SHEROES Advisory Council

Bhavana Mittal is the Regional Head of Media, Digital and Communications for Reckitt Benckiser, South Asia. She is responsible for critical things such as media planning and buying, digital capability building, performance management. She has been honored with the 3rd  Aadhi Aabadi Women Achievers Award 2011, a platform to give recognition and honor to women and emerged as a role model and inspiration to others.

Presently, the founding member of Hypersonic Advisors, Vani has over 20 years experience in marketing & has worked on several global brands including Sunsilk, Dove, Veet, Fa, Coca-cola and Adidas.
Vani joined PepsiCo India in 2011 and has led the development & launch of flavored oats – a range of sweet and savoury variants, with inclusions of real vegetables and fruits. Vani led Kurkure’s expansion into puffed snacks with a category reframing proposition, “Play & Eat” with a new range of products. Recent recognitions achieved include:
Listed by ‘Business Today’ as the Hottest Young Executives under 40 in 2015, in a nationwide survey.
Won the ‘India Region Above and Beyond 2014 Chairman’s Award’ from Indra Nooyi, for successfully building a new platform of growth for Pepsi Foods.
 
Won the Innovation Excellence Award at the Annual Sales & Marketing Conference in Dec 2013
Won the AMEA PwP Sustained Performance Award for the Kurkure Puffed Khelo Khalo (Play and Eat)
She is currently leading the Indian Snacks Category with the objective of strengthening the masterbrand Kurkure with varied snacking experiences that delight consumers.
In her previous assignment with Unilever, she worked as a Senior Global Project Leader and successfully launched a range of hair care products for colored hair across South East Asia and South Asia. Before Unilever, Vani worked with Reckitt Benckiser, where she launched Veet in India for the first time and crafted a success model for emerging markets which was felicitated at the Annual Global Marketing Conference in Prague.
She also worked with Henkel on Fa where she was one among 6 Brand Managers chosen globally, to participate in the Annual 2002 Marketing Conference of Country Heads, held at Lanzarote, Canary Islands (Spain).
Vani takes keen interest in painting and sculpture, theatre and traveling. She was part of India’s leading Hindi theatre group Yatri, with whom she performed more than 20 stage shows at Prithvi and NCPA, Mumbai.

Abanti Sankaranarayanan leads the Strategy and Corporate Affairs functions at Diageo India. As head of Corporate Affairs, she is responsible for shaping and influencing alcohol policy, regulation and the role of alcohol in society, across 32 states and 9 Union Territories, in what is recognized as the most regulated and complex beverage alcohol market in the world. This market is core and strategic to not only Diageo globally, but also the beverage alcohol industry. She also leads strategy development and execution for Diageo’s business in India. Prior to her current role, Abanti was Managing Director, Diageo India Pvt Ltd, leading Diageo’s ambitious business mandate for international spirits in India. Under her leadership, Diageo’s brand portfolio in India delivered strong double-digit growth, high market share gains and robust brand equity enhancement. Abanti also spearheaded the complex, high-profile, organizational integration of businesses between United Spirits and Diageo in India with minimal business disruption.

Prior to Diageo, Abanti served as a member of the Tata Administrative Service (TAS) cadre since 1992, in an illustrious career where she held key roles managing some of the best known consumer brands of the Tata Group in India, United Kingdom and the United States. In her 17 year career with the Tata group, Abanti worked across various companies such as Tata Global Beverages, London, the Taj Group of Hotels- Mumbai & New York, Tata Housing & Tata Finance in Mumbai. Abanti serves on the CII National Committee on FMCG, is the Chairperson of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) and is a member of the India Board of UK India Business Council and of the International Spirits & Wines Association of India (ISWAI), the industry body for domestic alcohol beverage producers in India. She is an Independent Director on the Board of Shoppers Stop Ltd. Her contribution to the business have been recognized by Fortune India (The Most Powerful Women in Business; 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016), IMPACT (50 Most Influential Women in Media, Marketing and Advertising; 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017), India Today (India’s 25 Most Influential Women, 2013) and Fast Company, New York (100 Most Creative People in Business, 2012). Abanti is an Economics Graduate from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and an MBA from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad.

