Speakers

Dr Sandeep Marwah, Chancellor, AAFT University; Founder- Noida Film City Sandeep Marwah is a well-known film producer, director, educator, journalist and businessman. He is also the Founder and President of Asian Academy of Film & Television and the first chancellor of the university.Marwah is the Founder of Noida Film City and the owner of Marwah Studios and has produced approximately 2900 short films. Marwah has a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Shaheed Bhagat Singh College and a Master’s degree in Commerce from Delhi University, He has a post-graduate in Marketing Management from the Institute of Marketing and Management as well as a post-graduate in Administrative Law from Delhi University law College.

Kunwar Shekhar Vijendra, Co-founder and Chancellor of Shobhit University, is a prominent social entrepreneur who holds various leadership roles in many organizations. His is also Co-Chairman, National Council on Education, of ASSOCHAM,  the oldest Apex Chamber of Commerce & Industries of India. He is very actively involved with a number of social organizations and is associated with numerous organisations in varied capacities including as Advisor, Shri JP Mathur Charitable Trust, New Delhi; Chairman, Livelihood Development Research Foundation, Founder of the Centre for Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences and Advisor with Citizen’s Commission for Dialogue, Justice and Reconciliation, India. He is also National Council Member of the All India Prohibition Council and is Senior Vice President of the Centre for Education Growth and Research. Kunwar Vijendra is the recipient of several awards and honours, and he has travelled widely in India and abroad to the countries such as the USA, the UK, Germany, Australia, Russia, China, South Korea, etc, to participate in various professional, social and educational activities.

Dr Jawahar Surisetti, Executive Director, Rungta Group of Institutions, is an Advisor to the Government, a TED speaker, Smart City consultant, start-up mentor, psychologist, bestselling author and a Speaking Tree columnist. He has delivered numerous seminars across the globe on various issues related to the field of education and the corporate world. His bestselling international parenting guide ‘Mama and Me’ has sold more than 1.6 million copies in the US and Europe. Dr Surisetti is the recipient of several awards including the Man of the Year 2009-2010 award, the Bharat Shiksha Ratna Samman, the BBC Knowledge Outstanding Contribution of the Year award and the NYT Da Vinci Innovator of the Year award.

Dr. Rana Singh is a seasoned techno-business professional having two decades of experience in the domain of academics, research, training, quality assurance and consulting. Dr. Singh is the former Director of Army Institute of Management & Technology, Greater Noida. Earlier he has served as Director of Institutional Effectiveness at University of Jazeera, UAE. Dr. Singh moved to UAE in 2012 to provide training to Banking, Finance and Insurance professionals of UAE on invitation of Emirates Institute of Banking and Financial Studies which is UAE’’s only institution promoted by the Central Bank. Thereafter he was working with Gulf Medical University as Assistant Director of Institutional Research and Planning. Dr Rana Singh is an MBA (Gold Medalist) with specialization in Finance and a Ph.D. in Management. He has two decades of experience in academics, research, consulting, training, academic planning and administration including setting up and promoting private University and technical institutions approved by regulatory bodies on turnkey basis. He was recently conferred with “Bihar Gaurav Samman” and BR Ambedkar National Award in 2018.

Sahil Aggarwal is a social entrepreneur and educationist. His passion for creating impact and positively contributing to society has resulted in the foundation of institutions like Rishihood University (Co founder & CEO) and Rashtram School of Public Leadership (Co-founder). He volunteers on policy matters as the co-chairman of the National Education Committee at the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) and a member of the National Committee of Design at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). He is a trustee and board member at Gateway Education, Sonipat.  Sahil has a B. Tech degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. During his graduation days, he led and volunteered for several activities like policy discussions, social service, spirituality, voter awareness, and was also active with music and drama societies.  He studied MA Diplomacy (Executive Masters for Working Professionals) at Jindal Global University. He specializes in public policy and international relations. His master’s thesis revolved around Performance Management in Urban Local Governance in India. He has also been a Visiting Scholar for Urban Governance at Indiana University Bloomington, United States of America.  He has co-authored a book on public policy, co-designed a card game on politics, and keeps writing for leading publications. 

