Mr. Narendra Kale

A highly successful businessman with a keen eye on opportunities in “niche areas” for Service segments and arrive at solutions for internationally applicable adaption. Started and built software product and services companies from scratch with minimum capital and built them into multinational multi-million dollar operations. His company has 120+ airlines as its customers worldwide. Built innovative technological solutions with lot of “FIRSTS” in the software technology and application products arena. He is actively involved in health care and educational activities for social uplift programs in India

Mr. Sanjay H Inamdar

Sanjay is an MIT, Harvard, and Carnegie Mellon alumni. He is the Founder of Flucon – a Star Export House having leadership in hygienic stainless steel products and designs for Process Industry.

Honourable President Dr. Pranab Mukherjee launched the Student Start-up policy in November 2016. Sanjay is leading this Student Start-up implementation team for 3500+ technical institutes across India.

Sanjay aspires to contribute towards making India a better place for an all-inclusive society. His interests are Entrepreneurship, Startups, Skill-development & Leadership. In the classroom, he uses a combination of the ancient Indian wisdom of teaching and Harvard’s case study method of learning.

Dr. Anil Sahasrabudhe

He graduated from BVB College of Engineering and Technology, Hubli under Karnataka University with a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and was a gold medalist. Thereafter, he obtained a Doctorate from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Prior to joining COEP as a Director, he was a member of faculty at IIT Guwahati for 11 years. While at IIT Guwahati he held important responsibilities like Head of the Department, Dean Academics Affairs, Chairman JEE, Chairman Library Committee and Deputy Director.

Mr. Prataprao Pawar

An engineer from the prestigious Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, Mr Pawar is an industrialist and a man with vision. He has been on the Board of the Sakal group since 1985, and the newspaper has grown by leaps and bounds under his leadership. Having a presence in the entire state of Maharashtra and Goa, Sakal is now not restricted to being a ‘newspaper’, but is a ‘brand’ in itself.

In January 2014, he was felicitated with Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award by the Government of India.

Mr Pawar is the former President of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture, Pune and the first President of the Federation of Chambers and Associations all over Maharashtra. He has also been President of The Indian Newspaper Society, New Delhi for the year 2001-2002 and President of Indian Language Newspapers Association in 2005-2006. He was nominated on the Press Council of India in 2004. He was appointed on the Board of Directors of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) in January 2007 and was made Vice President of the Board of Directors in June 2007.

He is also Chairman of Ajay Metachem Group of Industries (now known as ASK Chemicals Foundry Solutions India Pvt Ltd and a Director on the Boards of various Indian listed companies like Bharat Forge Ltd, Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd, Finolex Cables Ltd, Force Motors Ltd. He is also on the Board of the Pan Gulf Group Limited, UK.

Apart from his corporate engagements, Mr Pawar has contributed immensely to the society as well. He  is a Trustee on number of socio-educational Institutions in Pune and takes an active part in the development of these organizations/trusts. Some of them are the Dr NanasahebParulekarSakal Charity Trust, Pune; Students’Welfare Association, Pune; Poona School and Home for Blind; Kirloskar Foundation, Balgram; SOS Children’s village, Yeravada;  PuneBalkalyanSanstha, Sakal India Foundation, BAIF Development Research Foundation; Nirdhar, Pune.

Dr. Rajendra G Hiremath

With over 25 years of professional experience in infrastructure space and entrepreneurship, Dr Hiremath is a seasoned professional in finance and administration. He holds a doctoral degree in business administration and finance. With his unparalleled connect with society, Dr Hiremath has been an inspiration to many professionals and social-sector workers. Presently, he is Vice-chairman, JanasevaSahakari Bank Ltd, Pune and also Director, Synergy Valuers& Project Consultants Pvt. Ltd, Pune.

During his long professional stint in infrastructure financing at Raj Group, Pune, he arranged for more than Rs 2,500 Cr worth of finance for roads and highways sector projects. He also works as an independent advisor on BOT and PPP for many government and private sector projects. Dr Hiremath is the recipient of many awards including one national award at the hands of the Hon’ble President of India.

