Indian Alumni Leadership Council

An entrepreneur at heart, Gaurav Manchanda is the managing director of Manchanda Capital. His business interests lie primarily in the areas of retail and social investments. He is also the director of The Organic World Retail and serves as an entrepreneur in residence at Axilor Ventures, a new-generation platform which supports early-stage entrepreneurs.

Gaurav is a trustee of Advaith Foundation and of SD Foundation, nonprofits that support causes in education, healthcare, and organic farming. He graduated with an MBA from the Questrom School of Business in 2012 and is a member of the International Advisory Board to the Dean of the Questrom School of Business, Boston University.

Tushar Ved is the president of Major Brands India Pvt. Ltd., a leading franchisee for premier international fashion brands such as Aldo, Aldo Accessories, Call it Spring, Charles & Keith, Inglot, La Senza, Bebe, Nine West, Mango, Guess, BHPC, and New Balance. With 150-plus stores in India, Major Brands is fast moving on expansion mode with new brand launches.

Having majored in Finance & Marketing at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, Tushar is a veteran in the retail sector and an active leader. His vision is to give Indian customers the best of International brand experience with plush service and to attain global edge. With 15 years of experience in retail, Tushar is an influential retailer coming from a successful background of entrepreneurs.

Natasha Kothari Bagaria graduated from Questrom School of Business in 2007 with a double concentration in Business Law & Entrepreneurship. She is currently running a start-up (Green Compass), she has worked across multiple industries: luxury brand marketing, shipping and logistics, and pharma & biotech across Mumbai, Djibouti, Raleigh (USA), and Bangalore.

Natasha is married and currently lives in Bangalore with her two children, Reya (7) and Veer (5), and her husband (Karan Bagaria) whom she co-incidentally also met at Boston University. While she isn’t working or looking after her offspring she is out traveling the world and sampling various cuisines (well whatever is vegetarian anyways). She is excited to join the leadership council and help build a strong community that connects India with BU.

Natasha was born and raised in Mumbai.

Shraddha Bhansali is the founder of Candy & Green. While studying at Boston University in 2010, she conceptualized a company whose core mission would be to provide empathetic and gracious hospitality with refined service and soulful food and beverage offerings. Six years later, Pride of Lions Hospitality Pvt. Ltd was born. Candy & Green is the first of many ventures under the Pride of Lions banner.

Shraddha has been widely recognized for her entrepreneurial spirit by the likes of Forbes, which included her in the 2018 Forbes India 30 under 30 India list. Her efforts to promote green and clean eating habits have brought her notice from CNBC, Economic Times, Times of India, India Today, Travel & Leisure, Mumbai Mirror, and many more. She has also given a TEDx talk on the importance of sustenance and sustainability in our eating habits.

She passionately believes in education for sustainability and has talked at various prestigious universities and schools across India including ICT Mumbai, University of Punjab, Nirma University, Ecole Mondiale World School and many more. She is also a regular volunteer with The Akanksha Foundation and works with the Mahalaxmi Public School in Mumbai, where she regularly organizes programs for the children to educate them about the environment in a fun and interactive way. She serves on the Youth Committee of the NRAI (National Restaurant Association of India) as the Sustainability & CSR head.

Shraddha has also recently co-founded EVO, a brand of plant-based products that are indistinguishable from their animal-based counterparts in taste, texture, and price, using food science, plant biochemistry, and computational biology. Her goal with EVO is to help solve the nutritional, environmental, and food safety challenges in India and the world. After just four months, EVO had already garnered attention from top-notch VC firms and international incubators.

Aadil graduated from BU in 2015 from the College of Arts and Sciences and Questrom School of Business. Since then, he has worked in financial services and private investments. He is also a former entrepreneur and has been an advisor to startups in both the US and Asia.

Aadil is currently part of the team at Peak Sustainability Ventures, an early-stage India-based climate-focused fund that pioneered early-stage sustainability investing in India. Prior to Peak, he was at Baring Private Equity Asia (a $40 Bn Hong Kong based fund), where he also built out their ESG framework and Investment criteria.
Aadil also previously worked at BNP Paribas focusing on client development and alternative investments.

Aadil is also part of the leadership team of the GEA Project, a US-based non-profit co-founded with two other BU alums. The organization works with students from lower socio-economic areas working across 7 countries across 3 continents.

Ishaan Gupta is the joint managing director of Gateway Distriparks Limited. Listed on India’s National Stock Exchange, it is a family-controlled logistics company with pan-India presence. Ishaan has had experience handling strategy, operations, sales, information technology, and human resources for the company, which is involved in rail transportation, container handling, warehousing, cold chain distribution and road transportation, among other activities. The group currently operates a fleet of 27 trains and 625 road vehicles, along with seven container freight stations, five rail-connected inland container depots, and 33 temperature-controlled warehouses across India.

