Team

Board

Arun Shourie is among India's best known commentators on current and political affairs. Among other portfolios, he held the office of the Minister of Disinvestment, Communications and Information Technology in Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet. He was acclaimed as a “Star of Asia” by Business Week in 2002.

He was also acclaimed as “The Business Leader of the Year” by The Economic Times jury, for his pioneering and dogged work on privatization. In a poll of Indian CEOs, he was acclaimed as “The Most-outstanding Minister” of Mr. Vajpayee’s Government. He is the recipient of numerous national and international awards, including the Magsaysay Award, and one of India’s highest civilian awards, the Padma Bhushan.

Mr. Shourie was an economist with the World Bank, and Editor of the Indian Express. He is widely regarded as the initiator of Investigative Journalism in India. The International Press Institute, Vienna, acclaimed him as one of 50 “World Press Freedom Heroes” whose work has sustained freedom of the press in the last half-century.

He has written 24 books on a variety of topics ranging from constitutional law, modern Indian history, religious fundamentalism, governance in India, to national security. His latest book, Are We Deceiving Ourselves Again?, on India’s China-policy, was released in October 2008. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Syracuse University, USA, and a Bachelors degree from St. Stephen's College, Delhi.

Binod Kumar Bawri is among India's leading intellectuals and visionaries. He is the pioneer of industrialization in North-East India. For over thirty years he has dedicated himself to the economic and social enhancement of this region. His efforts have resulted in significantly uplifting the lives of a large number of people from economically challenged backgrounds.  

He is the Founder and the Chairman of Calcom Cement, the largest private-sector enterprise in North-East India. Calcom will provide direct and indirect employment to over 25,000 people annually. Mr. Bawri has over nineteen years of experience in the cement industry, and thirty-five years of business experience in manufacturing. At the age of twenty-one, he set up one of the first manufacturing industries, in the North-East.

He is the Founder of the Jamuna Devi Saraswati School, Assam. A large number of  impoverished children have availed of  free education at the school. He is the founder of My Home India, a non-profit initiative that helps integrate children from North-East India, into mainstream society in India's metropolitan cities. He is the Promoter of an eye-hospital in Meghalaya. Mr. Bawri's father was a freedom-fighter who worked closely with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. In the 1930's, his father was a delegate of the Tripura Congress from Assam.

He is a distinguished Rotarian and Past President, Rotary Club, Shillong. During his Presidency, he organized the 1984 Walkathon. Mother Teresa proudly participated in the Walkathon. He is a Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary Foundation. He helped extensively promote the SPIC-MACAY Foundation. As part of his SPIC-MACAY initiatives, he hosted national maestros like Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia, among others. He holds a Bachelors degree in Economics, from St. Anthony's College, Shillong.

Steering Committee

Ritesh Bawri is the Founder of TIRF.  He is the Managing Director of Calcom Cement. He has spent the last seven years building and running cement plants in East India. He was the founder of Cijen, an analytics and software company based out of California. Ritesh is the Vice President (East) of the University of Michigan Indian Alumni Association. He is a part of the Steering Committee that organized the first India Business Conference at the University of Michigan, Ross School of Business. He has actively promoted the culture of North-East India through art. His company designs an annual calendar that showcases unique aspects of the region, like Historic Monuments, Ethnic Sports, etc. One of the calendars was launched by Dr. A.P.J. Kalam, Former President of India. Ritesh is on the Board of several charitable organizations. He is President Elect for a Rotary Club in Kolkata and a Paul Harris Fellow.  He has a patent pending to his credit in the United States. He holds an MBA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, and a Bachelors degree in Economics, from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai.

Malvika Bawri is the Co-Founder of TIRF. She is the Founder of Mailotonic, a startup in Palo Alto. She is the Founder of 'Ideas for the Millenium', an organization that disseminates cutting-edge information, and ideas to over a thousand 'key influencers' in India. The readers, India's top brass, are leading policy makers and opinion makers. She used to run an antiquarian business. She was the CSO of the BK Group, India. She was the Co-Founder of Cijen, an analytics and software company based out of California. She used to design high-fashion limited edition handbags that infused fashion with art. She has been designing high-fashion apparel since the age of sixteen. Her other interests include writing, image styling, yoga, and hiking. She holds an MBA from Pepperdine University, USA.

Kumar Patodia is a part of TIRF's Steering Committee. Kumar is the Director of Heritage Realty Group. Prior to Heritage, Kumar worked at JP Morgan Securities in New York. Kumar is on the Board of the Penn Club of India, and he heads the Real Estate Effort of the Wharton Alumni Association of India. Besides work, Kumar enjoys sports, music, photography and travel. He holds a Bachelors degree in Economics (Finance and Operations & Information Management) from Wharton. He holds a Bachelors degree in Psychology from the College of Arts and Sciences. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. 

Seema Gururaj is a part of TIRF's Steering Committee. Seema is a non-profit strategy consultant and a social entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. She promotes 'Design Thinking' which is the process of visualizing what might be, to seek new and innovative solutions that has helped solve key issues for her clients. She co-founded Asian Professional Women in Technology [APWT] in 2007. APWT is a 600+ members, networking and collaboration organization based in Silicon Valley. APWT enables women in technology and in business, share experiences, insights and ideas. APWT has helped foster greater professional success for many of its members. Seema was formerly a Lead User Interface Developer with a focus on User Centered Design at IBM for 7 years. She won the IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement and the IBM Invention Achievement Awards. She has a patent pending and several publications to her credit. She holds an MS from Syracuse University, New York.