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D. Shivakumar is the Pepsico CEO for its India Region and former Managing Director and VP – Nokia India. He was the Head of the IMEA (India, Middle East, Africa) region which accounts for 40% of Nokia’s global business and comprises of around 90 countries.

Shivakumar spent many years at Hindustan Lever in Sales, Marketing and General Management positions. He moved to Philips as CEO of the Consumer Electronics Division in 2003 and then moved as MD of Nokia India in 2006.

Shivakumar has been the recipient of many laurels and accolades. He has been rated as one of the top five Indian marketers by the Economic Times and the Chief Marketing Officers` Council named him the Brand Builder of the Year in 2008 and the following year selected him as the CEO of the year. He was awarded Foods Innovation award for novel teas in 1988, the Unilever Innovation award for Sunsilk shampoo across Asia in 1999 and the Asia Pacific Philips leadership award for turning the Philips consumer Electronics business profitable and competitive. The Hindu Business Line marked him as one of the future leaders in 2000.

He was instrumental in making Nokia one of the top most trusted brands. Many of his leadership initiative have been authored as case studies to be taught at business schools around the world.

He has taught and lectured extensively in both national and international schools of management studies.

D. Shivakumar receiving his award

U. Shekhar is the Managing Director, of Galaxy Surfactants Ltd. He started Galaxy Surfactants literally in a garage in 1980 and built the company into a Rs 851 crores enterprise with a PAT of Rs 61 crores over the last 25 years. He leads the company by example with a very high level of integrity and transparency. The company supplies vital raw material to the consumer care industry and has a market share in India of over 80%. It derives more than 50% of its turnover from exports. It is a true Indian pioneer in the chemicals and consumer care industry that has contributed to society by import substitution. The company is providing gainful employment to young men / women and is today a big exporter with a global footprint. The company employs over 1000 people and derives more than 50% of its turnover from exports. The company operates three plants in India, has a vibrant operation in the USA and its Egypt plant will be commissioned later in 2011.

U. Shekhar receiving his award

Vinayak Lohani is the founder of Parivaar a residential and educational institution set up to provide better quality of life and opportunities to homeless and destitute children. Vinayak is committed to raising the children until they can lead a productive life. He founded Parivaar straight out of IIM Calcutta starting with just three children in a small rented building with no financial help in December 2003. Today it houses 607 erstwhile homeless and destitute children (407 boys and 190 girls) who have found a new home, family and a future at Parivaar Ashram. All children are admitted into Parivaar’s own high quality formal School ‘Amar Bharat Vidyapeeth’ affiliated to the West Bengal Board of Education. In addition, over 2,000 children from neighboring villages study at the day school. The institute has developed special methodologies and approaches to accelerate learning whereby illiterate children are able to come abreast of their peer group within a year. As a result the children, despite heavy initial backlog, due to non-exposure to education for first 8-10 years of life are performing commendably, matching children from more privileged background and outperforming all governmental and non-governmental organizations working in similar domain. In recognition of his pioneering work in the field of social entrepreneurship Vinayak was conferred many awards including the prestigious Sanskriti Award - India’s premier award for achievers not older than 35 years.

Vinayak Lohani receiving his award

Sabyasachi Hajara is the former Chairman & Managing Director, Shipping Corporation of India. He started his career as the equivalent of a Management Trainee and rose to the position of the Chairman and Managing Director of a mammoth sized PSU. He is presently the President of INSA, the Indian National Shipowners' Association a Trustee on the Board of Trustees of the Mumbai Port Trust and Serves on the Board of Governors of the World Maritime University. He has been heading CII's National Committee on Shipping & Transport as its Chairman for the past six years and is also a member of the CII National Council. He is on the Managing Committees of the ASSOCHAM and Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

