Dr. Meenakshi Nayar - Founder President
An FPM in Organisational Behaviour (equivalent to a Ph. D) from IIM Ahmedabad and a Masters in Industrial Psychology, Meenakshi Nayar is the Founder President of ETASHA. After working in the corporate world for over two decades (last assignment as Executive Vice President HR, DCM Ltd.) she founded ETASHA while working with adolescents as Founder Director of EduServe Consultants, which specializes in career guidance and life skills development. Meenakshi has been a hands-on Chief Executive of the organisation, leading its evolution to a multi-locational organisation working in multiple verticals in rural as well as urban settings. She has also been a dedicated mentor, successfully creating a strong and capable second line of committed change- makers.
Ms.Vimala Ramachandran – Vice President
Vimala has deep interest and a significant body of work in the areas of education and empowerment. She has been a National Fellow, NUEPA, New Delhi, the Managing Director of Educational Resource Unit, the first National Project Director of Mahila Samakhya, a government program on women’s education and was the founder and Managing Trustee of HealthWatch – a women’s health network. She has published extensively on education, health, gender issues and women’s empowerment and is engaged in advocacy for universal quality education, and particularly, education for girls. Vimala’s depth of understanding of the development sector and guidance on policy matters is helping steer ETASHA towards its goals.
Ms. Mini Bhargava – Secretary
Qualified Interior Designer, Mini worked as a designer for a year, then switched to freelancing. She joined ETASHA in 2006 and has been engaged with its flagship programme - Vocational Training Programme. She headed the Placements Division for many years in ETASHA and is now managing the Volunteer Engagement Program, MIS and Collaborations Division.
Ms.Sangeeta Sharma – Treasurer
Sangeeta is a computer-trained accounting professional, who has been associated with ETASHA for over a decade and now oversees the accounting function. Her commitment to skill development, which is as deep as her involvement with her profession, makes her engage deeply with our program on Accounts, Taxation and Tally, writing lesson plans, training our trainers as well as trainees.
Ms. Ritu Motwani - Founder Member
A Performance Consulting and Training professional, Ritu is a Founder-Member of ETASHA, and Director, R.E.D. Performance Consulting. Zealously committed to the cause of employment and income generation for all, Ritu has been involved in everything from fund-raising and strategy to content development. She is a very hands-on governing council member helping to raise the level of debate, discussion and decision making.
Dr. Usha Jumani - Founder Member
Also a Founding Member of ETASHA, Usha has worked on a host of development issues to bring about sustainable change. A management consultant for over thirty years, her major interest and concern is to strengthen people’s organizations and enable them to represent themselves at all levels from grassroots to global. Usha has published extensively and has several books on the issues of Governance and Poverty. Usha has an FPM and PGDBM from IIM Ahmedabad.
Ms. Anita Aneja - Founder Member
A qualitative market research specialist and consultant, Anita’s core strength is in connecting and interacting with people across demographic groups and geographies. Career Guidance and Adolescent Education for school children are areas of natural connect and Anita enthusiastically contributes to both. Her involvement with ETASHA started as a Founding Member and continues steadfastly.
Mr.Pramod Patni - Founder Member
Senior Partner at Shah, Patni & Co. and Partner at G M Kapadia & Co., Pramod has post qualification experience as a practicing Chartered Accountant of over 35 years. Pramod’s expertise in areas like compliance of Foreign exchange laws, Company law, Service tax, Audit and Internal Controls Processes Review and Reporting, and his involvement with ETASHA since inception, have combined to hugely benefit ETASHA in setting up and maintaining the highest standards of governance.
Dr. Freda Swaminathan - Founder Member
An alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad with specialization in marketing and 25 years of experience with top corporate entities, she brings expertise in management consultancy and teaching. Her love for academics and working with young people has taken Professor Swaminathan to FORE School of Management where she teaches marketing. Freda is also a guest faculty at many other business schools. Dr Swaminathan helps keep the Industry focus and perspective in ETASHA’s programs and initiatives.
Dr.Cherian Joseph - Member
A Learning Facilitation and Organizational Development Professional, Dr Joseph has an MA and Ph. D in Sociology from Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University. Currently working as an Institutional Development & Learning Consultant with LOGIN Asia, Cherian also provides HR and Organizational Learning Consultancy at the Human Resources Advisory. His involvement in the Development sector runs deep, having been Chairperson of the New Education Group for over 4 years, and Trustee, Indo Swiss Project Sikkim Trust for 6 years. Dr. Joseph’s special skills in Organizational diagnostic studies, Facilitation of organizational development processes, Learning process design and facilitation and Development of HR systems have helped ETASHA’s organisation building efforts since 2014.
Mr.Badri Agarwal - Member
Badri Agarwal has been passionate about improving the quality of education, especially in rural India. He quit his job as the President at Airtel (Infotel business) in 2006 and joined Bharti Foundation as its honorary President & CEO. It was with his unique approach that Bharti Foundation set up 250+ schools during 2006-09. He has also volunteered at Pardada Pardadi Education Society, TAP India, The Gyan Prakash Foundation, all focused on education for the underprivileged and skill-building at the grassroots level.
Ms.Vandana Bhatnagar - Member
Vandana Bhatnagar is a senior development sector professional and strategy expert in the areas of Skills, Gender and WASH. As President at Circle In foundation, Vandana is currently leading program and policy initiatives aimed at women’s economic empowerment. Prior to this she was the Chief Program Officer at the National Skill Development Corporation, where she was leading national skill programs, managing NSDC’s funding portfolio and several technical advisory functions. She also spent a decade in the World Bank as a team lead in the area of urban water and sanitation services. Vandana has led several initiatives at the national and state level, associated with landmark interventions such as Service Level Benchmarks, SLB Connect, Swachh Survekshan. She began her professional journey at Standard Chartered Bank, and then moved to the development sector. Vandana is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management (Calcutta) and St. Stephens College in Delhi University.