SPEAKERS

As far as a career in food goes, Thomas Gugler seems to have done it all — from working with five- star hotels and gourmet restaurants to hospitals, airlines, mass catering and teaching in universities. He has worked in 13 different countries across the spectrum of the food and beverage industry. Thomas is certified Executive Master Chef, won 178 Gold Medals, over 750 awards, token of appreciations, trophies and honors from international cooking competitions globally.

Vir Sanghvi is the best-known Indian journalist of his generation. His career straddles print, television, books and now, new media. Vir Sanghvi was born in London in 1956 and educated at Mayo College, Ajmer and Mill Hill School, London. He won an Open Scholarship to read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Brasenose College, Oxford. In 1978, when he was 22, he was appointed editor of Bombay magazine, making him the youngest editor in the history of Indian journalism. In 1983, he presided over the re-launch of the monthly features magazine Imprint and in 1986, when he was 30, he became editor of Sunday, the news magazine published by the ABP group.

Krish Ashok is the author of Masala Lab: The Science of Indian cooking, published by Penguin RandomHouse, and an Amazon best-seller that explores the science of Indian cooking with the aim of making the reader a better cook and turning the kitchen into a joyful, creative playground for culinary experimentation. The book uses simple, first-principles, middle-school level science explanations and hand-drawn illustrations to break down what happens in the Indian kitchen and recommends algorithms and metamodels for common dish types and regional Indian sub-cuisines. ​ In his day job, Ashok is the Global Head – Digital Workplace for Tata Consultancy Services (one of the world’s largest technology companies) and helps Fortune 1000 companies reimagine the future of work, a role that is at the intersection of technology, design and culture. He is also a regular columnist on food, science, and culture for publications such as Mint, The Hindu, Scroll and BuzzFeed. He is a trained Indian classical violinist who also plays the Cello and electric guitar and composes and produces music that you can listen to on all major streaming platforms. A particularly popular playlist is Sanskrit Rock, where he translates and adapts popular heavy metal and classic rock songs into Sanskrit.

T.C Chatterjee graduated in Master of Business Administration from Babson College. He was the Director of Marketing at Bestfoods and Unilever Food solutions. He was made the Chief Executive Officer of Griffith foods in the year 2016. Before becoming CEO, he held positions as Chief Operating Officer, as well as Group President across some of Griffith’s fastest-growing regions, including Central and South America, Asia Pacific, and India – Middle East, as well as Custom Culinary, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Griffith Foods

Kamesh Ellajosyula is Chief Innovation & Quality Officer at ofi (Olam Food Ingredients) and a member of the executive team at ofi. Kamesh joined Olam in 2010 and has held various senior manufacturing, innovation, regulatory and quality roles. In his current role he oversees a global network of Innovation centers and drives quality and food safety across 100+ food ingredient manufacturing plants. Currently Kamesh serves as the founding member of the Asia Innovation Council of the Conference Board and is the member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Food Technology. Kamesh last worked in technology roles in Frito Lay. Prior assignments include leadership roles in food safety, quality, procurement, international R&D, new product development at Rich Products Corporation. Kamesh received a Master’s degree in Food Science from the Pennsylvania State University and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the State University of New York.

Ms. Ishi Khosla is a practicing clinical nutritionist, columnist, author, an entrepreneur and researcher. She is actively involved in clinical practice at the Centre For Dietary Counseling in Delhi, where she deals with a wide range of nutrition related health problems including obesity, diabetes, cardio-vascular disease, digestive disorders, food allergies etc. To scale up her practice and reach out to a global audience Ms. Khosla also founded a unique score-based nutrition app, which has helped people across the world to not only lose weight scientifically but also understand the science and art of eating right. Passionate about nutrition and a strong believer in the power of foods, she spearheaded, the first of its kind, a health food company in India 'Whole Foods', in the business of producing and retailing health foods and operating Health Cafe's. As part of her commitment towards public health and community nutrition, Ms. Khosla founded 'The Celiac Society Of India', the first of its kind in India, to spread awareness about gluten related disorders in India and Internationally. She is also involved in community service through the All India Women’s Association and Delhi Commonwealth Women’s Association. She is a trustee of food future foundation an initiative. As part of her commitment towards public health and community nutrition, Ms. Khosla founded 'The Celiac Society Of India', the first of its kind in India, to spread awareness about gluten related disorders in India and Internationally. She is also involved in community service through the All India Women’s Association and Delhi Commonwealth Women’s Association. She is a trustee of food future foundation an initiative.

