Speakers

Dr. Arun Mohan Sherry, an M.Sc. Gold Medalist, M.Tech. in Computer Science from IIT Kharagpur, and Ph.D. holder, is a distinguished figure in education. He has received numerous accolades, including the Anand Swarup Bhatnagar Gold Medal and the Indian Icon Award. With over 20 years of experience in academia, research, and administration, Dr. Sherry has supervised many Ph.D. candidates and published over 40 papers. He has held senior leadership roles at IMT Ghaziabad and served as the CAO of a joint venture between HT Media Ltd. and Apollo Global Inc., as well as HCL Talentcare, and NMIMS, Mumbai. Internationally recognized, he has chaired conferences and contributed to prestigious journals. Dr. Sherry is currently the Director of IIIT-Lucknow, continuing to shape the future of technical education.

Geeta Gandhi Kingdon is the Manager of City Montessori School (CMS) in Lucknow, founded by her parents 65 years ago. With a BSc Honours in Economics from the London School of Economics, and an MSc and DPhil in Economics from the University of Oxford, she moved to India in 2010 after 31 years in the UK. Kingdon continues to serve as a part-time tenured Professor of Economics of Education at the Institute of Education, University College London (UCL), where she held the Chair of Education and International Development until April 2024, and now is an Emeritus Professor since May 2024. Under her leadership, CMS, with over 63,000 students across 21 campuses, is recognized in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest school in a city. The school emphasizes strong academics, personality development, and global citizenship education.

Kanak Gupta is the Group Director of the Seth M.R. Jaipuria Group of Schools, which operates 55 K-12 schools across five states in India, serving nearly 50,000 students and employing over 2,500 educators in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. With nearly two decades of experience in education, Kanak has worked in India, the UK, and Germany. He is a graduate of Purdue University, USA, and St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta. Kanak has received numerous national and international accolades, including the British Council Young Creative Entrepreneur award, India’s Educator of the Year, and a spot on the Education 40 Under 40 list. He is a regular television panellist, newspaper columnist, social activist, environmentalist, and theatre professional. His interviews have been featured by YourStory, India Today, BBC4 London, NDTV, Times Now, Telegraph, and many more. In addition to his professional achievements, Kanak is an aspiring author, chef, musician, and a dedicated father.