Who We Are

Mr. Narayanan Vaghul is currently Chairman of the Board of ICICI Limited, which is the largest financial group in India at present. Mr. Vaghul joined the company in 1985 as Chairman and CEO and relinquished his position as CEO in 1996. During his 11 year tenure as CEO, ICICI came to be transformed from a small-size, long-term credit bank to a large diversified financial conglomerate. He was instrumental in starting an investment bank, a commercial bank, a venture capital company and an asset management company, as part of the ICICI group. He was also responsible for the promotion of India's first credit rating company (CRISIL), which has since emerged as a market leader in the region. In recognition of his pioneering efforts he was selected as the "Business Man of the Year" in 1992, by Business India, a leading business magazine. 

In addition to being the Chairman of ICICI, Mr. Vaghul is also on the Board of several companies. He is on the Board of Ispat International, (the third largest steel producers in the world, with headquarters at London), WIPRO Limited (an IT company, which has the largest market capitalization amongst the listed companies in India), Mahindra & Mahindra Limited (an automobile company), Samtel group (manufacturers of TV picture tubes and glass shells) and Nicholas Piramal (a Pharmaceutical company).

Since 1998, Mr. Vaghul has been a visiting professor in the Stern Business School of New York University teaching a regular 3 credit course titled "Emerging Economies" to the MBA students during the fall semester. This course has been quite popular with the students and has received a very high rating in the student evaluation.

Mr. Vaghul is also connected intimately with education. He is the Chairman of IFMR (a business school based in Madras) and on the Board of Governors at the Administrative Staff College based in Hyderabad. He is also the Chairman of the Public Trust known as Pratham, a highly successful and well-regarded NGO, which has as its goal, universalization of primary education throughout the country.

Mr. Vaghul has been closely associated with the policy formulation at the national level. He was the Chairman of several committees and task forces constituted by the Government and the Reserve Bank of India. He also served for a while as the Chairman of Foreign Investment Advisory Board constituted by the Government.

Mr. Vaghul has handled several assignments for Asian Development Bank, IFC and the World Bank. In 1999, he served as a Member of the Task Force constituted by the President of the World Bank to review the financial policies of the Bank in the aftermath of Asian Crisis.

Mr. Vaghul graduated from the Madras University in 1956, and joined State Bank of India, the largest commercial bank in India in 1957 as a career banker. He occupied various positions in that Bank before joining the Board of the Central Bank of India, the second largest commercial bank in 1978. He became Chairman of Bank of India, an equally large commercial bank in 1981 and had the distinction of being appointed as the youngest ever Chairman in a State-owned bank.

Mr. Vaghul, who is 68 years of age, is happily married, with two children and four grand children, all of whom are settled in USA.

Mr. Amit Chandra

Amit Chandra is Managing Director of Bain Capital Advisors and responsible for the firm's India initiative. Bain Capital (www.baincapital.com) is a leading global private investment firm that has invested more than $100 billion in over 350 companies around the world. Amit has previously served as Managing Director, Board Member & Head of Global Markets & Investment Banking at DSP Merrill Lynch, India's leading investment bank. Amit is active in India's not-for-profit space and apart from his work with GiveIndia, he is also on the board of The Akanksha Foundation and Credibility Alliance.

Ms. Annabel Mehta

Annabel Mehta is currently the Treasurer of the Mumbai-based NGO - Apnalaya, which she has been associated with since 1973. In addition to her role as Treasurer, she is also involved with programme planning and implementation on a regular basis. One of the founding members of the Spastics Society in Mumbai, she has been involved in social work earlier too - with Sanjivani Trust in Mumbai.

Annabel was born in Solihull, Birmingham, in the UK in 1940. She completed her schooling at Malvern Girls College (1950-58); post which she went to the Royal College of Music (1958-60). She has also done a Diploma in Social Administration from the London School of Economics. She worked with the Family Service Unit in London before shifting base to India in 1966, when she got married.

Ms. Anu Aga

Ms. Anu Aga is on the Board of Thermax Limited, the Rs.1,200 crores leading Indian player in energy and environment management. She retired as chairperson of the company in October 2004.

She began her industry career in Thermax in 1985 and later was in charge of the Company's human resources function from 1991 to 1996. After her husband Rohinton Aga passed away, she took over as executive Chairperson of the Thermax Group in February 1996, and two years later became non-executive Chairperson.

As Chairperson, Ms. Aga had facilitated four major turnaround initiatives at Thermax. Reconstitution of the board, shedding of non-core activities, rightsizing of operations and increased focus on the customer. She is also instrumental in driving a high performance culture at Thermax, especially at the senior levels.

Ms. Aga has been very active in various national and local associations like Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and had served as the Chairperson of CII's Western Region. She has written extensively and given talks on the subjects of corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, role of women and education. 

She has done her BA in Economics and holds a post graduate degree in medical and psychiatric social work from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). She was selected for the Fullbright Scholarship for social workers to study for four months in the U.S.

Ms. Aga is keenly involved in the causes of communal harmony and human rights, especially women and children. She is a Member of the Commonwealth Human Rights Commission.

She also supports various organizations that promote education, in particular of underprivileged children from slums. She has started Centres for slum children in Pune with the help of an NGO from Mumbai called Akanksha, which means hope.

Mr. Kishore Chaukar

As managing director of Tata Industries Limited (TIL), Mr. Chaukar is responsible for providing strategic direction and support to the Tata companies that have been promoted by TIL. He is also involved in strengthening TIL's role as a catalyst for the introduction of new businesses within the Group, especially in areas of high technology and future economic potential.

Mr. Chaukar's responsibilities as mentor and strategist are further enhanced by his membership of the Tata Group Executive Office, which formulates strategy at the Group level. 

He was previously the managing director of the ICICI Securities and Finance Company, as well as a member of the board of directors of ICICI. He has also worked with Bhartiya Agro Industries Foundation, a public trust engaged in rural development, and Godrej Soaps.

Mr. Chaukar is a post-graduate in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Venkat Krishnan N.

Venkat Krishnan N. graduated from IIM-Ahmedabad in 1993 and started his career with the media, working first at "The Times of India" in various corporate and brand management functions. He then helped set up Sony Entertainment Television in India as part of the core management team.

In 1996, he co-founded Eklavya School, Ahmedabad. The school used innovative pedagogical approaches to help children learn rather than be taught. The school also ran a novel programme integrating children from the slums and from some of the wealthiest families of Ahmedabad city into the same classrooms. In 2001, he co-founded Educational Initiatives, a socially oriented education company.

Venkat set up GiveIndia in 2000, to strengthen the "giving culture" in India by providing people with opportunities to contribute to good causes, with very high standards of transparency and accountability. GiveIndia today channels around Rs25cr p.a. to over 250 NGOs in India.

Since 2009, Venkat has been a core volunteer involved in evangelising the Joy of Giving Week, India's own "giving festival". In 2010, JGW saw 1 million+ people participate in 450+ events in 40+ cities across India, channeling over Rs20crores in cash and kind, and millions of volunteer hours to a range of social causes.

"I volunteer for GiveIndia because it has given me the opportunity to develop new skills, use the capacities I have effectively and has provided me with an environment that is challenging and intellectually stimulating. It's the one place where volunteer contributions are valued very highly and this has been one of my key reasons to be part of the GiveIndia family."