Oliver is the managing director & ceo of dr. Oetker india and has been successfully heading the business for the past 10 years. A veteran with close to 30 years of food experience, oliver was appointed to design the india entry strategy, execute the acquisition of funfoods and to define the vision, create culture and build the senior management team. With oliver at the helm, dr. Oetker india has witnessed unprecedented growth with its funfoods brand. The brand is now the leader in the western sauces & spreads category in india.
born and brought up in germany, oliver started his career as an artisanal chef pâtissier. He learned his profession in germany’s most prestigious dobbelstein confectionary. As a food science graduate (niederrhein university, germany) and international marketing postgraduate (saint joseph’s university, usa), he commenced his fmcg career with kambly usa, a swiss luxury biscuit maker. In 1995, he returned to europe and joined the tengelmann-group as management trainee. A year later, he joined h. J. Heinz germany and was in charge of marketing for ketchup & sauces. In 1999, he made a shift to europe’s no. 1 honey brand, langnese, and subsequently he joined italy-based barilla, the world’s no. 1 pasta & pasta sauce maker where he served for nearly 8 years in various capacities in central europe. In 2008, oliver relocated to mumbai and established dr. Oetker india.
oliver has a dynamic personality and is an extremely passionate professional. A self-professed foodie, he loves to experiment with recipes and is known for his artisanal goat-cheese. He is married to verena and blessed with four beautiful daughters. He lives in new delhi since 2009 and has forged deep roots with india and its people.

Mr. M G Gopala Krishna, B.Tech graduate is 3rd Generation leader of 90yrs old MGB Group. Mr. Gopal has entered into business after completion of graduation and having undergone many international business training programmes in 2006.

MGB is predominant automobile dealer in Andhra Pradesh and has been ranked #57 out of 15,000 auto dealers in recently released “Top 100 Auto Power Dealers” by Economic Times Auto Retail Forum” unveiled by Mr.Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister for Commerce. Under the leadership of young directors MGB TAFE & TATA HITACHI Dealerships has secured No.1 All India rank in market share & volumes.

Mr. Gopal has personally took up the challenge of business diversion and with lot of enthusiasm launched the project of MGB Felicity mall in 2013 and completed the project in 2016, largest in Andhra Pradesh and introducing many National, International brands first time to Nellore and surrounding districts. Infact Mc Donalds was 1st introduced into divided Andhra Pradesh by MGB Felicity. Felicity Mall launched with full occupancy and is maintaining 98% occupancy till date. Having Automobile background, entering into construction & Retail field was a challenge which was taken up with confidence and made it a big success.

Mall has many success stories including the 3 major awards in 2 yrs of operations. Won “Best Upcoming Mall – South India by TAVF in 2017, Most number of events done NON METRO at TAVF 2018 and “Best Mall Occupancy optimization” award by Images Retail Forum under the leadership of Mr.Gopal.

At a personal level Shri M.G. Gopalakrishna is a prefect of heartfullness institute which is a non-profit organization, created for the purpose of bringing spiritual upliftment to people all over the world. It imparts a system of practical training in spirituality called Sahaj Marg, meaning the Natural Path. A system of Raja yoga meditation, the system takes us on a journey into the heart, towards the highest expression of our inner self.Heartfulness is spread over 140 countries around the world with around 1.5 million seekers.

As a life time member of Red Cross, Nellore district, from 2015 he has participated in various programs for the betterment of society.

BRIEF About MGB –

With a ninety year old heritage, the MGB Group today has significant presence in diverse industries ranging from automobile and aqua feed dealerships, to manufacturing, real estate and retail. And, with a combined annual turnover upwards of Rs.600 crores, the Group’s footprint is spread across the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

Four fundamental principles guide the Group’s business thinking, namely—following ethical business practices, sound financial discipline, providing consistent value to customers, and moving in step with changing times.

Its ability to deliver on its promises is primarily due to a close-knit workforce that is sensitized to understand that every customer’s need is unique and must be addressed and handled with utmost care. As a natural consequence, the Group’s customer orientation ensures a vast base of satisfied customers. The outcome is a large collection of awards for excellence that stand testimony as recognition of its efforts.

I  am  hospitality  professional,  i  am doing  which  i  always  want  to  do . i have  over  20  years  of  experience  in this  field. i  have  gained  business  of commerce  degree  from  punjab university. i  gained  post  graduation diploma  in  hotel  management  from meridian  hotel  school  sydney australia. then  i  achieved  business management  diploma  from  pacific  college
of  technology  sydney  as  well. i  have got  chance  of  working  in  australia,  new zealand,  singapore,  sudan,  egypt,  south
africa,  uae,  uganda  and  india. i  have learnt  deep  f & b  understanding  while working  for  many  domestic  and
international  brands  like  tgif, chili’ s,  nando’ s  and  barcelos. business  development,  brand  strategy,
operations,  start  up,  supply  chain  and team  building  are  my  core  competence. currently  i  am  managing  barcelos  as
business  head  in  india.

Richa Arora, in her current role as COO of the Consumer Products Business at Tata Chemicals Ltd, is
leading the transformation of the unit to a player of significance in the wider foods industry.
Richa has 30 years of wide ranging experience spanning Business operations, Marketing, Strategic
Planning and Communications. Prior to Tata Chemicals, Richa had set up Five by Six Consulting – a
boutique strategic marketing consulting firm, advising companies like McCain Foods, Britannia and Wipro
(Consumer). Before Five by Six, Richa worked as Head of Marketing & Innovation at Britannia, and in
leadership positions at Balsara and FCB-Ulka.
Currently serving on the CII National Committee on Nutrition 2018-19 CII, Richa is also part of National
Committee FMCG 2018-19 & the CII Maharashtra Forum on Agriculture & Food Processing.
Richa is an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, and a Chevening scholar from the London School of Economics.

PERSONAL SUMMARY: A futurist and strategic leader who is an expert at continually refining and advancing with a proven ability to develop and lead the management team to deliver. He is a highly energetic, forward thinking and creative individual who possesses an entrepreneurial spirit that is coupled with strong business acumen. His key strengths include developing business strategy and ability to execute with a sharp focus on business sustainability – focusing on growth and profitability.

EXPERIENCE: Varun Kapur is the Executive Director with one of India& largest and fastest growing F&B companies – Travel Food Services (TFS). TFS is the leader in the Travel F&B Industry in the Indian Sub- continent, with operations spread across air, rail and road.

Varun has been involved with TFS since its inception in 2009. He firmly believes in team work and has undertaken iconic projects such as “The World’s Best Lounge” – The GVK Lounge at Mumbai Terminal 2, Multi-brand F&B outlets at Delhi Terminal 3, Revamp of Chennai Airport F&B across Terminals, Master Concession at Kolkata Integrated Terminal, Gatiman Express Inaugural Onboard Catering and India’s first award winning Food Plaza on the Railway network at Vizag, to name a few. Varun has also been actively involved in the growth of some of the group’s well known concepts such as Copper Chimney and Irish House, and he continues to be involved at a strategic level with other ventures of the Group.

With a motto of transforming travel, TFS has always been at the forefront of attempting ambitious projects that define the food & beverage experiences of travellers in India. Varun graduated &magna cum laude from New York University, Stern School of Business with Bachelors in Science – Finance and Accounting. He worked as an Investment Banker at the Bank of Americas Leveraged Finance Group, before returning to India to join the family's expanding business under K Hospitality Corp, one of India’s largest groups in the F&B industry.

Jaspal Sabharwal is the co-founder of TagTaste,  world’s first online
community for food professionals to discover, network and collaborate with
each other. Prior to committing himself to TagTaste , Jaspal was Partner at
Everstone Capital for over ten years. At Everstone, Jaspal was primarily
focused on advising the leadership teams of the firm’s consumer-centric
companies while also working with the firm’s fellow partners to evaluate new
investment opportunities. Jaspal continues to stay associated with Everstone
as Senior Director. Previously, Jaspal served in key leadership roles at
Coca-Cola India for close to ten years, most recently as business head for
Coke’s franchise business, responsible for India and parts of SE Asia.
Jaspal is an MBA from McGill University and also holds a Diploma in
Practicing Management from INSEAD. Jaspal chairs the board of Burger King
India and his past board associations include Tata Communications, Pan India
Foods, Ritu Kumar, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, Capital Foods  and many
other marquee companies. He regularly writes for Economic Times and has
authored multiple case studies for INSEAD and IIMs; loves to support good
start-ups and farmers and is also one of the founding members of Government
supported Tourism and Hospitality Sector Skill Council.

