Dr. Vibha Krishnamurthy is the Founder and Medical Director of Ummeed. After her post-graduation in pediatrics from Delhi she moved to the US where she trained at Mass General and Children’s Hospital, Harvard University. The idea of Ummeed was born while she was working at Children’s Hospital as a Developmental Pediatrician. The resources available at the hospital and community in Boston brought home to her the paucity of facilities available for children with developmental disabilities in India. She relocated to India in 1998 and worked with a number of non-profit organizations as well as Jaslok Hospital, Mumbai, while she reflected on how best to provide the range of specialized services required for children with special needs. Helped by her husband, Ashish Karamchandani, a partner of the Monitor Group (a leading global management consultancy firm), she initiated Ummeed on November 5, 2001.

Dinesh Mirchandani (President, Boyden India)
Dinesh is President, Boyden, India and a Director of Boyden Global Corporation, one of the worlds leading organizational design and executive search firms. Dinesh has a Bachelors from BITS Pilani, a Masters from North Carolina and an MBA from Boston.

Dinesh will help Ummeed design its senior management team, define their roles and responsibilities, identify suitable candidates and recruit them.

Shaheen Mistry (MD, Akanksha India)
Shaheen Mistri, founded Akanksha in 1989 and today it is a registered NGO educating over 2500 children in Mumbai and Pune. Shaheen has a Bachelors from Bombay University, a Masters from Manchester University. and has received numerous awards including the Archana Trust Woman Achiever Award, Ashoka Fellow, World Economic Forum Global Leader of Tomorrow and Indo-American Society’s Young Achiever award.

Shaheen will be invaluable in guiding Ummeed as it scales up and will be a great resource person as Ummeed thinks through how to make its services more effective for less privileged children in Mumbai.   

Merry Barua (Director, Action for Autism, India)
Merry Barua, is Founder/Director of Action for Autism, which includes a school for Autistic children, an institution for training professionals, and an innovative mother-child program. She is also founder/Editor of the Autism News, is on the Board of a number of organizations including the National Trust and World Autism Organization, and is a member of multiple committees of the Rehab Council of India. She has a Bachelors and Masters from University of Calcutta, has trained in the TEACCH Approach and at the Option Institute, USA and is an Ashoka Fellow.

As a individual who has pioneered some of the most effective care for children with Autism, Merry will be a very valuable resource person to help build an organization that can effectively serve children with disabilities.

   

Arun Jethmalani (CEO, ValueNotes, India)
Arun Jethmalani is CEO of Valuenotes, one of India’s leading financial service sites. Arun has a Bachelors from IIT Mumbai and a Masters from University of Florida.

As an entrepreneur who has grown his company very cost effectively and is familiar with IT, Arun will play a key role in helping us scale up economically and building a cost effective IT infrastructure, including our internet presence and offering.
   

Ashish Karamchandani (CEO, Monitor Group, India)

Ashish Karamchandani is CEO of Monitor Group in India, a leading international Management Consulting and Merchant Banking firm. He has a Bachelors from IIT Mumbai, Masters from Berkeley and a PhD from Stanford.

Ashish will provide overall guidance to the organization which will include supervising operations and raising funds.

Dennis McGuire (Founder and Chairman of TPI)

Dennis McGuire is the Founder and Chairman of TPI, a Texas-based company that is the market leader in providing consultancy services for outsourcing. Throughout his career, Dennis has been a leader in the growth and evolution of the outsourcing industry. He is the recipient of the 2003 Ernst & Young Houston Entrepreneur of the Year Award and the 2000 World Outsourcing Achievement Award. Also active in civic affairs, Dennis is on the Board of Trustees for both the Star of Hope Homeless Mission and the Houston Baptist University.   

Ujwal Thakar (CEO, Pratham)
Ujwal Thakar is the CEO of Pratham, one of India's leading NGOs that aims to have "Every child in school, and learning well". Ujwal has over 28 years of experience in domestic and international banks in India and abroad. Prior to joining Pratham, Ujwal was the Head of Retail Banking at BNP Paribas in India.