Adil Shah

Associate Director

Adil is a passionate academic administrator and communicator with a Masters in Mass communication and Journalism from Kashmir University. He has had rich experience working at the student interface of new-age innovative pedagogies. Adil has worked in institutions such as Ashoka University, Vedica Scholars Programme for Women, Indian School of Development Management, and Masters’ Union School of Business.

Over the years, Adil has acquired skills in communication, content creation, programme leadership, and educational administration.

His film, Life on Wheels was recognised as the best film amongst 34 entries from all over India at the Verite Film Festival 2011.

Anuradha Prasad

Founder - CEO

Anu Prasad is the Founder & CEO of India Leaders for Social Sector (ILSS), a Delhi-based non-profit that works to strengthen the leadership talent pool in the social sector. Prior to setting up ILSS in 2017, Anu was the founding Deputy Dean of the prestigious Young India Fellowship (YIF) and a founding member of Ashoka University, India’s first liberal arts university. Before joining the social sector, Anu held leadership roles at multinational companies such as American Express and TNT. At Amex, she led the implementation of Amex’s global financial re-engineering as a part of launching Amex Financial Resource Centre in India. At TNT she was head of finance for the company’s North India region. An entrepreneur at heart, Anu has also co-founded and managed a successful travel company. She has also been a consultant for Dell Foundation on its education projects. Anu is an avid reader, an active volunteer in civic causes, and a passionate believer in lifelong learning, all of which she incorporates into the ILSS proposition of learning and values-based leadership. She also mentors young professionals and senior leaders and sits on the Board of two non-profit organisations. Anu graduated from HR College, Mumbai, and received her MBA from IMI, New Delhi.

Apeksha Victor

Program Manager

Apeksha is a seasoned professional with over 5 years of experience in Learning and Development and has a deep appreciation for the role that organizations like Teach For India and LEAD School have played in her professional journey.

As an avid reader and lifelong learner, Apeksha understands the importance of staying up-to-date with the latest industry trends and continuously expanding her knowledge base. In her free time, she enjoys books, tea and her love for music and literature extends beyond personal enjoyment.

Archana Ramachandran

Director

Archana’s work experiences have focused on leading projects and teams in Learning and Leadership across the Corporate, Government and Social sectors. Prior to ILSS, she worked as the City Director at Teach for India (TFI) where she led the strategy and operations for the TFI Fellowship and Alumni Movement to create a movement for educational equity. Prior to Teach for India, Archana worked with Infosys Leadership Institute and Boston Public Schools in the areas of Human Capital, Competency Development, Change Management and Diversity and Inclusion.

Archana is an Alumna of the Master’s Program in Education (M.Ed.) at Harvard Graduate School of Education at Massachusetts, Master’s Program in Management (MBA) at T.A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal and the Bachelor’s Program in Commerce (B.COM) at Stella Maris College, Chennai. Across all roles and teams, being a learner and an educator is the core of her work.

Arundhati Agomacharyya

Program Associate - Leadership and Development

Arundhati is a graduate from Kamala Nehru College, Delhi University, with a bachelors in Sociology. Prior to ILSS Arundhati had been working in the social sector as a volunteer or intern to various organizations, working around gender, mental health and advocacy. She has always rooted for bringing change in your own capacity, and advocacy through social media is what has paved the way for her. She has been an orator and writer all throughout her school and college life. More so, she takes keen interest in reading feminist literature and politics.

Bhawani Nirwan

Sr. Associate- Accounts

Bhawani Holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce and a diploma in Finance and Accounts. He comes with over 6 years of experience in accounts in companies like Koncept Group and The Ultimate Traveling Camp Pvt Ltd. At ILSS he is currently responsible for operations and accounts

Dr. Shradha Roy

Senior Program Manager

Dr. Shradha has a career spanning for now around 10 years covering diversified sectors including R & D, technology development and social impact. With expertise in program management and leadership and acumen for strategic thinking and decision making she has been able to show excellent results working in high-pressure and fast-paced situations with stakeholders including government, corporates, non-profits and global organisations. Awarded with the MEXT Govt. of Japan Fellowship for her Ph D nominated by MHRD, Govt. of India, she is an alumna of University of Tokyo, and has done her doctorate in the field of Plant Molecular Genetics. Positive and passionate Shradha enjoys music and mingling across cultures.

Evyan Rai

Program Associate - Leadership and Development

Evyan recently graduated from the Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts, having majored in Economics and minoring in both, Law and Film. Prior to his work at ILSS he has spent some time working in the public policy space working in the AICC Research Department and at the Centre for the Study of Developing Socieites. His motivation to making a change in the social sector has driven him to vounteer and work in social sector across multiple NGO’s.