A graduate from iit roorkee, prasoon gupta, co-founder and director, sattviko, is a serial entrepreneur.
owing to his talent and business acumen he was recognized as the youngest ‘distinguished alumni’ from iit roorkee and one of the youngest charter members of tie delhi. Prasoon has an extensive experience in entrepreneurship to his credit as he founded his first venture, ‘techbuddy consulting pvt ltd’ when he was still a student at the iit.
hailing from a rooted family with a modern outlook, he conceptualized ‘sattviko food’ based on traditional indian recipes by giving them a modern twist with help of food technology. Thus with an aim to add a little bit of ‘indianess’ to every household, he along with his friend ankush sharma in 2014 founded sattviko which today has become india’s fastest growing food brand. The premium brand offers more than 25 tasty and healthy packaged snacks from across the indian states such as khakhra, makhane, flavored raisin, gur-chana, flavored flax seeds, peanuts etc.
under his leadership, sattviko is growing with leaps and bounds. In 2017 sattviko raised an undisclosed amount of pre-series-a investment from a bunch of investors led by raman roy, chairman of nasscom. During the last financial year (2017-18) it grew at 700 percent rate and very soon high-quality sattviko quick bites will be available in the middle-east and european countries.
after becoming a success story in just three years, prasoon was rewarded with ‘young entrepreneur of the year’ in december last year by tie delhi ncr. Well known publication—business world recognized him among the top 40 young entrepreneur in its 40 under 40 series. ‘under make in india’ programme ministry of skill development conferred ‘national entrepreneurship award’ on sattviko. The venture has also been nominated among top 20 startups of the country by ministry of food processing, govt of india. As sattviko has a lot of anecdotes to say, its story has been published by ivey publishing and isb in form of a successful case study for budding entrepreneurs. During his initial days with techbuddy, he trained more than 15,000 students across the country and earned the ‘pioneer of tomorrow’ and india’s hottest startups awards from reputed publication houses for his venture.
apart from business ventures, prasoon also founded a non-profit organization called swarajneeti, an ngo which is dedicated to democratic reforms in india through technological innovations.
in his leisure time he loves to travel. He believes in making new acquaintances, particularly with entrepreneurs. As a firm believer in ‘karma’, he has been helping a number of startups and has also invested in couple of them.

My current role is heading retail division of the group as ceo of (miraj retail private limited). Our existing business is 10 cr p. A. My current role is focusing on expansion of 3 formats, supermarkets, hypermarkets, and apparel stores.
my accountability is towards expansion of business / pnl of existing stores / resource planning / city geography profiling / contracts finalizing & various other activities pertaining towards initial organization setup.
our group is into real estate / entertainment / pipes & fittings / printing & packaging, will share a brief presentation of the group.
we have put together an aggressive expansion plan to set foot prints across the country through our formats of supermarkets hypermarkets, apparel stores.
along with the brief profile i have shared a detailed expansion plan presentation.
in my previous tenure i have worked with future group for a period of 13 years, hiranandani retail for 4 years, shoppers stop 8 years. At various levels, my last assignment was in the role of general manager operations.
i have a post graduate degree from madurai kamaraj university, & have done short term studies at management studies at iim ahmadabad, & indian institute of technology & management.
have been a visiting faculty for various management schools across the country. To name a few, university of management studies at hyderabad, gitam institute of management studies, jklu university, faculty of management studies udaipur.
some of the industry veteran’s whom i have worked with are mr. Bs. Nagesh, mr. Kishore biyani, mr. Kumar rajagopalan, mr. Susi dungarwal. And have associated with retail forum’s like retailers association of india, brand excellence forum.

Kiran Gali is a serial tech entrepreneur. NumberMall is the new fastest growing tech start-up founded by Kiran Gali along with 3 other co-founders with a vision to digitize the total supply chain for the FMCG Brands by bringing brands and kirana shops on a single tech platform directly. Kiran drives NumberMall’s vision, strategy, product and growth. Kiran takes active interest in strategic partnerships, scouting talent & product design.

Mohit Anand is Managing Director, India and South Asia for Kellogg Company. He is also a member of the company’s Asia Pacific leadership team.

He is the chief architect of the company’s performance with the purpose of nourishing families through nutritious foods that Kellogg’s offers.

Mr. Anand is a well-rounded leader with over two decades of proven leadership experience spread across two FMCG global conglomerates, Unilever & Procter & Gamble.

Mr. Anand joins Kellogg from Unilever where his last assignment was spearheading a high potential future focussed water purification category for the company in the capacity of the Global Vice President based out of London. Prior to that, he leading the growth and transformation agenda for Unilever through Lipton, world’s #1 tea brand, with a presence in over 110 countries. In his role in refreshments category within the company, he led the South Asia and Africa operations for Ice Cream & Dessert brands (Walls, Magnum) and market leading Tea brands (Brooke Bond, Taj) to record growth & market shares.

Before joining Unilever, Mr. Anand spent 15 years in Procter & Gamble working on a variety of assignments including spearheading marketing for the Asia Pacific region.

Mr. Anand holds a Master’s degree in Management Studies in Marketing from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies and a Bachelor’s in Engineering (Production) from Punjab Engineering College.

He is married and has two sons.

Jaideep is an Operations, Procurement and Pre-opening professional with over 28 years of experience in Luxury International hotel chains and Michelin Starred Restaurant chains in India and abroad. Jaideep has been involved with leading many key properties from conceptualization to operations.
An MBA with certifications from AHLEI (CHPM), IIM, XLRI, TQMS etc, he is a specialist in material management, cost management and project Operationalization. Jaideep started his career in the manufacturing sector with a leading international company and then moved to the service sector in the materials function.

Progressing upwards, he worked with well known International hotel chains like Oberois, Hyatt, Taj, The Park, Radisson etc in India and abroad, gathering wide experience in the pre-opening and post opening phases, having been a part of the preopening teams of some prestigious properties like Hyatt Regency Kathmandu, Park Hyatt Goa Resort and Spa, Diani Reef Beach Resort and Spa (Mombasa, Kenya), Taj Vivanta (Hyderabad), Falaknama Palace (Taj, Hyderabad) He finally moved to the niche restaurant sector with Hakkasan and Yauatcha, a London based chain of Restaurants, taking charge of project expansions and Operations, putting up eight restaurants in the short space of two years including the award winning Yauatcha restaurants in Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Bangalore, Café Infinito in Mumbai and Bangalore and Tiffin Box Etc, Mumbai and Bangalore.
He finished his working career as a Vice President of Operations and Pre- Opening in April 2015. Thereafter he branched out on his own and is at the moment a freelance consultant, setting up restaurants, hotels and spas and correcting processes and systems in operations. His experience and background has equipped him with skills which encompasses the whole gamut of the hospitality business including Concept development, Project planning and supervision, Budgeting, Business Strategy, Operational Process Structuring, Procurement and Inventory, Cost Controls, Policy Development, Back of the house process structuring, Training and Vendor Development. Setting up a hospitality business from scratch or turning around an operationally difficult outlet is his proven forte.
A recognized personality in the hospitality space, he is the recipient of many awards, has several published articles in well known hospitality business magazines and is often invited to speak in forums showcasing hospitality. Jaideep is actively associated with HPMF, a world body for procurement professionals spanning 48 countries and having over2100 members – as a core committee and advisory board member. He is also an advisory board member of Promising Indian Society.
Jaideep operates with the philosophy that Smart Management of Resources and People is the key to Profitability. His passions are travel, food and writing and he has written and e-published several novels and short stories.

An alumnus of MIT, Sloan School of Management, Subroto has over twenty years of global leadership experience delivering tangible business impact across roles in sales, marketing, operations and innovation programs in both B2B and consumer enterprises.

At JFL, Subroto is responsible for driving innovation for multiple global brands including Domino’s and Dunkin’ Donuts across South Asia. The program leverages a combination of digital technologies, data driven insights and human centric design to transform consumer experience and drive operational performance.

A recognized thought leader and speaker, Subroto’s work has been featured in leading international publications including Forbes, The Economist and Harvard Business Publishing and recognized at global forums by NASSCOM and Singapore Human Capital Summit.

Mukesh Kumar has almost three decades of rich experience across Retail and Hospitality business. As Chief Executive Officer of K Raheja Constructions owned Infiniti Mall, he is leading both the malls into an admirable retail model. He is responsible for overseeing the entire Operation, Leasing and Marketing of Infiniti Mall, Andheri with a built-up area of 2,75,000 sq ft and Infiniti Mall, Malad having built up area of 1.20 million sq ft. He began his journey in Retail with the launch of Infiniti Mall, Malad in 2011. Mukesh Kumar brings an extensive background of the end to end project coordination, pre-opening, leasing, fit-out and launch of the mall business.

