Our Eminent Speakers
Mr. Ajay Gupta
Ajay Gupta is the founder and Director of Circuit9 Communications Pvt Ltd. Popularly known as AJ, he’s been an advertising addict for more than a decade now, and has done everything from print media to dotcoms to marketing communications. Ajay Gupta has managed prestigious brands like Microsoft, Apollo Munich Heath Insurance, Uninor, Panasonic, Reuters, Huawei, Domino’s, Best Foods and many more in his previous role as Business Director at Quasar Media. He is recognized as one of the strongest advertising professionals in the country.
Ms. Barkha Dutt
Barkha Dutt is an Indian television journalist and columnist. Currently she is the Group Editor with NDTV. Dutt gained prominence for her reportage of the Kargil War. She writes a column for the Hindustan Times called "Third Eye". In 2008, the Indian government awarded Dutt the Padma Shri, for her coverage of the Tsunami that struck in 2004. Barkha also received the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association award for Journalist of the Year, 2007. Her name has appeared twice in the list of 100 Global Leaders of Tomorrow compiled by the World Economic Forum (2001, 2008). In 2010 she was appointed as a member of India's National Integration Council.
Ms. Ganga Ganapathi Pooviah
Ganga Ganapathi Poovaiah is a Relationship and Account Management professional, with 17 years of experience gained in 2 apparently unrelated fields – Advertising and Analytics. 8 years of Advertising helped her drive creative strategies, work with diverse personality types, and package, present and sell an offering in the most impressive way possible. 5.5 years in Analytics have helped her understand the importance of being able to measure the effectiveness of any kind of time or resource investment, and the benefits of being able to see that people are at the core of this business, whether on the demand or the supply side.
Mr. KS Narahari
An experienced professional in the areas of Internal Communications, Media Relations, Marketing Communications, Industry Analysts Relations, Corporate and product brand building, Corporate and Customer/Product events, CSR Campaigns and Programs and Crisis Communications, Mr. KS Narahari has led teams in Indian and multinational companies. He represented Wipro GE Medical Systems in GE Medical Systems Asia Communications Board. He has been inducted to the "Hall of Fame" by Public Relations Council of India in 2011. Currently, he is on the Advisory Boards of M S Ramaiah Institute of Management, Ramaiah Institute of Management Studies and CMR Institute of Management Studies.
Mr. Anupam Kher
Mr. Anupam Kher is an Indian actor who has appeared in multiple films and many plays. Majorly working in Hindi cinema whilst being an indispensable part of Bollywood, he has also appeared in acclaimed international films such as Bend It Like Beckham, Lust, Caution and the 2013 Oscar winning Silver Linings Playbook. He has held the post of Chairman of Central Board of Film Certification and National School of Drama in India. The Government of India honored him with the Padma Shri in 2004 and the Padma Bhushan in 2016 for his contribution in the field of cinema and arts.
Mr. Daleep Manhas
Daleep Manhas is the strategic planning director of McCann Healthcare Worldgroup. He has over 9 years of experience in Sales Management, Business Development, Advertising, Strategic Planning, Training and Development in leading corporate and healthcare communications agencies. He specializes in Strategic Management, Sales Management, Advertising and Strategic Planning, Business Development and Evaluation. He has worked with Indegene Lifesystems Pvt. Ltd, Eli Lilly and Company and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories.
Mr. Harish Bijoor
Mr. Harish Bijoor serves as the Chief Operating Officer of Zip Telecom Ltd. For eight years of his career, Mr.Bijoor served in sales, distribution and brand management with Hindustan Lever Limited, and with Tata Coffee Limited. Mr. Bijoor is a marketing and branding expert has recently published a book titled "Marketing Trends Smart Insights into the world of Indian Business”. He joined Union Planning Commission of India Board on November 28, 2007. Mr. Bijoor is a prolific blend of an entrepreneur, author, quizzer and brand manager - all combined in one. He runs a unique boutique consulting outfit branded “Harish Bijoor Consults”.