Sandy Hooda, Co-Founder of Vega Schools, is a first-generation entrepreneur with an outstanding track record in technology and hospitality ventures. He strongly believes that the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to education does not lead to success for most learners. Hooda has a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce (Hons) from Shri Ram College of Commerce. Through personal experience, he realised that his school education not only undermined his love of learning, but also played an insignificant role in him becoming successful in life. To better understand whether anyone had solved this education puzzle, he spent three years travelling around the world, identifying the most progressive schools, and galvanising the education leaders behind these schools in order to create Vega. His life mission is to revolutionise education based on research on ‘why’ and ‘how’ we learn so that there is perfect harmony between school education, love of learning, and success in life.

Kanak Gupta is the Director of Seth MR Jaipuria Group of Schools, which runs thirty-seven K-12 schools across the country with over 30,000 students and more than 2000 educators associated with the group in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Gupta is an educator with over 16 years of experience working in India, the UK and Germany. He is a graduate of Purdue University, USA and St Xavier’s College, Calcutta. He is also the Co-Founder of Theatrecian, the most prolific English theatre group in India and the We Log Charitable Trust, a media house for social causes worldwide. Gupta has been awarded the ‘Young Creative Entrepreneur’ by the British Council in India and the ‘Indian Educator of the Year’ award by Achievers Forum, among others. He is also on the Advisory Board of Source Scholarships International, the Association of Indian Principals, the World Youth Parliament and Educators Worldwide, among others.

Amrita Burman, Deputy Director, Sunbeam Group of Educational Institutions is a passionate educator who believes that it is only through education that India’s destiny can change. She has been associated with Sunbeam for over 3 decades now. With a Masters in Management degree and a passion for education, Burman also completed a course in education from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has authored books for schools in English and she is also one of the prominent authors/educators whose thoughts feature on a special compilation on Joy and Power of Reading brought out by Scholastic called ‘Why I Love to Read’ which features many prominent writers. She has mentored Sunbeam Schools to varied achievements, being ranked by Education World as No 1 Schools in India on various parameters on numerous occasions. Burman believes in holistic development in students and has been acknowledged and awarded by several organizations for her work.

Pratima Sinha is Chief Executive Officer, DSR Education Society Hyderabad. She has three decades of progressive qualitative experience in the field of Education, across a wide gamut of functions such as Academic Audit, Curriculum Development & Planning, Teacher Training, Mentoring & Monitoring, School Operations & Finances and Setting up Schools. Sinha holds a post-graduate degree in Education, with a Diploma in Early Childhood Education and Business English. She has done extensive research and developed modules in Teaching Pedagogy and English Enhancement Programme for adults. Sinha has headed schools with CBSE, ICSE, Cambridge and IB programmes and she has held the position of Regional Academic Head with Pearson Education. She is an EDEXCEL (Pearson Teacher Training) Certified Trainer. She is also on the advisory board of organisations like IECS and ISLI. She is currently working and researching correlating life skills with theatre and the benefits of theatre on autistic children.

Roshan Gandhi is the Chief Executive Officer of City Montessori School, Lucknow. As CEO, Roshan Gandhi leads transformation across City Montessori Schools – the world’s largest city-school, with 57,000 students. A graduate from the University of Oxford with an MBA in Educational Leadership from University College London, he has also worked in and continues to consult for various education technology companies. He has been instrumental in implementing major reform to the organisation’s operations and processes to ensure the most effective and efficient support to teaching and learning, as well as building the foundations for increased future sustainability and scalability. A passionate enthusiast for education, Gandhi is a frequent keynote and panel speaker at educational conferences around the country and is associated with a prominent think tank leading education policy reform. He also writes regularly on educational topics.