Board of ADVISORS
CA K Rajaram Shetty
Chartered Accountant
President, Micro Souharda Credit Co-operative Ltd.
CA Korangrapady Doddamane Rajaram Shetty, the former Chairman of Udupi Branch of SIRC, is one of the senior Chartered Accountants of Undivided Dakshina Kannada. When Mr Shetty was undertaking CA Articles training in Mumbai, he simultaneously completed his LLB from Mumbai University. After completion of his Chartered Accountancy he joined PriceWater House, Peat and Co-Mumbai. Udupi always attracted Mr Shetty and hence, he resigned his job in PWC and started the private practice in Udupi in 1975 and also joined as a Lecturer in Commerce in his alumina, MGM College and later shifted to Poornaprajna College. Mr Shetty was the Correspondent of Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty College, Shirva (Founder) and a Junior College and Three Higher Primer Schools, all attached toVidyavardhaka Sangha-Shirva for a long period of Three decades. Being a Badminton enthusiast, Sri Shetty, along with his family friend Sri Bailoor Ramesh Rao was instrumental in starting Sri Bailoor Krishna Rao Memorial Gymkhana, an Indoor Stadium that houses a First ever Wooden Shuttle Court Stadium in Udupi District under a Public Trust. He is one of the Founder Trustees (Under Sri K. Satishschandra Hegde’s Presidentship) of Smt. Ammani Ramanna Shetty Memorial Auditorium, Udupi. Mr Shetty, got incorporated a Souharda Cooperative under the name and style Micro Souharda Credit Limited, which is run as a Professionally managed Co-operative Institution under his Presidentship.
Sudarshana K S
Managing Partner, HillTop Estate (and former Corporate Leader)
25 years of varied corporate expertise of which the last 13 years as CxO (CEO/COO/CFO).Sudarshana is a B E (Mechanical Engg.) from University of Mysore, Post Graduate in Nuclear Sciences and Engineering from the prestigious BARC Training School, Trombay and MBA (Finance) from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai.Sudarshana’s experience spans across the entire spectrum of business –across a wide array of industries: Power, Realty, Telecom, IT, Internet and ITES, in marquee organisations like Bhabha Atomic Research Centre/Nuclear Power Corporation of India, Tata Consultancy Services, BPL Mobile, Trigyn Technologies etc. Raised over $ 800 million in Debt, Equity, ADR, structured debt. Was the first to raise FDI through ADRs in India, turned around a listed IT company.Sudarshana quit the corporate life in late 2013 and currently focuses investments in start-ups and on agriculture.
Dr Sandeep S Shenoy
A Civil Engineering graduate of Sardar Patel College of Engineering ,Mumbai and a post graduate in Financial Management from Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research (SIMSR) ,Mumbai both affiliated to Mumbai University , M.Phil in Management from Alagappa University ,Tamil Nadu and a doctoral degree in Commerce from Mangalore University . Dr. Sandeep S Shenoy, initially started his career with a stint of seven years in the construction industry, wherein he had the privilege of working with Shapoorji Pallonji, a reputed Conglomerate in different capacities and handled many of their prestigious projects in Mumbai such as Bharat Diamond Bourse, American School of Bombay, Nelco Technopolis Park and P&G . After joining Manipal in 2001, in the first decade of his service, he has functioned in various academic and admin roles at Manipal Institute of Management, Manipal and in 2010 he was offered the leadership role as the Head, Department of Commerce. Apart from his Academic role, he also handles the responsibility of leadership role in Compliance Department. Under his leadership, the Department of Commerce has registered an exponential growth as evident from increased intake, addition of new programs at Undergraduate and Post graduate levels with more specialization options and offering of PhD program. Internationalization being his keen area of interest, his focused approach has successfully initiated collaborative opportunities with about 20 reputed universities across the globe resulting in signing of about 14 MOUs and thereby creating an opportunity for students to gain a global exposure and in developing a globally recognized curriculum.
Dr Nagesh Kini
Co-Founder and CTO at Vimano Inc.
Ph.D. in Materials Science, with two decades of rich experience in Research & Development. Highly experienced in technology-evaluation, technology-transfer, product-development, collaborative-research, networking and collaboration. Widely published research-work. Developed high-technology products. Worked long stints both in academics and industry. Expert in diverse materials-synthesis and characterisation techniques.
Recipient of international research fellowships from prestigious institutes from Japan (JSPS), Germany (Max Planck Institute) and South Korea (SNU). Life member of Indian Institute of Metals (IIM), Materials Research Society of India (MRSI) and Society for Failure Analysis (India). Recognised Ph.D. guide at the Dept. of Technology, Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU). Currently in-charge of technology evaluation and transfer, collaborative research with academic and research institutes and product development.