Before Infiniti Mall, he was mentoring Ramada Plaza Palm Grove, a five-star business hotel as Vice President. He has worked with various prestigious Hospitality companies at numerous locations managing Operations, Sales & Marketing, Pre-Opening team and Projects. His stint at American Embassy as General Manager for their Recreation, F&B and Commissary division exposed him to the international community. He is an economics graduate with a diploma in hotel management from a premier Hotel Management School. He is also a Certified General Manager by Ramada International University, Geneva.

An alumini of IHM Hyderabad, Chef Jerson started his career as a management trainee with the French chain-Accor group of hotels under the brand Novotel (Hyderabad) and HICC. His culinary journey boasts of applauded hotels and restaurants including P&O cruise liners, Taj, Accor , Ritz Carlton- Marriott and now at Hotel Sea princess-one of Mumbai’s oldest 5 stars where he currently heads the culinary brigade as the Executive chef.

Jerson has established himself as a critically acclaimed chef and received numerous awards and accolades. He has risen from the ranks of a dish washer to an Executive chef in just 12 years. He has won most of his awards in the young chef category. He was awarded the youngest most talented Chef de Cuisine in the Middle East for Marriott in the year 2011, The most Creative budding Chef of India award in 2014,The Youngest best Executive sous chef award in 2016 and now the emerging Executive chef of the year award in July,2018. He was recognized with a gold medal by the president of IFCA (Chef M. Gill) and the president of World chefs association(Chef T.Googler) for his contribution to the culinary field, in Oct-2018 at Amritsar.

Sumit joined Newly Weds Foods in 2014 to set up the company in India. Since Profile joining, Sumit has taken multiple steps for initial startup of the organization in terms of licenses, compliances, investment etc.
Newly Weds Foods is world largest bread crumb, Seasonings and Coatings Manufacturer from Chicago, US and a well-known ingredient supplier in the Global QSR Space.
In 2015 Sumit played a key role in setting up the companies first R&D and application center at Gurgaon, R&D center played a critical role since then for attracting lot of processors and brand attention.
Under his leadership company is able to invest in India to establish a local manufacturing unit and currently the project is under construction at Gujarat, Vadodara.
Sumit comes with 15 years of rich experience in Food Industry and served many regional roles previously in global FMCG and ingredients companies like Coca Cola, Johnson Diversey, Doehler & Brenntag Ingredients
Sumit is well travelled across the world, bizarre foodie and highly passionate about meat products.
Sumit is a Food Technologist and an MBA pass out from Symbiosis.

Manish Bhartiya is the Director at Ratnadeep Supermarket Pvt. Ltd. He was originally planning to be a Chartered Accountant, but life had other plans in store.

He joined Ratnadeep in 2002 and since then has been an integral part of the Ratnadeep story. He has been stewarding Ratnadeep’s growth for the last two decades, and has his eyes set on making Ratnadeep a successful brand across India.

He is constantly striving to make the supply chain seamless and enhance the CRM loyalty program. The objective being to incorporate all the international best practices and standards in a homegrown chain.

Pankaj Renjhen is the Chief Operating Officer at Virtuous Retail South Asia. With six centres across India and an area of 8.3mn sq.ft under its India retail portfolio and more in the pipeline, VRSA develops, owns and manages community-oriented retail and lifestyle centres. The current portfolio of operational centres includes VR Bengaluru, VR Chennai, VR Surat & VR Punjab
With over 20 years of hands-on experience in the real estate space, Mr. Renjhen brings with him the knowledge and experience of having advised leading corporate occupiers, renowned retailers, private equity players and developers pan India. He also comes with an extensive working experience and understanding of real estate segment across India and Sri Lanka.
Prior to joining Virtuous Retail, he was associated with JLL as the Managing Director of Mumbai and North India, before going on to assuming the role of Managing Director – Retail Services.
He is currently on the CII National Committee on Retail 2017-18. In the past, he has also served on other committees such as the FICCI Retail Committee, Assocham Luxury Committee, and Asia Pacific Board for retail. He has been actively participating in large retail industry events of Images, CII, Assocham and other industry bodies in the capacity of Speaker and Moderator.

Rajendra Kalkar is a professional with more than 25 years of experience spread over Sales, Marketing, Operations, Exports, Retail and Retail Real Estate and is a well-travelled seasoned and a well-recognized and a well-awarded professional with a varied business experience in various business leadership positions.
An Engineer by background with a PGD in Management, he is currently working as The President – West at The Phoenix Mills Ltd and is responsible for Leasing, Marketing, Retail Mix, Legal, Operations, Customer Relationship, Fit-outs, Projects, etc, including the Topline/Bottomline and the commercial success of Palladium & High Street Phoenix, Lower Parel, Mumbai and Phoenix MarketCity’s at Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore.

He has been felicitated with various awards over the years like – 100 Most Influential Leaders in Retail & Shopping Centre in Asia+Africa+GCC and 50 Most Talented Retail Professionals of India and a couple of such similar accolades.

His past experience in the Retail Real Estate includes – Head – Mall Management at DLF and Mall Management at Kshitij CapitaLand.

In the Retail Business line, he is the one responsible to start the Hypermarket Division for (erstwhile) Adani Retail Ltd, Ahmedabad and was the one who started the first big box Hypermarket of India at HyperCITY, Malad, Mumbai.

Prior to Retail, he was involved in F&B, Steel exports and Engg Sales and Marketing with major Indian and International Groups in various capacities.

Nitin Shankar Nagrale
Vice President Materials @ Foodlink Restaurants India Private Limited
Founder and General Secretary – Hospitality Purchasing Managers’ Forum (HPMF)
Nitin Shankar Nagrale is working with Foodlink Restaurants India Private Limited as Vice President Materials
since January 2017.

He brings with him a rich experience of over 24 years during which he has been actively involved in managing procurement and supply chain procedures for key hotels like Taj Mahal Palace & Towers, Taj Lands End (The Regent Mumbai), Grand Hyatt Mumbai, The Westin Mumbai Garden City, Sofitel Mumbai BKC and the upcoming The Chedi Mumbai (formerly Radisson Blu Plaza Mumbai) Director Materials.

He played an instrumental role in purchase of Operating Equipment and Supplies as part of the pre opening team at the Grand Hyatt, Westin Mumbai, Sofitel Mumbai BKC and at The Chedi Mumbai. At Starwood Hotels he has represented India, Bangladesh and Nepal as a region at the Purchasing Council and at Sofitel he was involved in setting up Sofitel Bangkok and Sofitel Bali. Before this he has worked with Jet Airways, RKHS and Dawnay Day India Land Private Limited.

He also worked with M/s Quality New Zealand India as General Manager Supply Chain. A unique business model owned by some world class cricketers of New Zealand like Sir Richard Hadlee, Stephen Fleming,Brandon McCullum and Daniel Vettori.

Nitin graduated from Mumbai University with a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce. He has obtained Diploma in Materials Management from IIMM Bangalore and Diploma in Hotel Management in Catering Technology & applied Nutrition from IHM, Mumbai. He has also completed Masters in Marketing Management from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai.

Nitin has been awarded with the Hall of Fame Award by Trinity at Goa, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Lifetime Achievement Award 2018 at Bangalore, Hospitality Professional of the Year 2018 at MODI (Making Of Developed India) Awards For Excellence In Hospitality & Tourism, Best Procurement Manager at India Hospitality Awards 2017, Most Admired Procurement Person of the Year at CMO Asia 2017, National Award at India Hospitality + F&B Pro Goa 2017, Jury Award for Exemplary Contributions to the
Profession at Indian Hospitality Awards 2017, Face of the Future by India Hospitality Awards 2016, Procurement Leader of the Year 2016 Award at Hotelier India Summit in June 2016 and Excellence in People Development Award from CPO Forum in July 2015. He was awarded the first “Business Manager of the year 2001-2002” and recognized as “Best Manager on Duty” at The Regent, Mumbai. He is also been awarded with “Certificate of Appreciation” for successfully opening of the Grand Hyatt Mumbai, The Westin Mumbai Garden City and Sofitel Mumbai BKC. In 2010 and in 2016 he was among the finalists the “Best Procurement Manager Year Award” from Hotelier India.