Dr. Bharatkumar Bhagatraj Ahuja

Prof. B. B. Ahuja is a graduate in Mechanical Engineering with a post-graduate degree in Mechanical Engineering. For his doctorate, he did his research in the area of Hybrid Bearing Design for High Speed Spindles at College of Engineering, Pune (COEP). He also holds a Masters degree in Management Science.

Prof. B. B. Ahuja is the Director, College of Engineering, Pune and Professor at Department Production Engineering & Industrial Management.

He has to his credit over 130 technical published papers in National & International Journals and Conferences. His research papers have been widely cited, in technical papers and reference books. He has guided 21 Doctoral students, 89 postgraduate students and is credited with the establishment of CAD/CAM laboratory and indigenously developed FMS laboratory in the institute He is currently developing the 3D Printing lab and is a working on a major project in Biomedical Engineering for developing Low cost medical devices / implants which is sponsored by Rajiv Gandhi Science & Technology Commission Govt. of Maharashtra. He has worked on two major projects of DST and CSIR. His research has led to 14 patents being registered to his credit.

He was appointed as a Chairman, Board of Apprenticeship Training (BOAT) Western Region by Ministry of Human Resources Development for a period of three terms consecutively since 2007 and also a Chairman, All India Board of Vocational Education, AICTE, New Delhi from 2009-2013. He is a member of the Governing Council of AICTE, New Delhi. He was appointed as a Chairman of All India Board of Technician Education, AICTE New Delhi and a member of Governing Council of AICTE, New Delhi. Currently he is the Chairman of All India Board of Vocational Education, AICTE New Delhi. He is also a member of Executive Committee of National Board of Accreditation, New Delhi. 

For his zeal and commitment recognizing his excellent teaching skills he was honoured with Best Teacher Award by Government of Maharashtra in the year 2009-10, Education Leadership Award by 25th business School Affaire and Dewang Mehta, National Education Award 2017, “Aadarsha Gurujan Jeevan Gaurav Puraskar” for the year 2015 by MIT, Pune and “Excellence in Education Award” for the year 2011-12 from PSD Shastri Educational Foundations Shastri Group of Institutions in recognition of outstanding contribution towards Engineering Education. He has received The Institution of Engineers (India) Gold Medal for the best research paper published during the year 1998-1999 and also The Production Engineering Division Prize for the best paper published during the year 2003-04, 2008-09 and 2009-10 again by The Institution of Engineers, India. He was also invited by FIAT Auto, Torino, Italy as a trainer for Metrology and Quality Control in March 1998 and also invited as a Visiting Scientist of “JSPS-DST Exploratory Exchange” under the Japan-India Cooperative Science Program during March 14-20, 2010 at Japan. He is actively associated with various governmental agencies in Pune for R&D activities in Manufacturing Engineering and is also a consultant to a few Industries in Pune. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers (India) and the Indian Institution of Production Engineers. He is a member of, Computer Society of India, Operations Research Society of India and the Association of Mechanisms, Robotics Society of India and Machines Indian Society for Technical Education. He is also a Member of the Romanian Society of Mechanical Engineers of Romania.

Dr. R. A. Mashelkar

A dangerous optimist, Mashelkar is uniquely multifaceted. In 1998, this scientist received J.R.D. Tata Corporate Leadership Award, an exclusive honour reserved for Indian Corporates. In 1998, he was also elected Fellow of Royal Society, the topmost honour reserved for world’s pathbreaking scientists. But then he also pioneered `Gandhian Engineering’ -`More from less for more people’ – catering to the needs of the poor. And why? Mashelkar says, as a poor boy, he studied under streetlights. He understands the pains of poverty.

Mashelkar valiantly fought and revoked the wrong US patents on turmeric and Basmati rice based on India’s traditional knowledge. But to US multinationals, he licensed patents based on modern knowledge of Indian laboratories, pioneering the trend of reverse transfer of technology.

He is a Director on boards of India’s leading companies, from Tatas to Reliance. 42 global universities have bestowed honorary doctorates upon him. The Government’s trust in him shows through the twelve high-powered Mashelkar Committees, many of them on contentious issues.

As its leader, Mashelkar transformed CSIR, the world’s largest chain of laboratories-heralded as one of the top ten achievements of Indian Science & Technology in the 20th century.