In addition, as part of the family business he supplies imported newsprint and other paper for publications to various newspapers in India from manufacturers based in Canada and Europe. Ishaan graduated from BU’s Questrom School of Business in 2010.

Gaurav is the managing director of the family-owned Hotz Group based out of New Delhi, India, which has interests in textiles, hospitality, financial services, and real estate. Gaurav is involved with the hospitality and financial services verticals of the business and has almost 20 years of experience in both domestic and international business.

He specializes in business development, managing cross-border relationships, and financial investments. He has worked with the Group’s hospitality team to identify and bring a number of leading international food-service concepts to India and has also been instrumental in helping establish their operations nationally. Gaurav is on the board of the National Restaurant Association of India and also a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) New Delhi Chapter.

Anant Raj Kanoria is the CEO of Quippo Group and of iQuippo, a digital platform offering services to both buyers and sellers of construction equipment, asset rental, machinery valuation, auctions of construction equipment, and equipment financing.

After completing his education at Boston University and working at a hedge fund, he decided to move to India and head the Quippo businesses. In the last five years, he has grown the Quippo Group into India’s largest rental company for construction and mining equipment, gas-based power generation, and land rig operators. He has also launched the group’s business globally into Africa and the Middle East. iQuippo, meanwhile, is India’s largest equipment marketplace for construction and mining equipment; Anant started the concept of online financing for equipment. iQuippo currently operates in 100 cities in India.

Anant also directs Aura Nigeria Private Limited in Lagos, Nigeria, which focuses on providing small-scale power-generating solutions. It is based on a made-to-suit model for customers, through state-of-the-art machine configuration and best-in-class servicing, also reducing the carbon impact by using clean energy. He has focused on executing an affordable housing project for the state government to build about 10,000 units. The group now has offices in Dubai, Lagos, Mauritius, and the US.

Anant’s previous experiences lie in the financial sector as a research analyst with Credit Suisse in its investment banking division. He has also worked as a financial analyst with Porter Orlin in New York.

Anant comes from a well-known Marwari family of entrepreneurs in India.

Kishore Khaitan is the managing director of Basant Wire Industries (P) Ltd., engaged in the manufacture of precision components for textile machinery. Kishore earned his MBA with distinction from Boston University and has more than 35 years’ experience in the manufacturing industry as an entrepreneur. He undertook successful turnarounds of three family-owned companies and the successful implementation of a greenfield project for the manufacturing of machinery and components for the paper industry.

He is currently the chairman of Gram Power Inc. & Gram Power India P. Ltd., engaged in building smart solar micro-grids, smart metering systems, and energy-saving solutions for power distribution utilities, industry, and commercial establishments.

He is a member of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce and of the National Textile Committee of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and is past president of the Indian Textile Accessories & Machinery Manufacturers Association, past founder-chairman of the Indian Green Building Council Jaipur Chapter, past chairman of the CII’s Rajasthan Council, and past chairman of the Institute Management Committee of the Indian Technical Institute. He has also been a board member in Rotary Club Kolkata Main and Friends of Tribal Society Jaipur.

Nikhil Ramanlal earned his business management degree at Boston University and followed it with an MBA at IE (Instituto de Empresa), Spain. Armed with his qualifications and experience while at National Service, Singapore he decided to move back to India to follow his dreams. Nikhil started Atandra Energy in 2005, with humble beginnings and a dedicated team, under the brand KRYKARD. Today, after years of hard work, maintaining world-class standards, and focusing on R and D, KRYKARD is a market leader in the field of power conditioning and energy management.

Saad is a partner in the New Delhi office of Orbit Law Services and heads the litigation practice. He has more than 16 years’ experience working as in-house counsel for such companies as Atlas Software Technologies and PepsiCo India, as well as in private practice dealing with litigation and corporate advisory.

Saad served as a government counsel on the Union Panel of the Supreme Court of India and worked directly under the nation’s solicitor general and attorney general between 2004 and 2009. He has extensively handled matters and appeared before diverse forums including the Supreme Court of India, high courts, city civil court, regulatory authorities, the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practice Commission, the Company Law Board, criminal law courts, the International Chamber of Commerce, and arbitration tribunals.

His litigation practice includes advising on various areas of law. He has extensive experience in drafting writs, special leave petitions, plaints, and pleadings related to various proceedings. In relation to these, he also regularly works with and briefs leading senior counsels across the country.

Saad holds a master’s in Law (LLM in Banking and Financial Law) from Boston University. Before earning that degree, Saad earned his bachelor’s in law (LLB Hons.) from the University of Buckingham in England and a bachelor of arts (BA Economics) from Symbiosis College, Pune, India.