Business Advisory Board

Dr. Ken Nisikawa

Professor at Konan University, Japan

Dr. Ken Nisikawa, brings over two decades of experience as a professor at Konan University, Japan. Throughout his academic career. He has cultivated a passion for fostering human transformation within various contexts. Dr. Ken has designed and delivered courses in Management, Organization Development, and self-awareness workshops for students across graduate and undergraduate programs, along with specialized programs for senior learners.

His research interests are inherently interdisciplinary, with a particular focus on how group dynamics, organizational structures, and social communities influence personal growth. Dr. Ken actively participates in international conferences, finding immense value in exchanging knowledge and exploring the universality of human development across cultures. Recently, his research focus has shifted towards leader and follower development through a relational lens. This perspective transcends the traditional leader-follower binary and delves deeper into the complexities of leadership dynamics, encompassing both top-level managers and frontline personnel.

Prof. Dr Heiko Kleve

Academic Director at the WIFU Foundation

Prof. Dr Heiko Kleve has led the WIFU Foundation’s Department of Organisation and Development of Business Families since July 2017. Since October 2020, Dr Kleve has steered the academic activities of the WIFU as academic director. He has also been a consultant, mediator, coach and supervisor for individuals, groups, teams and organisations/businesses for around 20 years.

After training as a data processing technician and working briefly in the field, Dr Kleve (born in 1969) studied social work and social education at the Alice Salomon University in Berlin from 1992 to 1996 and social sciences (sociology, political science and social philosophy) at the Humboldt University of Berlin from 1997 to 1999. In 1998, he gained a doctorate in sociology at the Free University of Berlin, achieving summa cum laude. He worked as a freelance social education worker in the psychosocial counselling of families, children and young people (sociopedagogic family counselling and care) and in sociopsychiatric outreach work with individuals from 1997 to 2002.

He was appointed as the chair of Theory and History of Social Work at the Alice Salomon University in 2002. He taught and researched at the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences as a professor of sociological and social psychological foundations of social work from 2005 to 2017. There, he was the dean of the Social and Educational Sciences Department from 2013 to 2017, as well as the director of a social work course specialising in families and the academic director of further training in systemic case management, systemic coaching and systemic structures.

Dr Kleve possesses additional certifications as a systemic consultant (DGSF), supervisor and coach (DGSv), systemic and teaching supervisor (SG), conflict mediator and case manager (DGCC).

Main areas of work, research and interest
• System theory for business families and family businesses
• Socialisation, education and growing up in business families
• Family governance/strategy
• Consulting, coaching, mediation and organisational development, especially in business families
• Theoretically analysing and practically dealing with ambivalent and paradoxical situations
• Systemic methods of researching business families/family businesses, particularly systemic structures as an analytical and research method
• Theory and practice in applied social sciences, especially social work as a postmodern discipline and profession

Mr. Kabilan Devarajan

Chief Execution Officer
URC Construction Private Ltd

An entrepreneur of the third generation who has initially hired as a management trainee in the family construction business. He acquired knowledge on every facet of construction operations, including procurement, stores, finance, execution, and planning. This quickly led
to his promotion to GM-Operations.

Through his unwavering dedication and perseverance in less than five years after joining, he was promoted to CEO of the organization. In a company with over 2,000 executives and close to 12,500 employees, the transition from the elders was seamless.

After completing his Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore, he pursued his MBA from The University of Toledo, Ohio,USA. The financial knowledge he gained through his Master’s made him a thorough Techno commercial Expert. Furthermore, he received the “Best Alumni award” from PSG College of Technology in 2013.

As an ardent business person, he has changed the organization into a complete “System Driven” with generous support and guidance from Padma Bhushan Dr. A. Ramakrishna – Ex L&T – Deputy Managing Director.

He is a part of a team that boosted the turnover from Rs. 500 Cr to Rs. 2000 Cr in a decade with his tireless efforts. He established many Strategic Regional Offices in and outside the country with an addition of more Sector operations to expand and spread the Mantra of the
organization, “Expertise in Quality”.

Through his tremendous efforts, the organization has been strengthened with internal design teams that include architects, structural engineers, and MEP, enabling the company to take on projects in the EPC mode. By making these changes, the company has advanced from being a traditional contractor who accepts work at item rate to an EPC Construction Company.

To enhance the organization’s overall performance, he resolutely devoted himself to making it a world-class organization via his global practice approaches. He was also acknowledged for his diligent nature in the prompt completion of projects.

As a philomath, he always loves to Learn and Explore New areas with Dedication and Devotion. His Esteemed nature has made him attached to every individual of the organization with an altruistic attitude.

PD Dr. Tobias Koellner

Social anthropologist and Sociologist

PD Dr Tobias Koellner is social anthropologist and sociologist. He complements the research at the WIFU with his anthropological perspective on business families and family firms. Since 2020, he heads a research group that examines the social, cultural and religious embeddedness of family firms and business families in cross-cultural perspective. From 2006 to 2009, he worked as a PhD student at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle and completed his dissertation on the relation between businesspeople and Orthodox Christianity in contemporary Russia at the University of Leipzig. Subsequently, he conducted another research project funded by the German Research Foundation that formed the basis for his habilitation, which he completed in 2019.

He is the author of numerous books and edited volumes such as Family Firms and Business Families in Cross-Cultural Perspective: Bringing Anthropology Back In (Palgrave Macmillan) and Sociology of the Business Family: Foundations, Recent Developments and Future Perspectives (Springer). Articles by him have been published by Journal of Change Management; Systems Research and Behavioral Science; Europe-Asia Studies; Journal of Religion, State and Society; Qualitative Social Research and Anthropology Today, among others.

Mr. CK Ranganathan

Chairman & Managing Director,
M/s. CavinKare Pvt Ltd.

Mr. CK Ranganathan was born in Cuddalore to parents with primary interest in education. He took up his Bachelors in Chemistry and after a short stint in the family business, he set up “Chik India”. The Company began its journey as Chik India and was renamed CavinKare Pvt. Ltd (CKPL) in 1998 with a starting investment of Rs. 15,000/- The Company manufactures and markets many products under the brand of Chik, Spinz, Fairever, Meera, Nyle, Raaga Professional, Karthika, Biker’s, Indica, Cavin’s, Ruchi, Chinnis, Maa and Garden etc both in domestic and international markets.

The Company has pioneered the concept of ‘Unisex Salons’ in India with country’s most popular organized beauty salon brands – Green Trends and Limelite under its salon division, which has a clear-cut focus on providing personal styling and beauty solutions to everyone in the family.

Mr. Ranganathan is the current President of TiE – Chennai Chapter. He was the past Chairman of Confederation of Indian Industries, Southern Region and Past President of All India Management Association and Madras Management Association.

CK Ranganathan is one of the founder-members of the Ability Foundation – an NGO working towards the rehabilitation of the disabled. He instituted CAVINKARE ABILITY AWARDS to celebrate annually the exemplary spirit of rare breed of individuals who have risen above their physical limitations to display that attitude is everything.