Priya Joshi is an insightful leader with more than 20 years across industries and deep experiences in organization strategy, transformation and capacity development. She is the founder of Foodwize, an organization that is dedicated to unlocking the power of food wisdom; in order to increase access to good food, strengthen food producing communities and preserve food cultures. Priya is an engineer and an alumna of the University of Gastronomic Sciences, Italy.

Shridhar Venkat serves as the CEO of The Akshaya Patra Foundation.He has over 30 years of experience with leading multinationals like Philips, ABB and Webex Communications India (CISCO). An Eisenhower Fellow 2014 for innovation, Shridhar has been working with Akshaya Patra for over17 years. Prior to that, he was the Vice-President-Sales of Webex Commuincations India(CISCO). Shridhar holds a Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master's Degree in Marketing Management, NMIMS Mumbai. Shridhar has been inducted in the Hall of Distinguished Alumni Leaders by NMIMS. He is a graduate of the Advanced Management Programme from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He is a recipient of Mother Teresa Social Leadership Scholarship.

Vikram Cotah is the Chief Executive Officer of the fastest growing regional brand , GRT Hotels and Resorts which won the prestigious recognition of the Economic Times Best Brand 2021 and the Today's Traveller award for Best Hospitality Company for customer satisfaction 2022. The growing group operates 19 hotels in South India and has 6 more hotels in the recent pipeline. Vikram Cotah drives the overall strategy of the brand with his leadership and is considered a thought-leader in the industry. He was recognised as the 'Top 10 Hospitality Leaders of 2022' by the CEO Insights magazine . Vikram has passion for food and has conceptualized the 25 restaurants and 15 bars of the GRT Hotels. Most of the restaurants are unique concepts including the Salt Co. 531 based on Himalayan Salt Block cooking, J.Hind based on Modernist Indian cuisine , Wharf 2.0 celebrates the Hippie cuisine , the Nadodis' in Tirunelveli has cuisine based on immersive local nomadic cuisine , the Ministry of Chutney is the only Anglo Indian restaurant in Chennai, Bay Bistro in Pondicherry is a research project on Franco-Tamil cuisine to mention some of the award winning conceptual eateries. Mr. Vikram enjoys adventure sport and is a keen licensed diver and treks the mountains in his pastime. He is a fitness enthusiast and a home chef. He is also a published author of his recent book 'Mojo in the Mango tree. He blogs on Linkedin and has 26K keen followers in his network. Vikram has travelled to 5 continents in the World and has experienced more than 100 cities and locations around the world , especially studying the food trends. He has been doing research on Neuroscience and Neuro gastronomy for the past couple of years to apply the principles of multisensory eating experience to real-world restaurants to enhance dining experience. Vikram has been associated with SICA for several years as a speaker and a resource person and an ardent supporter of the Chef's associations.

Chef Justin Narayan was born in Sydney to a family with Fijian and Indian heritage. His cooking passion started at a very early age of 13. He claims that most of his dishes are inspired by his family. He was a youth pastor before joining Masterchef Australia. Narayan qualified to be one of the top 24 contestants of MasterChef Australia 2021, an Australian reality television program. He was declared the competition winner over runners-up Pete Campbell and Kishwar Chowdhury on 13 July 2021. Narayan demonstrated on the show a style of cooking that combined Indian and international cuisines. Narayan intends to run his own restaurant or food truck, and with that he also plans to cook and work for the Mumbai-based NGO Vision Rescue.

Jaspal Sabharwal is the co-founder of Tag Taste, the 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. He 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. He 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 is a passionate and dynamic leader with 25 + years of proven expertise in Sustainability, food systems, Non-profit management, communications, campaigning and Advocacy, delivered through consistent and competitive methodologies. Born at Melbourne, raised at Bangladesh, India, Malawi and Australia, he spent his life immersing in worldwide cultures. He is an innovator with strong leadership skills, consistently delivering results through executive oversight of the Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) Advocacy Hub, uniting the private sector, UN agencies, NGOs and civil society to strengthen efforts towards ending world hunger by 2030. He has established the Chefs Manifesto network with over 1000 Chefs across 90 countries, with a strong focus on driving food systems transformation.

An alumnus of The Institute Of Hotel Management,New Delhi, Chef Rakesh Sethi is an industry veteran with close to four decades of experience in the kitchens of best hotels across the country. He is a recipient of the prestigious National Tourism award and many such accolades to his credit. A progressive culinary professional with a unique blend of creative flair and passion for food apart from possessing a strong business sense and engaging interpersonal skills. After adding a decade of success entailing rave reviews from industry experts, the media and a list of awards and recognition to his name, Rakesh Sethi is now the Corporate Executive Chef at Radisson Hotels Group. Rakesh is responsible for overseeing dining experiences at all the Radisson hotels, ensuring that the best practices are implemented and coordinated with other units with specific focus on pre-opening, streamlining operations and improving service while preserving highest levels of quality. He has been a host of many renowned food shows in the Indian teleivision screens & his media career spans for more than 2 decades as a Cookery Show Host which contributed to him being, one of India’s top celebrity chefs whose culinary skills have made him a household name across the Indian subcontinent and abroad.