He is the First Person in the World to have completed the CERTIFIED HOTEL PURCHASE MANAGER Certification Course from American Hotel and Lodging Education Institute (AHLEI). He has authored many articles in various Hospitality Magazines on Materials Management and Supply Chain Management.

In 2010 Nitin founded a forum for hospitality procurement professionals named Hospitality Purchasing Managers’ Forum. HPMF is first of its kind initiative in India which aims to provide a platform for confluence of buyers from hotels, restaurants, catering, airline industry and manufacturers and traders catering to hospitality industry. Today HPMF has over 2100 members from over 1800 organizations across India.

He also has created a professional group on LinkedIn called Materials Management which has more than 55,000 professionals as members from different parts of the world.

Rakhee Vaswani is a celebrity chef, culinary expert, food consultant, teacher, author, cooking show host, entrepreneur and above all, a food lover at heart. Certified by Le Cordon Bleu at Gordon Ramsay’s Tante Marie in London, she is touted to be the ‘Desi Nigella’ of India, Rakhee is a natural with flavors and textures, her biggest asset being her strong palate and a deep-rooted passion for the culinary arts and food the industry.

Dinika Bhatia belongs to one of India’s very well respected dry-fruit trading families but instead of joining their ancestral business, she decided to give interesting twist to their business and that is how Nutty Gritties was born, which is all about making fruits interesting by infusing flavors. Dinika is a business graduate from Marshall school of business and a TED speaker.

Dina Mukherjee is currently CEO – Moviecard.com and Director- Carnival Cinemas. Dina is a post graduate from Narsee Monjee and has worked with Future Group and Pan India Foods. Dina is known in the industry for her exemplary work in the area of consumer insights and brand management.

Ashish is a Managing Director and co-founder of Avaana Capital, a business building led PE fund focusing on early-growth stage companies. Avaana Capital focuses on investments in consumer, financial services and allied sectors.

Prior to joining Avaana Capital, Ashish was a founding member and Principal at India Alternatives – an Indian growth private equity fund. At India Alternatives, Ashish was responsible for investments across various sectors. Over the last decade, Ashish has led investments and evaluated several businesses across various sectors, including consumer and financial services. Some of his investments at India Alternatives include Enamor and Seclore Technologies.

A rank holding Chartered Accountant, Ashish has also completed his MBA from MDI Gurgaon and has experience across multiple asset classes including private equity, structured finance and corporate banking.

Expertise:
28 years of extensive & varied experience in the field of Cuisine, Food Operations & Manufacturing.
Food Start Up, wide range of Food & Beverage Operations, Food Manufacturing, Innovation, Business Development, Strategy Implementation, Global Cuisine, Global Chef Association Board, Oberoi School of Management, Culinary Consultancy, Facility Planning, World’s Best Hotels & Resorts.

Professional Experience:

2008 – 19
Director Culinary, Innovation & Business Development
Global Innovation Council & Global Culinary Council, Griffith Foods

1990 – 2008
The Oberoi School of Hotel Management
The Oberoi Hotels & Resorts

Food & Beverage Operations, Food Manufacturing RTE, RTC (ready to eat & ready to cook), exposure across various operations including world’s best hotels & resorts, concept restaurants, retail, protein processors, snack processors, cruise liners, flight kitchens, delicatessen, resort kitchens, volume convention centers, banquet kitchens, institutional catering, fast casual & QSR chains.

Exposure across 25 plus countries: Covering Global Cuisine, Food Operations & Food Manufacturing.

Co -authored two cook books.

Education & Qualifications:
Post Graduate Oberoi School of Management (Gold Medalist)
Global Chefs Association ~ WACS Education Board Member.

Karan currently heads the hospitality and food services verticals of K Hospitality Corp, which includes the indian cuisine and lifestyle branded platforms (brands such as Copper Chimney, Irish House and Bombay Brasserie) and the Banqueting & Catering vertical. Prior to this, Karan oversaw the setup and early growth of Travel Food Services, part of K Hospitality Corp, and the F&B Concession Management vertical, under the banner of Global Kitchens across India and Abroad.

Karan has a B.A. In Economics from Northwestern University, a Certificate in Finance from the Kellogg School of Management, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

I am Chef Nitin Puri , with 20 years of experience spread across various domain of food hospitality such as in restaurants chains , food retail chains , FMCG companies .

Have been associated with top most celebrity chefs of the country and have done extensive work in conceptualization and set up of new projects in commissaries , Restaurants , food courts , Kiosk and food retail outlets with in India and at International location.

Have been involved in research and development work in brands such as Yellow chilli , TGI Fridays , twenty four seven , Singapore Airlines , Dr. Oetker and now currently working as Corporate Executive Chef for Unilever food Solutions India.

Ian Wright is Chief Executive of the Food & Drink Federation. FDF is the representative voice of the companies and trade associations which make up the UK’s largest manufacturing sector. He joined in March 2015. Before then he spent 14 years with Diageo plc – the world’s largest drinks business. He was the executive committee member responsible for its reputation as it became one of the world’s most trusted and respected companies. Earlier, he worked for Boots The Chemist, Mars Confectionery and Pillsbury and had spells in consultancy and politics.

Solai Sakthivel is the Senior Vice President & Head of Buying & Merchandising (Food Business) at SPAR Hypermarkets. He is responsible for leading the growth of SPAR Hypermarket’s food business across divisions like FMCG, Staples, Dairy/Frozen, Liquor, Fish & Meat, Fruits & Vegetables and Live Kitchen. Additionally, he is also in-charge of departments like Private Label, Space Planning & Quality/Compliance. He joined SPAR Hypermarkets 18 months back, after having successful stints with companies like Amazon, Walmart, ABRL & Future Group handling multiple roles over the last 15 years.

Solai Sakthivel is the Senior Vice President & Head of Buying & Merchandising (Food Business) at SPAR Hypermarkets. He is responsible for leading the growth of SPAR Hypermarket’s food business across divisions like FMCG, Staples, Dairy/Frozen, Liquor, Fish & Meat, Fruits & Vegetables and Live Kitchen. Additionally, he is also in-charge of departments like Private Label, Space Planning & Quality/Compliance. He joined SPAR Hypermarkets 18 months back, after having successful stints with companies like Amazon, Walmart, ABRL & Future Group handling multiple roles over the last 15 years.

With a successful career spanning over eighteen years in the F&B industry, I have strived to cultivate my passion and love for food into my flourishing profession. I have been fortunate to helm some of the finest projects in the industry over my tenure.
A trained chef from Mumbai’s Sophia College, I have worked with some of the best chefs in the industry. I have served an important role in the opening team for Citrus Group of Hotels where I shouldered the responsibility of launching the flagship five star properties at Pune and travelled nationally to launch all the other group properties.

As a key part of the team, I have had a major contribution in the successful launch of Le Pain Quotidien (LPQ) in India, a Belgium-based brand with a global presence, which is also one of New York’s favorite eateries.
I have had an extensive stint with television culinary shows, where I was actively involved with channel Sony’s show Sanjeev Kapoor Ke Kitchen Khiladi. We successfully completed over 130 episodes of this show and had a decent viewership. I have also had an opportunity to work with channel ETV as a Chef and have anchored more than 150 episodes of the channel’s food and lifestyle show “Mejwani”.

I have been associated with K-Hospitality for six years, where I was heading the culinary department as the Cooperate Executive Chef, overlooking and managing the popular brands The Irish House- the award winning pub with presence across Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Chennai, and soon in Bangalore and Delhi. Serafina- New York’s famous Italian eatery, As a perfectionist, attention to detail is paramount for me and it reflects in the projects I work on. My passion has earned me recognition for my keen understanding of ingredients; wherein I can manage to turn simple things into preparations that collectively delight your taste buds.
I have been fortunate to lead some great teams in my career wherein I could grab some good opportunities and convert them to achievable fortes.
With my proven dedication to optimizing corporate success, along with my acute culinary abilities to excel within challenging environments, I look forward to contribute immensely to the success of my organization as the Vice President of Chiliad Procons Pvt. Ltd.

Mohit Kampani is the Chief Executive Officer of Aditya Birla Retail Ltd. Mohit joined the AB Group in October 2016. He has over 24 years of professional work experience having worked with diverse consumer-facing businesses across geographies and functions.

In the past he has worked with Spencer’s Retail, Colgate-Palmolive, ICI Paints and Jumbo Electronics, Dubai. Prior to his current role, he was the Managing Director at Spencer’s Retail Ltd.

Mohit is an MBA from XIM, Bhubaneswar and a BCom(H) from Calcutta University.”