He also instituted an annual CHINNIKRISHNAN INNOVATION AWARDS to encourage small entrepreneurs in memory of his father Shri. R Chinnikrishnan, the man who pioneered the sachet revolution.

Mr. Shakir Haq

NKP EMPIRE VENTURES PVT LTD – CEO

Steadfast in my business principles and strategy, I am a big proponent of learning from constant experimentation. My understanding & knowledge of restaurant business management and strategic acumen is nurtured by My education at IIM Bangalore, A fuel to our constant pursuit of growth and innovation. One of my proudest claims is driving the organization through the covid crisis and ensuring its
emergence as a profitable, EBIDTA positive Business. As an organization we are now focused on our Vision to be a global Food & Beverage Brand & I intend to reach these heights and more with the support Of the Board at NKP & My dedicated team. I am also grateful for my learning & experience that was inculcated by my Late Father who was a leader in his own right & gave seed to our current vision at NKP.

Prasad Kumar

FAMILY BUSINESS ADVISOR
CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT
COACHING – BOARD AND CEO

Prasad Kumar is the Founder of Human Endeavour Associates, a niche consultancy firm specializing in strategic advisory for owner led companies, family businesses and corporate development.

He has worked in senior executive roles – in corporates, with many leading companies, partnering in their growth and transformation.

His experience with Family Business Advisory spans three decades.

Most of his engagements are long term partnerships, integrating the cultural and structural dimensions for Growth, Governance and Institution Building.

He is engaged in coaching of Board members, top management and senior leaders across industries and is an active Life Coach to family business leaders.

His last positions were Business Chairman and member of the GMR Group Holding Board, Chairman of RAXA (Homeland Security).

He founded Parampara Family Business Institute and was its Vice Chairman and Managing Director. Post retirement, he is now Advisor and Academic Council member.

He has been member of:
– The Economic Times Advisory Panel on Family Business
– The Economic Times Advisory Panel on Corporate Board Governance

A postgraduate in Management and accredited in Applied Behavioral Sciences, Prasad has been a Certified Professional of the International Association of Facilitators and a Life Member of the Association.
He teaches specialized modules in Family Business, Leadership and Succession at IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, Indian School of Business (ISB), SP Jain Institute and other leading business schools.

He has also been Executive-in-Residence at the Kellogg School of Management, NW University, Chicago, USA.

Shanmugasundaram Doraisamy

D.Shanmugasundaram, Managing Partner, CD Technotex LLP, a part of Ceedee’s group with an annual turnover of 36 crores. He is responsible for its IT, Finance, Administration & Human Resources Departments.

He did his schooling at Montfort Higher Secondary School, Yercaud and SBOA, Chennai.

He is a Chemical Engineering graduate from Annamalai University, Chidambaram and an MBA graduate from Cleveland State University, Ohio, USA.
Interested in agriculture, Mr. Shanmugasundaram also heads the group’s agriculture activities.

Returning to India in the year 1998, he was heading the production and marketing of “Major” brand refined oil and “Kamadenu” brand vanaspathi.

In the year 2000, he started developing the in-house ERP and later spun it into a Software division of the parent company, focusing mainly on Hospital Management Solutions.

From the year 2006 to 2011, he took on the additional charge of running the group’s Indian Oil Retail outlet.

He also manages an integrated farm spread over an area of 40 acres with livestock covering cows, sheep, goat and Desi Chicken.

He is also into organic farming, cultivating traditional varieties of Rice. Currently they cultivate 14 varieties of traditional rice, process and market the same directly to consumers.

The group is also exploring the possibility of establishing a Modern Dairy Farm, Precision Agriculture and Hydroponics to cater to the market needs

He is also a Director in Ulavan Producer Company Limited (UPCL), with a membership of about 2500 farmers which is focused on maximising revenue and minimising cost, to make agriculture a sustainable proposition. UPCL is also the early proponent of Electronic National Agricultural Market, e-NAM.

Mr.Shanmugasundaram is the President of the Water Management Panel of Olirum Erodu Foundation (OEF), a philanthropic organisation consisting of 73 trustees and a non-governmental organisation (NGO) working on five verticals namely, Water Management, Environment Management, Infrastructure Management, Holistic Education and Affordable Healthcare, to make Erodu-The Best Place to Live and Work. He had serverd as the Vice-President of the Infrastructure Panel since its inception to 2020.

In 2015, Mr.Shanmugasundaram was the Chairman of Young Indians (Yi), a sister organisation of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII). Yi, primarily focuses on the three pillars, namely, Youth Leadership, Nation Building and Thought Leadership. He is currently the Vice Chairman of CII Erode Zone. He had been on the State Agriculture panel of the CII during the year 2017-18. Yi also works on fields like education, environment, healthcare, employability, arts (sports & culture) and rural initiatives contributing positively to its surrounding eco system and the Nation.

He is also the Mentor for Leadership at the Yi – Erode Chapter.

He was also the Chairman of Native Angel Network(NAN)-Erode Chapter between 2018-20, which supports entrepreneurs in scaling up innovative businesses out of tire-2 and tire-3 cities. Currently NAN-Erode has invested close to Rs.2 Crores, in various start-up initiatives.

Some of the startup’s the group has invested in are:

Happy Hens – A Free range organic Desi Chicken Eggs with no anti-biotic residues.

Farm Fresh – A farm to fork initiative, to avoid middlemen and market the products of the farmers directly to the consumers using mobile apps and electric trucks.

SP Robotics – A company focusing on helping children learn Robotics, AI, etc., at their own pace through online tutoring and Do it Yourself(DIY) kits.

Dr Shree Varma

Founder and Chairman of Shree Varma Bio Naturals Pvt Ltd.

He is an Experienced Medical Director with a demonstrated history of working in the health wellness and fitness industry. Skilled in Nutritional Counseling, Special Education, Yoga, Medicine, and Stress Management. Strong healthcare services professional with a BAMS focused in AYURVEDA, YOGA from Tamil Nadu Doctor M.G.R. Medical University.

Girish Venkataraman

Girish spearheads estate planning at 360 ONE Investment Adviser & Trustee Services Ltd.
(part of 360 ONE, formerly known as IIFL Wealth & Asset Management). He has nearly three decades of experience in the financial services industry.

With his adept guidance, the company has become a trusted advisor to more than 800 ultra- high net worth and high net worth families in India and is the corporate trustee to more than 400 trusts, managing more than INR 8000 Cr of family assets under trusteeship.

He has been actively involved in building this business which is now one of the leaders in India. The firm has received the unique distinction of being awarded the ‘Best for Succession Planning Advice and Trusts’ for three years at the Euromoney Private Banking & Wealth Management Survey. It was also awarded the ‘Best Private Bank for Succession Planning’ at Global Private Banking Innovation Awards, 2020.