Rajeev Janveja started his culinary journey with the Taj Group of Hotels after completing his studies from IHM Lucknow in 1985, and was trained at Haveli Indian restaurant at The Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi. Over the years, he has honed his skills at various Taj hotels across the country as well as with some other leading retail food businesses. During his illustrious career, Chef Rajeev has re-launched many quality restaurants like Machan and Ricks at The Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi, ARENA, an international all day dining at the Taj Deccan and the iconic restaurant Thai Pavillion at Vivanta by Taj, Begumpet. He was closely involved in the renovation, planning and opening of the Indian restaurant Masala Bay at Taj Land’s End, Mumbai. Chef Rajeev is also the proud recipient of the ‘TATA Award for Business Excellence’ for achieving operational excellence at the all-day dining restaurant Paradise Lounge, at Taj Deccan Hyderabad. He participated in Amul Facebook live show for the Simple Homemade Recipes with 785K views and was part of the Virtual WebBlast- “The Future of My Plate” by BW Hotelier in July 2020 hosted by Anil Chadha - COO ITC Hotels. He was also the part of BW Hotelier IHA (Hospitality awards) 2020 for a show on Hidden Culinary Gems hosted by Diwan Gautam Anand- Former EVP ITC Hotels and was Chief Jury for Young Chef Competition organized by Indian Culinary Forum at IHE 2021.

Bharat Kumar Pappala works as a Doctor of Naturopath, Yoga and Ayurveda especially into Integrated Medicine practicing in New Delhi for 10 years now. He's been researching a lot about bringing a balance between Vatha, Pitha, Kapha and Mind, Body, Emotion. Also understanding the 7 Chakras, the cause and effect of Thought, Awareness and Consciousness. Meditation and Concentration to combat stress. To understand the human mind and its interaction with social affairs, inspired him to study and understand Human Psychology and its interaction with the outer world which eventually led him to pursue M.Phil. in Clinical Psychology. Later, he resumed medical practice in Alternate Medicine along with pursuing his Ph.D in Brain and Cognition. During this whole journey Dr. Bharat managed to gain a lot of experience in healing patients of various, diseases and disorders of various kinds and a good exposure to understand this magnificent system called the Human Mind.

Dr Eram S. Rao is a Professor of Food Technology and the former Vice Principal of Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Sciences, University of Delhi. She has more than 26 years of teaching and research experience, and consultancy in the field of Food Science Nutrition. She has a passion for writing and has authored several best-selling textbooks such as Food Science: Experiments and Applications, Food Quality Evaluation as well as manuals on Food Quality Analysis, Food Quality Testing and Evaluation: Sensory Tests and Instrumental Techniques to name a few. These books are prescribed by several universities and colleges in India including University of Delhi. She has also written a coffee table book on Desi Delights- A traditional Treatise and coauthored several books for Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Safe and Nutritious Food series for school children, home makers and people eating out at workplace as well as training manuals. She is the recipient of the “Eat Right Award” – a prestigious National award by FSSAI in the ‘Professional Category’. Besides, she has been a technical expert with World Bank on reduction of trans fat and sodium in foods in India. Presently, she is the lead expert for the ‘Eat Right Movement’ of FSSAI for schools and is a National level Resource Person for imparting training to Food Safety officers Adjucating officers. She is certified FoSTAC trainer too at FSSAI. She is an executive member of NETPROFAN and the Immediate Past President of Association of Food Scientists and Technologists of India, Delhi Chapter.

Harry Hakuei Kosato is the India Representative and Director for Kikkoman India as well as Founder and Director of the popular Japanese sushi delivery and take-away business Sushi and More India. He has been instrumental in promoting Washoku, Japanese Cuisine, in India in terms of awareness of ingredients as well as the cuisine in general and was recently designated as “Japanese Cuisine Goodwill Ambassador” by Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) for India in December 2022. ​ Harry-san is a parallel entrepreneur, social psychologist, and sushi curator. LSE and Oxford educated,he just completed his second Master's degree and is now also pursuing his doctorate in Zurich at the SBS Swiss Business School. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, he lives in Mumbai and Singapore, and is India's first Japanese TEDx speaker. He has also recently published his first Japanese book "Oxford Success Principles", a bestseller in Japan.

