The People Behind
The Work

ISDM is shaped by a community of leaders—founders, faculty, board members, and advisors—who bring decades of experience across the social and development ecosystem. From field to policy to organisational leadership, their perspectives ground the institution in real-world practice and purpose.

Their collective stewardship carries ISDM’s mission forward, building an institution committed to strengthening leadership for India’s social development.

Council

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Academic Council

Technology Council

Donors

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Founder Patrons

Founder Sponsors

Founder Donors

Institutional Donors

Donors

Advisors

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Advisory Board

Statutory Advisors

Team

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Faculty

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Visiting Faculty

Guest speakers

Board of Governing Trustees

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Founders

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Technology Council
Academic Council
Institutional Donors
Statutory Advisors
Advisory Board
Guest speakers
Donors
Founder Donors
Founder Sponsors
Founder Patrons
Faculty And Bricoleurs
Sector Practitioners
Visiting Faculty
Faculty
Advisors

Aarti Madhusudhan

Founder, Governance Counts

Team

Adil Mushtaq Shah

Associate Director- PGP

Team

Aditi Jha

Senior Manager - Fundraising & Partnerships

Team

Aditi Tulsyan

Associate Content Writer

Team

Afsar Khan

Associate, Administration

Board of Governing Trustees
Advisors
Donors

Ajay Shridhar Shriram

Chairman and Senior Managing Director, DCM Shriram Ltd.

Board of Governing Trustees

Akshay Sethi

Managing Director of the Stellar Group of Companies

Board of Governing Trustees
Faculty
Council

A. K. Shiva Kumar

Chariman, Academic Council, ISDM

Board of Governing Trustees
Donors

Ambarish Raghuvanshi

Co -Promoter & Former CFO, Infoedge India Ltd.

Donors

Amit Chandra

Chairperson, Bain Capital India; Co-founder, A.T.E. Chandra Foundation

Advisors

Ankur Sarin

Faculty Member, IIM Ahmedabad

Faculty

Anshu Gupta

Founder, Goonj

Team

Anuprova Ghose

Associate, Program

Advisors

Arjun Uppal

Vice President – Corporate Affairs, DCM Shriram Ltd.

Faculty

Aruna Pandey

Head - Research and MEL, Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation

Advisors

Arun Khanna

Director, Karbir Asia

Faculty
Advisors

Arun Maira

Former Chairman, Boston Consulting Group India

Founders
Donors

Ashish Dhawan

Founder and CEO, The Convergence Foundation

Team

Asma Bano

Associate, People Management

Donors

A.T.E. Chandra Foundation

Donors

Axis Bank

Team

Bhavna Panda

Senior Associate, Communications

Donors

Biju Chandrasekharan

Managing Director, Finnovate Partners

Team

Blessy Gladys Chacko

Manager, Finance Operations

Donors

Capgemini

Donors

Citibank

Team

Deeksha Punia

Director, People Management

Team

Deepti Dwivedi

Senior Manager, Founders' Office

Team

Dishani Rathore

Associate Graphic Designer

Board of Governing Trustees
Donors

Dr Arindam Kumar Bhattacharya

Emeritus Partner, Boston Consulting Group

Team

Dr Garima Sharma

Manager, Content

Donors

Dr. K.R. Shroff Foundation

Donors

Ford Foundation

Founders
Board of Governing Trustees
Advisors

Gaurav Shah

Co-founder, ISDM

Advisors

Harsh Mariwala

Chairman, Marico Ltd.

Donors

HSBC

Donors

HT Parekh Foundation

Board of Governing Trustees

Indu Bhushan

Former CEO, Ayushman Bharat, Former Dir General, ADB

Donors

IndusInd Bank

Donors

Infoedge

Donors

Infozech

Donors

Jaya Murthy

Co-owner and Chief Financial Officer, Primentor Inc.

Team

Justey P Alex

Manager, Programs

Team

Jyotiswarup Bhanja

Senior AssociateAdmissions Marketing

Donors

Kainaz Rattan Gazder

Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, Procter & Gamble

Team

Kakul Misra

Director, Strategic Capacity Building

Team

Kanak Pathak

Associate, Program

Team

Kankana Trivedi

Manager, Research, Centre for Innovative Finance and Social Impact

Donors

Kankipati Rajan Raju

Director, Invespar Pte. Ltd.

Faculty

Kannan Gopalakrishnan

Business Coach and Mentor

Faculty

Kanu Priya Sekhri

Business Coach

Faculty

Kenwyn Smith

Professor of Organisational Behaviour, University of Pennsylvania

Team

Komal Bhadana

Associate, Program (Research)

Team

Komal Waddhwa

Manager, Applications

Team

Koyel Paul

Senior Associate, People Management

Faculty

Kritika Sethia

Senior Manager, We The People Abhiyan

Team

Krutika Rajendra Katre

Associate - Research

Team

Madhumita Mukherjee

Manager, Placements

Donors

Mahesh Srinivasan Iyer

Managing Director, Accenture.