Earlier, Girish was associated with DSP Merrill Lynch Mutual Fund since 2002, where he was most recently the Head of Sales, Portfolio Management Services. He has also been Head of the Southern Region as well as of Products and New Initiatives. His prior engagements have been with Deutsche Bank, ANZ Grindlays Bank and Kotak Group.

Girish is a qualified Cost Accountant from the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI).

Dr. Dinesh K. Sadayakumar

Head of Training And Development / Head of Research & Development at Institute of Gems and Jewellery

Dedicated educator, adept life coach, and seasoned strategist. Passionate about fostering employee growth through innovative training methodologies and effective talent management. Accomplished orator and presenter, adept at inspiring and engaging diverse audiences. Founder of various initiatives aimed at personal and professional development. An influential figure with substantial experience across various industries, dedicated to driving success through strategic HR practices.

Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar is the twenty-seventh custodian of the erstwhile Royal family of the Kingdom of Mysore

Sri Y.K.C Wadiyar was formally adopted by H.H. Rajamata Dr. Pramoda Devi Wadiyar, wife of late H.H. Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, at the Mysore Palace on the 23rd of February, 2015.

His primary education began at the Vidya Niketan School, Bangalore. He graduated with B.A. Degree at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in the U.S.A. with major in English and Economics.

In modern times, with the shift in the political landscape and in the moving of administration, the Palace, Mysore, has focused its efforts to be a center for heritage of the Deccan and continues to stress always the importance of history, culture and tradition of the state. The traditions and practices of the palace, Mysore are unbroken for over 400 years after inheriting the same from the Karnata (Vijayanagara) empire, whose legacy is embodied within that of the Wadiyars of Mysore.

The Palace, Mysore has always strived to highlight these traditions as part of the vibrancy of our state and it the view of the current custodian that the rituals, culture, and heritage of The Palace should remain of paramount importance. Alongside the continuation of the Mysore tradition, Sri YKC Wadiyar also has aligned with causes that promote wildlife conservation, environmental protection, and access to education.

Sri YKC Wadiyar is married to Trishika Kumari Wadiyar, who hails from the Dungarpur
royal family in Rajasthan and have a son Aadyaveer Narashimaraja Wadiyar.

He holds the following responsibilities,
President and Trustee – Sri Jayachamaraja Ursu Education Trust, Mysore.
Chairman – Bherunda Foundation
Ambassador and Advisory Board – Kalisu Foundation, Mysore

Dr. Krishna Varma

Acharya Shree Varma (Dr. Krishna Varma)
Founder and CEO = Shree Varma Wellness

DR. LEILANIE MOHD NOR

Group CEO / Director, BinaPavo @ kCommerce (M) Sdn Bhd

DR. LEILANIE MOHD NOR is an Emotional Leadership & Communication Specialist that delves into promoting meaningful conversations and mindful communication at the work place. She helps organizations to walk the EQ-talk and foster EQ-organisation-wide through good “emotional leadership” practices and positive team culture.

A second generation in business, Leilanie co-founded BinaPavo @ KCommerce (M) Sdn Bhd. She is Group CEO and Director, where she oversees the strategic direction as well as brand communication of the subsidiaries under the Group. BinaPavo focuses on family business advisory including crafting and implementing the Family Strategic Plan, and offers L&D programmes for the corporate sector.
Leilanie’s forte is on next generation leaders’ development, communication, values, trust, conflict resolution and family entrepreneurship, with a knack for marketing and psychology. She is an ECD Certified Pro-Consultant (Riders&Elephants) – the first and only in Malaysia;
First of only 2 in Asia; and One of only 38 Globally (as of January 2023). She holds a BA in Telecomunication from Michigan State University, USA; an MBA and Ph.D. in Management from UNIRAZAK Malaysia (a joint programme with Toulouse Business School, France.).

DR. MOHAR YUSOF

President, Prima Alam Technologies Sdn Bhd

DR. MOHAR YUSOF has more than 30 years of entrepreneurial and managerial experience in start-ups and growing businesses. In addition, he has acquired scholarly and professional competencies in the disciplines of family business, entrepreneurship, leadership, strategy and financial planning, which enabled him to be a qualified and skilled strategist, advisor, trainer, coach and mentor. In 2018, he was the Grand Winner, Outstanding Entrepreneurship Mentor Award, Ministry of Education Entrepreneurial Awards (MEA), Malaysia.

Through his family-owned private investment firm, Dr. Mohar and his management team shape entrepreneurial capital and talent into a business and investment portfolio of technology innovation in metaverse and extended reality (XR) for education and art galleries, healthtech, greentech, smart systems, artificial intelligence (AI), fintech and digital transformation (DX). He has a Ph.D. in Management and holds the following certification: Certified Trainer, HRD Corp, 2018; Certified 3EP Entrepreneurship Educator, MoE & UCD Ireland, 2016; Certified Entrepreneurship Educator, Babson College, USA, 2009; Certified Professional Intellectual Property Manager (MIM-CPIPM), Malaysian Institute of Management, 2010; Certified Financial Planner, FPAM, 2017; Certificate in Family Wealth Advising, Family Firm Institute, USA, 2018.

DR. Eric Balan

CEO, Asiatech Education Sdn Bhd (Asiatech)
SVP, Innovation and Sustainability, Prima Alam Technologies Sdn. Bhd. (Prima).

DR. ERIC BALAN is the CEO at Asiatech Education Sdn. Bhd. (Asiatech) and Senior Vice President, Innovation and Sustainability at Prima Alam Technologies Sdn. Bhd. (Prima).

Eric has been in management consulting for 15 years. He has had the privilege to work on projects and assignments in 7 industries across 12 countries. He was stationed in South Korea, Papua New Guinea, and India on project management consultancy and risk analysis assessments. Recently he was stationed in China, researching the development and progress of China’s Belt and Road Initiatives. He is an experienced corporate trainer who specialises in the area of project management, trade partnerships business strategy and intelligence, quantitative analysis, neural network, and data envelopment analysis. He is a trained engineer turn regional economic strategist. He has authored and published 2 books on matters pertaining to development efficiency and has published in international scholarly journals.

He is a certified project manager and risk assessor with the Project Management Institute in USA. His professional experience as an engineer took him on a journey from managing technical engineering projects to business development, financial oriented projects, and now in regional economics and research.

Eric holds a BEng in Comunication Engineering from Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK, an MBA in Strategic Management from Unitar International University, and Ph.D. in International Business and Regional Development Studies from UniRazak, Malaysia.

Sushma Sharma

Sushma is the founder-CEO, the spirit and an ever-evolving co-creator of Resonate Consulting

A passionate learner, a poet , she has grown through 35 years of intense and expansive work in the field of Organization Develop-ment. She has learnt that people and organizations who can dream and work together to create the institutions of their dreams are “built to last”. Changing culture through leadership journeys is her forte . She strongly believes in use of self as an instrument of change .

Sushma sees herself as a learning partner, mentor and a coach in helping leaders, leadership teams and organiza-tions build competencies, learning abilities and nimble-ness for achieving purposeful performance. As a Coach, Sushma persistently and passionately holds on to the val-ues of – freedom, authentic relationships and realization of potential of people.