Sabyasachi Hajara receiving his award

Ramachandra Guha is an author and columnist the former Philippe Roman Chair of International Affairs and History at the London School of Economics. He has taught at the University of California at Berkley, Yale University, Oslo University, Stanford University, and the Indian Institute of Science and at the London School of Economics. He has been the preeminent contemporary author on recent Indian History of Environmentalism in the Indian context. His historical writings have been informed by his early work on the environmental movement in India. His work on the historical and social impact of cricket in India is highly regarded. His book, "India after Gandhi", has emerged as a popular scholarly account of the post-independence History of the Indian Republic. The book was selected as the Book of the Year by numerous publications and as a book of the decade by the 'The Times' of London, the ‘Times of India’, and 'The Hindu'. His book, "A Corner of a Foreign Field - An Indian history of a British sport", a historical and social study of cricket in India, has been decorated as Cricket Book of the Year by 'The Daily Telegraph'. In recognition of his outstanding contribution to in the academic sphere he was awarded the Padma Bhushan, by the Government of India, in 2009. He was awarded the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award (for non-fiction book) by the Indian Express Group, 2007-08, the Leopold-Hidy Award, by the American Society for Environmental History in 2002 and named one of top 100 public intellectuals, by Prospect and Foreign Policy magazines, 2008.

Meena Ganesh is the MD & CEO of Portea Medical and the former CEO and MD of Pearson Education Services, the world’s largest education company providing professional certification, curriculum materials, multimedia learning tools and testing programmes to over 100 million people worldwide. Prior to this, Meena was the CEO of Tesco’s operations in India, the Tesco Hindustan Service Center, the world’s third largest retailer with a revenue base of nearly $100bn and 400,000 people. She was on the Global Retail Council of Tesco, an elite group of about 50 people who run the operations of Tesco worldwide and has the distinction of being the only Indian, and one amongst four women on this Council. She co-founded one of India's pioneering BPO companies Customer Asset which she sold to ICICI OneSource. During her five-year association with Microsoft India‚ she set up multiple business units for them‚ including Microsoft Consulting’s‚ Internet and Application Development/Business services units. Business Week rated her as one of the most powerful women in India.

Dipesh Chakrabarty is the Lawrence A. Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago. He holds honorary degrees from the University of London, UK and the University of Antwerp, Belgium. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He is also a member of the Board of Advisers of the Humboldt Forum in Berlin.

His outstanding work on Rethinking Working-Class History: Bengal, 1890-1940 was published by Princeton University Press in 1989.

Prof. Chakrabarty’s historical study of Bengal’s working class is a classic work on the emergence of the working class and its relation with the trade union movement in India. His writings on cosmopolitanism, modernity and humanism in the era of globalization mark him as a front ranking thinker in culture studies.

Dipesh Chakrabarty receiving his award

Malli Mastan Babu has demonstrated exceptional courage in charting a path seldom taken by others, which is, to follow one’s heart. Till his entry into the portals of IIM Calcutta he followed a very traditional career path; acquiring engineering degrees and working as a software engineer. It was at IIMC that he understood his true calling. After graduating from the Institute in 2004 he decided to pursue his passion for mountaineering and in course of time set up a company that promotes adventure sports for personality development. This urge to follow his dream was inspired by the tragic loss of a friend in school while on an expedition to Mt. Everest. He has several firsts in mountaineering to his credit. He was the first Indian and so far the only Indian to climb seven summits and has been recognized as the fastest seven summiteers in the world. He has to his credit the distinction of being the 1st Indian to summit Mt. Vinson Massif, the tallest peak of Antarctica and Mt. Carstensz Pyramid, the tallest peak of Oceania. In the unbelievably short span of seven months Malli conquered the peaks of Mt. Vinson Massif (Antarctica),Mt. Aconcagua (S. America),Mt. Kilimanjaro (Africa),Mt. Kosciuszko (Australia),Mt. Everest (Asia), Mt. Elbrus (Europe), Mt. Denali (N. America). He is the only South Asian to accomplish 7 Summits and the only person in the world to do 7 summits on seven days of the week, one in each calendar month. He was awarded the ‘Conjee Rustumjee Cohoujee Bey Award’ for ‘Outstanding Youth of the Year’ in appreciation of his feat of being the World’s Fastest 7 ''Summiteer” and the 1st S.A.A.R.C. National 7 “Summiteer”.

Malli Mastan Babu receiving his award