Governance

The Centre is governed by an Advisory Council that defines and anchors its vision and purpose. The Council also provides oversight to its strategic planning, budget approval and performance evaluation processes, including appointment and evaluation of the Centre Director.

 

Council members serve as ambassadors for the Centre contributing their skills, experience, knowledge and networks to serve its goals. They ensure that the Centre’s research, convening and leadership-focused activities are designed and executed to exacting standards of excellence. The Council meets quarterly and carries carries no fiduciary responsibilities; membership is pro bono.

 

Advisory Council

 

Ashish Dhawan

Founder and Chairman, Central Square Foundation and Founding Member,

Ashoka University

 

Ashish Dhawan is Founder and Chairman of Central Square Foundation (CSF) and a Founding Member of Ashoka University. Prior to this, he worked for twenty years in the investment management business and ran one of India’s leading private equity funds, ChrysCapital. In June 2012, he left his full time role at ChrysCapital to start CSF to pursue his goal of creating social impact via philanthropic investments in the school education space.

Amit Chandra

Managing Director,

Bain Capital Mumbai

 

Mr. Chandra joined Bain Capital as a Managing Director in early 2008, and is a part of the firm’s leadership team in Asia. He received his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from VJTI, Bombay University, post which he worked at India’s leading engineering & construction firm, Larsen & Toubro. He then received his MBA from Boston College and was awarded the school’s Distinguished Alumni in 2007.

Hari Menon

Senior Advisor,

Policy and Philanthropic Partnerships,

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

 

Hari leads the foundation’s Philanthropic Partnerships work for the middle-east and the sub-continent, and also anchors the policy and government relations for the Gates Foundation’s engagement in South and South-east Asia. He was, prior to this, the Gates Foundation’s India Director for Policy and Poverty Alleviation. Before re-joining the Gates Foundation in October 2013,

Amitabh Behar

Chief Executive Officer,

Oxfam India

 

Amitabh Behar is the Chief Executive Officer of Oxfam, India. Prior to this, he served as the Executive Director of the National Foundation for India (NFI). He is the Convener of National Social Watch Coalition and was the Co- chair of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP- 2010-2016) and for five years was the convener of the Wada Na Todo Abhiyaan (Don’t Break Your Promises Campaign) in India, Amitabh’s areas of interest are governance and civil society. Over the years he has worked on issues promoting governance accountability and social action.

Vidya Shah

Chief Executive Officer,

EdelGive Foundation

 

As the founder of EdelGive Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Edelweiss Group, a leading financial services conglomerate with an asset base of $4.8 billion, Vidya Shah seeks to build a bridge between the users and providers of philanthropic capital by exporting the skills and strategies of the for-profit world to the social sector. Inspired by the notion that philanthropy is best served when organizations work collaboratively,