Dr Aravindan Selvaraj

Co-Founder and Executive Director of Kauvery Hospitals

A Gold Medalist in Orthopaedic Surgery, Dr Aravindan Selvaraj is the Co-Founder & Executive Director of the Kauvery Group of Hospitals.

He practiced Orthopaedic Surgery for 15 years in the world’s best hospitals in Ireland and UK since 1995. He returned to India in 2010 with a vision of setting up a world-class hospital and thus the Kauvery Hospital at Chennai was born. Today, Kauvery hospitals group has 10 hospitals with 2000 beds in Tamil Nadu & Karnataka.

He has been awarded ‘Best Doctor’ by Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University & ‘Pride of Tamil Nadu’ for his achievements in the healthcare industry. In 2022, he was awarded Sir M Visvesvaraya award for ‘Excellence in Healthcare’ instituted by AIMO from the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in recognition of Kauvery Hospital’s contribution to the healthcare sector in terms of service to the general public, creation of jobs for the underprivileged and the scientific advancement of medical care.

Other positions held:

Chairman of ASSOCHAM Tamil Nadu State Development Council
CII Southern Region Health Industry Committee Co-Chairman
TiE Chennai Governing Council Member
Set up the Innovation and Incubation Center at Kauvery Hospital
Founder of Healthcare Capital, an NBFC to support Health Tech Startups

JSB is a world-class B-School with a vision “to be a quintessentially practical Business School, developing managers and entrepreneurs who would be game-changers in management and leadership practices”. Our mission is “to enrich the learning experience by questioning assumptions, thinking deeply, and by creating avenues for hands-on inquiry, in an atmosphere of mutual respect, with an aim to serve business and society at large”. We are committed to provide a learning environment of a high order to students in Management Science and transform them to be Competent, Skilful and Professional in serving the industry worldwide. During the last twenty one years of existence in the realm of management higher education, JSB has produced over 1800 managers of high caliber and values, who have been placed in reputed companies in India.

As an AICTE-recognized management school, JSB is affiliated to the Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, and offers MBA (full-time and residential), M.Phil and Ph.D degrees. The MBA Programme is Internationally Accredited by The Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), USA, and is Nationally Accredited by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA), New Delhi. The M.Phil and Ph.D programmes are offered through Bharathiar University, Coimbatore. JSB has been accorded Autonomous Status by the University Grants Commission, from the year 2015-2016.

Pratima Sanjay Kirloskar

Managing Director of Pratt & Smith Enterprises Private Limited

Pratima Sanjay Kirloskar is currently associated with Pratt & Smith Enterprises Private Limited appointed as Managing Director. Pratima Kirloskar is also a part of the Kirloskar Brothers Ltd and is associated with a number of NGOs.

Nishad AK

Co-Founder & Executive Director – Malabar Gold & Diamonds
Chairman – Cosmos Sports LLP
Chairman – Cosmos Sports Academy

An inspiring entrepreneur with over thirty five years of businessexperience, Nishad AK is best known for his insight to businessstrategy, marketing, guidance to aspiring entrepreneurs andbusinessmen. He is a renowned mentor with excellent businessacumen.

He holds prominent positions in some of the popular and high performance organizations in India and overseas such as Malabar Group, parent company of Malabar Gold & Diamonds. In addition to being one of the Founder Directors of the Malabar Group, he is also the Chairman of Cosmos Sports and Cosmos Sports Academy. His contributions have significantly benefited society, business corporations and individuals.

In addition, his philanthropic activities and commitment towards society to support the unprivileged and the marginalized are an integral part of his core values.

Mr. Sanjay Padode

Chairman of Centre for Developmental Education and the President of Vijay Bhoomi University, India.

An Electronics engineer from BITS – Pilani. Mr. Padodefounded Dataline and Research Technologies Ltd to launch for the very first time nationwide online and email service viz India Online in 1989. This service was the Indian avatar of the Internet. He set up his second venture in 2006, Asian CERC for providing real time financial information and online trading platforms. He exited this venture in 2006.

After serving 22 years in financial technologies and information technology committed himself to education for nurturing holistic, socially responsible and continuously employable professionals. He co-founded the Center for Developmental Education, a not for profit society which runs the Jagadish Sheth School of Management (formerly known as IFIM Business School), IFIM College and IFIM Law School. JAGSOM became the sixth business school in the country to be awarded the coveted AACSB accreditation and its specialized masters programs have been ranked globally at 51+ and 101+ in the marketing and finance category respectively by QS in 2020. Sanjay Padode founded India’s first Liberal Professional University, Vijaybhoomi University at Karjat in the Greater Mumbai Region in 2018. He continues to be the Chairman of CDE and the President of Vijaybhoomi University.

Dr. Santhiran Ramasamy

Group Managing Director

Dato’ Dr. Santhiran brings with him 30 years of experience in the field of education as he has spent a great number of years working in the management sector. He is an expert in the fields of Leadership in Education, Business Strategy & Quality Assurance, Compliance and Sustainable Profitability.

He has been a key player in turning around the recruitment market for education institutions, both domestically and internationally. He has secured countless international and transnational franchise agreements for higher education institutions in the Asian, Middle Eastern and African markets. Dr. Santhiran has held various Senior Management and Development roles in colleges, university colleges and full-fledged universities.

Dr. Santhiran has also been conducting industrial training for the past 15 years within Malaysia and abroad in the fields of logistics, supply chain management, educational training and international trade education. He obtained his Masters’ degree in Marketing from the University of Northumbria, UK and a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communication from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM). He also obtained his Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing and completed his DBA from University of Information Technology and Management (UITM), Poland. He also sits in the Advisory Boards of a few colleges and universities.

Heiko Kleve

Full Professor and Academic Director

Heiko Kleve is Full Professor and Academic Director at the Witten Institute for Family Business and, together with his team, analyzes the business family, especially from a sociological and socio-psychological perspective. He also advises business families on succession issues, family strategy and psycho-social issues.

Priyatej Kotipalli

Economic lenses and Family Business
By Priyatej Kotipalli PhD (Erasmus University)
Head: Center for Indian Family Business: Kumaraguru Institutions

The academic conversations in the discipline of family business research are varied and many. They comprise issues that arise from two areas. First is about the context in which families operate and this manifests in the articulation of values, purposes, and cultural and social framings, institutionalized, and transmitted through generations. The second is about how family-owned enterprises deal with and operate their firms in dynamic business environments and the challenges that accompany the interplay of family ownership and the practical realities of running a business. In these conversations, the economic lenses that are used to study choices and outcomes are neo- classical in their framing. Here the most important goods that are produced for a viable enterprise are private in nature and the realization of financial values is an indicator of performance.