Jeetu Jodhpurkar, the Managing Director of Share Our Strength’s international strategy, is a seasoned senior leader deeply experienced in the corporate and philanthropic sectors, with C-level positions held for over 20 years of his career. Before joining Share Our Strength, Jeetu served as the Chief Operating Officer at Community Wealth Partners, overseeing all financial and operational aspects of the Washington DC-based social sector management consulting firm with a national reach. Jeetu also held the Chief Operating Officer and Vice President positions at Washington Gas Energy Systems growing the $6M regional subsidiary of Wall Street-traded WGL Holdings to over $100M with expanding renewable energy presence in over 20 states across the US. Following his engineering education in India, Jeetu went to Virginia Tech for graduate studies and also received a master’s degree in engineering management from The Catholic University of America in Washington DC. He completed his Executive Program in Strategic Leadership from University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business in 2010. Jeetu is a PMI-certified Project Management Professional, is a graduate of Leadership Greater Washington’s Class of 2012 and served on the Board and Audit and Finance Committee of the California-based Taproot Foundation, among other affiliations. Jeetu gratefully values his current role as a fortunate opportunity to fully integrate his professional work with his personal values, to live his life’s purpose; and is impassioned to expand the bold vision of “school meals without borders” in Share Our Strength’s fight against child hunger. Jeetu has been living in Northern Virginia for over 30 years with his wife Madhavi who also works in the global non-profit space. Their two children – daughter, Mohini; and son, Kanha – are both in college. Jeetu and Madhavi run a small non-profit on the side form their own home and pocket, spreading spirituality of pure love through the practice of meditation every weekend!

Dr Pulkit Mathur is Professor and Head, Department of Food and Nutrition and Food Technology, Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi. She has about 25 years of research and teaching experience. She has been working in the field of food safety and is a National Resource Person for FSSAI. She is a National Trainer for Nutrition under the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram. She is a Member of the National Committee of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences, National Executive Committee of the Nutrition Society of India and was the Convenor of the Nutrition Society of India- Delhi Chapter (2018-2022). Besides food safety, her other research interests include nutrient profiling, diet quality and understanding barriers and facilitators to healthy eating in different age groups. She has several publications in national and international journals, books, manuals, monographs, and periodicals to her credit.

Mr. Ashish Bhasin is a self-driven and passionate chef with practical approach and has a proven track record of managing F&B in normal and challenging circumstances. His role included ensuring business profitability while reducing costs and overheads, and simultaneously increasing guests’ satisfaction. Being an integral part of kitchen modification programmes at premier hotel properties, he has the ability to adapt quickly to changes, conceptualise and execute innovations in running of the quarters. He not only meets the set budgets but display his project management abilities and thrives on challenges–which are the need of the hour of any organisation.

Dr Bani Tamber Aeri is associated with Institute of Home Economics, University of Delhi in the Department of Food and Nutrition since 2004. Dr Bani Tamber Aeri has guided M.Sc dissertations and is also guiding Ph.D research. She has several publications in national and international journals/articles/conference proceedings/ periodicals and chapters in books. Her areas of interest include management of non-communicable diseases, maternal nutrition and role of diet in mental well-being. She has guided researches on management of NCD’s health through wholesome nutrition and was Principal Investigator on a project on assessing cardio metabolic risk of working adults in Delhi. She is associated with a number of national and international academic institutions and professional bodies. She has been actively involved in training of ICDC functionaries, disseminating nutrition messages on several forum including Doordarshan and NetProFan and FSSAI related activities etc. She is currently the Convenor of the Nutrition Society of India’s Delhi Chapter.

Certified Chef de Cuisine from Culinary Institute of America, Chef Satinder Shergill hails from Chandigarh. He is currently working as Corporate Chef at Ecogreen Hospitality, a one of a kind culinary innovation center started by none other than Chef Manjit Gill. He is currently on a crusade to creating new, exciting and trendsetting recipes for the Indian diaspora all around the world. His Alma Mater , Yadavindra Public School in Mohali , Punjab , launched him out into the world as a student of Science , and with a guidance to go down the road to be a Microelectronics Engineer. Till date he uses the knowledge of his past studies in the field of culinary where ever possible. Chef Shergill graduated from Culinary Institute of Ontario, Mississauga and upgraded his credentials through certification of Chef de Cuisine from the prestigious Culinary Institute of America. He has in the past been working with Quick food concepts , been cooking – baking as an Executive Chef at the Zhiwaling Hotel , Paro , Bhutan , before joining Electrolux professionals as their executive chefs in the year 2019. He has had the exposure and opportunity of working in Maldives, Malaysia, Canada and Australia. Creation is his goal; and every day in the kitchen opens vistas of amazing possibilities.