Sri M.P. Kumar
He is an entrepreneur and a leader with diverse expertise in nurturing and growing companies profitably with great concern for society and culture. He is Founder, Chairman and CEO of Global Edge Software Ltd (founded in 1992, has over1200 employees), a leading embedded software and solutions company operating out of Bangalore, Hyderabad (India) and Milpitas (USA). He has been a hands-on technology professional, worked in several companies including UBM (Ultra Business Machines), Srujana Technology and KSSIDC. He is a postgraduate in science from Bengaluru University, India.
Mr. Kumar brings over three decades of IT industry experience in growing high technology companies. He is an Angel Investor and has invested in technology and social impact startup companies. He mentors for young entrepreneurs and help several companies to prosper including Adamya Group Companies, iNabling Technology, Pico Mobile, Aseema Softnet Technologies, iSol Softech, etc, His key strengths include starting companies, rise VC funding, serving professional board and merging companies. He has keen interest in incubating IP development in India for licensing to global companies and help companies to manufacture niche technology end products for Indian and global market.
He has served on several Government committees / task forces such as Karnataka Vision Group, Karnataka State Innovation Council and Karnataka egovernance Task Force. He is also associated with industry bodies like Indian Angel Network, TiE Bengaluru, ISA (Indian Semiconductor Association) and NASSCOM India.
Mr. Kumar has an unrivalled concern for the society and culture. He has been guiding and contributing to several charitable institutions including Youth For Seva (YFS), Nele, Tapas, Sadhana, and Development Foundation. He is also a life member of Institute for Socio Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru.
Prof. Yashavantha Dongre
Vice-Chancellor, Chanakya University
An academician par excellence, Prof. Dongre has over 28 years of research experience and has completed his post-doctoral research at Ritsumeikan University, Japan & Graduate University of Advanced Studies, Osaka, Japan.
Prof. Dongre has served as the Professor of Commerce and the Director of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Board at the University of Mysore. He is also a Consultant to the High-Powered Committee on Cooperatives set up by the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, and serves as the Co-Secretary of the ICA-AP Committee on Cooperatives in Educational Institutions.
Prof. Yashavantha Dongre has held various responsible positions including Vice-Chancellor (I/C), Registrar, Director of the Post Graduate Centre and Director of Planning. He has published over 100 journal articles and 8 edited books. He is the Founder Member of The Third Sector Research Group, India (TSRGI), founded in 1993. This network of researchers, which began as an informal entity with three researchers from one university, has today expanded into a major research group in India with 80 members from five southern States of India. He has designed the Masters’ program in nonprofit management at the University of Mysore, titled Master of Management of Non-Profit Organisations (MMNPO) and run by the Vivekananda Institute of Leadership Development.
Prof Dongre has been undertaking research projects with various agencies such as Manipal University, Asia Pacific Philanthropy Consortium, the University of Technology Sydney, Australia, etc. He has been serving on the Editorial Boards of two Journals in Kannada – Arivu Baraha (Knowledge and Expression) an independent social science journal and Abhivruddhi Adhyayana (Development Studies) brought out by the Kannada University. He currently chairs the Asia Pacific Regional Research Committee of the International Cooperative Alliance.
Justice A. V. Chandrashekhar
Justice A V Chandrashekar joined the District judiciary as a Direct District Judge in May 1996 and worked as Principal District Judge in 4 districts and also worked as Member Secretary of Karnataka State Legal services Authority. He has also served as the Director of Karnataka Judicial Academy, Director of the Bangalore Mediation Centre; and as Principal Judge of Family Courts at Bengaluru.
He was elevated as Judge of the Karnataka High Court and sworn in on 24th October 2013. He was also appointed as Judicial Member of the Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal and retired on 29th May 2019. Justice Chandrashekhar is known for qualitative and quantitative disposal of cases. During his tenure, he has handled many sensitive issues effectively.
He is also a known Arbitrator and an effective resource person of the Karnataka Judicial Academy – which is a wing of the Karnataka High court that provides judicial education for judicial officers in the state.
Sri Kris Gopalakrishnan
Sri Senapathy “Kris” Gopalakrishnan holds Master’s degrees in physics and computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Kris is a Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineers (INAE) and an Honorary Fellow of Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) of India.
He is the Chairman of Axilor Ventures, a seed fund. Kris served as the vice Chairman of Infosys from 2011 to 2014 and the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Infosys from 2007 to 2011. Kris is one of the co-founders of Infosys. Recognized as a global business and technology thought leader, he was voted the top CEO (IT Services category) in Institutional Investor’s inaugural ranking of Asia’s Top Executives and selected as one of the winners of the second Asian Corporate Director Recognition Awards by Corporate Governance Asia in 2011. He also was selected to Thinkers 50, an elite list of Global Business Thinkers, in 2009. He was elected President of India’s apex industry chamber Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for 2013-14 and served as one of the co-chairs of the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2014.
