Executive Board
Akiko Yamanaka
Professor Akiko Yamanaka is the former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Japan and former Member of the House of Representatives. She is also Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of International Media and Communication, Hokkaido University (International Negotiation Strategy), and Visiting Scholar at the Japan Institute of International Affairs.
Hiroshi Fujiwara
Hiroshi Fujiwara, the eminent energy, internet and telecom specialist as well as renowned entrepreneur. He is the founder CEO of IRI Group and Nano-Optnics Energy Inc and hold doctorate in Electronic Information Engineering from University of Tokyo, Japan.
NK Goyal
Mr. N.K.Goyal, is Senior Telecom Analyst & Consultant, having experience of more than 39 years in telecom, IT & industrialization field including Govt & private sector. NKG known as President, CMAI Association of India is also Chairman Emeritus, Telecom Equipment Manufacturers Association (TEMA).
Atul Shinde
Atul Shinde is a business strategist and thinker with years of experience in global marketing and technology development. He has been a technology pioneer in fields of high-speed data/telecom networking and mobile Internet. He holds several patents in field of multi-service networking and mobile applications.
Gokul Patnaik
Dynamic bureaucrat turned entrepreneur, this former IAS officer & has served various senior positions with Punjab Govt & Govt of India. He has vast experience in agribusiness area & is an acknowledged leader in this sector. He is the Chairman of Global AgriSystem Pvt. Ltd., heading Global Agri & building vision across businesses in agri, marine logistics, energy & infrastructure sectors
Sudhanshu Pant
Sudhanshu Pant is an engineering and technology management professional with over 18 years of experience spanning Defense, Finance, Mobile and Education sectors and is currently a Principal at Kosha Group. Most recently, he was Managing Director in Information Technology Group at Harvard Business School.
Piyush Bhatnagar
Piyush Bhatnagar, a post graduate from Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management is a seasoned Technology Executive and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in technology development and management. He has worked in Defence and Information technology security sectors and specializes in setting up, grooming and managing high performance, dynamic, global software teams in addition to his leadership and management responsibilities.
Gautum Awasthi
Mr. Gautum Awasthi is a renowned legal professional with experience of around two decades practicing with the Supreme Court, High Court, Lower Courts, Tribunals, Commissions and other judicial bodies.
Vikram Kant Upadhyay
Vikram is a visionary & an entrepreneur, holds 14 years of Indo-Japan Market Experience. He is a technocrat turned serial entrepreneur holding a Masters Degree in Computer Science from the University of Tokyo, Japan. An alumnus of the famous TRON laboratory headed by Prof.Ken Sakamura (www.t-engine.org), who is known as the father of Ubiquitous Computing.
Vikram is the co-founder and Group President of Team India Group of Companies, diversified from Information Technology to Internet Media, Human Resourcing,Infrastructure, Consulting & Advisory, Hospitality & Entertainment. Working closing for almost a decade with Japanese Companies like Sony, NTTDATA, NTTDOCOMO, SEGA, Fujitsu, NEC, Daiwa, Mizuho,Toshiba, Mitsubishi and being instrumental for some of the Fortune 500 Japanese Companies India Market Entry.
He is also a co-founder & promoter of India's first citizens participatory media platform "MERINEWS" (www.merinews.com).
He is also a co-founder & Chief Mentor of India's first and biggest " The Training Ecosystem: Guruvantage.com"
He was the Founding Director and Charter Member of TiE Tokyo Chapter and promoting indo-japan cross border entrepreneurs eco-system.
Besides been an active member of ICT Forum (Indo-Japan), he has been associated for a long time with Institutes like, IEEE, ACM, Global Industrial & Social Progress Research Institute (www.gispri.or.jp) and International University of Japan.
Vipul Kant Upadhyay
Born in the family of academicians and philanthropists on 10, October 1974, Vipul is a young professional turned entrepreneur. He is the Founder & CEO of IAP Co., Pvt. Ltd. (www.iapcorp.com) – one of the fastest emerging ICT Services & Solutions Company in India. He is also the founder of www.merinews.com: India’s 1st & the largest Citizen generated news platform.
