Shankar is part of the founding team of ECube Investment Advisors, which is setting up a fund to invest in publicly listed companies and support improvements in their sustainability and ESG performance. He advises companies and NGOs on corporate sustainability and sustainable development. His last full-time role was as Chief of the Tata Sustainability Group (TSG), where he provided guidance, thought leadership, and strategic support on sustainability and corporate responsibility across the $100 billion Tata group.

‍

With over a decade focused on corporate sustainability, he led efforts at TSG to integrate emerging ideas such as natural and social capital valuation, circularity, and sustainable supply chains into core business strategy, and helped curate the group’s disaster response, volunteering, and skilling initiatives. Earlier, he worked with SustainAbility (UK) and PricewaterhouseCoopers advising companies on sustainability strategy and reporting. His prior experience includes nearly 15 years in social development with ActionAid and the American India Foundation, which he helped establish in India as its first Executive Director. He also founded Partners in Change, a pioneering CSR advisory non-profit. He has served on several nonprofit boards and was part of the two-member panel that drafted India’s National Guidelines for Responsible Business Conduct (2019).

‍

Education: PGDM from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (1980–1982); B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (1973–1978).