Speakers

Dr. Alam Shaikh is the “Campus Director of Vasantdada Patil Pratishthan and Principal of Vasantdada Patil Pratishthan’s College of Engineering and Visual arts”. He serves as VC nominee & subject expert on interview panel of Mumbai and Shivaji University. He has published five patents and more than 25 papers in national and international conference & journals. He has conducted 4 International Conferences in successive years. Dr. Shaikh is an approved PhD guide with 4 research scholars working under him till date. He has received various awards and accolades in his career, to name a few; “The Mahatma Jyotirao Phule National Meritorious Teacher” Award by Panjabrao Deshmukh Rashtriya Shikshak Parishad, Maharashtra on 17th February 2019; “Award for Excellence in BEST “PRINCIPAL” from ASIA AFRICA ICT EXCELLENCE Award 2018 at NCRDSIMS Navi Mumbai on 1st December, 2018; “Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Shikshan Ratan National Award” from IISER, Bengaluru and various others.

Ar. Mandar V. Parab is the Principal of L.S. Raheja (LSR) School of Architecture. While studying Architecture he simultaneously gained education in the field of Interior Design. He completed his Govt. Diploma in Interior Design education in the year 1994 and went on to complete his Architecture in 1996 with 1st class honors. He also completed his Master in Architecture (General) with 1st Class honors, from Rachana Sansad affiliated to Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University, Nashik in the year 2008. A mindful leader and a diligent administrator added to his keen passion for teaching makes him balance his teaching and professional career admirably. He has been associated in the capacity as full time and visiting professor with several institutions imparting architecture and interior design education for the past 25 years. Ar. Parab is a practicing architect, he has worked on several commercial, residential and institutional projects till date. He is a Runner up award recipient of COA recognized Architectural design competition for Octroi Check Post of Mumbai organized by MCGM. He was felicitated by Society Interiors Awards for his contribution in Profession and Education in the year 2019.

Ar. Alka Tawari is the Principal of CTES College of Architecture, Chembur, Mumbai. She has over 37 years of professional experience in architectural design and management of projects and teaching. Her experience includes commercial & residential complexes, multiplexes and hotels. She was responsible for co-ordination with multi-disciplinary senior consultants and construction professionals for smooth and timely development and implementation of projects. Ar. Tawari is graduated with B.Arch-.First class from MACT (now MANIT), Bhopal and ME in construction technology and management, first class with distinction, from MITS Gwalior. Her achievement in the current field includes; Encouraging students to write research papers, participate in the competition, debates, forums for thought provoking brain storming, in sports, cultural etc. Faculty is also encouraged to do consultancy, research paper writing. Some of her professional accomplishments includes: Twin-Towers (30-storeys and Six-cores) – 600 apartments (about 1 million sq.ft.); Ashok-Gardens at Sewri. Project was awarded Platinum rating by IGBC, green residential societies rating system, in 2018. Residential Property at Parel in co-ordination with D.P. Architects, Singapore —Planet Godrej. It was the tallest building of India at 51 floors, when it was built and was awarded the PINNACLE Award 2006, by Zee Business as best upcoming project. Multiplex; 200,000 square feet E-Square at Pune – One of the first multiplexes of India.

Dr Rajendra Shinde is the Principal of St. Xavier’s College. He is a reputed botanist and researcher, has been associated with St Xavier’s College for the past 37 years. Prior to this, he was the vice-principal between 2011 and 2017. From 1991 onward, he worked on various academic and non-academic committees at the college, such as controller of examinations, director of international programmes and curator of the Blatter Herbarium. He has also taught at the University of Guyana, Georgetown, Guyana, South America in the year 2003-2004. He was a Member of the Maharashtra State Biodiversity Board- Plant Group. He is also the Chairman- Board of Studies, University of Mumbai. Dr. Shinde is a Fulbright -Nehru Alumni for Academic Administrators Programme and visited more than 15 Universities in USA; Visiting fellow to the UC Berkeley, US in the year 2010. He had a collaboration with ‘the Nees Institute for Biodiversity of Plants’ at University of Bonn, Germany; 5 PhD students received PhD under his supervision and currently 6 students are working for their PhD under him. Dr. Shinde has completed 5 Research projects which included 2 major research projects & 3 minor research projects. He has published 34 research papers, 3 books and filed 1 patent.

Sorabh has been associated with the Higher Education sector for the last 14 years. It all started with his association with a couple of B-Schools in Bangalore. And before he realised it, he was getting involved in activities and events meant for helping students and young professionals become ‘future proof’. It was evident that he is passionate about coaching students and young professionals. His teaching and mentoring interest takes him to Northwestern University, USA, Shiv Nadar University, Masters Union Business School and Ahmedabad University-UC San Diego (Exec MBA Program). Sorabh believes his role at Sunstone allows him to pursue his passion of enabling students and young professionals to become future ready.

Prof. Manoj Parmar is the Director of Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture & Environmental Studies (KRVIA). His academic interests include theoretical writing on Architecture and Urbanism. He has been in private practice of architecture, urban design since 1992. He has worked on numerous private and public housing/ institutional commissions across the country. His work was discussed at UDRI and CEPT Ahmadabad. Prof. Parmar has contributed chapter writing (co-author) on “Unraveling Redevelopment” in book “Trends & Issues in Housing in Asia” published by Routledge, UK. He has co-authored two books. “Smart City in India, Laboratory, Trajectory or Paradigm” & “Resilience Paradigm and Southern Urbanism, published by Routledge UK.

Mr. Rajesh R. Turakhia is the strategic partner who has successfully launched two of the leading brands (MAAC and Frameboxx) in the domain of quality Animation training in India and abroad. His goal was to improve the quality and studio readiness of skilled manpower in the industry. The institutes headed by him has trained over 2,00,000 students over a span of the past 22 years. Most of the studios in India have students trained by him or worked under his leadership. He has also been part of several industry bodies and has been a speaker in many events in India and abroad. He has extensive relationships in the industry and leaders in the industry always come forward to help him in all his ventures. Apart from the education vertical, Rajesh was also handling the state of the art production studio named MEL (Maya Entertainment Limited) as CEO / Executive Director.