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Rajesh Dhuddu is a prominent figure in the field of emerging technologies, particularly known for his work in blockchain, metaverse and cybersecurity. He currently serves as the Partner – Emerging Tech at PwC, responsible for shaping the thought leadership of the firm in Emerging Technologies & Go To The Market. Prior to joining PwC, he was SVP and Global Head of Emerging Tech Practice at Tech Mahindra. In that role, he was responsible for leading initiatives in blockchain technology, cybersecurity & the metaverse, focusing on creating business use cases and ecosystems around these technologies. At Tech Mahindra, he has been instrumental in several key projects, including the implementation of blockchain solutions to combat spam calls and texts in India, in collaboration with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and major telecom operators​. Before joining Tech Mahindra, Dhuddu founded a payment processing company at Quatrro (promoted by Serial Entrepreneur Raman Roy) that integrated with major financial networks like Mastercard and Visa. This venture marked the beginning of his deep involvement in the fintech and blockchain space​. Dhuddu has been recognized globally for his contributions to Emerging Technology. He is listed among the top 100 blockchain influencers by Lattice80 and has been part of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network on both cybersecurity and blockchain​​. He has been awarded Most Inspiring Web 3 leader, Top 200 Technology Leaders in Asia and featured 3 times in a row in Forbes Blockchain 50 companies. Additionally, he plays a significant role in industry groups and educational initiatives, such as the Blockchain Special Interest Group at Nasscom and advisory roles at institutions like IIM Ahmedabad​​. Overall, Rajesh Dhuddu’s work focuses on leveraging emerging technologies to drive digital transformation and solve real-world problems across various industries​.

SashiGundala is a distinguished educational leader and executive, recognized for her ability to bridge technology and education through strategic leadership and innovation. She holds a Master of Science in Elementary/Early Childhood Education from Rutgers University, USA and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Bangalore University. Currently serving as a Director at Aspire India, part of Aspire Institute (founded at Harvard University), she leads initiatives that provide fully funded leadership development programs for underprivileged students across the globe. Previously, she has held senior leadership roles including Director of Curriculum at NanoSkool, where she integrated AI, robotics, and nanotechnology into K–10 STEAM curricula, and Chief Product Officer & Executive Editor at LXL Ideas, where she spearheaded pioneering educational products with sector-wide impact. Her career also spans impactful roles as an educator and administrator in the U.S where she championed innovation in AI, Technology, special education and media literacy. In addition, as Co-founder & CEO of Techno-comp USA Inc., she has demonstrated strong entrepreneurial and business acumen. Sashi’s accolades include receiving the Lemonick Science Award at the QUEST Summer Program, Princeton University, and being an active presenter on topics like school-based mental health after completing a course in mindfulness from Harvard University and the integration of technology in education. These showcase her commitment to lifelong learning and educational excellence.

Kavikrut is the CEO of T-Hub, one of the world’s leading startup incubators. Under his leadership, T-Hub is focused on scaling resources that empower founders to build world class products from India for the World. Kavi was most recently the Chief Growth Officer at OYO. In his decade-long tenure at OYO, he led expansion into 150+ cities in India, launch of new ventures, setup of multiple business functions, and led OYO’s international expansion into Japan through strategic partnerships with Yahoo! Japan and SoftBank. Kavi began his career as the founder of a healthcare startup, then with its acquisition continued to build and scale healthcare products and services at the Piramal Group. He was part of the early teams at Amazon India that launched and scaled India’s first few fulfillment warehouses. Kavi holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MSc in Finance from BITS Pilani. He is an ardent fan of all things design and technology. He lives in Hyderabad with his spouse, Divya, and their two beagles, Cairo and Wilson.

