Founders and Trustees

Founders of ADR (At the time of founding ADR in 1999)

Prof. Trilochan Sastry has a Bachelors in Technology from IIT, Delhi, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) USA. He taught for several years at Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad after which he moved to IIM, Bangalore. He is currently Dean at IIM Bangalore. He has taught in other Universities in India, Japan, Hong Kong and United States and has published several academic papers in Indian and International journals. Has received national award for research and teaching.

Prof. Jagdeep S. Chhokar has a Ph.D. from Louisiana State University, USA and is a former Director In-charge of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He had earlier worked with the Indian Railways as a mechanical engineer and manager for over a decade, and as international marketing manager with a public sector organization for four years. He has also taught at Universities in Australia, France, Japan and the US.

Prof. Ajit Ranade has Bachelors in Technology from IIT, Mumbai, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and a Ph.D in Economics from Brown University, USA. Has taught at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai for the five years, before which he has also taught at other Universities in the USA. Has also published several academic papers and has participated in several national and international seminars. He was Professor ICRIER, New Delhi.

Prof. Sunil Handa has Bachelors in Engineering from BITS, Pilani and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Is a leading industrialist who has founded Core Healthcare and Core Emballage, Ahmedabad. Has set up the Eklavya Education Foundation with the mandate of significantly contributing to school education in India. Has taught several times as a visiting faculty at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Prof. Rajesh Agarwal is a graduate in commerce from St. Xaviers College, Calcutta. He is also a qualified Chartered and Cost Accountant. He has worked as a faculty member at theInstitute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) for seven years prior to joining the faculty of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA) in 1997. He is on the Board of Friends of Women World Banking, India and Education Support Organisation, Ahmedabad. He now works with ICRISAT in Hyderabad.

Prof. Pankaj Chandra has a Bachelors degree in Technology from Benaras Hindu University Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania,USA. Has taught at the Wharton School and at McGill University, Canada for several years. Publications have appeared in leading research journals. Worked with industry department of the World Bank. Consultant to several manufacturing organisations. He was professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, for several years and is now Director of Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Prof. Sudarshan Khanna has a Post graduate in industrial design from the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad. Professor at NID, teaching courses in design and community related design pertaining to crafts people and artisans in India. Recipient of National Award for science popularisation for children. Worked with several nongovernmental and development organisations. Currently a Board member of the International Toy Research Association at Sweden.

Prof. Brij Kothari has a Ph.D (1996) Adult Education from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA, Masters in Communications from Cornell University, and M.Sc. Physics from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India. Presently he is an Adjunct Professor of IIM, Ahmedabad, in the Ravi J. Matthai Centre for Educational Innovation, Academic interests include literacy, primary education, use of information technology for rural development and farmer-led innovation and research in natural resource management. Geographically, has field experience in India, Latin America and the United States.

Dr. Prem Pangotra is professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA). He specialises in Urban Management, Environment Management and Impact Assessment; Infrastructure Planning and Financing; Local Economic Development Planning; Public Finance; and Transportation Policy. He was previously a faculty member at the University ofKansas, California Polytechnic State University, and Director, School of Planning (CEPT), Ahmedabad. He has published two books and several research papers in international journals on infrastructure planning and urban management. At IIMA, Dr. Pangotra is a member of the Public Systems Group. He teaches graduate courses in Environment Management, Infrastructure Development and Financing, and Public Finance. He has been involved in a number of research and consultancy projects related to urban management, transportation policy and environmental management. Dr Pangotra has received several national and international awards and scholarships including the Honoured Faculty Award from the School of Architecture and Environmental Design of California Polytechnic State University during 1990-91.

Prof. P.R. Shukla has a Ph.D. from Stanford University, USA. Specialises in environment, energy and policy modelling and analysis. Current areas of interest include global climate change policies, energy and environment policies for developing countries, and environmental implications for international trade. Worked extensively with government, private and international organizations. Published extensively on energy and environmental policies.

Prof. Devanath Tirupati has obtained a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. Taught for several years at the University of Texas. Published extensively in areas such as technology, manufacturing management. Has been a consultant in the semi-conductor industry in the USA. Recipient of the U.S. President's Young Investigator award and research excellence award of the University of Texas. Currently a Professor at IIM, Ahmedabad.