Hemant Kumar

Associate Director

An accomplished social entrepreneur with 11 years of experience in operations, Hemant spearheaded a pioneering initiative on education reform in India. He built a mission-driven social enterprise from a prototype and experimenting stage to driving an impact narrative in collaboration with the government, corporates, non-profits, and international organizations. The narrative resulted in policy dialogue and reforms in the public education system. Throughout his career, he cofounded two enterprises. The second enterprise got acquired by a high net-worth-individual (HNI) owned entity because of its success and positioning in the ecosystem. His social impact journey has been recognized with accolades like Acumen Fellow, One Young World Ambassador and Wipro Founder’s Fellow. He was recently awarded a shared commonwealth scholarship, a highly prestigious award to pursue a master’s at University College London (UCL), a global top 10 university, studying Prosperity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He comes with an acumen in strategic business planning, relationship management, diplomatic negotiation, organizational development, team management & leadership, data management, and facilitating boards with industry leaders.

Jasmine Saha

Program Manager

Jasmine is a seasoned professional with 5 of experience and a proven ability to perform in cross-functional & fast-paced environments. She began her career in the field of Data Analytics, where as a Sr. Business Analyst she focused on automation and process building . However, her interest in the social sector encouraged her to become a fellow with Teach for India. The fellowship enabled her to create an impact at the grassroots education system. During this time she also piloted her project to enable STEM learning her schooling system.

Hailing from Kolkata, Jasmine loves exploring places, cuisines and culture.

Meenal Manolika

Senior Program Manager

Meenal is a social sector professional with extensive experience of working on issues of gender justice. Prior to ILSS, she was with Kamla Bhasin’s Sangat – a Feminist Network where, for 4+ years, she designed and implemented capacity building programs, campaigns, cultural interventions and strengthened feminist networking around gender justice in South Asia. Meenal holds a Bachelor of Engineering from BIT, Mesra and has worked as a Software Engineer for Verizon Data Services India. She has also been a Young India Fellow (2015-16) at Ashoka University.

Mohd Farhan

Associate Director

Farhan holds an MBA in General management from IIM Ahmedabad, and a B.Tech. in Computer Engineering from Jamia Millia Islamia. Prior to ILSS, he worked in the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning team of the National Skill Development Corporation. He is a Social Development expert with hands-on experience in Research/Monitoring & Evaluation/Impact Assessment.

Monica Hemrajani

Chief of Staff

Monica’s work experiences have focused on roles spanning strategy, organization building, program implementation & consulting. She has spent the last three years working closely with the Chief Minister’s office, in Haryana designing and deploying various policy interventions.

Monica is a Chartered Accountant by education and started her career as an investment banker. A desire to impact the lives of people around her made her crossover from the corporate world to the social sector. She has worked on grassroots initiatives focussing on financial inclusion, education, and women empowerment in rural districts of Maharashtra and Haryana. These experiences have reinforced her commitment to making a positive impact and continuing to work toward the betterment of society.

Nupur Mahajan

Associate Director

Nupur brings with her a decade long experience in content creation, training and facilitation, while working with a diverse audience across Edtech, Big4, Health & IT sectors.

Being a hustler at core, Nupur started and continued her entrepreneurial journey of 6.5 years, as one of the Founder Team members at Parwarish– responsible for nurturing the unlimited potential of Human beings.
Since then, she has worked in both corporate and Startup spaces.

In the past, she has been responsible for creating and delivering effective learning programs for Senior Women leaders, Mid management and Early talent during her tenure at Deloitte India Shared Services Pvt. Ltd. She also taught a rigorous 110 hour of Design Thinking course to Global Universities across South Africa, Netherlands as Director of Learning at Ingenious Faces

Nupur holds a Master’s degree in Human Development & Childhood studies (University of Delhi) along with an Advanced Diploma in Guidance and counselling from IP University and is keen on building the Entrepreneurial mindsets in young talent across India

Payel Mohanto

Program Manager

As a driven professional with a passion for inspiring and empowering others, I have spent the past 7+ years honing my skills in project management, marketing expansion, stakeholder relationship management, and team leadership. I am in a constant quest for Exploring New Horizons & Driving Growth and Innovation through Strategic Leadership and Collaborative Solutions. I have worked extensively in remote areas across India, working in livelihood generation for rural communities.

When I am not working, you will usually find me exploring remote corners of the world or burying my head deep in some novel! I am an explorer at heart & have an immense sweet tooth.

Ritu Mahajan

Director

Ritu comes with 20 + years of industry experience in HR with focus on Talent Acquisation and Capacity Building. Having worked extensively with teams of diverse portfolio, she prioritises commitment to quality, monitoring and accountibility to increase efficiencies & ROI at various stages of project life cycle

Sandeep Julka

Lead - Marketing

Sandeep Julka is a marketing professional with over ten years of experience in higher education. He specializes in Digital Marketing and is currently responsible for digital outreach of India Leaders For Social Sector.
Before ILSS, he managed the marketing and admissions for Plaksha University and the Indian School of Development Management (ISDM). He was instrumental in establishing the digital footprint for the Great Lakes Institute of Management’s undergraduate programs and the School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL). He began his professional innings with The Times of India (Media) before moving to Ignitee – To The New (Digital Marketing) and then Percept (Advertising).
Sandeep is an alumnus of Times School of Marketing (Master’s Program in Marketing) and Jamia Hamdard University (B.Sc. in Information Technology).
Sandeep is deeply committed to connecting students with educational institutions to further their professional and personal journeys. He is fascinated by the power of collaboration and teamwork.

