Statutory Board of Directors

Guiding us on all fiduciary matters at TRIF

Dr. Sanjiv Phansalkar

Dr. Sanjiv has been engaged in the development sector as a thought leader, grant-maker, writer, teacher, and consultant for the last 30 years. He has worked closely with Dr. Verghese Kurien early in his career. Dr. Sanjiv was the Program Director at the Sir Dorabji Tata Trusts and now heads the Vikasanvesh Foundation, a research organization supported by the Tata Trusts.

Dr. Sanjiv has authored several books and has published research in national and international journals on small industry, water, livelihoods, civil society, and the co-operative sector, and also a large volume of teaching material on these subjects. Dr. Sanjiv is a Fellow of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, from where he also got his PGP in business management.

Mr. Ashish Deshpande

Mr. Ashish Deshpande is the CFO of Ratan Tata Trust. He has more than 26 years of experience in building and leading finance teams with significant operating scales and complexity. Before joining the Tata Trusts, Ashish worked in different capacities at Tata Communications, the erstwhile Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL). He served as the Head of Finance at Tata Communications Lanka (TCLL), in Colombo, Sri Lanka. He has led various projects that implement automation systems and financial restructuring. Originally from Nagpur, Mr Deshpande is an alumnus of the University of Nagpur.

Mr. Harish Hande

Mr. Harish Hande is an Indian social entrepreneur and is recognized as a pioneer of rural energy services across the globe. He is the co-founder of SELCO Solar Light Pvt Ltd and is presently the CEO of the SELCO Foundation. Harish has received many national and international awards including the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship (2018) and the Asia’s prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award (2011) for his pragmatic efforts to put solar power technology in the hands of the poor, through his social enterprise SELCO India. Harish is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology, (IIT) Kharagpur.

Mr. Anish Kumar

Mr. Anish Kumar is the Managing Director at Transforming Rural India Foundation. Prior to joining TRIF, he was on the leadership team of India’s leading non-profit PRADAN, working on rural transformation. His areas of expertise include creating business organizations run by poor communities and facilitating participation of small-holder farmers in modern value chains. Anish developed and piloted the small-holder poultry prototype; and was the CEO of the first poultry co-operative; and he then scaled up the model across new geographies. He is a Board member of the National Smallholder Poultry Development Trust, an advisory and policy advocacy body. Anish has a post-graduate degree in Forest Management from the Indian Institute of Forest Management, (IIFM) Bhopal.

Mr. Anirban Ghose

Mr. Anirban Ghose is the Joint Managing Director at Transforming Rural India Foundation. Prior to joining TRIF, he was on the leadership team of India’s leading non-profit PRADAN, working on rural transformation. As Director Operations, he was responsible for integration of all activities across the organization involving planning and implementation of programs, monitoring progress, setting systems, design of strategies, staff development and managing key grants. Anirban is recognized as the pioneer of automated book-keeping systems in women’s Self-Help Groups and numerous technologies for development programmes. Anirban graduated in Business Studies from the University of Delhi.

Mr. Kumar Chaitanya (Invitee – Finance Advisor)

Mr. Kumar Chaitanya is the Head of Grant Finance & Budgets and Individual Grants, at Tata Trusts. He is a Senior Chartered Accountant with experience in NPO financial reviews, setting up grant management systems, grant making, FCRA law, Income Tax law and NPO regulation in India. Kumar previously worked with The Habitat for Humanity, The Global Fund – PFI Led Consortium Programme on HIV/AIDS, and The Jimmy Carter Work Project.

Advisory Board of Directors

Mentoring us on all programming engagements at TRIF

Ms. Bharti Gupta Ramola (Chair)

Ms. Bharti Gupta Ramola has supported industries, the government, and development institutions in various capacities, and is currently focusing in improving productivity and last mile delivery using commercially available technology. A partner at PwC from 1984 to 2017, she was part of the founding team of varied advisory businesses (Corporate Finance and Recovery, Project Finance, Sustainability) for PwC in India. She serves on the Governing Body of Lady Shri Ram College, and advisory committee of Centre of Excellence for Research on Clean Air (CERCA) at IIT Delhi and is a member of the Board of Feedback Infra Pvt. Ltd. Bharti holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, (IIM) Ahmedabad, and a Bachelor’s of Science (Hons) in Physics from St Stephen’s College, University of Delhi.

Ms. Ireena Vittal

Ms. Ireena Vittal is an independent director on the board of Tata Industries. A former partner with McKinsey & Co., she is recognized as a thought partner for consumer-facing companies looking to build large-scale, profitable businesses in emerging markets. 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 such as 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-centred design to alleviate poverty. Ireena graduated in electronics and has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, (IIM) Calcutta.

Dr Sanjiv Phansalkar

Dr. Sanjiv has authored several books and has published research in national and international journals on small industry, water, livelihoods, civil society, and the co-operative sector, and also a large volume of teaching material on these subjects. Dr. Sanjiv is a Fellow of Indian Institute of Management, (IIM) Ahmedabad, from where he also got his PGP in business management.

Mr. R. Venkatraman

Mr. R. Venkataraman is former Managing Trustee of Tata Trusts and is credited with redefining the Tata Trusts’ philanthropic approach, with a view to making it relevant and responsive to the current needs of society. From 2007 to 2012, he was the Executive Assistant to Mr. Ratan N. Tata, the former Chairman of the Tata Group. He is a Board Member of Air Asia India Pvt. Ltd., as well as a trustee of several Tata Trusts and Foundations which support various social and environmental causes. Mr. Venkataraman holds an MBA degree from Sri Satya Sai University, a Law degree from Mumbai University, as well as an Advance Management Program (AMP) degree from the Harvard Business School.

Mr. Anish Kumar

Mr. Anish Kumar is the Managing Director at Transforming Rural India Foundation. Prior to joining TRIF, he was on the leadership team of India’s leading non-profit PRADAN, working on rural transformation. His areas of expertise include creating business organizations run by poor communities and facilitating participation of small-holder farmers in modern value chains. Anish developed and piloted the small-holder poultry prototype; and was the CEO of the first poultry co-operative; and then scaled up the model across new geographies. He is a Board member of the National Smallholder Poultry Development Trust, an advisory and policy advocacy body. Anish has a post-graduate degree in Forest Management from the Indian Institute of Forest Management, (IIFM) Bhopal.

Mr. Anirban Ghose

Mr. Anirban Ghose is the Joint Managing Director at Transforming Rural India Foundation. Prior to joining TRIF, he was on the leadership team of India’s leading non-profit PRADAN, working on rural transformation. As Director of Operations, he was responsible for integration of all activities across the organization, involving planning and implementation of programs, monitoring progress, setting systems, design of strategies, staff development and managing key grants. Anirban is recognized as the pioneer of automated book-keeping systems in women’s Self-Help Groups and numerous technologies for development programmes. Anirban graduated in Business Studies from the University of Delhi.

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