Jury Chair
Managing Director
C K Venkataraman
Managing Director,Titan
Mr Venkatraman was born in Coimbatore in 1960. He did his PUC and B Sc from Government Arts College, Coimbatore. After doing a year of articleship with a CA firm in Coimbatore, Venkat joined the Sarabhai group in Mumbai, where he worked for 2 years. He moved to Ahmedabad in 1983 to do his MBA.
Venkat joined advertising in 1985 and did 2 stints over the next 5 years, with MAA and Mudra Communications. He joined Titan Company in 1990 as the Advertising Manager. He did various roles in the Watches division of Titan till 2004 and moved to the Jewellery division in 2005. After heading the jewellery division for 15 years, Venkat became the MD of Titan in Oct 2019.
Managing Director
Amit Gossain
Managing Director, KONE Elevator India
An Industrial and Production Engineer with Masters in Management and Systems from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) – Delhi, Amit joined KONE India as Managing Director in 2015.
KONE is a leader in the elevator and escalator industry globally and in India. Listed in the most innovative companies list of Forbes for eight times, innovation has been a strategic imperative for KONE. Constantly developing technology is an integral part of KONE’s commitment to improve the flow of urban life.
Prior to KONE, Amit was the Executive Vice President for JCB India Limited with responsibilities for Sales, Marketing, Business Development, Product Management and Corporate Affairs for India and South Asia. Amit worked with JCB for a decade and under his leadership, brand JCB was awarded amongst India’s most impactful brands twice.
Amit has worked both in India and overseas. After working with L&T Earth Moving and Construction Equipment division in India, he worked for close to 10 years in Sydney, Australia with CNH Global, one of the world leaders in Agricultural and Construction equipment. He worked in various leadership roles, with the final assignment as Head of Sales and Marketing - Construction Equipment Group for Asia Pacific which included Australia, New Zealand, Oceania and Southeast Asia, before moving back to India to join JCB in 2005.
Amit is currently the Co-Chair of the CII National Committee on Real Estate & Housing and past Chairman of the Urban Development and Smart Cities Committee, as well as the past Chairman of the Solid Waste Management Committee for CII. He represents IEEMA as Chairman for Elevators & Escalators Division. Amit was the President of Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturers Association and the Chairman of Solid Waste Management Committee for CII, and the past Chairman of Finland Chamber of Commerce in India.
Chief Executive Officer
Kailash Kulkarni
Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Mutual Fund
Mr. Kailash Kulkarni is the CEO of HSBC Mutual Fund. Mr. Kulkarni leads the functioning of key business verticals and is responsible for providing leadership towards the achievement of the organization's strategic goals to become one of the top leaders in the asset management space.
In his previous role with L&T Investment Management, Mr. Kailash Kulkarni was responsible for driving the overall business growth of the asset management company. He also led the marketing initiatives for L&T Financial Services.
Mr. Kailash Kulkarni has 33 years of work experience of which 28 years has been in various functions of businesses across BFSI.
He was a member of the SEBI Mutual Fund Advisory Committee and was on the board of Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI). He had also headed the Financial Literacy Committee for AMFI, in the past.
Mr. Kulkarni is a management graduate from the Institute of Management Development and Research. He loves to travel the world and is passionate about adventure sports.
Managing Director & CEO
Pankaj Gupta
Managing Director & CEO, Pramerica Life Insurance Limited
Pankaj Gupta has over 26 years of rich experience in Financial Services across Banking and Life Insurance sector in highly reputed companies such as ICICI, Citigroup and HDFC, both in India and overseas. In his most recent role, Pankaj was a member of HDFC Life Executive Committee and Group Head - Credit Life, Banca Alliances, Strategic Alliances, Digital Alliances and Distribution Strategy.
In his last assignment, Pankaj was responsible for signing up and managing over 300 partnerships across India. He was also the Chief Marketing Officer of HDFC Life; responsible for Brand, Channel Marketing, Market Research, Corporate & Internal Communications, CRM and Voice of Customer from 2017-21. His prior assignments include a more than three-year tenure in the USA with TCS as SVP, Citibank US Consumer Banking Relationship. He was earlier also the SVP and Head International Banking COE for Citigroup Global Services and National Sales Head, Payment Solutions for ICICI Bank.
Pankaj has broad experience in Financial Services at various leadership levels with a track record of building and operating high growth profitable businesses. He is a Bachelor of Technology from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur and has a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow.
Chief Operating Officer – Dairy & Beverages
Sanajy Singal
Chief Operating Officer – Dairy & Beverages, ITC Limited
Sanjay Singal is the Chief Operating Officer for ITC’s Dairy & Beverages business. In this role, he handles the P&L for the business encompassing all aspects including R&D, Manufacturing, Marketing, Sales and Operations.
Prior to that, he was Head of Marketing for the Foods business of Dabur India Limited handling brands like Real Fruit Juices.
In a career spanning nearly 25 years, he has handled senior P&L responsibilities and Functional leadership in Marketing and Sales for Personal Care and Foods businesses in India and abroad.