Board

India Board

The Board of Dream A Dream is the legal representative of the organization. The Board is primarily involved in setting direction for the organization, providing policy guidelines, mentoring, monitoring and evaluation of the work of the organization. The Board meets at least once every quarter.

Dr. Ajay Kela

           Dr. Kela is the Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of Symphony Services. Dr. Kela is responsible for global operations, worldwide sales and continuing relationships with clients. With more than 25 years of experience bringing high revenue-generating software products and services to market for both ISVs and service companies in the United States and India, Dr. Kela has the optimal mix of experience and cultural know-how for his global role. In his previous leadership role with Symphony, Dr. Kela led the substantial business expansion in India growing the team from 500 employees to more than 3000.

          Prior to joining Symphony, Dr. Kela was Entrepreneur in Residence with NEA, a Silicon Valley VC, making investments in software and services as well as playing an operating role in the funded companies. Previously, Dr. Kela served as General Manager of Autodesk's AutoCAD Division, where he grew revenue from just over $400 million to more than $850 million. He also worked as a research scientist at GE Corporate Research and Development and received his Ph.D. in engineering and computer science from the University of Rochester, New York. He received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. Dr. Kela has been an active supporter and contributor to Dream A Dream's efforts since early 2005.

Bhasker Sharma

          Bhasker has been an active volunteer and supporter of Dream A Dream since 2006. An avid Marathon runner, Bhasker has helped raise invaluable funds for Dream A Dream over the years. He has also been an active volunteer in the LearnIT and Mentoring programs at Dream A Dream working directly with children and young adults.

          Bhasker is currently General Manager and Director of Operations, India at mFormation Technologies. Bhasker has 23 years of experience in the Indian software industry, with eight years in senior management positions of telecom/networking/embedded technology companies, building high quality technical teams and motivating them to deliver complex software products as part of globally distributed development teams. Prior to joining mFormation, he was the VP of Engineering and Director of India Operations at Clovis Solutions, a provider of system infrastructure software for telecom equipment manufacturers. Before Clovis, Bhasker managed the India operations of Zilog, a semiconductor company, and Metro-Optix, a company building a multi-service provisioning platform for the metro edge. As part of the Microland Group, Bhasker co-founded NetBrahma Technologies, a networking software company that developed and sold platform-independent protocol stacks.

           Bhasker spent the first 13 years of his career at Tata Unisys Ltd., initially as a systems and networking specialist and later in a management role. Bhasker has a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical and Electronics from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani and a Masters degree in Computer Science from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Nandita Lakshmanan

          Formerly Partner and Head of Southern India's operations for Genesis PR, Nandita is the Founder and CEO of The Practice, A leading technology PR firm. A first generation entrepreneur, Nandita believe that commitment to ethics, credibility and a sound reputation, has led her firm to emerge as one of the front runners in the PR Industry today. Nandita is also the Vive-President of the Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI) and has authored several articles on Public Relations including a chapter on Indian PR Industry for the International Handbook for Public Relations.

Srikrishna S

          Srikrishna Graduated from BITS, Pilani in 2002 and  worked with the Enterprise Product Group of Dell. Currently, he is pursuing his MBA from INSEAD, Singapore. Interested in theatre and music, He started a group called "Version One Dot oh!". Srikrishna enjoys working with children and has been an active volunteer with Dream A Dream since early 2003. In 2004, Srikrishna got a "Volunteer Distinction" Award from Dell Foundation for his efforts with Dream A Dream. He was the first employee outside of the US from Dell to receive the award. He is also a volunteer with Janaagraha and Press coordinator for BITSAA press office and core team member of BITS.aid initiative. In 2006, Krishna started ITIHAS, a strategic consulting based non-profit to support grassroot functions of non-profits and help build capabilities in them. www.itihas.org.in

Umesh Malhotra

           An engineer by education, an entrepreneur by choice, Umesh believes a lot in the future of India and wants to play a role in helping India succeed. Taken up making children read as a goal and Hippocampus (www.hippocampus.in) is the delivery vehicle for the same. An Ashoka Fellow for his very innovative Hippocampus Reading Foundation initiative, Umesh has previously worked at Infosys and subsequently co-founded Bangalore Labs. Besides being involved with Dream A Dream, Umesh is also involved with Idenizen, an IT product company and runs many niche restaurants in Bangalore.

UK Advisory Board:

          In 2009, Dream A Dream decided to bring together a small group of volunteers and supporters to form an Advisory Board in UK. The primary objective of the Board is to help Dream A Dream build its presence in the European market and engage more individuals and organizations to support its work with vulnerable children in India.

Gopi Billa

          Gopi is an Associate Partner of Monitor Group, a strategy consulting firm, in its London office. He is a member of the firm's financial services and scenario planning leadership. He has extensive experience working with private sector organizations on strategy development and organizational transformation issues and public sector clients on national and regional competitiveness issues. Prior to joining Monitor, he was a Corporate Strategy manager, Finance Manager and Internal Consultant with Procter & Gamble. He holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a Bachelors in Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

Ed Williams, Chairman

          Ed runs his own consultancy business in the UK working with leaders and their teams to maximise their potential and deliver peak performance. He also advises organisations on the strategic development and implementation of their approach to corporate responsibility enabling them to bring their brand values to life. Since 2005, Ed has consulted widely across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.

          A graduate of King’s College, London, Ed has enjoyed a 25-year career with Marks & Spencer. In 2001 he was appointed Head of Corporate Social Responsibility accountable to the Group Board for establishing Marks & Spencer as the most trusted retailer through responsible business practice. He established and implemented the Company’s CSR strategy and under his watch M&S was judged Business in the Community’s “Company of the Year 2004”.

         Between 1997 and 2000, he led Marks & Spencer’s Millennium programme and was responsible for the development and implementation of Children’s Promise which raised £23 million benefiting 43,000 children in need, Before 1997, he had a series of HR appointments culminating in a six-year appointment as Head of Leadership Development & Learning.

          Ed has lived and worked in Zambia as a volunteer teacher with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO). He has had a range of non-executive appointments in the UK including Commissioner on the Barrow Cadbury Trust Commission on Young Adults and the Criminal Justice System; Deputy Chairman of the Corporate Responsibility Group; Chair, Alone in London; HR Advisor to the Royal National Theatre; member of the Common Purpose North London Advisory Board. He is an Advisory Board member for the award-winning social enterprise Adopt a Business. Ed was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2000.         

“Having spent 4 weeks undertaking pro bono consultancy for Dream a Dream during 2008 and 2009, I have seen at first hand the work that is done and the enormous positive impact that is made. As part of the UK Advisory Board, I am committed to continuing to play a full and active part in helping Dream a Dream fulfil its potential and reach out to many more thousands of children and young people in need”.

Rajesh Gandhi

A Chartered Accountant by profession, Rajesh currently works as a Senior Manager with PwC UK in their Advisory division.

“I have been following Dream a Dream’s fortunes since its inception and it gives me tremendous joy to see the progress made over the last decade. Being part of the UK Advisory Board is a wonderful opportunity for me to be an integral part of this vibrant organisation and join the rest of the team in the exciting journey ahead.”