Current Trustees of ADR

Prof. S. Trilochan Sastry has a Bachelors in Technology from IIT, Delhi, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) USA.  Date of birth 1960.  Taught at IIM, Ahmedabad from 1991 to 2003. He is professor, IIM, Bangalore since March 2003, and is currently the Dean of IIM,Bangalore.  Has taught in other Universities in India, Japan, Hong Kong and United States and has published several academic papers in Indian and International journals.  Has received national award for research and teaching.

Prof. Jagdeep S. Chhokar has a Ph.D. in Business Administration from, Louisiana State University, USA, MBA from Delhi University, and is a graduate of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (London) and the Institution of Production of Engineers (London). He also has an LL.B. from Gujarat University. He was a Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, from 1985 to 2006.  He had earlier worked with the Indian Railways as a mechanical engineer and manager for over a decade, and as international marketing manager with a public sector for four years.  He has also taught at Universities in Australia, France, Japan, and the US. He is now a concerned citizen, a lawyer, and a birdwatcher.

Prof. Sunil Handa has a Bachelors in Engineering from BITS, Pilani and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.  He is a leading industrialist who has founded Core Healthcare and Core Emballage, Ahmedabad.  Has set up the Eklavya Education Foundation with the mandate of significantly contributing to school education in India.  Has taught several times as a visiting faculty at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. 

Dr. Ajit Ranade has a Bachelors in Technology from IIT, Mumbai, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and a Ph.D in Economics from Brown University, USA. Date of birth 1961.  Has has been on the faculty of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) New Delhi, and has also taught at other Universities in the USA.  Has also published several academic papers and has participated in several national and international seminars.  Presently he is the Chief Economist with the Aditya Birla Group. 

Dr. Kiran B. Chhokar is a Cultural Geographer with a Ph.D. from Louisiana State University (USA) and a BA and MA from Aligarh Muslim University. She heads the Higher Education Programme at the Centre for Environment Education (CEE) and has been visiting faculty at Portland State University, USA. Dr Chhokar is co-editor of Asian Women and Their Work: A Geography of Gender and Development (1998) and of Understanding Environment (2004), and is the series editor of the EnviroScope series of thematic manuals for college teachers, developed in collaboration with the World Resources Institute, USA. She is currently working in collaboration with the University of Central Lancashire, UK, on developing a blended learning programme on Ecotourism, Conservation and Development.  She is also founder member of Mahila Swaraj Abhiyan, a network of organizations in Gujarat working to promote value-based governance in society particularly through elected and other women leaders. 

Prof. Brij Kothari has a Ph.D. (1996) in Adult Education from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA, Masters in Communications from Cornell University, and M.Sc. Physics from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India.  Presently he is an Adjunct Professor of IIM, Ahmedabad, in the Ravi J. Matthai Centre for Educational Innovation.  Academic interests include literacy, primary education, and use of information technology in international development.  His work on Same Language Subtitling on TV for mass literacy has received several recognitions, including: i) Tech Laureate, Tech Museum of Innovations, San Jose, CA (2003); ii) Winner, Development Marketplace (World Bank's global competition; 2002); iii) Best Social Innovation in Education, Institute for Social Inventions, London (2000); and iv) Reuters Digital Vision Fellowship at Stanford University (2003-2004).  Geographically, he has field experience in India, Bhutan, Ecuador, and the United States. 

Prof. Devanath Tirupati obtained a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. His primary research and teaching interests are in operations management and operations research that span a range of topics that include capacity planning, technology choice, supply chain management, production planning and inventory control, scheduling, queuing network models of manufacturing, off-line and on-line quality control.  He was named IBM Pre-doctoral Fellow (1985), (US) Presidential Young Investigator (1989) and received Award for Research Excellence from the University of Texas at Austin (1990).  He is Editor of Asian Journal of Operations Management.  He served as an Associate Editor ofOperations Research and Management Science and as Area Editor of Production and Operations Management.  He has several years of full time work experience in the Indian industry.  He has consulted with several firms both in India and USA that include IBM, Texas Instruments Inc., Palladian Software, Advanced Micro Devices Inc.  Currently Professor at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, he has also taught at the University of Texas at Austin, and Melbourne Business School.

Ms. Kamini Jaiswal is a senior Advocate of the Supreme Court of India. She is also the Secretary of the Center for Public Interest Litigation.