When we look deeper at how families take their business decisions, they are moored at one end in values, and sense of purpose. It’s a family legacy that needs to be preserved and passed on to the next generation which is transmitted and renewed by the co-creation of shared goods and commons. On the other end is the realization of financial values and profit. Conflict arises when the realization of financial values comes at the cost of the shared and common values of the family. In most family own enterprises there exists this tension and conflict between these contrasting values. However, given the dominance of neo-classical economics, financial values trump all other values as we cannot motivate or articulate the importance of other values that help in the cocreation of shared goods and commons. It’s in this context that we introduce the value-based approach to economics as a set of new economic lenses that will help talk about these values which are otherwise seen as soft. The paper will explore the limitations of neo-classical economics in uncovering and articulating shared and common goods that family-owned enterprises produce. It will further point out the significance of these in the decision-making process.

Mr. Ba Ramesh

Managing Director of Thangamayil Jewellery limited

Mr Ba Ramesh believes that everyone has potential to be amazing…and that a healthy culture can inspire people to be at their best. He helps employees and other association members not to get ‘unstuck’ and accelerate toward high performance. His elegance is to create clarity and alignment to a worthy mission, and united efforts toward positive results.

Mr Ba Ramesh is the joint managing Director of Thangamayil Jewellery limited. When the rest of South India was working on the concept of comparative pricing, he formulated and successfully implemented the game changing concept of competitive pricing. His extensive travel helped him understand various cultures and people and that has been instrumental in shaping his unique style of customizations.

Thangamayil Jewellery Limited is positioned in the market as a chain of retail jewellery stores across several districts in Tamil Nadu. From the time of its inception in 2000 as Thangamayil Jewellery Private Limited, the company grew exponentially to turn out as a public limited company in 2007 and the first jewellery company to list its shares in stock exchanges in the year 2010. Today, the company boasts a total operating area of approx. 78,000 square feet, across all its 53 showrooms. Mr. Ba Ramesh is also a major dignitary in some important councils as Zonal committee member – All Indian Gems & Jewellery domestic council, Director – Indian bullion merchants association, Vice-President – Tamilnadu Chambers of Commerce & Industry, President – Madurai district diamond, gold and silver Jeweller’s Merchant association.

The Madurai district jeweller’s merchant association has been functioning for the past 22 Years in an excellent manner. 300 Companies are associated as members. As a President his imminent wish to convert the jewellery business into organized sector to the extent possible and in this regard he has been organizing lots of conventions / seminars to educate and propagate the advantages of the industry turning vibrant as an organized serving sector.

Mohanakrishnan

MA, M.Phil, PhD Managing Trustee

Mohanakrishnan Raman (Mohan) is an Industrial & Organizational Psychologist (IOP) with Ph. D qualification. He has 25 years of wide-ranging experience in research, teaching, consulting, institution building projects and enjoys deep corporate exposure. He is passionate to contribute to higher education in Family Business, Management, Social Sciences and Organization Development Subjects.
He is currently holding positions as
• Managing Director – Stepup Strategic Consulting Services Pvt Ltd (India)
• Managing Trustee – Foundation for Research, Education and Development (FRED)

He was a Professor and Head of HRD and OD department from SDM – IMD, Mysore from 2003 until 2008. He started an Educational Trust called Foundation for Research, Education and Development (FRED), to offer courses on Social & Behavioural Sciences including OD, OB and Leadership. He had worked in Telecom, IT and Banking sectors. His corporate consulting areas are Family Business, OD Consulting, Innovation, Coaching and Organization Strategy. Training and Development being his forte, he has enormous interest in OD, and behavioural science- based training and interventions. He had done Competency Mapping through the Development Centre process for more than 1500 managers in a large private bank, as a part of a major change management project in India. His strategy and OD consulting assignments include organizations in Construction, FMCG, Manufacturing, Education, Banking and IT sectors. He has been an invited speaker in various forums like CII, NIPM, IFTDO, ATDO, ISODC and IODA.

He has done more than 250 development workshops for various clients. He also has designed and offered open programs in the areas of Talent Management, Performance & Career Management Systems & Process and Personal Transformation Clinic to say a few. He was instrumental and offered leadership in organizing Global Organization Development Summit (GODS) in the year 2006, and as a result he was instrumental in Founding Asia OD Network (AODN), along with other notable OD leaders. He was also a Founder President of AODN for three years from 2007 to 2009. He had spearheaded and offered his leadership to the GODS in China in 2007 and 2008 in Thailand. Under his leadership GODS was organized again in 2009 and 2016 in India.

He has written a book on “Family Business – Methods and Essentials of Building Business Families”. He has published a paper in the well reputed European journal “Challenging Organizations and Society” 2014, Volume 3, Issue 2, titled “The Caste System in India – its Power in Organizations and Politics”. He also contributed articles / chapters in edited books.

He had served as the Vice President – Conferences and Events (2016-19) for International Organization Development Association (IODA). He served as an Executive Board Member of IODA since 2007 to help the conference organizing teams in IODA across the world.

He was consultant with Integrated Consulting Group (ICG) Austria and involved in
“Innovation Boot Camp” creating an innovation culture at the various ministerial departments of the countries of Finland and Estonia. He was invited to give a motivational and directional speech in the area of “Smart Specialization” (Innovation project) for the Government of Slovenia.

He was a visiting professor at the School of Psychology in Zurich University of Applied Science (ZHAW), Switzerland for the last few years from 2015. He is recognized as an Erasmus Professor to teach in Slovenia by the Education Ministry of Education, Slovenia. He has guided, coached and mentored many European Business Consultants and Executives. He has also delivered keynote speeches and workshops in China. His specialization in coaching is cross-national consonance.

His other interests are Travel, Wildlife and Environment Conservation. He was a Dean – Academics & OD for a large Educational institution in Mysore, India from 2016-2018. He is a Charter Member of TiE Mysore Chapter

Dr Mohanakrishnan Raman
+91 94483 66589
Mohan@stepupconsulting.in

Bhavani Mohanakishnan

M.Com, M.Phil, PhD

Dr. Bhavani M has M. Com, M.Phil., and Ph.D. in Commerce. She is a Post Doc Research Fellow of the Witten Institute for Family Businesses (WIFU), Witten, Germany. The Focus of her research is on the internal working of the business family and analyses the role of women in the family business – a cross-cultural and comparative perspective of India and Germany. She is also a Research Associate of the Foundation for Research, Education, and Development (FRED).

She has 15 years of teaching and ten years of research experience. Her research areas are Human Resource Development and Entrepreneurship. She submitted her research report on “Problems and Challenges of Women Entrepreneurs in Mysore District” with funding from the University Grant Commission (UGC). She presented her research paper at the International Family Business Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA) conference in 2022, Spain. She has presented and received the Best Paper Award for the article entitled “An empirical study on Traits of Women Entrepreneurs.” at the international conference organized by Jain (Deemed -to-be-University), India.