In January 2011, the Government of India awarded Sri Gopalakrishnan the Padma Bhushan, the country’s third-highest civilian honor.
Sri Gopalakrishnan serves on the Board of Governors of Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) and is the Chairman, Board of Governors of IIIT, Bengaluru. He is the Chairman of the Vision Group on Information Technology of Karnataka Government and the Chairman of CII Start-up Council. Sri Gopalakrishnan invests in promoting research on Brain sciences, aging related disorders as well as investing in start-ups and start-up ecosystems.
Sri Mohandas Pai
Sri Mohandas Pai holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from St. Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a bachelor’s degree in law (LLB) from Bengaluru University. He is also a fellow member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), and a Trustee of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation, the body that oversees the International Accounting Standards Board.
Sri Mohandas Pai is currently the Chairman of Manipal Global Education Services (MaGE) and Advisor, Manipal Education & Medical Group (MEMG). Before joining MaGE, Mohan was a member of Infosys’ Board of Directors and Head – Administration, Education & Research, Finance, Human Resources, and Infosys Leadership Institute.
Sri Mohandas was an integral part of the Infosys team that enabled the first listing of an India-registered company on NASDAQ and the first sponsored secondary offering of American Depositary Shares by an Indian company. He was voted as the ‘CFO of the Year’ in 2001 by IMA India. He won the ‘Best CFO in India’ award from Finance Asia in 2002, and ‘Best Chief Financial Officer in India’ in the Best Managed Companies poll conducted by Asia Money in 2004.
Sri Mohan has been actively working with regulators to improve the business ecosystem. He was a member of the Kelkar Committee, constituted by the Ministry of Finance, Government of India for reforming direct taxes, the Non-Resident Taxation Committee and the High-Powered Committee on e-Commerce and Taxation. He is currently a member of the Board of SEBI.
With his keen interest in improving literacy across the country, Sri Mohan has worked extensively in the basic education sector. He brings to MaGE his insights of the Indian system, his international exposure, his deep understanding of financial concerns, his experience in building an international brand and the personal credibility he enjoys with business leaders.
Dr. Sushant Joshi
A Qualified Engineer with a management degree and distinction in Commerce, Dr. Sushant comes with rich experience across multiple domains. Having gained industry experience, he has had a distinguished career as the Dean of Administration, Strategy, and Admissions at JGI’s Jain College of MBA at Belagavi. Having been the Controller of Examinations at KLS’ IMER, before joining Chanakya University, as a founding team member, he has been responsible for establishing Administrative Statutes and Regulations. Being the Founder- Registrar of the University, he is the head of operations at the University.
Prof. L. Gomathi Devi
Dr. L. Gomathi Devi is currently the Vice-Chancellor of Maharani Cluster University Bengaluru.
Dr. L. Gomathi Devi is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru. Her academic career has spanned more than three decades. She is an illustrious and distinguished academician; who is also a recipient of several awards and recognitions including the Sir C V Raman Award, Best research publication award from the Government of Karnataka; and the Best Woman Scientist Award from the Indian Council of Chemists.
Dr. L. Gomathi Devi has also had a career as a professor of Chemistry at Bengaluru University for more than two decades.
Prof. B. Mahadevan
Sri B. Mahadevan is a professor of Operations Management at the Indian Institute of Management Bengaluru. He has close to 30 years of experience in teaching, research, consulting, and academic administration at IIM (Indian Institute of Management) Bengaluru and other reputed institutions such as IIT Delhi and XLRI, Jamshedpur.
Professor Mahadevan was the founder Vice-chancellor of Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth – a university for applied Sanskrit and Indian Wisdom.
He was a visiting scholar at the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire.
Professor Mahadevan’s research interests include researching the possibility of using ancient Indian wisdom to address contemporary concerns, spirituality in the workplace, and management paradigms from Bhagavad Gita.
Sri Nagaraj Reddy
An Engineer by Academic qualification, Sri Nagaraj Reddy has been a part of the movement for Students empowerment and Education reformation, for over 30 years. Known for his extraordinary skills of organization and institution building, he has been a part of teams influencing numerous policy measures related to education reformation. By virtue of being the Secretary of Centre for Educational Social Sciences (CESS), the sponsoring body of Chanakya University, he officiates as the Secretary of the Board of Management at Chanakya University. Apart from being the Chief Operating Officer of Chanakya University he is a part of the governing board of multiple social organisations.
Prof. Yashavantha Dongre
An academician par excellence, Prof. Dongre has over 28 years of research experience and has completed his post-doctoral degree at Ritsumeikan University, Japan & Graduate University of Advanced Studies, Osaka, Japan.
Prof. Dongre has served as the Professor of Commerce and the Director of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Board at the University of Mysore. He is also a Consultant to the High-Powered Committee on Cooperatives set up by the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India and serves as the Co-Secretary of the ICA-AP Committee on Cooperatives in Educational Institutions.