Kumar Gaurav – A graduate from IHM Bangalore, MBA from Symbiosis and MA in Mass communication. Have 17 year plus experience in MNC and Start-up of several Retail/Food Services and franchise Business at Senior Strategic Position of companies like Hotel Grand Ashoka, Pizza Hut, GFA, Citymax Hospitality and Billionsmiles Hospitality. Have pioneered and opened more than 60 plus retail setup between different Indian and International markets of Bangalore/Pune/Mumbai/Ahmedabad/Hyderabad/Chennai, Oman, Thailand, Sudan, and Malaysia. Have handled Companies at the level of P&L , Business development, Company growth strategy, Project and new outlet investment.

Prior to his current role as CFO of Nando’s India, Vishal Gupta worked in leadership roles at Baxter, Marico and DSM, in the areas of Finance, business strategy, and operations. His journey from healthcare to food makes some folks nervous, but the synergies he brings to the table make it worth the while. He is a Chartered Accountant and an INSEAD alumni. Mr Gupta loves running marathons, enjoys a glass of wine, and is a big fan of CrossFit.

As Vice President in Customer Development in Hindustan Unilever Limited, Dheeraj currently heads the Modern Trade business, Institutional Business as well as e-Commerce in India. In current role, his focus has been on delivering profitable, market beating growths in the fast emerging organised trade channel in India for HUL and at the same time building world class working partnerships with all leading retailers. Prior to this, he was General Manager for Central India handling the biggest unit (branch) for Unilever India spread across 5 states with a population of 460 Mn, having a distribution network of 1K distributors and directly servicing 0.4 Mn + outlets. Dheeraj has been with Unilever for over 13 years. He has worked across General Trade, Modern Trade, Customer Marketing, CD Operations and CD-IT across India and in Global Team. He was the Director RTM for S Asia, Africa and NAMET-Rub and CD-IT prior to taking over his current role as GM – Central India. Dheeraj holds a Mechanical Engineering degree and a Business Management degree, and has worked with Britannia Industries Limited prior to Unilever.

Shwetha is a second generation entrepreneur, who shoulders the delicate responsibility of carrying forward the legacy of Nandhana, built by his visionary father, Dr. R Ravichandar. Born to a family that actively devoted their energies to build the brand Nandhana, Shwetha was groomed to take over the business and started to learn the tricks and trade of the business from her younger years.

Born in Bengaluru, Shwetha has completed her graduation from Stella Maris in Chennai and went on to earn her Masters in Finance from Warwick University
in England.

Shwetha was instrumental in planning and executing the expansion of Nandhana chain of restaurants by strategically identifying key locations in Bengaluru.
Shwetha is also credited for the transformation of Nandhana by spicing up its menu to include regional, national and international cuisines. Since her elevation as the Director, Shwetha has influenced numerous changes in Nandhana including initiating systems and processes to closely guard the recipes as well as to maintain the consistency of taste across all its branches.

At Nandhana, Shwetha jugg les many responsibilities and is actively involved in overseeing day to day responsibilities, managing brand reputation of Nandhana and constantly innovating with experimentation to meet the demands of the young urban populace. Her efforts have bought laurels to Nandhana by winning numerous awards including Times Food Award in 2016 and Restaurants India Award in 2016.

In her journey with Nandhana so far, Shwetha has defied the norm in restaurant industry, which till today is largely dominated by men.

“Enterprising Leader & planner with rich experience in Profit Centre Management, Franchisee Development & Management, F&B Operations, Kitchen & Equipment planning and Brand Standard ”.

Prior to his current role as Head of Ops at Nando’s India, he has worked in leadership roles with Travel Food Services & SSP(Select Service Partner) as GM in building and operating Airport F&B operations India and UAE. He is Hotel Management graduate loves playing Tennis, running and love to indulge in experimental cooking.

Mr. Prashanth Gowriraju is a Serial Entrepreneur with a degree in Computer Science and MBA. He has
previously worked in the Business Development Function at Infosys and Monster.com.
Prashanth has been an innovator from the start, passionately focusing on the intersection of
creativity, brand and business strategy. He has a vast experience in driving innovation within an
entrepreneurial company and has the apt ability to collaborate with all levels of an organization to
inspire vision, direction and action around new business initiatives. Marketing, brand strategy,
innovation process and methodology, creative problem solving and team building are his forte.

Mr. Prashanth Gowriraju is a Serial Entrepreneur with a degree in Computer Science and MBA. He has
previously worked in the Business Development Function at Infosys and Monster.com.
Prashanth has been an innovator from the start, passionately focusing on the intersection of
creativity, brand and business strategy. He has a vast experience in driving innovation within an
entrepreneurial company and has the apt ability to collaborate with all levels of an organization to
inspire vision, direction and action around new business initiatives. Marketing, brand strategy,
innovation process and methodology, creative problem solving and team building are his forte.

Mr Kapur has been a pioneer in the Indian F&B Industry and has been behind some of India’s leading F&B brands and companies. Under his leadership, K Hospitality Corp has expanded into one of the largest privately held Hospitality and Food Services Corporations in India, with operations across specialty restaurants, cafes, bars, food courts, travel retail, large F&B concession management, banqueting, as well as outdoor, sports & industrial catering. Starting from a single restaurant under the brand name of Copper Chimney in 1972, today the group employs over 5,000 employees across its various F&B operations, and has built up a presence across the length and breadth of the country in all verticals of the food & beverage business

Mr. Varun Tuli is the Managing Director of Yum Yum Cha, a first of its kind chain of origami themed pan Asian restaurants. Yum Yum Cha started its journey in 2014 at Select Citywalk Mall in New Delhi. With unprecedented love from the people of Delhi, it expanded to DLF Cyber Hub in 2016, Khan Market in 2017 and DLF Promenade in 2018.

Mr. Tuli is a continuously innovating entrepreneur as his past endeavors show. His first venture – Yum Yum Tree was India’s first restaurant with the concept of conveyor belt sushi that had a successful 8-year run.

Mr. Tuli set up Food Inc: Catering by the Yum Yum Tree in 2012. It has had exponential growth in both India and overseas. Serving its clients the best of Indian, Pakistani & Coastal, European & American, Japanese & Pan Asian Fare.

He also he started Noshi-Yum Asian Delivery in 2016 which has rapidly grown to be Delhi’s favorite home delivery with its delicious Pan Asian food and innovative packaging. His newest venture is Mmmbox, Dubai – an Indian and Pan Asian cuisine takeaway and home delivery outlet.

Mohit Pruthi has been a part of the Bharti Group for more than 3 years. A seasoned professional with more than 18 years of experience in the BFSI and Real Estate Industry,

Mohit is currently heading the Retail Business along with Marketing & Brand Communications at Bharti Realty. An enthusiastic contributor and a highly dynamic member of Bharti Realty’s Leadership Executive Committee, he has significantly aligned
his efforts towards making Bharti Realty the ‘most admired real estate developer’ in the country.

Previous eminent organisations that are a part of Mohit’s repertoire include: BPTP Ltd.,where he developed extensive emerging market strategies focused on the company’s distribution towards various residential projects in Delhi NCR. Mohit spent 6 years towards building the businesses at PNB MetLife India Insurance Company where he was a vital resource in transforming both the Bancassurance & Agency functions, including business development & direct to agent domains. Prior to that he has worked with various leading multinational banks both in India &overseas such as ABN AMRO,Standard Chartered, ICICI Bank at senior levels setting up business verticals under the retail banking and wealth management umbrella.

Mohit is a certified professional from the National Institute of Sales and completed his higher education from Delhi University & Amity University. Additionally he has completed various executive leadership programs from prestigious global institutions like INSEAD Singapore, ISB Hyderabad & The Wharton School.

A brief headsup

1. Currently responsible to take Express Avenue to the next level of evolution & growth as a CRO
2. Worked with JLL & Phoenix Mills for 8 years playing an instrumental role in Planning, Leasing & Opening the Phoenix Marketcities @ Pune Bengalooru & Chennai

Experience
Mr. Mukul Bafana is a co-founder & CEO of Arvind Internet. Prior to joining Arvind Internet, Mr. Bafana was a co-founder & managing director at Jabong.com. In past professional lives, Mr. Bafana has worked in a strategy role at Google, private equity at Bain Capital, and as a management consultant at McKinsey &Co. across various geographies and industries.

Education
Mr. Bafana received an MBA from Harvard Business School. He also received a BBA with high distinction in finance and computer information systems from the University of Michigan Business School..

I have over 25 years’ experience in Sales and Marketing .