The President of India honoured Dr.Mashelkar with Padma Vibhushan (2014), Padmabhushan (2000) and Padmashri (1991), three of the highest civilian honours, in recognition of his contribution to nation building. 

In fact, he has received accolades from across the world. Dr.Mashelkar is only the third Indian engineer to have been elected (1998) as Fellow of Royal Society (FRS), UK in the twentieth century. He is the first Indian to be elected (2017) as a fellow of National Academy of Inventors (NAI), US. In addition, he was elected Foreign Associate of National Academy of Science (USA) in 2005; Associate Foreign Member, American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2011); Foreign Fellow of US National Academy of Engineering (2003); Fellow of Royal Academy of Engineering, UK (1996); Foreign Fellow of Australian Technological Science and Engineering Academy (2008); and Fellow of World Academy of Art & Science, USA (2000).

In August 1997, Business India named Dr.Mashelkar among the 50 path-breakers in post – independent India. In 1998, Dr.Mashelkar became the first scientist to win the JRD Tata Corporate Leadership Award. On 16 November 2005, he received the Business Week (USA) award of ‘Stars of Asia’ at the hands of George Bush (Sr.), the former President of USA. He was the first Asian Scientist to receive it. Forty two universities have honoured him with honorary doctorates, which includes Universities of London, Salford, Pretoria, Wisconsin and Delhi.

Dr.Mashelkar has won over 50 awards and medals, which include S.S. Bhatnagar Prize (1982); Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Technology Award (1991); G.D. Birla Scientific Research Award (1993); Material Scientist of Year Award (2000); IMC Juran Quality Medal (2002); HRD Excellence Award (2002); Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration and Management Sciences (2002); World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) Medal of Engineering Excellence, Paris (2003); Lifetime Achievement Award by Indian Science Congress (2004); the Science Medal by the Academy of Science for the Developing World (2005); AshutoshMookherjee Memorial Award by Indian Science Congress (2005); many more.

Dr. Vijay Kelkar

Dr.Vijay L. Kelkar  is an Indian economist and academic, who is currently the Chairman of the Forum of Federations, Ottawa & India Development Foundation, New Delhi and Chairman of Janwani – a social initiative of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) in Pune. He has been appointed as a trustee of Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust (Puttaparthi, A.P.) on 4 January 2014. He was also the Chairman of the Finance Commission until January 2010. He was earlier Advisor to the Minister of Finance (2002–2004), and is known for his role in economic reforms in India. Prior to this, he remained Finance Secretary, Government of India 1998–1999, and in 1999 he has been nominated as Executive director of India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka on the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Dr. Vijay Kelkar, holds B.E., from College of Engineering Pune, India, 1963, M.S., from University of Minnesota, US, 1965 and Ph.D. in economics from University of California Berkeley, US, 1970.

Dr.Kelkar has taught at Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad, Center for Economic Development and Administration, Kathmandu, Nepal, South Asia Institute, Heidelberg University, Germany and University of California, Berkeley.

He has held various senior-level positions in the Government of India, as well as in international organizations.

Dr.Kelkar was awarded the 2011 Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian award, in January 2011.

Dr. H. K Mittal

Dr.Harkesh Kumar Mittal, Adviser, Member Secretary 
National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB)

Former Secretary
Technology Development Board (TDB) 
Department of Science & Technology, Government of India

An alumni of the National Dairy Research Institute (1981) and the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad(1984), Shri Harkesh Mittal has been instrumental in giving a new vibrancy to promoting the innovation and entrepreneurial acumen among a wide section of Indian entrepreneurs ranging from simple rural industries to high end technological enterprises.

His two decades long association with the Government has coincided with the beginning of India’s economic liberalization initiatives. With his untiring efforts and personal initiative, Shri Mittal has made the innovation and entrepreneurship programme of Department of Science & Technology a much sought after programme by the individual entrepreneurs as well as by the industry and technological circles – not only in India but among the industrially advanced countries of the world.

Shri Mittal has been instrumental in involving the private sector – both national and international- in the task of innovation and entrepreneurship development in India. Companies like Intel, TCS, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, P&G, The Economic Times, etc. have now been involved in this task and quite many of them are making matching contribution and are bringing world class technology commercialization knowledge to India.

