Sangeeth Varghese is a globally acknowledged leadership thinker, ranked among the top 10 in 2011, from the Harvard and London School of Economics. He is a personal advisor to 3 prime ministers of the world on matters of leadership and youth development. Varghese is an ambassador of Harvard and listed in the Who's Who in the World, 2012-13. He has consulted for nations from Africa and Asia, institutions like UNO, World Bank, ADB and Fortune 500 corporations like Microsoft, Intel, Unilever and Coca Cola. He was nominated as the Young Global Leader 2010 by the World Economic Forum. Varghese is the author global bestsellers 'Open Source Leader' and 'Decide to Lead'. He was honored as the first Asian Youth Ambassador by the government of Libya. Varghese is a member of the Global Agenda Council and board member of the Global Business Oath of Harvard University. He is a member of the Karnataka Knowledge Commission and the Chair of the data secretariat. He is also a co-founder of Bangalore Biz Lit Fest and Future 2050. He was a contributing editor for Forbes and Economic Times. He was chosen as the face of the 2010-11 annual report of the Centre for Creative Leadership, USA, considering his unique contributions to the world of leadership development. Varghese was chosen to guest edit the New Year edition of Times of India as a 'Young Achiever Making a Difference to India's Future'. Prior to this, Varghese was a Principal Consultant for UNO in London. He also has the unique distinction of being part of the core teams that helped India's telecom penetration grow from 1 to 50% and the personal computer spread from the metros to tier 2 and 3 towns. He researched leadership at Harvard and the London School of Economics with scholarships. He has also done his MBA and Bachelor's in Economics with gold medals.

Professor of Public Policy, Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences Australia, President of the International Research Society for Public Management

Dr. Jaya Thakur is a Junior Fellow at ORF Kolkata currently working with Water Governance Studies division at ORF Kolkata. Her specialization is Environmental Issues in Geography including natural and social environment. She completed her Ph.D. from The University of Burdwan in 2018. Her thesis is titled “Development Status and Socio-Cultural Transformation in Selected Peripheral Areas of Kolkata”. She completed her M.A. in Geography from the very same university. She had previously worked as a Part Time Lecturer at Kabi Sukanta Mahavidyalaya (affiliated under The University of Burdwan) and worked in The Department of Geography , The University of Burdwan as a State Funded Junior and Senior Research Fellow. Her recent publications include , the monograph titled, “Conflict over Cauvery Waters: Imperatives for Innovative Policy Options” with Dr. Nilanjan Ghosh and Dr. Jayanta Bandyopadhyay. She had also previously published the paper “Simultaneous Growth of Agricultural and Non-Agricultural Economy : A Geographical Study of a Peri-Urban Village Sugandhya” in collaboration with Basudev Haldar, Published in Practising Geographer , Vol. 17 , No. 1 , Summer, 2013 and “Living With The Water : A Study of Changing Livelihood Structure in a Peripheral Part of Kolkata Metropolitan Area , West Bengal” Published in International Journal of Current Research Vol. 7, Issue. 07 July, 2015.

Geopolitics, tech, policy and corporate — I move along the intersection of research and operations.