Starting my career with sales of IT products in The Sanjay Dalmia Group at Chennai, I moved to Godrej & Boyce in their erstwhile division-EBE.I was responsible for the sales of fax machine and Electronic Typewriters based out of Chennai. I then moved to National Panasonic in their Systems Division for handling their business of Communication as well as IT Products for Southern Region .

In the year 2000, I changed my industry and joined Blue Star in their newly created ROOM AC DIVISION as their Regional Manager for South based out of Chennai. The next 6 years saw me being moved across the country to handle the Eastern Region and SAARC based out of Kolkata and then the Northern Region operation of this division based out of Delhi.

In 2006 with the market looking to expand on the retail side as well as on the HORECA segment, I was moved to the Head office to handle the new businesses like retail as well as Refrigeration solutions for the HORECA Industry. I was responsible for the tie ups the co established with many foreign partners in these fields. I subsequently handled the Product Management function for the entire Refrigeration Products business. Then I handled the National sales operation of the Refrigeration Products Division for about 3 years before moving into my current role.

In my current role, I am responsible for the

a) Sales Operations of Key Account Business for the Commercial Refrigeration division,
b) The Product management Function for the Division
c) sales Operation of The New Lines of Business like our Foray into

Commercial Kitchen Refrigeration
Healthcare Refrigeration
Retail Refrigeration. “

.

Gresham Fernandes couldn’t have known it then, but growing up in a Christian joint family in Bandra with his father’s four brothers and innumerable cousins, and a matriarch with legendary culinary skills would give him the perfect head-start to a career that was a way of life for him.

From tending and breeding chickens, ducks and pigs at home (that would eventually end up as Christmas Dinner) to taking morning jaunts with Granny to the pork and fish markets in nearby Chimbai, bargaining with vegetable vendors and picking the freshest ingredients to attending community weddings where everyone got together to cook up a storm – and then all that cutting, weeding, chopping, cleaning, and eventually cooking gourmet East Indian delights with Granny’s age-old recipes and secrets gave young Gresham the art of culinary skills as his inheritance.

Even though his parents shifted to Andheri East when he was five, the weekends spent back at the ancestral home with friends and family kept the Bandra connection alive. By the time he finished 12 th Standard, the family had shifted back to Bandra and he knew he didn’t want to get into Arts, Science or Commerce. With two uncles who had made successful careers as chefs in the Middle East, his family welcomed his enrollment to Rizvi College of Hotel Management. Gresham propelled straight to the top of his class, while his fellow students were just getting acquainted with the workings of a kitchen. But he was reluctant when pushed to managerial tasks by his professor and requested to stay in the kitchen so he could remain his reclusive self and let his skills do the talking. That’s when he had the epiphany that this is what he wanted to do for the rest of his life.

Humility and that sense of restraint is still a trademark of Gresham, usually referred to as Gresh. From the frying pan of Rizvi to being placed into the fire of The Leela’s five-star kitchen under the able guidance of Executive Chef and free spirit Frank Mueller provided Gresham with the finishing touches. Going from Chef de Partie to the Section Head at the Bakery and then getting confirmed in the kitchen in just three and a half years gave him the experience and encouragement that he needed to start experimenting. With the departure of Mueller, Gresh was on the lookout for another avenue.

His friend – Chef Brainard from Mocha (the flagship brand of Impresario Entertainment & Hospitality Pvt. Ltd.) introduced him to the CEO Riyaaz Amlani and their easy work relationship took off. Riyaaz inducted Gresh into his new, ambitious venture on Marine Drive – Salt Water Grill (SWG) under Chef Viraf Patel in 2004. The mandate at SWG was to experiment with cuisines and palates. Gresh spent his days in SWG (from 2004 and 2006), riding his bike out from Bandra to Marine Drive and cooking up recipes and ideas in his head on the way there. He still follows that tradition of using his bike rides on the open road as a peaceful and sound thinking board, but it was those building years that gave Gresh the platform to change popular gastronomic notions and challenge himself creatively.

When SWG shut down in 2006, Gresh went on to open Aurus in Juhu under Chef Vicky and furthered his culinary skills, while cementing his reputation as an experimental chef working at the cutting edge of multiple cuisines. They explored Chef’s Tables and the world of Molecular Gastronomy together. So when Riyaaz Amlani (Impresario) wanted to open his homegrown café in Bandra, he approached Gresh and gave him his first restaurant kitchen in the form of Salt Water Café (2009). SWC’s casual chic and mouth-watering comfort fare became an instant landmark on the discerning Bandra scene with loyal guests who still come back for more at an average of three times a week.

Gresh and Riyaaz then moved on to launch their dream gastronomical project in 2011 – Smoke House Room in New Delhi, a modernist fine dining restaurant where Gresh experimented with flavour combinations, textures to put inspiration on the plate.

In January 2013, Gresh went to Copenhagen to hone his skills and gain an experience of a lifetime, after he was one of only 30 people from around the world to be selected for a culinary residency program with the best restaurant in the world: Noma – a global sensation that’s the talk of the culinary world. Creating stories behind every dish, Gresh still attributes everything to his cultural upbringing. Mixing his Bandra roots with the five essential tastes of salty, sweet, bitter, acidic and umami – Gresh continues to innovate with unparalleled permutations and combinations, to offer you a hint of the familiar fused with a delightful new world of undiscovered textures and tastes.

History has seen many a stories of people moving from rags to riches but this is a story of selling papads to winning hearts! A gentle soul with a modest outlook has been on a noble mission of transforming the lives of many. From absolute humble beginnings, Mr. Vajirali’s journey till date validates the fact that there should never be a reason for not following your heart.

Mr. Vajirali has been there, seen it all and done it all – from a restaurant employee in 1999 to selling papads in 2003; the brand name of which went on to give an identity to his next business venture; to spice trading, there has been no looking back for Mr. Vajirali. Seizing a business opportunity of supplying food and other raw materials to more than 750 hotels and restaurants located on the highways of Gujarat sealed the foundation of a joint venture; Ashish Enterprises launched in 2005.

The year 2008 saw the successful merger of Hearty Mart Supermarket and Ashish Enterprise giving birth to Hearty Mart Enterprise (HME). This merger resulted in a pooling of abundant talent and resources that aided the growth of the brand.

Mumbai has been a ‘City of Dreams’ for many but for Mr. Vajirali, Ahmedabad has been a city where his dreams have come true and which has further been a provider for many. Starting early in life and living through different & difficult circumstances, Mr. Vajirali’s experiential learning is responsible for molding his businesses and today it is a much touted business model. These successes did not just create profitable business ventures but also many more productively driven entrepreneurs. He has been a huge contributing factor for the upliftment of his village, Saathal where people depended upon daily wages to put food on their tables at the end of the day Mr. Nadeem Jafri and Mr. Vajirali have been the magicians who have waved the wand of Hearty Mart Enterprises and turned around the lives of many by providing business and employment opportunities and a secure quality life.

Dr. Prabodh Halde , Head Technical Regulatory Marico Ltd. & Immediate Past President of Association of Food Scientists and Technologists of India CFTRI Mysore, and a renowned Food Technologist with a well-rounded, multi-disciplinary experience , he is also Convener of Regulatory & Legal Cell of SEA India.
Prabodh has enormous practical industrial experience in the areas of Quality and Food Safety, he is a lead auditor for ISO 9001/14001/OSHAS 18001/ISO 22000 systems. Prabodh is a prominent office-bearer in some of the leading Food Safety organizations in India. His responsibilities include serving as the Chairman of All India Food Processing Association (AIPFI) Maharashtra state, Convener Regulatory committee SEA India, a Technical Committee member of IBHA, a Board of Management member at BHM SNDT Mumbai, Member of Regulatory committee CIFTI-FICCI,CII,PFNDAI & RAI India etc.
He has mentored over 20 food startups and created the ecosystem wherein over 300 new startups will be benefited.
He has participated in the Indian delegation to CODEX meetings four times at China and Malaysia in 2012, 2013, 2015 & 2017. Prabodh NLRP ( National Level Resource Person ) for FSSAI & He has personally trained more than 2000 Food Safety Officers so far as part of TOT and FSO training program.
An accomplished motivational and Technical speaker, he has delivered more than a two hundred seminars and lectures at different conferences all across India and abroad on Food Processing / Quality and Food Safety. His chosen area of expertise is Food Safety and Food Regulations. As recognition of his expertise, he was selected to be part of a PMO visit delegation to Tajikistan as a food industry expert in June 2015. In May 2017, he was invited by US state department for 21 days of exchange program at USA as food safety expert under Leadership exchange program. He is recipient of Globoil food safety award 2018 and Out standing regulatory award 2018 by AIFPA India .
He has started various innovative programs in AFST Viz Project Ashirwad, Project Avishkar, Project Power talk and Project Parampara. All these programs are now popular at national level . He has written much-appreciated books on Food Safety regulations for sectors such as the Oil industry, Bakery Industry and the Retail industry. These informative books have proved to be very useful guides for Food Business Operators. He has also published 5 motivational books for students named ‘Prabodhika’ , recently 5th Prabodhika was blessed by HE Shri Ramnath Kovind, Preisdent of India on 5th January 2018.