She got her Life membership in Indian Council for Business Education (ICBE), Annual membership of the International Family Business Enterprise Research Academy (IFERA). She is also a Guest Editor of 3D… IBA Journal of Management and Leadership, July-Dec 2021 Volume 13 – Issue 1, on the theme “Women in Focus: Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Advantages.” She is also a chief editor of an edited Book on “Crisis in the Indian Banking Sector-Issues and Concerns” She has published research articles in various national and international journals.

Kiran Kumar K V

PGDBA, M.Com, CAIIB Program Director

Mr. Kiran Kumar K V holds master graduation in commerce and also in business management. He has attended various workshops and FDPs, especially in the areas of learning analytical tools like MS-Excel and R, including a weeklong workshop at NIT, Calicut. He has also conducted workshops on Research Methods, MS-Excel, R, and Business Analytics for corporate, academicians, and students. He has a total experience of 15 years in corporate, teaching, research, and consulting. His research areas include corporate finance practices, capital market analytics, behavioural finance, and consumer behaviour studies. He has published more than 6 research papers in national and international journals including one in a Scopus indexed journal.

Dr. Swarnalakshmi Umamaheshwaran

M.Sc (Economics), Ph.D

Dr. Swarnalakshmi Umamaheshwaran holds an M.Sc in Economics and Quantitative techniques (Avinashilingam Deemed University) and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. (TERI School of Advanced Studies). Swarna has over 13 years of experience across industry and research. She has worked as a consultant in MNCs such as Amex, GE, Genpact and Scholastic Inc, and TERI, New Delhi. In her role as a consultant, she specialized in building a data-driven business strategy using descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics. She is currently a professor in Business analytics at the International School of Management Excellence and excels in a wide variety of analytical tools such as Excel, SAS, SPSS, Python, R, and Tableau. Swarna has delivered workshops in analytical tools such as SPSS, R & Python. During her tenure as faculty, she has also taken courses and workshops on Machine Learning and AI. She is well-published in national and international journals. Recently she has presented her research work in IIM-Bangalore Conference. Swarna is passionate about data science, analytics, and problem-solving. She believes that analytics and research is for anybody with logical reasoning and a natural curiosity about the world. As analytics and research faculty and trainer, her approach is to deliver analytics education in a simple and approachable way.

Dr. Noble Kumavu (Ghana)

M.Sc. (Occupational Psychology)

Noble is a psychologist with a post-graduate specialization as an Organization Development (OD) Consultant. He divides his time between Africa, the USA, and Europe, undertaking relevant organizational Development (OD) & Management Development Consultancy, Training and Research assignments, or strengthening the capacity of local consultants to do so. In addition to this active consultancy and training responsibilities, he is the Chief Executive of OCIC International. He is also the Coordinator of the OCIC-UCC OD Consultancy Skills Training Programme.

Willie Marais

M.Soc.Sc (Psychology)

Prof. Willie Marais is an expert consultant in Industrial Psychology and founder and owner of OrgDev, a Cape Town, South Africa based Organisational Development Consultancy and I/O Psychology Practice. He is graduated in M.Soc.Sc. from Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. He is a member of the International Organisation Development Network, South African Assessment Centre Study Group, Psychological Society of South Africa, Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology, South Africa. In his learned career, he has held positions of Former Vice-Chairman of the Western Cape Society of Industrial Psychologists, Former Executive Member of the IPM Western Cape, Past Chairperson of the South African Assessment Centre Group and Guest lecturer and external examiner at postgraduate level at several Universities in South Africa. He has also addressed international conferences held at Italy, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, India, USA, Thailand, and several professional conferences in South Africa.

Dr. R Palaniswamy

PGDOR, M.Sc (Statistics), M.Phil, MBA, PhD (Statistics), PhD (Management)

Dr. R Palaniswamy comes with rich experience more than 43 years in teaching students and executives. He has worked as Professor with Jansons School of Management, Coimbatore and PSG School of Arts and Science, Coimbatore. He holds two PhD qualifications in Statistics and Management field from Bharathiar University. Dr. Palaniswamy holds five master degrees to his credit – MSc, MPhil, MBA, PGDOR and PGD in Six Sigma. He has presented high quality research papers in national and international conferences. His papers are published in high impact international journals. He is an active resource person for various workshops on Research Methods, Data Analysis, Statistics and Operations Research.

Prof. P Renukadevi

M.Sc (Statistics), MBA

Prof. P Renukadevi is a Post-Graduate in Statistics and Management. She hasa total experience of 5 years, of which 3 years are in teaching and research. She is currently pursuing Chartered Accountancy Program. Prof. Renukadevi is SLET and UGC NET qualified. Her areas of specialisation include Quantitative Methods, Operations Research, Security Analysis & Portfolio Management, and Strategic Financial Management.

Data Analysis using SPSS (Online FDP)

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Financial Analytics using Excel (Online Workshop)

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Foundations of Machine Learning for Marketing Analytics (Online MDP)

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Advanced Machine Learning for Marketing Analytics (Online MDP)

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Dr. Tom A Rusen

Managing Director WIFU / CEO WIFU

Managing Director WIFU / CEO WIFU – Foundation, Born 1974, managing director of the Witten Institute for Family Business (WIFU) at the Witten / Herdecke University. He also directs the non-profit WIFU Foundation as an executive chairman. After completing a degree in economics at the Witten / Herdecke University, he spent several years working for the inhouse consultancy of a large multinational industrial corporation, and for restructuring and recovery consultancies. He has been honorary professor at the economics faculty of the Witten / Herdecke University since 2015, and a visiting professor at Lucerne University since 2017. The main areas of his research, teaching and publication include the examination of conflict and crisis dynamics, structural risks in family businesses, mental models in business families, and family strategies and their evolution over generations. In his coaching and consultancy work, he assists family businesses and business families in developing practical solutions as part of succession processes, conflict and crisis situations, and the development of family strategies and family management systems.

D. Venkateswaran alias CD Kumar

Managing Partner of CD Technotex LLC

He is currently the Managing Partner of CD Technotex LLC . His business acumen follows the footsteps of his father’s philosophy. CD. Kumar works on Marketing and Sales, Production, New Product Development, Research and Development areas on a regular perspective.

On completion of his graduation in Mechanical and Production Engineering from Annamalai University, His father, Late Shri C Doraisamy, has fostered values of education, in having him travel to Wayne State University (WSU), Detroit, Michigan, where he pursued his Masters Degree in Industrial Engineering, followed by Masters in Business Administration (MBA). It was then that CD.Kumar took up a Teaching Assistant position in the Department of Industrial Engineering, WSU, handling Probability and Statistics. Later, he discharged the role of a Research Assistant during his MBA program. While in the MBA program, the sudden demise of his father compelled him to take up the family businesses.

CD.Kumar has been involved in Edible Oil Processing of the group, under the guidance of his uncle, Shri.C.Krishnan, since 1987. By 1993, he moved over to manage the group’s Sri Krishna Automobile Enterprises, functioning as a Maruti Authorized Service Station (MASS). Under his leadership, the facility was adjudged as the Biggest MASS for the year 1994.

