Dr. S.M. Ishtiaque is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Textile Technology at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. After completing his PhD from the Czech Republic in 1983, he joined ATIRA, Ahmedabad and then worked as Project Manager in House of Podar Enterprises (HOPE) Textile, Indore before joining IIT Delhi as Assistant Professor in 1985. He became Associate Professor in 1991 and Professor in 1995.

He has been on various administrative positions at IIT, as Acting Dy. Director (Administration), Dean of Students Affair, Head, Department of Textile Technology, Chairman Hospital Advisory Committee, Associate Dean of Students Affair. He is also the Member Board of Directors (Textile Industries), Member of Council, NITRA Ghaziabad and Member Research Advisory Committee, NITRA Ghaziabad and BTRA Bombay.

His specialization is Project Management, Machine and Design, Yarn Structure and Mechanical Processing of Fibrous Assembly. His teaching interests are Yarn Manufacturing, Textile Management and Yarn Structures and his research interests are Machine Design, Process and Product Development, Textile Management and Internal Structure of Yarn. He has around 200 publications to his name and has coauthored articles more than 70 articles.

Presently, he is consultant to several Textile Industries in abroad and India and has been invited for lectures in various countries. He was the Director, Northern India Textile Research Association, Ghaziabad, Ministry of Textiles, Government of India from 1997-2000. He has also been the coordinator of IIT Ropar, Punjab.

“HR Practitioner, Board Member, Academician, Best Selling Author & Motivational Speaker “

After completing her post graduation in Personnel Management & Industrial Relations (PM & IR) from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, Aparna made her foray into the corporate world through Nocil and moved into different roles in the HR function in organisations like Monsanto, Novartis, UCB, Deutsche Bank, Lafarge & Greaves Cotton. In her diverse roles, Aparna has successfully been a learning partner, mentor and coach to leaders, leadership teams and organisations to build competencies, learning abilities and nimbleness for achieving purposeful performance.

She has been awarded Doctorate in Human Resources from California Public University, U.S.A. Her research is very contemporary & on an interesting topic of “Future of Work & Workplace-2025”.

An IOD Fellow, Aparna is currently an Independent Director on the Boards of Rossari Biotech Ltd., Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India Pvt. Ltd., Unitop Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. & Fabtech Technologies Pvt. Ltd. She has also served on the Boards of T.S Alloys Ltd.(100% subsidiary of Tata Steel), Rajratan Global Wire Ltd., SMILE Microfinance Ltd., Hexagon Nutrition Ltd. & Athaang Jammu Udhampur Highway Ltd. as an Independent Director. With over 28 years of experience in HR across different verticals, she is currently contributing as a Board Mentor with various boards & as an advisor to various corporates in areas such as Strategic Leadership, Planning, Organization Behaviour & Strategy for Board Room Effectiveness, Organization Culture & Development, Leadership Relationships, Temperamental Traits & Derailment Factors within Boards etc.

She has been felicitated with “Best Influencer Award” by VyapaarJagat.com (2023) ,“Bharat Gaurav Puraskar by KTK Foundation (2022)”, “Excellent Woman HR Professional of the Year-2021” by GISR Foundation, “Excellence in Human Resources” award by The Milion Pixel (March 8,2021) , “Most Influential Women in Academics 2020” award by Education Ninja & Academy of Management Professionals , “Best Employee Experience Personality of the Year 2020 ”, “Indian HR Champion of the Year-2019”, “Indian Business Woman of the Year 2019” award by MORPEHUS Enterprises, “ILDC-AMP Woman Excellence Award 2019 for Learning & Development”, “Best HR Trainer” by ICBM-AMP Academic Excellence Awards 2018, "Woman Achiever Award 2018” by Indian Women Convention (IWC),“MTC Global Outstanding Corporate Award for Excellence in Human Resources” during the 6th Annual Global Convention –SANKALP 2016, “Women Achievers Award" by World HRD Congress & Institute of Public Enterprise in 2013, “HR Super Achiever Award” by Star News at the 20th World HRD Congress 2012 amongst many others.

Leadership Award’ for BFSI (Banking, Financial Services & Insurance) Awards by Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE), Hyderabad, ‘Achiever of Excellence Award’ by Bombay Management Association (BMA) & Indian Society for Training & Development (ISTD, Mumbai), she is regularly featured as one of the top women HR Leaders in the country & quoted as a Thought Leader in HR. Under her leadership at Lafarge, many in-company Global Awards such as ‘Digilearn Championship Trophy’ & ‘WAVE’ (Women Adding Value & Excellence) have been received besides external recognitions like CLO (Chief Learning Officer’s) Award consecutively for 3 years.

Beyond her corporate role as an HR Leader, Aparna also dons the hat of HR contributor through her associations with Indian Society of Training & Development (ISTD), All India Management Association (AIMA), National Institute of Personnel Management (NIPM), National HRD Network, and Sumedhas, where she actively participates in disseminating her acquired knowledge and build the HR fraternity by creating future leaders. She was the Honorary Treasurer of National HRD Network, Mumbai Chapter (2012-2015) and a member of the Executive Committee. She was also elected as member of the National Executive Board of NHRDN for the period 2013-2015.