Bimal heads the Retail business for CBRE in India and is responsible for the growth and delivery of the business across the country. With almost 2 decades of experience in the retail real estate sector, he has been involved in a wide range of assignments for leading developers (including feasibility studies, shopping center advisory, design advisory and creating leasing strategies), as well as for reputed retailers (including market entry and store expansion strategies).

In his previous role, Bimal spearheaded Business Development for the leading multiplex operator – Cinepolis and successfully assisted them in executing an ambitious expansion plan across the county. In his tenure with the leading South India developer – Prestige Estates, Bimal helped lease their 3 key shopping center developments in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mangalore. He has also been the South India Regional Head of Retail business for Jones Lang LaSalle and has undertaken extensive landlord and tenant representation assignments during the same.

Having worked through the entire spectrum of the retail real estate business in his various professional roles; as a real estate developer, as a retailer, and as a consultant – Bimal is valued by his clients for his ability to provide deep industry insights and to create holistic property solutions for them.

Currently responsible to take Express Avenue to the next level of evolution & growth as a CRO
Worked with JLL & Phoenix Mills for 8 years playing an instrumental role in Planning, Leasing & Opening the Phoenix Marketcities @ Pune Bengalooru & Chennai

Commerce Graduate from Mumbai Industry. 

Worked with Nilkamal Plastics briefly before joining Hospitality Industry.

Total experience in Hospitality industry for 21 years.

Worked with Kohinoor hotels for 10 years in various capacities in stores and Purchase with last assignment as Asst. Purchase Manager.

Worked in Citymax Hospitality in Pre-opening team for opening of food courts, coffee shops and speciality restaurants on pan India basis.  

Worked with Four Points by Sheraton, first four points property in India in pre-opening team and worked as purchase Manager after hotel became operational.

Joined back Kohinoor Hotels and was part of pre-opening team for Kohinoor elite hotel.  

Currently working as DGM – Materials and is responsible for the Hospitality division of Kohinoor Hotels. 

Naveen Gupta, currently with Bikaji Foods International Ltd. As Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Since Sep 2016.

Have PGDBA degree from SCDL, Pune and Commerce graduate from Punjab University.

Prior to Bikaji Foods, worked with Karbonn Mobiles as VP-Sales & Distribution along with Panasonic mobility business (2010-16). Have work experience as National Key Accounts Manager with Biotique (2009-10) , Key Accounts Manager with Dabur India Ltd (2004-2010)

Began the career as Sales Officer with Nestle India Ltd. (1997-2004).

Mr. Amit Agarwal serves as Managing Director, M/s. Ashokasha Exim Pvt. Ltd., a company formed with the focus on bringing the best international foods in India.
He learned the ropes of sourcing and distributing international foods at a young age in Nepal where his family company was the in-country exclusive importer for Kraft Foods (now Mondelez).

He has good exposure of the international food & grocery markets (mainly MENA and Levant) with a 3-year stint in Dubai. He is currently focused on the growth of “Golden Prize”, a leading brand of shelf-stable seafood products, in India and other global markets. An avid traveler with a passion to try the best local food, he is currently a doting father to his eleven-month daughter.

Harvey Rodrigues has over 22 years of experience in procurement planning, profit center management. Purchase operations with reputed names in the hospitality industry. A thorough purchasing professional with broad experience in all aspects of supply chain management. He was actively involved in establishing Rodas, Meluha the Fern and other Fern group properties, setting up their procurement department, recruitment and training of team members, policy creation, procurement of all operating equipments and supplies FF&E and consumables. He is an active purchase professional and a lover of nature who keep a strict check on the packaging material,  procurement of environmentally products, support local economy and Make in India initiative.

Mr. Vajirali Momin’s journey from selling papads to becoming the Group CEO of Hearty Mart has been an inspiring one. He has been associated with Hearty Mart right from its initial years when it started as a supermarket in Ahmedabad’s Juhapura area, making everything from groceries and fmcg available to the local populace, but under the leadership of Mr. Momin, it has now scaled up into 9 companies and 14 retail outlets across Gujarat. Mr. Momin looks after the growth of all the companies of the brand, and also oversees the operations of Hearty Mart’s retail outlets and makes sure they all work in unison for the achievement of the vision of the group as a whole.

Innovator, entrepreneur, baker, mom – Sabina is the heart and soul behind the Serapheena brand. Her passion for baking, coupled with a deep understanding of local and international dietary trends, has translated into a product line that seamlessly fits in with modern Indian tastes and lifestyle. She heads product development, branding and recipe formulation. So what’s the secret ingredient? Simple, it’s love.

Udayraj Prabhu have consistently delivered substantial business benefits,thought leadership, capability building, developing a culture ofresponsiveness, excellence, ownership in varied functions inPlanning & Distribution, Procurement, International trade, HumanResources, Subcontract management, Business Strategy andAgricultural extension, Information technology, Analytics, DigitalTransformation, Value Enhanacement, Sustainability & CorporateSocial Responsibility.

Strengths: Analytical, Relator, Learner, Responsibility, AchieverChallenge is my key Career Anchor.

Experience
Marico Limited
Executive Vice President Business Process Transformation & IT
September 2018 – Present
Mumbai Area, India
Leads the Information Technology, Analytics, Business ProcessTransformation & Value Enhancement funtion. Delivers Customer access,engagement, connect & advocacy thru Digital transformation. Deliversimplification, efficiency & compliance thru Business Process Transformationincluding use of RPA, etc. Indentify cross-funtional, outside-in, innovativeinitiatives to generate value by reducing costs or increasing top-line thru ValueEnhancement. Develop Analytics capability & deliver insights for quicker &insightful decisionmaking using AI/ML. Provide a robust IT backbone throughan array of Business/Inhouse/Saas Software, On-prem/Cloud Infra, secure &scable infrastructure & netowork, adequate cysecurity & data protection.

Marico Limited
4 years 11 months

Head Corporate Social Responsibility
April 2018 – Present
Page 1 of 5
Mumbai Area, India

As Secretary to the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee of MaricoLimited I have a unique opportunity to work with a very spirited team whichlives the Marico Purpose of “Make a Difference” by working in field of providingeducation to those who don’t have easy access to it, improving the knowledgeof our children about safe & nutritious food, driving water conservation effortsto conserve & provide water for irrigation, doubling of Coconut farmers incomeby improving productivity & many other impact making initiatives.

Executive Vice President and Head Procurement
October 2017 – August 2018 (11 months)
Mumbai Area, India

Responsible for leading global procurement function at Marico, aboutUSD 500 million across India & International geographies, including agri-commodities, packing materials & other raw materials. Drving CategoryManagement, Supplier Realtionship Management, Commodity Forecasting,Long Term Supply Assurance, Commercial Compliance, Sustainability todeliver direct material cost savings, ensuring long term & short term availability& succesful delivery of new product launches. Building a tstring team & cultureof resposiveness, agility, excellence & compliance.

Head Procurement
March 2014 – September 2017 (3 years 7 months)
Mumbai

Responsible for leading global procurement function at Marico, about USD 500million across India & International geographies, including agri-commodities,packing materials & other raw materials.
Sodexo India
VP Supply Chain
March 2012 – March 2014 (2 years 1 month)
Mumbai

Executive Committee Members of Sodexo Onsite Solutions India leading ateam which manages large supply-chain which procures over 10000 SKUs &services thru local & global sourcing & distributes to over 1000 locations thruout the contry thru a large distribution network.Delivered cost-savings in high inflation environment thru strategic categorymanagement, expanding distribution capabilities & building a performanceculture, commercial compliance & strong team.

SRI Consulting
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Partner
August 2010 – February 2012 (1 year 7 months)
Mumbai

Responsible for developing the consulting business in India & deliveryingsuccessful business value to clients. Included pre-sales, sales, Preliminary gapanalysis & Delivery.Developed strategic understanding of various industries including steelpipes, lighting equipment, motor-cycle, palstic moulding, pumps & motors,retail, textile, steel joints, media, telecom, pharmaceuticals, financial services,jewelry, plastic products.