Sanymi Gupta

Associate Director

Sanymi brings in a rich experience in Learning & Leadership Development for the social sector. Starting her professional journey as a semiconductor engineer, she soon realized that working for social impact is her core calling. She joined the Teach For India Fellowship in 2014 where she taught 99 girls from an under-resourced community in New Delhi for two years. Post the fellowship, she held different roles with Teach For India Delhi, having led their Fellowship Program in her last role. While at Teach for India, she also had an entrepreneurship stint wherein she started the Books For All Project to facilitate reading habits in students across ages and economic groups.
Sanymi holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology. She has also completed a Coaching Fellowship with Teach For All. She is extremely passionate about coaching and helping individuals be their best selves.

Simran Gupta

Senior Program Manager

Simran Gupta is a Program Manager – Placement and Alumni Engagement at ILSS. Simran’s career has spanned across research, teaching, program management, business development, and career services. She has worked with think tanks and educational organisations, in both the social and corporate space.

Prior to ILSS, Simran has served as a Senior Program Manager – Career Services at Masters’ Union where she worked with the founding team building the brand of Masters’ Union, making it India’s unique B-School offering industry immersive business education. She has also worked at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences managing end-to-end academic engagement of Customized Short-term Study in India Programmes for foreign universities and at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements in the resource development domain creating more visibility and fundraise for the institute.

Simran holds a M.Phil. in Development Studies from the TISS, Mumbai, M.Sc. in Economics (Development Studies) from the Symbiosis School of Economics, Pune and a BA Economics (H) from St. Xavier’s College, Ranchi.

Snigdha Raha

Associate Director

Snigdha has over 10 years of experience in fundraising & marketing for non-profits and her role has brought life-changing transformation to lakhs of vulnerable children pan India. She has a Masters in Internation Relations from University of Leeds, England. She is a strong advocate of child rights, is a fitness enthusiast and hopes to teach fundraising someday.

As a professional Snigdha is an engaging, stimulating communicator, with an entrepreneurial edge to herself. She has a strong sense of urgency, initiative, and competitive drive to get things done, with an emphasis on working with and through people in the process. She understands people well and uses that understanding effectively in influencing and persuading others to act.

Souradeep Roy

Manager - Marketing and Communication

Souradeep Roy is a communications specialist with nearly 8 years of experience in print media, online mediums as well as in the development sector. Being trained in both visual and written mass communication skills, he has extensively worked on writing and photographic assignments for international magazines as well as various YouTube channels. He has also worked with various Non-Profit organisations and corporate houses in various communication and fundraising capacities. A believer of constant self-improvement, he is also an alumni of ILSS’ Fundraising Program and is currently pursuing an Executive Programme on Business Analytics – Branding and Advertising from Indian Institute of Management, Indore.

Tapoja Mukherji

Senior Manager

Prior to joining ILSS, Tapoja was the long-standing Senior Editor of TTIS, a renowned children’s weekly from The Telegraph, Kolkata — a part of the ABP Group, one the most well-known media houses in India. Passionate about content writing, and with a flair for editing, Tapoja is now a part of the ILSS communications team. Content writing and evaluation, proofreading, and copy editing are a few of her core areas of expertise.

An alumna of Loreto School and Presidency College, Tapoja holds an MA in English, and also a B.Ed. She started her career as a high school teacher more than two decades ago.

Tulika Mehra

Associate Director

Tulika has over 20 years of experience and has worked on community projects, fund-raising, program implementation, capacity-building, organisation development, animal welfare; most of her work has been in skill development and education initiatives for underserved children and youth living in urban slums and villages across India.

One of her core purposes in life is to create more value each day, and her openness to learning enables her to do that. She feels strongly about the dignity of all life and always dreams of a more peaceful, just and equitable world for all living beings. Tulika’s professional journey in the social sector started when she was introduced to the world of children and youth with multiple disabilities, in the year 2001, after she enrolled in a Diploma course in Special Education. Tulika also holds a masters degree in Social Work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai; and also a Master’s in International Peace Studies from Soka University of Japan

Vineet Mittal

Finance and Operations Manager

Vineet comes with over 8 years of experience in Accounting and Finance across sectors. At ILSS he takes care of the organization’s admin and operations apart from the leading the Accounts department. Prior to ILSS, he has held several leadership roles in companies like Koncept Group and Deutsche Motoren. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from Delhi University.

Vishakha Singh

Program Manager

Vishakha has worked for over 5 years across the development sector. She worked as an experiential learning specialist for Disha India in Gurgaon before moving to Rajasthan, UP, and eventually Chhattisgarh as part of the Piramal Foundation. Through these three years, she worked with the govt at all levels in education and health domains. However, the most fulfilling work for her was as a mentor to Gandhi fellows. In her last stint, she was a Senior Associate, Fundraising at The Antara Foundation working in maternal health.

Vishakha hails from Lucknow and loves academics. She has also had a brief stint in college theatre, actively doing street and stage plays across universities.