Our speakers

Meera Sanyal, Member, AAP

Former CEO & Chairperson of RBS India, Meera is a Senior Executive who is a Non- executive Board director of Financial services firms, NGO’s and Educational Institutions. She was invited by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to join her International Council on Women’s Business Leadership (ICWBL), is a member of the Global Board Ready Women’s group (GBRW) and of the National Executive Committees of FICCI and CII. She is also a Board member of Pradan,  AIESEC India, Jaihind College and LiberalsIndia for Good Governance – the Indian Liberal Group. Meera has been a banker for over 29 years, with a wide array of experience ranging from Investment Banking to Operations & IT. She has a keen interest in Public Policy &Governance, Financial Inclusion and Women’s Empowerment and a deep understanding of the economic, social and political situation in India. She has recently stepped down as CEO of RBS India to devote herself to social, economic and political causes that she is deeply passionate about.

Meera Shankar, Former Ambassador to the United States of America, GOI

Ms. Meera Shankar has had a distinguished career in the Indian Foreign Service which she joined in 1973. Ms. Shankar was India’s first woman Ambassador to Germany from 2005 to 2009. From 2009 to 2011, she served as India’s second woman Ambassador to the USA; the first one being Vijay Laxmi Pandit. As Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs, Ms. Shankar headed the Division dealing with International Organisations and Security issues.  She has long experience of dealing with India’s neighbours, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and SAARC in the Ministry of External Affairs and of economic diplomacy as Minister (Commerce) in the Indian Embassy in Washington in the nineties in the early days of Economic Reforms . As Director, Ms. Shankar worked in the Prime Minister’s office for six years under four Prime Ministers. She has also headed the Indian Council of Cultural Relations as its Director General. Ms. Meera Shankar now serves on the Boards of several Companies as an Independent Director and on the Governing Body of a not for profit think tank.

Megha Aggarwal, Founder and CEO, Leap Skills Academy

Megha is a skill development specialist and has been associated with several international and domestic organizations like the University of Pennsylvania, Asian Development Bank, the Planning Commission, the Azim Premji Foundation and the Wadhwani Foundation. An ex-investment banker who worked in London and New York for several years, she was a Chevening Scholar at the London School of Economics and is an alumnus of the University of Oxford and St Stephen's College.

Michael Andrade, Head Agri Finance, HDFC Bank

MICHAEL ANDRADE is the Business Head for Agriculture at HDFC Bank, one of India's leading banks which is rapidly expanding into rural area's. At HFDC since 1997 and experience with two multinational banks before that, he has over 25 years in the banking sector. His work has seen him involved in banking in rural markets since 2001 as well as managing and developing businesses in the area of co-operatives, warehouse receipts, farm lending and rural payments systems supporting agri-supply chains. He holds a Bachelors of Science and an MBA from Mumbai University.

Michael Fernandes, Partner, Leapfrog Investments

With 20 years of experience in operations, consulting and investing, Michael co-leads LeapFrog’s work in South and Southeast Asia.

Michael has led several of LeapFrog’s landmark investments, including Northern Arc Capital (formerly IFMR Capital) in India and Reliance in Indonesia.

The former Country Head for India for Khazanah Nasional, Malaysia’s sovereign fund, Michael led the global healthcare team, also focusing on financial services and infrastructure. Michael was responsible for over $700 million of investments in India, including Yes Bank, L&T Finance and Uniquest; and served on the boards of IDFC,and Apollo Hospitals. He managed the Khazanah healthcare portfolio, ranging from hospitals to health insurance providers, that was consolidated under IHH Healthcare and listed in Singapore for a $7 billion valuation.

Previously, Michael led the $250 million global custom manufacturing business for the Piramal Healthcare Group, focusing on global acquisitions, business development, supply chain management and talent.

Michael was a partner and spent 12 years with McKinsey & Co, where he focused on healthcare and consumer sectors across South and Southeast Asia, and also worked out of the firm’s offices in the UK, Singapore, Israel and South Africa.

Michael Holland, CEO-Commercial Real Estate, Embassy Office Parks

Mike Holland is Chief Executive Officer of Embassy Office Parks, India’s first and only listed REIT, sponsored by Embassy Group and Blackstone. Embassy REIT listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange in April 2019. At April 2020, the business had a market capitalisation in excess of US$3bn.

Embassy REIT is Asia’s largest office REIT by area, comprising over 33 million square feet of business parks and city center offices across Bangalore, Mumbai, Noida and Pune. Home to over 160 international corporate occupiers and over 200,000 people, tenants in the portfolio include Google, Microsoft and IBM from the technology sector, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan and SwissRe from the banking and financial services sector and Rolls Royce, Mercedes Benz and VW from the aerospace and automotive sector.

Mike has worked in Asia since 1995 and has lived in India for close to two decades. He currently resides in Bangalore. He is also a board member of a number of charitable organizations with a focus on disability and education.

Michael Liu, Managing Director, Portfolio Advisors

Michael Liu is a Managing Director of Portfolio Advisors and serves as a voting member of the Fund’s Investment. Committee.  Michael joined Portfolio Advisors in 2013 and primarily supports Portfolio Advisors’ Asian activities.  Previously, he was a Vice President in the UOB Investment Management Division’s alternative investment fund-of-funds advisory business where he had worked with Portfolio Advisors since 2006 through a joint-venture.  He joined UOB in July 2006 through the Management Associate program.  Michael has served or is serving as an Advisory Board member of five private equity partnership. (B.S. from Nanyang Technological University).

Michael Lyngdoh, Co-founder, Tripoto.com

Michael Pargal Lyngdoh is as diverse and multi-cultural as his name. Probably why he decided to put his internationally acknowledged business acumen into creating something that documents every possible place a man/woman can be. A platform, of the likes of paperback journals kept by avid travelers who couldn't leave a place without scribbling some evidence of their journey. Tripoto is a brain child of two young men who liked meaningful displacement to beautiful places, and wanted to take you-know-what-happened-on-my-last-trip stories to a next level. In less than 2 years, Michael and his team have helped nurture Tripoto to become one of the fastest growing start-ups in the travel industry.

Michael's educational background includes a Master's in Economics from Delhi School of Economics and MBA from ISB, Hyderabad. Now, Michael efficiently juggles between his passion for technology and travel. And when he is not busy listening to underdog voices of travelers, he indulges in happily falling prey to click-bait articles.

Mihir Gada, Partner, PWC India

Mihir Gandhi, Partner, PwC India