People for Development Design

Michael Walton is a Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, Delhi. He previously spent over two decades at the World Bank, holding key roles including Regional Chief Economist for East Asia and the Pacific and Director for Poverty Reduction. His work has spanned poverty, inequality, and inclusive growth across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. He also works with IMAGO Global Grassroots to help community organizations scale impact. His publications include Culture and Public Action and No Growth without Equity?, reflecting his focus on equitable development.

Isabel is an economist that has worked in development all her professional life. She worked in the World Bank as a macroeconomist, designing policy reform in Philippines, Morocco and the Former Soviet Union; she also wrote the World Bank’s first Poverty Report on the Philippines. She was a Country Director for Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Colombia, Mexico and India. From 2008-2013 she was the VP for South Asia, overseeing a 39 billion USD portfolio. In 2014 she founded IMAGO Global Grassroots and started teaching at both MIT and Harvard Kennedy School, focusing on how to scale up innovations from the Base of the Pyramid.

Zachary is a Professor of Practice in Leadership Studies and Director of Leadership Development at The Nonprofit Institute, University of San Diego. A clinical psychologist by training, he brings over three decades of experience in leadership, human relations, and organizational behavior. He has coached senior leaders at the World Bank and consulted with global organizations, including the IMF and the President’s Commission on Race. Co-founder of Group Relations International, Zachary’s work explores adaptive leadership, race, and identity in organizations. Through IMAGO Global Grassroots, he now applies co-creative models of development across South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South America.

Suneeta Dhar is a Co-Founder & Chair of South Asia Women’s Fund India and a leading feminist with over four decades of work advancing women’s rights and gender justice. She has worked with women’s groups, community collectives, and international agencies, designing programs on ending violence against women and promoting gender-inclusive development. A Senior Advisor at JAGORI and Chair of the South Asia Women Foundation (India), she has also served on committees of NCW, the Supreme Court, and UN Women. A Fulbright and Advocacy Institute Fellow, Suneeta holds a Master’s from TISS and has authored numerous publications on gender, safety, and governance.

Dharmendra Chandurkar is the Co-founder and Chief Knowledge Officer at Sambodhi, and a leading authority on development impact, strategy, and learning. With over 25 years of experience across India and South Asia, he has led transformative initiatives in conservation, public policy, and inclusive development. An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Forest Management and Harvard Kennedy School, Dharmendra bridges theory and practice to shape the evidence and learning ecosystem in the Global South. A published author and sought-after speaker, he continues to advance adaptive leadership, systems change, and organizational learning in the development and policy space.

Baskar Reddy is the Executive Director of Syngenta Foundation India, with over 17 years of experience in the agriculture sector. He leads the Foundation’s flagship Agri-Entrepreneur (AE) model and is a founding member of the Agri-Entrepreneur Growth Foundation (AEG Foundation), a collaboration with Tata Trusts and IDH, Netherlands, aiming to develop 100,000 agri-entrepreneurs and impact 15 million small farmers. Previously, as Director of Agriculture at FICCI, he worked closely with the Ministry of Agriculture to shape key policies, including India’s first PPP framework in agriculture. Baskar holds a Ph.D. in Soil and Water Conservation Engineering from IARI, New Delhi.

Ms Ireena Vittal is an independent director on the board of Tata Industries. A former partner with McKinsey & Co., she is a recognized thought partner to consumer-facing companies looking to build large-scale, profitable businesses in emerging markets. She has also served government and public institutions to design and implement solutions core to India’s development, like inclusive urban development and sustainable rural growth.

Ireena was a founding member of the economic-development practice and the global emerging-markets practice at McKinsey & Co. After 25 years in the corporate world, she is currently working in the urban and the agriculture spaces and is also an independent director on the board of select Indian companies, including Axis Bank, Titan Company, Indian Hotels, Godrej Consumer, Tata Global Beverages and Wipro as well as on the global advisory board of IDEO.org, a non-profit dedicated to applying human-centered design to alleviate poverty. Prior to joining McKinsey & Co., Ireena worked with Nestle and with MaxTouch (now Vodafone).

Ireena graduated in electronics and has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.