Specialised in Li-ion batteries, fuel cells, hydrogen-storage, training, collaborative-research. higher-education, entrepreneurship. Trained in Li-ion cell manufacturing by ISRO.
Sudhir Kumar
President, Kumar Steels Inc.
Sudhir Kumar a Mechanical Engineer from MIT is the President of Kumar Steels Inc., established in 1991, manufacturing Stainless Steel Bowls & Accessories for Pets and exporting the same to 47 countries.
He is a Board Member of Humanitarian Aid International, an Indian NGO.
He is also a social media influencer with more than 70 thousand followers and is followed by many celebrities and 17 ministers including Hon PM of India.
Amit Kapur
Director- Everest Blowers
Everest Blowers – Leaders in Blower Engineering for Pressure & Vacuum Duty Applications. Winner of two National Awards for Excellence in R&D and Energy Efficient Products, Everest Group is totally involved in Product Innovation & Application Engineering. Product line includes PD Blowers, Mechanical Vacuum Boosters, Dry Screw Vacuum Pumps, Package Blower Systems & Industrial Vacuum Systems. Everest Group has recently diversified into Centrifugal Blower Technology and offers energy efficient Side Channel Blowers, Air Knife Drying/Blowoff Systems, Turbo Blowers & Airlift Pumps.
Dr Nanda Kishor
Dr. Nanda Kishor M S holds an M.Phil. and Ph.D. in Political Science from Hyderabad Central University (HCU), Hyderabad, India and completed Postdoc at the University of Leiden, Netherlands, with ERASMUS MUNDUS Fellowship from the European Union. He has been teaching Geopolitics of West Asia, India’s Foreign Policy, Concept of War and Peace in Geopolitics, Terrorism and Asymmetric Conflicts. Dr. Kishor has been working on conflict resolution, West Asia (Middle East), refugees and international law. He was a recipient of the Short-Term Junior Research Fellowship from UNHCR, Brookings, Government of Finland and MCRG (Kolkata). He visited Hochschule University of Applied Sciences, Bremen, Germany, on a short-term fellowship by the DAAD sponsored program of HS Bremen in 2012.
He was part of the International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP) by the United States during June-July 2013. He is a Senior Fellow at Defence Research and Studies (DRaS) in India, Non-Resident Fellow of Middle East Institute New Delhi, Advisor and Subject Expert for COVINTS, a Bangalore based Risk Analyst Company, Analyst at Islamic Theology of Counter-Terrorism (London), Visiting Fellow to AIDIA (Kathmandu), Features Editor (Security Studies) of Science, Technology and Security forum (MARG-MAHE). He has several publications in journals and edited volumes.
Anuja Kapur
Anuja Kapur is a Delhi University Graduate and did her bachelor’s in psychology after that she joined Delhi Public School as a student counsellor. Later on, she got into the Criminal Psychology and did her Masters in same stream. The zeal to learn more led her into another course in Forensic Science from Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Science and University of Delhi under the guidance of Dr. Surinder Nath.Almost all leading News Channels like ANI, CNN, Lok Sabha TV, Republic TV, India Today, Ibn7, BBC Hindi, AajTak, NDTV, ABP News, India News, News X, News Nation, Zee News etc invite her for her valuable inputs on various issues whether it is women empowerment, rape or any kind of violence in the society irrespective of gender or age.
Apart from News Channels she always gets place in various leading Newspapers like(The Times of India, Hindustan Times, The Hindu, Deccan Herald, India Today, The Pioneer, The Tribune, Punjab Kesari, Dainik Bhaskar etc), Magazines (like GrehShobha, GrehLaxmi, Debut Life etc), News websites and actively followed by thousands of people on social media like Facebook, Twitter & Linkedin.
Shashanka GK
CDO, EZ Technologies, Mangaluru
Shashanka GK is an M.B.A in Marketing with Computer Science Engineering. Expert in Data Analysis, Web Technologies and Agile Software Project Management Techniques. Experience in Artificial Intelligence based automation, Proteogenomics , Research & Development. Published research work in Data Science. Work experience in corporate companies and as an Entrepreneur.
Awarded “SPOT” (Some People Outshined Others) and “Spirit of Winning” at Mphasis for consistence high performance as a team player. Conducted knowledge sharing sessions and workshops in corporate sector as well as in educational field. Specialized in setting up labs and startup company technology stacks.