Smt. Lata Surendra
Smt. Lata Surendra is currently the Vice-President in the Executive Committee of the UNESCO Dance Council (2014-17). Smt. Lata Surendra is a disciple of the eminent Vidwan Kalaimamani Guru Shri T. S. Kadirvelu Pillai. She has her own institution, 'Anjali Bharata Natyam Research Trust' that has completed its Silver Jubilee. Her student list includes several celebrities including Aishwarya Rai Bachhan. She is also in the panel of CCRTC (Centre for Cultural Resources & Training HRD, New Delhi), empanelled in the IWCF and a member of the International Dance Council affiliated with UNESCO. She is also the recipient of the ‘Kalashree Puraskaram', by Kerala Sangeet Natak Academy.
Mr. Ashwin Sanghi
Ashwin Sanghi is an Indian writer in the ’fiction-thriller’ genre. He is one of India's bestselling conspiracy-fiction writers and is an author of the new era of retelling Indian history or mythology in a contemporary context. Forbes India has included him in their Celebrity 100 list and he is a winner of the Crossword Popular Choice award. He has also been hailed as the ‘Indian Dan Brown’ for ‘The Rozabal Line’ and ‘The Krishna Key’, both of which were critically acclaimed as Indian versions of the best-selling The’ Da Vinci Code’ and ‘The Lost Symbol’.
Mr.Elbert D'Silva
Mr. Elbert D'Silva is currently the Business Development Head at Broadcast Audience Research Council India. For the last seven years, he was working with Viacom 18 for various profiles like Accounts, Planning & Strategy. Prior to that, he was working for Madison World as the Senior Planning Manager. He did his MS from Pacific. He specializes in Marketing and Advertising.
Mr.Jawhar Sircar
Mr. Jawhar Sircar is the Chief Executive Officer, equivalent to the position of Secretary, Govt. of India, of Prasar Bharati, India's Public Service Broadcaster, that is, All India Radio and Doordarshan. He served as the Secretary of the Ministry of Culture from late 2008 to February 2012. Recently, Digital Studio Broadcasting & Production Magazine has put him among the 10 most important people in the Broadcasting Industry.
Ms. Abhash Kumar
Mr Abhash Kumar leads Digital and Social Media Marketing and Growth at YourStory.com, India’s definitive digital media platform for stories of startups, entrepreneurs, innovators and change makers.
Mr. Harish Upadhya
Mr. Harish Upadhya is a passionate young journalist who took to the profession believing that it’s one of the strongest ways to bring about a change. He started off his career in News9/TV9 as an anchor and reporter. Today he is the Principal Correspondent with National News Channel NEWSX looking after their news reportage in the state of Karnataka. He is also the recipient of Ptigious News Television Awards when he was awarded as “Best Young TV Journalist of 2014.” We are proud to announce him as one of our guest speakers for CQ’16.
Mr. Raghu Dixit
Mr. Raghu Dixit is an Indian singer-songwriter, producer, and film score composer who is the front man for the Raghu Dixit Project, a multilingual folk music band. Often hailed as India’s biggest cultural & musical export, Raghu Dixit’s unique brand of infectious, happy music transcends age, genre, and even language. His music is strongly rooted in Indian traditions and culture and is presented with a very contemporary, global sound. From playing to over 100,000 people in his home state to every big music festival in India, from Glastonbury, to the BBC to even playing for the Queen of England and the entire Royal Family, Raghu Dixit seems to have done quite a bit!
Dixit is also a celebrity spokesperson for Rang De having been associated with Rang De for many years. He has funded low interest-rate education loans of 100 young kids in rural India through Rang De's online platform
Mr.Parikshat Wadhwani
Mr. Parikshat Wadhwani, a fashion and hospitality publicist, is just 26 years old and is already three years into an independent venture that spans over a dozen restaurants and the country's top fashion designers. After doing his Masters in Public Relations from Mudra institute of Communication, Ahmedabad, he started his own Public Relation and Brand Consultancy firm in Mumbai by the name of ‘Parikshat Wadhwani PR & Brand Consultancy.
