic work and has played an instrumental role in encouraging more strategic giving within the Indian diaspora community. Sheila is extremely engaged and is always pushing us to take a more future-looking approach to our programming, technology, and fundraising.

Siddharth is a life-long learner with a diverse background, from journalism to structured finance, and everything in-between. He’s currently a consultant with the World Bank, where he is working on financial and technical assistance programs. Sidd brings his cross-sector experience to Medha, sharing unique, real-life case studies and a powerful network to help us problem solve and get through challenging situations.

A lawyer by profession, Suyash spends most of his time at the High Court, fighting cases on behalf of companies. But his passion lies with start-ups, and helping them understand the complex Indian business regime, so they can focus on what they do best. He has even published a book on the topic. He is our resident ‘second-opinion’ guy, when there is any doubt about a contract, agreement, or policy, Suyash is the first person we call.

Rajesh is a consumer insights guru with over 22 years of experience across leading market research firms like Ipsos, The Nielsen Company, and Time Inc. He somehow currently balances an executive-level role at Karvy Insights with his teaching duties as a Clinical Professor at the Asian Institute of Management. Rajesh has been an advisor to Medha since the very beginning, guiding us on student segmentation, product/market fit, and overall brand positioning.