He was also the National Programme Director of the UNDP project on SKILLS which aimed to demonstrate that sustainable jobs can be created in innovative vocations through appropriate location specific, need based; competency linked training interventions using the conventional as well as on-line systems.

He has been responsible for establishing networks with international development institutions like the World Bank and EU for bringing the global incubation knowledge to the Indian business incubators. He has worked with UNIDO for Cluster Development as a National Expert. He has helped many Governments to set up incubation facilities and advises them on building up a incubation system. He was an international expert for UNDP on business incubation. He has represented India at various international forums on innovation, entrepreneurship, incubation etc.

Dr. R.G. Takwale

Professor Ram G Takwale is a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Pune from 1978 to 1984,a former Vice Chancellor of the Indira Gandhi National Open University and former Chairman of National Assessment and Accreditation Council.

Dr.Kshama Metre

Dr.Kshama Metre, popularly known as Doctor Didi, is an Indian rural development leader, and a pediatrician, who has led the Chinmaya Organization for Rural Development (CORD) since the founding of its predecessor organization in 1985, and she leads the organization as its National Director. The organization serves the rural areas of India with its unique approach for sustainable and comprehensive community driven integrated development program, under the aegis of the Chinmaya Mission. While holding the directorship of CORD India, she also serves as an adviser to CORD USA, the US wing of the Organization. A recipient of several awards including the Guardian International Development Achievement Award of 2012, she was selected as the Woman of the Yearby The Week magazine, in 1993. The Government of India awarded her the fourth highest civilian honor of the Padma Shri, in 2008, for her contributions to society.

Dr. Nickhil Jakatdar

Nickhil has a track record of successfully bringing technology products and services, across consumer mobile video, computer aided design and semiconductor design-for-manufacturing software, to market. Before joining GenePath as CEO, he was instrumental in the founding and leadership of Vuclip, Praesagus, and Timbre Technologies, leading them all to successful acquisitions and creating more than $1.2B in value for his stakeholders across these companies. In addition, Nickhil has been an investor and advisor to more than 40 startups over the years, including flutter.io (acquired by Google), Blend, Mezi (acquired by American Express), Viewics (acquired by Roche), CommandCAD (acquired by Cadence Design Systems), Jombay, Climate.ai and Shoptimize. Nickhil has received numerous awards, including the IEEE Best Paper Award, the UC Berkeley Innovator Award and the College of Engineering Pune’s Lifetime Achievement Award, amongst others. He is one of the founding members of the Bhau Institute of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Leadership. Nickhil has to his credit 60 patents and more than 20 journal and conference papers. He holds an M.S. and Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 

Mr. Anand Khandekar

Commodore AnandKhandekar had the big fortune of completing two careers of 25 years each — Indian Navy and the IT industry,during his professional life spanning over 50 years.  He was pivotal in some good pioneering work in the Indian IT industry such as establishing the first 100% Export Oriented Unit for Computer Software 1989, outside Economic Export Zone, running the CMM Level 5 Motorola Software Design Centre, Founding a VC funded start up in 2000, for video on mobile phones in Pune, which was acquired by Nvidia Graphics in Pune in end 2005.

Mr. Atul Kirloskar

Mr. Atul C. Kirloskar began his career with the erstwhile Kirloskar Cummins Limited in the year 1978, where he started out as a trainee. In December 1981, he was appointed as the Chief Executive of Cummins Diesel Sales and Services.
On 1st November 1984, he was appointed as the Executive Vice President of Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited (now known as Kirloskar Industries Limited (KIL)). He was co-opted on the Board of KIL on 6th August 1985, wherein he took over as the Managing Director. In 1988, he was appointed Vice Chairman of KIL and held the position till 25th July 1998, when he was elected Chairman of the Board of KIL. He was appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited (then known as Kirloskar Engines India Limited) on 31st March 2010. He was re-designated as the Executive Chairman on 25th January 2012.

Mr. Narendra Barhate

Narendra Barhate is the co-founder of SEED Infotech. He is the Managing Director and CEO of the company. He spearheads business development and expansion initiatives of SEED Infotech. A complete techie, he has been instrumental in the keen selection of technologies to be added to the company’s portfolio. Moving towards his pursuit to build the ‘Nalanda’ of modern IT training, he has endeavored to add BFSI, Engineering Services and Healthcare Management practices at SEED Infotech.