Marico
9 years 10 months
Head Supply Chain Development & CNO Planning
June 2009 – July 2010 (1 year 2 months)

Heading a cross-functional team from Sales, Planning, Buying, Manufacturingwhich had the mandate to transfrom Marico’s supplychain to ensure near100% service level to consumer at the lowest system cost.The project not only improved availability of Marico’s products across thecountry but also reduced costs substantially. It has successfully roled out manyinnovative initiatives in the Indian CPG space.The project “Dus Ka Dum” won the Innovation Award 2010.Planning for the Coconut Oil franchise of Marico.Won the Values Award 2010 for demonstrating the values of CustomerCentric, Bias for Action & Excellence

Head Business Applications
October 2006 – June 2009 (2 years 9 months)
Leading a Team of Managers to deliver business benefit thru implementation,maintenance & support of enterprise applications like SAP-R3, BIW, APO/SCM, SEM, SRM HRMS, Employee Portal, IBM Cognos TM1.The role involves understanding/unearthing users needs, gap analysis, benefitmapping, converting to IT solution & implementing it.Scanning the environment for technology forward solutions &championing them internally to provide cutting edge to the business.Won the Diamond EDGE Awards 2009 from Network Computing for“Automation of Banking Transaction”

The Cognos implementation was amongst the three finalist for the “MostInnovative Solution Using Information Management” at the “The Great MindChallenge for Business Awards 2009”.Project Integra: SAP Implementation in Marico, South Africa won the IBGValues Award.
Head Buying (Edible Oils)
April 2005 – September 2006 (1 year 6 months)

Responsible for strategic procurement of USD 50 Mln raw materials (bothimports & domestic) for the edible oils part of the business, leading ateam of Buying managersWinner of Innovation Award 2005 for masterminding & successfulimplementation of an extremely radical Kardi Sourcing strategy, whichhas effectively provided effective control over raw material pricing &availability.Successful implementation of overseas contract farming in Australia for Kardi.

Manager Buying
June 2001 – March 2005 (3 years 10 months)

Responsible of domestic procurement of Safflower & Sunflower Oil.Leading an Agri-extension team to increase local availability.Initiated Risk Management by futures trading of Soya on NBOT commodityexchange

Manager ERP
October 2000 – May 2001 (8 months)
I handled the MM portion of SAP-R3 implementation. The SAP team won theSAP Star implementation award

Godrej Agrovet Ltd
Manager Purchase
June 1998 – September 2000 (2 years 4 months)

Responsible for purchase of of Agricommodities like extractions, grains, feedadditives
Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co Ltd
Inplant Trainee
June 1995 – December 1995 (7 months)

Worked as a full-time inplant trainee for 6 months as a part of 7th semester.

Education
Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
PGDM, Operations · (1996 – 1998)

University of Mumbai
Bachelor of Engineering, Production · (1992 – 1996)

K J Somaiya College of Science & Commerce
HSC, Science · (1990 – 1992)

VPM
SSC · (1980 – 1990)

Ian Wright is Chief Executive of the Food & Drink Federation. FDF is the representative voice of the companies and trade associations which make up the UK’s largest manufacturing sector. He joined in March 2015. Before then he spent 14 years with Diageo plc – the world’s largest drinks business. He was the executive committee member responsible for its reputation as it became one of the world’s most trusted and respected companies. Earlier, he worked for Boots The Chemist, Mars Confectionery and Pillsbury and had spells in consultancy and politics.
He received a CBE for political and public service in August 2015.

J.P. Garnier has more than 40 years of experience in the meat supply chain from livestock genetics to retail having worked at high level for a number of companies such as Unilever, PIC, Vall Companys, Safeway, Socopa and the Ministry of Agriculture. From 2005 to 2018, he acted as Head of Exports for British Meat. He is now consultant providing export support to meat businesses, strategic advice to the sector and project management. He collaborates with a number of institutions and media such as GIRA, the European Commission and Meat Management magazine.

Lex Rushmore has spent the past eight years in New York City, working with breweries and importers in the United States. Now based in the UK, he manages Greene King’s export business in North America, China and new markets

Jacine is CEO and co-founder of Matugga Distillers, producer of Matugga Rum – an award-winning series of premium rums ‘crafted with African soul.’ Together with her husband Paul (Master Distiller), Jacine launched the first rum distillery in Central Scotland. Matugga Distillers is carving out its own niche as a producer of premium artisan rums in order to capitalise on the international demand for high-quality spirits with provenance and exceptional flavours.
Jacine is a Chartered Professional Marketer and has over 17 years’ experience in media, marketing and business development. She has enjoyed a career as a corporate marketer across financial services, mining, technology and manufacturing industries.
Jacine obtained a bachelor’s degree from the University of Birmingham and a masters degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University. She has also served on the board of the Chicago American Marketing Association (AMA), as Vice President of Communications.

John Pallagi is the MD and co-founder of Farmison & Co, the UKs best independent retailer (2018, The Observer) which launched in Oct 2011. Since launch, the brand has been showing exceptional growth across all areas and is now at the forefront of the UK’s food and retail industry.

John has been in business of food for over 18 years having launched a restaurant group in 2000 (9 restaurants & 3 bars) across the UK. His principle focus & responsibilities span across marketing, sales, operations and finance. While running the restaurant group, John co-founded a marketing agency Flat Cap Marketing. Focusing on digital marketing, branding and online strategy. Flat Cap went on to win an industry award within 12 months of inception and has shown profit every year since launch.

Scott has lived in the Middle East for the past 20 years, and has been in numerous roles supplying food and beverage to retailers, hotels, and distributors across the Middle East region. Based in Dubai, and responsible for the commercial development of the region, Scott will now be actively looking for partners in the Indian market.

Andrew Niedzwiecki is the founder and Managing Director of Worsley Gin Ltd. Worsley Gin Ltd was incorporated in the UK in 2017 as a luxury gin brand following 3 years of research and development. Before then he spent 4 years with learndirect – the world’s largest online training provider, as their Operations Director. He is also an Executive Director for a Manchester based property management company. In his early career, after University, Andrew worked for Alliance Boots (formerly known as Boots The Chemist) with senior roles in their Pharmacy, Healthcare and Retail Divisions but his passion is most definitely for Worsley Gin.

Soumen is the Commercial Director for Booker Wholesale, India operations. He heads the Buying and Merchandising function for Booker India, along with Strategy, Business Development, Expansion and M&A. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has more than 20 years of experience in Food and Non-Food wholesale, FMCG, Media and Consulting.

With a background in FMCG, Oliver Pugh has previous experience in the time critical Fresh Produce sector, covering aspects such as Quality Assurance, Traceability and Technical duties. Now working as the Production Manager for MangaJo Drinks, Oliver enjoys handling all aspects of the company’s drink production across all sites, as well as overseeing and assisting with the export of goods to foreign markets. A 1st Class university graduate, Oliver is passionate about the quality, design and sustainability of the product, and this is witnessed by MangaJo’s ongoing dedication to producing the best quality drinks in beautiful packaging and made from sustainable and fairly traded material and ingredients.

• A business leader with the desire to rewrite India’s real estate story, Mr. Pankaj Kr. Jain is non arguably, India’s ‘builder extraordinaire’, the person committed to change NCR’s skyline. Mr. Pankaj Jain has virtually revolutionized the real estate industry in NCR and now expanding the horizon beyond NCR to Pan India Level.
• A visionary, a qualified Engineer, with Exemplary Academic record, his first spark of recognition in the construction business along with charismatic and inquisitive character came in to the picture ever since the inception of the KW Group. Since then he has scripted various marvelous wonders of architectural and design, in forms of numerous projects and each of the constructed project has become the style statement of his unmatched wisdom, vision and personality.
• Under his able leadership, the group has waled many heights in line with the motto of group “for touching heights”. Today, the phrase “KW” spells a magic of trust, confidence, transparency and professionalism among the fraternity, customers, associates and stake holders.
• Mr. Pankaj Jain is a Business Leader with a combination of qualities like sharp professional business acumen, concerned citizen with social awareness, Industry leader with up to date knowledge, and above all, ensuring that the company gives value to every customer. Today, the KW brand is synonymous to quality, reliability, trust & timely completion of projects.
• Leadership, brilliance, workaholic, untiring zest for excellence and down-to-earth are words that come to mind when one comes face-to-face with Mr. Pankaj Jain. The phrase ‘labore-et-constantia’ (with consistent efforts, one can scale great heights) sums up his success story.