Prof. Yashavantha Dongre has held various responsible positions including Vice-Chancellor (I/C), Registrar, Director of the Post Graduate Centre and Director of Planning. He has published over 100 journal articles and 8 edited books. He is the Founder Member of The Third Sector Research Group, India (TSRGI), founded in 1993. This network of researchers, which began as an informal entity with three researchers from one university, has today expanded into a major research group in India with 80 members from five southern States of India. He has designed the Masters’ program in nonprofit management at the University of Mysore, titled Master of Management of Non-Profit Organisations (MMNPO) and run by the Vivekananda Institute of Leadership Development.
Prof Dongre has been undertaking research projects with various agencies such as Manipal University, Asia Pacific Philanthropy Consortium, University of Technology Sydney, Australia, etc. He has been serving on the Editorial Boards of two Journals in Kannada – Arivu Baraha (Knowledge and Expression) an independent social science journal and Abhivruddhi Adhyayana (Development Studies) brought out by the Kannada University. He currently chairs the Asia Pacific Regional Research Committee of the International Cooperative Alliance.
Sri Nagaraj Reddy
Sri Nagaraj Reddy: An Engineer by Academic qualification, he has been a part of the movement for Students empowerment and Education reformation, for over 30 years. Known for his extraordinary skills of organization and institution building, he has been a part of teams influencing numerous policy measures related to education reformation. By virtue of being the Secretary of Centre for Educational Social Sciences (CESS), the sponsoring body of Chanakya University, he officiates as the Secretary of the Board of Management at Chanakya University. Apart from being the Chief Operating Officer of Chanakya University he is a part of the governing board of multiple social organisations.
Dr. D.S. Krishna
With a Doctorate in Social Work, Dr. Krishna is a renowned Educationist, being on the Board of multiple Educational Institutions and Universities. Presently an Entrepreneur and Philanthropist, Dr. Krishna guides the University in matters relating to Policy issues and statutory interface.
Prof. H.S. Ashok
A Professor, Practitioner and Researcher in the field of Psychology, Prof. Ashok is the Dean of the School of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, along with concurrent charge as the Dean- Research. He brings over 4 decades of expertise and in the theory and practice of counselling and therapy, with a rich understanding of Indian Perspectives of consciousness studies. As one of the founding team of academicians, Prof. Ashok brings enormous collaborative opportunities in academics, research and institutional excellence.
Dr. Vinayachandra Banavathy
Associate Professor
Area of Specialization: Psychological insights in the Vedas, Sanskrit, English, Yogic Science and Applied Psychology.
Dr. Vinayachandra Banavathy, being one of the members of the Founding Team of the Chanakya University, currently holds the position of the Director – Communications and as the Director -Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems at the University. He is also a Co-founder of Indica Yoga, a platform that offers authentic, immersive and transformative yoga experiences across the world. Recently, he has set up Ritambhara Retreat, an idyllic space for contemplation and learning close to Bengaluru city.
Dr.Vinayachandra is a dedicated teacher who has been traveling across the world conducting courses, lectures and workshops with a unique blend of Yoga, Psychology and Sanskrit.
He has had the privilege of being a tutor at the European Union of Yoga Congress, Zinal, Switzerland during the years 2013 and 2014. He was also the Guest of Honour at the same event in 2017. He has also served as a visiting faculty at the Department of Contemplative and Behavioural Sciences at Sri Sri University, Cuttack, Orissa
Vinayachandra brings with him nearly two decades of rich experience in the domains of research, teaching and policy formulation owing to his varied engagements. He has served as a Senior Consultant to the Committee – to Draft the National Educational Policy (NEP) under the chairmanship of Dr. K. Kasturirangan – set up by Ministry of Education, Govt. of India;
He has also served as the Director of Veda Vijnana Shodha Samsthanam, a Bengaluru-based research centre dedicated to Sanskrit and Shastric studies; Research Associate at Development Foundation, Bengaluru; Research Associate and Head of Centre for Indian Psychology, Jain University, Bengaluru and Research Associate at Karnataka Knowledge Commission, Govt. of Karnataka. Lecturer, Dept. of Sanskrit, Jain College, Bengaluru and Lecturer, Dept. of Yoga and Spirituality, SVYASA Yoga University, Bengaluru.
His publications include a report on Standardization of Yoga Terminologies for WHO; a book co-edited with Dr. Anuradha Choudry titled ‘Perspectives on Indian Psychology’, published by Jain University Press. Another book co-authored titled ‘Happiness: Indic Perspectives’ was published by Development Foundation – besides a few articles, papers, booklets on Yoga, Indian Psychology, Culture and Spirituality.
Sri Raghavendra K.
A HR professional with over 4 decades of Experience across Corporations and India, he was the Head, HR of the BPO division of Infosys, Progeon, before taking up the position of Director HR at Chanakya University. A Trainer, Teacher and a Life Coach par distinction, he is responsible for streamlining the HR management of the University, as a novel experience. He is also a member of multiple national and international professional bodies in the domain of HR.