In his young age he has garnered valuable experience by working closely with various mega Japanese corporate like Sojitz Corporation (formerly called NISSO IWAI), Mitsui Group, NEC Group, Nikko Cordial Group, Pasona Inc. (Japan.) etc. and various government departments & entities from India and Japan. Vipul has served in senior positions of several Japanese companies’ India operations and steered their operations in India. He is a member of the Executive Board of India Japan Global Partnership Summit 2011 and also founding member of India Center Foundation
He graduated as a bachelor of Physics and Mathematics from the University of Allahabad. Thereafter he completed his Masters in International Business from Symbiosis University, Pune in the year 1998 with specialization in international finance. Vipul has been key note speaker at various national & international forums including OCED SME Conference (Tokyo), FIEO Seminar (New Delhi), AMIC Annual Conference (Manila & Brisbane), Asian Digital Conference (Singapore), Supercomm India (New Delhi) to name a few. Various magazines in India and abroad including Dataquest, PC Quest, etc have published articles written by Vipul.
Rubina Dewan
Rubina Dewan is a Multimedia expert and Communications strategist. She holds a post-graduate degree in Multimedia Journalism from Bournemouth University in U.K. She has experience as a broadcast journalist in Nepal and U.K. and reported on a wide range of subjects including food security and socio-economic issues. She is currently the Chairperson and founding member of Media Accountability Foundation (MAF) in Nepal.
Sai Narayan Subramanian
Mr. Sai Narayan Subramanian is a global Indian with extensive experience in strategy and business development across the world. He has worked in operational, sales and strategy roles for leading companies in the early stages of his career. In the recent past he has moved on to be an investor and entrepreneur. Mr. Subramanian is currently involved as a board member in several companies contributing to the vision, strategy and operations. His experience of working with both established and start-up environment help him bring a unique perspective. Mr. Subramanian’s experience across industry verticals coupled with his keen strategic insight and his ability to lead teams make him a strong contributor to the systems he participates in. He travels extensively in Asia, ME, Africa and Europe, while being based in Chicago USA.
Mr. Subramanian is in-charge of Global Affairs and leads the Global India Initiative at the India Center. As a member of the executive board his role includes active participation in the activities of the India Center including the IJGPS and working closely with the Chairman in conceptualizing and executing various strategic initiatives.
Yogesh Shukla
Yogesh Shukla is a social activist and a National Executive Member of Swadeshi Jagran Manch, a socio-economic organisation. He is a national co-convener of Intellectual Cell of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). He contested Allahabad Loksabha Constituency of Uttar Pradesh as a BJP candidate in 2009.
Akiko Kosudais
Akiko Kosudais a leadership coach and strategist with extensive experience in various fields. Before joining India Center as the Deputy Secretary General and Member of the Executive Board, Ms. Kosuda served as Executive Vice President in DHR International. Ms. Kosuda hassuccessfully completed numerous C-level and other executive level assignments, and is also an expert in succession planning and executive assessment.
Ms. Kosuda spent her professional career as an HR Vice President and/or a Country Head of HR at various global companies, such as British Airways, CIGNA, UK Prudential, and McDonald's. Most recently Ms. Kosuda served as the HR Director for recruitment, succession planning, labor relations, performance management, assessment and selection, and organization development. Within McDonald’s, Ms. Kosuda also established the women's leadership network in Asia as an executive member of the steering committee. In addition to her HR roles, she served as chairman of the in-house health insurance association and expanded its membership throughout the franchisee's group.
Ms. Kosuda began her career at British Airways as a Reservation Executive and became the first female Sales Director in the airline industry, in Japan. In that role, she built relationships with major companies in all industries and as a result, she led her team to achieve the top market share. As a part of British Airways global strategy, she was transferred to the HR function where she developed innovative HR practices and successfully introduced a global strategic HR management framework.
In 1999 she joined a 50/50 joint venture between US CIGNA and Sompo Japan where she was responsible for cross-cultural communication, recruitment, training & development, and benefit and compensation. Following the completion of the successful launch of the joint venture, she moved to UK Prudential as the HR Vice President, and established the HR and in house University for the firm.