Rajeev is an accomplished professional with over 28 years of rich transformational and change management experience. He is uniquely shaped his career by successfully building on business experience and then moving to lead HR function. He has cross functional experience in areas like Manufacturing, Product Development, Performance Management & Organization Development, Marketing, Strategic Planning, Business HR & Corporate HR. He has strategically moved across industries like Manufacturing, Retail, IT & currently in Education Sector. The organizations that he prides in working are Mahindra & Mahindra (FES), Raymond Ltd, HCL Services Ltd & Nord Anglia Education -K12 Education Services (Oakridge International School Group). He has led HR function in large scale organizations, medium scale organization and family run organizations. He is currently working as Founder & CEO of RAMA Consulting. He is also engaged as Chief Advisor & Mentor with multiple organizations who are keen on their Growth and Leadership journey and on the HR Advisory Board of Woxsen University. He is a Mentor of Change- NITI Aayog (Govt. Of India Initiative) and mentoring Students in ATL (Atal Tinkering Labs) programmes. Rajeev has successfully catapulted his last organization from Rank 90 in 2015 in Great Places to Work (GPTW) India to Rank 15 in 2019 (2016- Rank 85, 2017- Rank 54, 2018- Rank 21). He has been awarded Most Talented HR Leader and Most Influential HR Leader in India. He has successfully led the transformation journey across the organization which has resulted in building High Trust Culture in the Organization. His strong belief in R3 – Respect, Regard & Recognition has led to scale global heights & help accomplish significant milestones in his rewarding career. He has an acute sense of process championship along with deep rooted care for his employees. He is also one of the HR pioneers in moving away from bell curve system in traditional performance management system. He has innovatively built systems & process which facilitates on going performance management with advance use of Technology & AI. He has been core member of significant high impact processes like Deming Prize, Japan Quality Medal, Great Place to Work etc. His passion for Inclusiveness & Diversity has helped his current organization to reach Top 15 for three consecutive years as Best Companies for Working Women – Recognition by Working Mother Media & Avtar. Rajeev has led key large scale high business & people impact projects successfully across the organizations including K-12 Education. Some of the key projects successfully implemented in Education Sector are Workforce Budget Planning and Cost Management, School Acquisition and Change Management, Transformation Projects in People & Culture Domain, HR-IT Systems for entire gamut of HR including Statutory Compliances, School Expansion projects, Leadership Development, New Teacher Induction and 90 Days Alignment, Employee Voice & Satisfaction Program, Various HR Projects like Performance Management System, Reward & Recognition System (partnering with external R&R Partner) etc. The most significant & Large Scale project of Great Place to Work. He has been recognised in various forums and in one of the most sought out Speakers / panel member / Judge in HR fraternity/ Coach and Mentor. He has also successfully delivered training programs across the HR Suite & is certified in 7 Habits, Situational Leadership, CII Business Excellence Assessor on EFQM model, Corporate Etiquette and Business Protocol etc to name a few. He is currently engaged as Chief Advisor and Mentor to various organizations and enables them on Sustainable Business Growth and People Leadership Consulting. His passion to work with future generations & help build a better society makes him go forward and helping transform lives. He is actively engaged in Teaching, Consulting businesses and Mentoring Start Ups. He is also contributing to Society through an initiative called Spoorthi- Connect – Serve – Learn where education is imparted to underprivileged children.

Aditya Kumar Sinha works across digital finance, AI, emerging technologies, and regulation, with a track record of designing and scaling market-ready solutions for institutions and startups. He pairs strategic perspective with practical execution to deliver scalable and compliant outcomes. He is the MD &Founder of Finovia Ventures, a strategy and venture-building platform working with governments, regulators, financial institutions, startups, and technology-led financial services firms. Finovia supports policy and regulatory development, go-to-market execution, venture building, and training and capability development, spanning digital assets, tokenization, DLT/Web3 infrastructure, AI-enabled financial services, regulatory sandboxes, and innovation programs—supporting institutional readiness from design through commercialization across emerging and established markets. Previously, Aditya held senior roles at the Qatar Financial Centre Authority where he led fintech, innovation, AI, and digital asset initiatives and contributed to the development and implementation of national-level policies and regulatory frameworks. His work included digital asset and tokenization regimes, and innovation initiatives such as the Digital Assets Lab and Metaverse platform, aligning policy objectives with industry participation. Earlier, he worked with Citibank, leading digital transformation and innovation lab initiatives, and with OCBC Bank, supporting technology modernisation, regulatory change, and innovation lab programs. He has also held role at J.P. Morgan Chase, delivering enterprise technology platforms and embedding innovation into core banking operations. Aditya engages with the World Economic Forum, Monetary Authority of Singapore, and other national and global stakeholders on policy design, responsible innovation, and cross-border coordination.

Mr. Sharat Chandra is the founder of EmpowerEdge Ventures, a Bengaluru, India-based firm dedicated to accelerating start-up growth. As a blockchain and emerging tech evangelist, he specializes in guiding deep-tech and fintech early-stage ventures through their zero-to-one journey, facilitating market access and securing investment opportunities. Mr. Sharat is also a founding member of the India Blockchain Forum, India’s prominent blockchain association. With more than a decade of experience, he has mentored start-ups through platforms such as the GIFT International Fintech Innovation Hub and the Government of Karnataka’s FinTech Centre of Excellence.