In 1989, CD.Kumar oversaw the creation and donation of the C.D Memorial Library at Kongu Engineering College, Erode, as part of the group’s vision of ‘Education for All’. He has functioned as the Correspondent of Kongu Engineering College, Treasurer of Kongu Vellalar Institution of Technology Trust (KVITT) and Secretary of KVITT. He has lead the establishment of Kongu Arts and Science College, Kongu Industrial Training Centre and Kongu National Matriculatio School.

In 2003, CD.Kumar saw the establishment of the country’s FIRST Technology Business Incubator (TBI), with the support and guidance of Department of Science and Technology of Government of India. CD.Kumar functioned as its Founder Chairman, only to see it being recognized in 2014, as the Best TBI in India, by the President of India, His Excellency Sri Pranab Mukherjee.

In 2007, CD.Kumar was the Founder Vice-Chairman of CII Erode District and scaled up membership to see it upgraded as a Zonal office, at par with Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Trichy. He was the Chairman of CII Erode Zone for the years 2009-’10.

Since 2012, CD.Kumar is the Vice-Chairman of the philanthropic pursuit in Ulavan Producers Company Limited (UPCL), an organization owned by primary producers to maximize revenue and minimize cost of production for the farmers – Making Agriculture a Sustainable Proposition.

He is also a Trustee of Olirum Erodu Foundation (OEF), an outreach project and functions as its Vice-Chairman, in addition to being the Convenor of the Environment Panel. OEF is a philanthropic pursuit of the Erode brothers consisting of 54 trustees and a non- governmental organization working on five verticals namely, Water Management, Environment Enhancement, Infrastructure Improvement, Holistic Education and Affordable Healthcare.

CD.Kumar is the Chairman of Madras Management Association – Erode. He is a Vice President of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), Coimbatore chapter, an organization that promotes budding entrepreneurs.

He is also the Life member of Native Angel Network, which supports entrepreneurs in growing innovative business ideas into viable business propositions.

Education	Master of Science (M.S) in Industrial Engineering Wayne State University, Detroit, USA	1986
	Bachelor of Engineering (B.E) Mechanical & Production Engineering Annamalai University, Chidambaram, INDIA
Business Leadership	Partner, CD TechnoTex LLP (formerly, Venbro Polymers) Manufacturers of Polypropylene Woven Sacks/Fabrics/Tea Bags	Since 1995
	Chairman, Ulavan Producer Co. Ltd., Erode First-in-the-Country initiative in E-Auctioning of Agri Produce	Since 2012
	Head, Sri Krishna Automobile Enterprises, Erode “A” Grade Maruti Authorised Service Station (MASS)	Since 2006
	Partner & Head – Technical & Production, Cooking Oils Division of C.D.Group of Companies	1987-1993
	Research Assistant, Department of Management Studies, Wayne State University, Detroit, USA.	1986-1987
	Teaching Assistant – Probability & Statistics, Dept.of Industrial Engg., Wayne State University, Detroit, USA	1985-1986
Public Position Held	Member, Board of Management, Tamilnadu Agricultural University.	Since 2018
	Member, Board of Management, Tamilnadu University for Veterinary & Animal Sciences	Since 2022
	Secretary, Kongu Vellalar Institute of Technology Trust, Perundurai	2001-2004
	Founder Chairman, Technology Business Incubator (TBI @ KEC) Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai, in association with DST, GoI, New Delhi	2003-2004
	“Best TBI in India” – Awardee from The President, GOI Treasurer, Kongu Vellalar Institute of Technology Trust, Perundurai (Running Kongu Institutions, Perundurai and Nanjanapuram)	1995-‘98
	Correspondent, Kongu Engineering College, Perundurai	1992-‘95
	Area Commander – Tamilnadu Home Guards, Erode District	1992-‘93
Social Leadership	Vice-Chairman, Olirum Erodu Foundation	Since 2014
	Chairman, Madras Management Association(MMA) – Erode Chapter	Since 2014
	Secretary, The Indus Entrepreneurs(TiE), Coimbatore Chapter	2013-‘16
	Chairman, Confederation of Indian Industries(CII)-Erode Zone	2009-‘10
	Chairman, Mega Agri Business Consortium of Producer Companies	2016-‘22
	Life Member, Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE)

Mr C Devarajan

Past Chairman CII Erode & Managing Director URC Constructions(P) Ltd

Mr C Mr C Devarajan, Past Chairman CII Erode & Managing Director URC Constructions(P) Ltd. believes in the philosophy “With ethics and values to be the foundation to the business, connecting the business with Education, Social and Spiritual needs would result in a better society”

He was born on 12th May 1961 in A.Anumanpalli village, near Erode to Shri.U.R.Chinnusamy and Smt. C. Thulasiammal into a respected family with strong traditional and spiritual background.

He has around 37 years of experience in the field of Construction and Infrastructur Development. He was responsible for steering URC to greater heights and later diversified the business into Real Estate, Software, Sustainable Textiles, and Agriculture. The 65-year-old URC Business now helps around 10,000 families through direct and indirect employment.

Mr Devarajan has established ‘URC Gurukulam’, a Skill Development School for Construction Workers which led to the formation of a new initiative ‘Labour Home’ as a separate entity. He is one of the Syndicate Member of Annamalai University, Tamilnadu. He is one of the Board of Directors of ILCE, an initiative for the Efficiency Improvement and Production Enhancement of the Construction and Infrastructure activities. He is the Co-Founder and Vice-Chairman of Texvalley, Erode and Prathinithi at Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust Institute, Erode. He is one of the founding members and Vice Chairman of Olirum Erode Foundation, Erode.

Mr Devarajan is a social worker contributing towards the upliftment of youngsters in the field of education through URC Palaniammal Matriculation School and Kongu Engineering College. He also actively and dedicatedly supports many temple renovations, make contributions to old-age homes and orphanages, and provide medical and educational aid to poor children.

PD Dr. Tobias Kollner

Complements the research at WIFU

PD Dr. Tobias Köllner complements the research at WIFU with his anthropological perspective on business families and family firms. Since 2020, he is heading a research project that examines the social, cultural and religious embeddedness of family firms and business families cross-culturally. Articles by PD Dr. Köllner have been published by Europe-Asia Studies; Journal of Religion, State and Society; Ethnography and Qualitative Social Research; Anthropology Today and others. From 2006 to 2009, PD Dr. Köllner worked as a PhD student at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle and completed his dissertation on the relation between businesspeople and Orthodox religion in contemporary Russia at the University of Leipzig in 2011. Subsequently, he conducted a research project that was funded by the German Research Foundation. This research forms the basis for his habilitation, which he finished in 2019.

Heung Wah, WONG

Founder of the Global Creative Industries Program at The University
of Hong Kong.