Akshay Singh
Co-Founder, President & CTO at Quicket Solutions
Chicago, Illinois
Akshay Singh is a Co-founder, President, and CTO of Quicket Solutions. Akshay holds master’s degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Prior to Co-founding Quicket, Akshay worked briefly with Caterpillar, Raytheon, and Intel on machine learning and big data projects. Akshay is passionate about automating government entities, real-time data distribution, access, and analysis. He has led Quicket through its efforts to become the first unified data collection, management, and collaboration SaaS platform that leverages machine learning and a proprietary configuration engine to enhance civic engagement and promote unrivaled transparency and efficiencies in government processes
Dr. Prashant Kumar
Dr. Prashant Kumar is a Senior Scientist in Central Scientific Instruments Organisation, Chandigarh which is a national laboratory under Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Govt. of India. He holds BTech. in Computer Science & Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal, Udupi, Karnataka, followed by an MTech. in Advanced Instrumentation Engineering from AcSIR and PhD in Faculty of Engineering Sciences from AcSIR (in collaboration with ISRO-IIRS Dehradun). He has been a PGRPE (Post Graduate Research Programme in Engineering) fellow of CSIR, India. He is a core team member at CSIR-CSIO, Chandigarh for the School Adoption Programme started by CSIR-HRDC, New Delhi- a programme with an objective of promoting science education at school and college level.
He is also a CSIR-CSIO representative for the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) located in Punjab-Haryana region. He has been an Honorary Assistant Professor at Academy of Scientific & Innovative Research (an institute of national importance and a meta university under CSIR) Chandigarh since 2014. He is a recognised adjunct faculty at Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) (an Institute of National Importance under MHRD by the Government of India) - a premier public technical and research university located at Shibpur, Howrah, West Bengal. He is a panel member of academic experts for Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (SMVD University) Jammu to ensure quality of academic process and documents since 2019. He has been a member in several committees pertaining to the research projects funding by Council of Science and Technology of states of India.
Nithesh Nayak
Co-Founder and CTO, Curiouz TechLab Private Limited,
Manipal Advanced Research Center, GoK Bioincubator, Manipal
Nithesh Naik is Bachelors of Technology in Mechanical Engineering and holds Masters Degree in Design Engineering from prestigious university Manipal Academy of Higher Education (Institute of Eminence). He is currently pursuing his PhD in development of bio composite materials. He is 4+ years of Industry experience and 5+ years of academic experience. He is currently on academic role with Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Manipal Institute of Technology, India.
Nithesh is an entrepreneur and has begun his journey in 2019 as Chief Technical Officer at his Startup Company “Curiouz TechLab Private Limited” working towards excellence in the medical device space, and believe in pursuing business through innovation and technology. He has received Biotechnology Ignition Grant Scheme (BIG) - BIRAC grant that recognizes and invests in innovative ideas in the biotech sector to fuel and support to young startups and entrepreneurial individuals.Mr. Nithesh has published 41+ research articles in International Journals of repute and has keen interests in Composite materials, Artificial Intelligence, Medical innovations, Entrepreneurship and Management. He has received award of South India’s most exciting young teacher in the year 2018 from Indian Express for his achievements in research and innovations. He has applied for Seven Indian and One International Patents for his innovations.
Manmohan Krishna
Manmohan Krishna is an Assistant Professor-SG at Department of CSE, MIT, Manipal. He is a Open Source Software and GNU Linux enthusiast and his research areas include Computer Networks and Distributed Systems. He is immensely contributing towards Rural Transformation through Digitisation initiatives.
Dr. Balakrishna S Maddodi
Dr Balakrishna S Maddodi - is a Geologist, Educator and Social Worker. His subjects of research include Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Water, Solid Waste Management, Environment etc.,
He delivers lectures in varied subjects that include Personality Development and Career Building.
Dr. Dasharathraj K Shetty
Dasharathraj K Shetty-Associate Professor at MIT, MAHE is an Author, Columnist, Educationist, and Social Entrepreneur. Presently he is the Secretary-General of Indian Bureau of Administrators and Technocrats and the Director of Micro Souharda Credit Co-operative Ltd. He has recently authored the book “Learning Like a Lion”. Dasharathraj has three Post-graduation Degrees-MBA(Finance), MPhil(Management), and MTech(Computer Science and Engineering). He has received his PhD(Doctor of Philosophy) from Computer Science & Engineering Department from MIT-MAHE(Deemed to be University). He is also a Certified Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist, Dale Carnegie High Impact Teaching Skills, AIMA Certified Management Trainer, and a Ramakrishna Bajaj National Quality Award Examiner.