Mr. Rakesh Khanna
Ms. Preeti Shenoy
Preeti Shenoy is India’s highest selling woman writer. She has six best-sellers to her credit, which includes ‘Life is What You Make It’, ‘Tea for Two and a Piece of Cake’, ‘The Secret Wish List’, ‘The One You Cannot Have’ and ‘It Happens for a Reason’. Her latest, ‘Why We Love The Way Do’, is non-fiction book. In the past she has written for various publications such as The Times of India and Readers Digest. She currently writes a regular column in The Financial Chronicle. She has given several talks in many educational institutions such as the IITs and IIMs and many corporates such as Infosys, Accenture and KPMG. She is an avid blogger and an artist specialising in portraiture.
Mr. Senjam Raj Sekhar
Rakesh Khanna is an advertising professional with over 25 years’ experience as copywriter, creative director, brand manager, and teacher. He has worked in ad agencies like Lowe (Lintas), Contract and The Edge for a raft of brands and product categories. He has experience working on the client side as well; having worked as a marketing & communications adviser for the launch of a Hero Group university. Besides running his own creative consultancy, he has taught advertising at the Symbiosis School of Media & Communication, Institute of Apparel Management, IILM, Pearl Academy, Pioneer Media School and NIA.
Mr. Senjam Raj Sekhar is the head of Corporate Communications at Flipkart. He is listed among the 100 most influential corporate communicators in the world by the Holmes Report. He has over two decades of experience in the arena of communicating and building brand & corporate reputations across South Asia, UK and Africa.
Mr.Shekhar Gupta
Mr. Shekhar Gupta is an Indian journalist, currently working with Business Standard. He pens a weekly column called "National Interest" which appears every Saturday. Earlier, he was the Vice Chairman of the ‘India Today’ Group. He served 19 years as Editor-in-Chief of ‘The Indian Express’. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Indian government in 2009 for his contribution to journalism.
Mr. TM Veeraraghav
He is currently the Resident Editor of The Hindu. He started his journalistic journey in television in 2000. He has worked with two leading news broadcasters in India, Network18 and NDTV. Later, in 2005, he was part of a core team that put together the news channel CNN IBN and was a Senior Editor – an anchor based out of New Delhi. He subsequently became an analyst on politics in South India for the channel till the General Elections of 2014. He is a recipient of the Chevening Scholarships awarded by the Government of UK, in 2007 and has written essays on politics in South India for the Seminar Magazine.
Ms. Shinie Antony
Shinie Antony has written four short story collections – 'The Orphanage For Words', 'Barefoot and Pregnant', 'Séance on a Sunday Afternoon' and 'Planet Polygamous', and the novels 'When Mira Went Forth and Multiplied' and 'Kardamom Kisses'. She has compiled the anthologies 'Kerala', 'Kerala, Quite Contrary' and 'Why We Don’t Talk'. Co-founder of the Bangalore Literature Festival and Director of the Bangalore Business Literature Festival, she won the Commonwealth Short Story Asia region prize in 2003 for her story 'A Dog’s Death'.
Mr. M.A. Deviah
M. A. Deviah is a journalist, coffee planter, traveler, food lover, a prolific reader of books and watcher of movies. He also played hockey for his university. His career in journalism spans 15 years in publications such as the Times of India and the Indian Express. He is currently regional editor and editorial consultant for two very large multilateral organisations. He also writes for Firstpost.com in his spare time.
Ms. Rohini Swamy
Ms. Rohini Swamy is a Deputy Editor at Aajtak/Headlines Today (TV Today Network). She worked as a South Bureau Chief of ABP News (formerly STAR News). She has nine years experience as a Senior.
Ms. Vasanthi Hariprakash
She is happy anchoring a multiculture conference in Brussels as much as bonding with ruraljournos in Barabanki district.
She writes, trains, moderates debates, struggles with gadgets, hums half-tunes, but loves telling
full stories.