He obtained his Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from Oxford University in 1996. His research interest lies in the globalization of Japanese popular culture, anthropology of business, and cultural policies in East Asia. He conducts research in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and Mainland China. He is the author of Japanese Bosses, Chinese Workers: Power and Control in a Hong Kong Megastore (Hawaii University Press and Curzon Press 1999). He is also the co-author of Japanese Adult Videos in Taiwan (Routledge 2014), The Japanese Adult Videos Industry (Routledge 2017), Tradition and Transformation in a Chinese Family Business (Routledge 2020), Censorship in Japan (Routledge 2021), and various journal articles and chapters.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Monika Nadova Kroslakova

Founder of Family Business Centre, co-founder at IBERA, Director of Partner Engagement at Institute of One World Leadership, Associate Professor at University of Economics in Bratislava, a family business owner (2nd gen.).

She works as an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Commerce of the University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia. She is the founder of Family Business Centre at the University of Economics in Bratislava. She is co-founder of the Network of Top Business Leaders and Researchers in The International Business and Economic Research Academy (IBERA), the Director for Partner Engagement/International Advisory Council Member of the Institute of One World Leadership® and Advisory Council Member of Asiatech Education. She is appointed as an expert in the field of the family business in the Slovak Business Agency and a member of the working group at the Ministry of Economy of Slovakia.

In the field of pedagogical, scientific research and publishing she focuses on entrepreneurship issues. She is a guarantor of the subjects Family Business and Commercial Entrepreneurship and a co-guarantor of two study programmes at the University of Economics in Bratislava, an author or co-author of several scientific publications, university textbooks dealing with entrepreneurial environment and business (fast-growing enterprises, small and medium enterprises, women in business, business plans and family businesses). She lectures topics related to the business environment and entrepreneurship and actively cooperates on projects and research focused on the issues at scientific and professional conferences. She is a co-owner of the family-owned production company Novplasta Ltd (2nd gen.). She was cooperating with PWC Slovakia and KPMG Slovakia to elaborate research studies. In cooperation with the largest Slovak research agency Gfk Slovakia, she participated in implementing 3 strategic documents in the context of the Europe 2020 strategy. She is a co-researcher of several KEGA and VEGA research grants for the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport.

Shital Jayantilal

Shital Jayantilal has a PhD in Business Studies from Universidad de Extermadura (2016) and a degree in Economics from the Faculdade de Economia do Porto (1999).

She, currently, is the Head of the Department of Economics and Management at Portucalence University. She lectures undergraduate and graduates courses in Strategy and Strategic Management.

She is also a practitioner and an experienced Senior consultant, with more than 15 years of hands-on experience in aiding more than 50 SMEs and family firms, across diverse industries promoting their sustainability and enhancing trans-generational family business wealth.

Presently, she is a member of the research unit REMIT – Research on Economics, Management and Information Technologies, Porto. Her main topics of research are Main research interests: Family Firms; Strategy; and Game Theory and has been published in various international journals. Having been awarded the 2021- Schulze Publication award by Entrepreneurship and Innovation Exchange and Family Business editorial teams.

Prof. W Gibb Dyer

Professor in the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University

W. Gibb Dyer (Ph.D MIT) is the O. Leslie and Dorothy Stone Professor in the Marriott School of Business at Brigham Young University. He has been a visiting faculty member at the University of New Hampshire and IESE in Barcelona, Spain and was a visiting scholar at the University of Bath in England. He has published 9 books and over 50 articles and his research has been featured in Fortune, The Wall Street Journal and Fast Company. His recent book, The Family Edge, focuses on how “family capital” supports business growth. In 2008 he was given the outstanding faculty award from the Marriott School. He has been ranked as one of the top ten scholars in the world in the field of family business. He and his wife Theresa have seven children and twenty grandchildren.

Dr. Rodrigo Basco

Professor at American University of Sharjah (AUS)–United Arab Emirates

As part of a fourth-generation family-owned Argentinean firm, Dr. Rodrigo Basco has always been interested in the nuances of family businesses. He is currently a Professor at American University of Sharjah (AUS)–United Arab Emirates and holds the Sheikh Saoud bin Khalid bin Khalid Al-Qassimi Chair in Family Business. He is the Board Chairman of STEP Project Global Consortium and Associate Editor of Journal of Family Business Strategy. He is also visiting professor at IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca (Italy). His research focuses on entrepreneurship, management, and regional development with special interest in family firms, and he has taught economics, management, and family business courses at universities in Spain, Chile, and Germany. Dr. Rodrigo Basco was ranked as the World’s Top 2% most-cited scientists by Stanford University.

His research has been published in international academic journals, including Journal of Family Business Strategy, European Planning Studies, Family Business Review, European Management Journal, Journal of Management & Organization, Journal of Business research, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, Business Strategy and the Environment, Harvard Business Review, and International Small Business Journal, among others. Dr. Basco recently edited several special issue on the topics of “Family Business and Regional Development”, “Entrepreneurial Families in Business Across Generations, Contexts, and Cultures, and “Family Business, “Local development in Ibeoramerica”, and “Family Business in the Arab World”. He is an editorial board member for several leading journals.

He is author and co-editor of several books on family firms. Recently, he co-edited the academic book “Family Business and Regional Development” in the editorial house Routledge. He is also co-author of one the first Spanish textbooks on family firms for undergraduate and postgraduate students and general audience interested in the topic of family firms.

Before joining AUS, Dr. Basco was a postdoctoral scholar at the Witten Institute for Family Business at the University of Witten/Herdecke in Germany. He was also a visiting researcher at the University of Edinburgh (Scotland) and at CeFEO at Jonkoping University. He blogs actively about family business topics for a general audience on his Family Firm Blog.

Arjun Ranga, CEO, NR Group

CEO of N Ranga Rao & Sons Pvt Ltd.

N Ranga Rao & Sons Pvt. Ltd. was established in 1948 by Shri. N. Ranga Rao in Mysuru. It is the manufacturer of Cycle Pure Agarbathi, India’s largest selling prayer brand. Managed by the third generation of the Ranga family today, the NR Group is a global conglomerate with a presence in over 75 countries. It has diversified into new business categories such as functional air care products, wellness and home fragrance products, floral extracts, solar irrigation systems, healthcare solutions, defence, aerospace and education.

Arjun completed his engineering from S J College of Engineering Mysuru and MBA from Thunderbird, USA. He worked in the US for a couple of years before joining the family business in 2000.

Under his leadership, the group has launched many innovations and initiatives that have become trendsetting for the industry. He is passionate about driving, transforming and scaling the business based on ethical, collaborative and value-based growth.

As the world’s largest incense manufacturer, the group is committed to providing hope for future generations by following ethical and sustainable business practices. Cycle Pure is the world’s first certified Zero Carbon Manufacturer of incense, prayer and air care products.

Arjun is President of the All India Agarbathi Manufacturers Association (AIAMA), Chairman of Karnataka State Council – CII and Chairman of Grassroots Research and Advocacy Movement (GRAAM).

Advisory Board

Prof. W Gibb Dyer

Dr. Tom A Rusen

Prof. Sandiran Ramasamy

Dr. Mohanakrishnan Raman

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