Team

Mahua Paul

Senior Associate, Founders' Officer

Team

Maitrayee Mukerji

Bricoleur

Faculty

Malini Thadani

Executive Director (India), World Monuments Fund

Team

Manish Vaish

Associate, Finance and Accounts

Team

Manu Saxena (Vedant)

Senior Associate, Communication

Team

Mariyam Hisam Siddiqui

Manager, Programs

Donors

Mekin Maheshwari

Founder and CEO, Udhyam Learning Foundation

Donors

Mirae Asset Foundation

Team

Mona Dikshit

Associate Director, Program

Team

Monica Wadhwa

Manager, Administration

Team

Moni Tripathi

Manager - Admissions

Faculty

Mudit Kapoor

Associate Professor of Economics, Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), New Delhi

Team

Muhammad Aamir

Associate, Programs

Faculty

Muthu Kumaran

Manager, ACCESS Development Services

Team
Council

Naghma Abidi

Program Director, Academics

Team

Nikkita Patro

Consultant

Board of Governing Trustees
Donors

Nupur Agarwala Bahadur

Impact Investor and Co-founder of Supporting SG’s Frontline

Donors

Omidyar Network India

Council
Advisors

Padma Parthasarathy

Additional Director, TNS India Foundation

Faculty

Pearl Tiwari

CEO, Ambuja Foundation

Faculty

Pia Bakshi

Co-Founder, ARTmosphere

Team

Pooja Yadav

Associate, People Management

Advisors

Poonam Mutreja

Executive Director, Population Foundation of India

Founders
Board of Governing Trustees
Advisors

Pramath Raj Sinha

Founder and Trustee, Ashoka University; Founding Dean, ISB

Donors

Prashant Purker

Managing Director, Head of Global Finance, India, LEHMAN BROTHERS

Board of Governing Trustees

Pratul Shroff

Founder and former CEO, eInfochips

Board of Governing Trustees
Advisors

Preeti Shenoy

Director - New Initiatives, Quality Education Support Trust (QUEST)

Team

Priti Dargad

Senior Manager, Research

Team

Priyanka Chhaparia

Bricoleur

Team

Priyanka M Nair

Associate, Research

Team

Priyanka Rathi

Associate, Admissions

Team
Council
Faculty

Prof. L.S. Murty

Dean, Indian School of Development Management

Advisors

Puja Marwaha

CEO, CRY (Child Rights and You)

Faculty

Rajeev Bhargava

Director, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies

Faculty

Rama Kannan

Executive and Leadership Coach

Founders
Board of Governing Trustees
Advisors
Council

Ravi Sreedharan

Co-founder and President, ISDM

Donors

Ravi Thakran

Chairman and CEO, Turmeric Capital Singapore Pte Ltd.

Donors

RenewSys

Team

Ritika Antonette Sebastian

Manager, Research

Team

Ritika Prajapati

Senior Associate, Strategic Projects

Team

Rohini Boppana

Executive Secretary

Why Management Matters in the Social Sector?

Impact does not scale on intent alone.

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India’s social sector is operating at an unprecedented scale and ambition—seeking to deliver measurable outcomes, manage complexity, and steward public and philanthropic capital responsibly.

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What holds the sector back is not ambition or intent. It is the absence of leadership and management capability designed for social purpose organisations.

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While business has Business Management and the state has Public Administration, the social sector has long lacked a comparable discipline to build leaders, strengthen institutions, and sustain impact over time.

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Development Management addresses this gap.

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It equips leaders to build organisations that endure, adapt, and deliver sustained impact at scale—without losing sight of purpose, ethics, or context.

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Because social change demands stronger leadership.

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What Is Development Management?

A discipline built for leaders of social purpose organisations.

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Development Management is a field of practice and learning focused on leading and managing organisations that exist to advance social development.

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It draws from management sciences, public systems, and social theory, but is fundamentally shaped by the realities of development work. It recognises that social purpose organisations operate amid multiple stakeholders, unequal power structures, uncertain outcomes, and deep contextual complexity.

At its core, Development Management helps leaders to:

  • build organisations that are mission-driven and well-managed
  • make decisions that balance impact, scale, and sustainability
  • design systems that respond to people, context, and change
ISDM’S Role

Advancing Development Management as a discipline.

ISDM exists to advance and anchor Development Management as a foundational discipline for India’s social sector.

Its role is to ensure that Development Management is not treated as an abstract concept, but embedded in how leaders are prepared, organisations are built, and institutions endure. By shaping leadership pathways, contributing field-informed knowledge, and strengthening organisational capability, ISDM helps establish Development Management as a shared standard for leadership and management in social development.

In doing so, ISDM operates at the level of the ecosystem—supporting the long-term capability of organisations and leaders working toward India’s social development goals.

Our Values

The beliefs that anchor our intent and ethics

Equity

‍We build leadership spaces where dignity, access, and opportunity are non-negotiable.

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‍We recognise structural inequality and work actively to counter it—across caste, class, gender, language, faith, sexuality, and geography. Equity shapes who gets to lead, whose voices are heard, and how institutions are built.


Compassion

‍We lead with humanity—towards others and ourselves.

‍We create learning environments that honour vulnerability, difference, and growth. Compassion at ISDM is not softness; it is the practice of listening deeply, engaging honestly, and holding complexity with care.


Courage

‍We choose clarity, even when it is uncomfortable.

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‍We question assumptions, redesign what no longer serves, and express principled disagreement when needed. Courage shows up in learning, unlearning, apologising, failing, and beginning again—with integrity.



Justice

‍We act with responsibility, transparency, and accountability.‍

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Justice guides how we teach, research, partner, and build institutions. We value truth, dialogue, and trust—and commit to practices that are ethical, sustainable, and rooted in democratic values.

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