In his career spanning over 25 years in the IT industry, he has conducted more than 15,000 hours of high-end technology training for students and corporate clients. Developing his team into a world-class team of technical and non-technical team is his passion, and over the years he has pursued it by conducting several mentoring sessions for the employees on Management, Team Building and Leadership.

An avid reader with spiritual bend, he exudes superior people management and analytical skills. His natural charisma and the honesty in his approach have today made him a noted figure in the IT circles of Pune and Maharashtra. He has won several awards instituted by several social and industrial bodies, for his entrepreneurial ventures.

He is an alumnus of two of the most renowned educations institutions of India namely – College of Engineering Pune (COEP), and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai. Prior to establishing SEED Infotech, he has worked as a researcher at the DRDO.

His obsession for uncompromised customer satisfaction and quality of services has today made his company the partner of first choice.

Mr. Vijay Talele

Vijay Talele, is a CEO of COEP’s Bhau Institute of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Leadership, since July 2017.

Prior to that Vijay Talele has professional career of over 31 years in global IT services organizations including TCS, Silverline Technologies, Cybertech Systems, Accelya Kale Consultants and Quinnox Consultancy services ltd.

For almost 20 years of his career, he was the member of the executive management, responsible for overall delivery management, pre-sales, resource management, business growth, P&L of the delivery organization and overall growth of the organizations.

In 2016, he decided to move out of corporate career and started his own consulting firm to support small and mid-size IT services organizations, by providing expertise in developing efficient delivery organizations. As an extension of that he decided to provide his expertise to the startups community and that’s how he is now supporting the startups at Bhau Institute.

He has graduated in Mechanical Engineering, from VJTI in 1984 and has M.Tech from IIT Bombay.

Mr. Girish Degaonkar

Girish is currently working as a Senior Manager at COEP’s Bhau Institute of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Leadership.

He is graduated in Electrical Engineering from SRTM University, Nanded.

Having rich 13+ years of professional experience in various global IT services companies like TCS, SecurView Systems Pvt. Ltd, CMS. Led teams especially in Enterprise Security and Risk Management, Information and Cyber Security.

He Also Volunteered in Entrepreneurship development as a passion for more than 8 years.

Currently looking after overall incubation, entrepreneurship and education program, outreaching, mentoring and support program for startups.

Ms. Priyancka Bansode

Priyancka is handling the grant management & program development at COEP’s Bhau Institute of Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Leadership @ College of Engineering, Pune (COEP) in a capacity of Jr. Manager. Her main role is to identify & apply for various grants, funding schemes which are available with Government of India bodies for Technology Business Incubators & for individual startups.

Her role in program development, is to design the process & structure of TBI, IEDC, Tinkering Labs, E cells & trainings. Besides, she is also responsible for assessment of new idea proposals, technical & commercial guidance to startups & helping them by felicitating them with specific mentors & experts.

She is also supporting the joint CSR activity. Prior to this, at MITPUNE TBI,she was completely responsible for leading the incubator operations, such as
Overall planning the activities, resources, budgets and operations of the Incubator.

Dr. Nitin R. Karmalkar

Prof Nitin R Karmalkar is a well known scientist in the field of Igneous petrology. He currently is working as Vice- Chancellor at Savitribai Phule Pune University. He is Professor in Department of Geology at SPPU. He also works as Director, IQAC and has been motivating academicians for embellishments towards quality assurance. He has research interest in Igneous petrology with special emphasis on the mantle petrography and geochemistry, Rift related alkaline magmatism and
Economic geology.T his provides him with blend of strong academic/research experience with administrative expertise.

Dr. Neeraj Sharma

Dr. Neeraj Sharma is currently working as Secretary, Technology Development Board and Advisor (Technology & Policy) at Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India.

He is having Bachelor’s degree in Agriculture Engineering from College of Technology and Agriculture Engineering, Udaipur, Rajasthan and Master’s degree in Business Administration (Management) from IIM, Ahmedabad. He secured Doctorate in Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Studies from University of Rajasthan.