Aparna is a celebrated author of 2 best selling books - “Reality Bytes-The Role of HR in Today’s World”, (English & Hindi) Foreworded by Dr. T.V Rao & “Between U & Me”, Foreworded by PadmaBhushan PadmaShree Dr. Devi Shetty.

To know more about Aparna, visit: - www.aparnasharma.in

After securing the first rank, in textile engineering at Mumbai University with a Gold medal and completing a Master's degree, Mr Gurudas Aras joined the A.T.E. group in 1981 as a junior sales and service engineer and later joined A.T.E. board as Director. He was responsible for the total functioning of the Textile Engineering group, its profitability, customer/principal relationship, business strategy, and growth. During his tenure at A.T.E., he brought many global machinery makers to the company's fold and was very successful in building long-term relationships across the world with principals and customers.

He is a fully qualified Independent Director and has been an Independent Director on the boards of several companies being responsible for corporate governance, compliance and best board practices. He is also qualified as a CRISIL/S&P Certified ESG Risk Assessment Analyst.

Presently, he is working as a Strategic Advisory and Mentor to several Indian companies and MNCs helping them explore market opportunities and in strategizing for growth agenda. In addition to that, he is voluntarily mentoring some start-ups in their initial journey as part of his philanthropic contribution.

Rahul Mehta received his MBA from the Bajaj Institute in 1971 before joining what was then called Goodlass Nerolac Paints, and rose rapidly to be the India Sales Manager by 1982 – when the entrepreneurial bug bit him. He joined the Creative Group as Partner and Managing Director in 1982, and launched the UFO Jeans. In his 40 years of experience in the garment industry, he has been responsible for the Group launching some of the most iconic brands in the domestic industry – including UFO Jeans, Creative Cottons, 109F, Fusion Beats, Portico, and Urban Republic. Mr Mehta is the past president of the Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI), a past member of the Executive Committee of the Apparel Export Promotion Council, past president of the International Apparel Federation (IAF, and is the first Indian to be elected as President of the IAF, and only the second Asian to be in this position in the 40 years history of IAF. He is extremely involved in education, and is Chairman of the Advisory Board, School of Fashion Technology, Pune. He is also a Trustee with the Sadhana Education Society, a Trustee of Trust for Retailers and Retailers Associates of India (TRRAIN) and of the Rotary Club of Bombay Mid Town, and is also a past President of the Rotary Club of Bombay Mid Town.

Mr. Vinod Parur is a Human Resource professional with a Post-Graduation Management Degree from the Mumbai University. He has completed his Bachelor degree in Commerce and Economics from Narsee Monjee. He also has completed certification and management development programs from institutes like XLRI & ISB.

He has more than 22 years of work experience and has worked with multifaceted industries like infrastructure, pharma, engineering and manufacturing companies. His functional core competencies are in the areas of strategic human resources planning, talent management and development, performance management, leadership development, training & development, assessment & certification, employee relations and EH&S Management. .

He is visiting guest speaker, mentor and in advisor board of reputed management institutes. .

In his past experience, he has worked in Hindustan Construction Company, Unichem, Schindler, A.T.E. Group and Nilkamal. .

Currently he is the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) at RR KABEL since November 2021. .

In a career spanning over three decades; Suresh has worked with Unilever and Procter & Gamble and is now associated with Sun Pharma as Global CHRO.

In his 25+ years of association with Unilever, he held number of Senior Leadership roles which included CHRO – Global Nutrition, Global Vice President- Foods & Refreshment, Vice President Human Resources - South-East Asia & Australasia, Vice President Human Resources – Unilever Philippines, Leadership & Organization Development Director - Global Markets. Prior to Unilever, he was associated with Procter and Gamble in supply chain. .

A C-suite Human Resources leader with global experience in consumer business with proven impact across HR strategy, M&A and disposals, creating high performing organizations, leadership pipelines, establishing agile workplaces, building digital, data and global capability centers. .

Suresh is a contributor on diverse topics in different forums & business bodies including INSEAD, HCLI- Singapore. He was also a guest speaker at Vietnam National HRD Conference, University of Amsterdam. .

Suresh holds an MBA in HR from XLRI Jamshedpur and B Tech in Electrical Engineering from IIT Delhi. .

He loves traveling, astronomy and reading about military history.

Krish Shankar is an HR professional with around four decadesof experience and has led HR functions in organizations like Hindustan Unilever/Unilever, Bharti Airtel, Philips and Infosys. He recently retired as Group Head of Human Resources at Infosys.He now is focused on his‘plural career’- as a Board Director, consulting with businesses, teachingand working on a non-profit initiative.

Shankar holds a postgraduate diploma in HR from XLRI, Xavier School of Business, India and has received an executive certificate in Strategy and Organization from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a doctorate in Business Administration from Aston University, Birmingham.

Shankar is the author of ‘Catalyse- Power Up your People Ecosystem’- a much-acclaimed playbook for HR. He is passionate about exploring new ideas in HR & organizational development, and mentoring young people.

He was also the Presidentof National HRD Network in Indiafrom 2019-2021. He was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by XLRI in 2019.