Shampa is a founding member of an Indian healthcare start-up, dedicated to reducing the global chronic disease burden. Currently at Swecare Foundation, she is
devoted to identifying collaborative opportunities and forging sustainable partnerships. With an MBA from INSEAD as well as degrees in Industrial Engineering and Political Science from Columbia University, Shampa has over ten years experience in Sub-Saharan Africa, Western Europe, and South Asia – always working relentlessly to promote equality.

I have been on the internet business since day one of my work - hooked to the knowledge this medium provides and fascinated by the potential for change that it can bring in peoples & lives. Still feel inadequate despite spending 17 years glued to the subject, as each passing day brings forth a new dimension to this multi-faceted medium. Passionate about business and tech, wanting to be a part of the revolutionary disruption this is bringing in this world. My expertise largely sets in the
following aspects - eCommerce Strategy and Set Up, Omni-channel, Digital Strategy & Marketing: SEO, SEM, SMO, Email, Affiliates, Influencer, Content, CRM and Loyalty. Enjoying the journey.

Naveen Kukreja is the CEO and co-founder of Paisabazaar.com and the Chief Marketing Officer of Policybazaar.com. Under Naveen’s leadership, Paisabazaar.com today stands tall as India’s biggest marketplace platform for lending products, within 3 years of inception. 

Naveen comes with a deep financial services experience of over 16 years, having worked with Citibank in India, Capital One Bank in the UK and as the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Strategy at Aviva Life Insurance. 

He has most recently been felicitated by Business World with the ’40 under 40’ award – a recognition to India’s top 40 leaders under the age of 40. He has been recipient of several other accolades like one of India’s most influential e-commerce professionals and Marketer of the year by CMO Asia, IAMAI and DMAI.
Naveen is an engineer from Delhi College of Engineering and an alumni of IIM Kolkata.

As co-founder and CEO, Naveen has grown Paisabazaar.com as one of India’s biggest fintechs. Paisabazaar today is the only online financial player in India to disburse loans worth ~ Rs 300 crore every month to customers from over 250 cities and towns across India. It also runs India’s largest consumer credit awareness program by offering free credit report with monthly updates on its platform. 

Paisabazaar.com has also been conferred with ‘The Best Financial Services Brand’ & 'Best Digital Platform for Credit Cards’ by Economic Times, India’s most read financial daily, among several other awards.

Rated as one of the 50 Most Influential Women in Media by the Exchange 4 Media group for 2 years in a row, Mala Sekhri is one of the most prominent names in the Indian Media and Entertainment circuits. 

Being one of the key people who contributed to the success story of the illustrious India Today Group, she has played a pioneering role in bringing in the most foreign magazine titles to India. She has launched and run operations of the most popular health and lifestyle Magazines in India, including Cosmopolitan, India Today Plus, Business Today, Women’s Health, Good Housekeeping, Harper’s Bazaar among others.

During her stint as the host of “Sureeli Baat” on India’s eminent news channel, Aaj Tak, she has interviewed the likes of Kailash Kher , Shaan, Sonu Nigam, Shafqat Amanat Ali, Daler Mehdi, Sunidhi Chauhan and Usha Uthup among others.

In her role as moderator and anchor for many group events and programmes, she has interviewed several celebrities like Dr. Jeffery Life, Dr Deepak Chopra, Sonu Nigam, Shah Rukh Khan, Vidya Balan, KK, Vishal Dadlani etc.

In addition she has conceptualised and organised over 70 concerts with leading musicians including Ustaad Bismillah Khan, Ghulaam Ali, Ustaad Zakir Hussain, Hans Raj Hans, KK , Ustaad Shujaat Hussain Khan , Kishori Amonkar amongst many others. 

Her columns as a guest author can be found in numerous publications. As a thought leader in the industry she has conceptualised and spearheaded unique and innovative entertainment properties. Her penchant for creating engaging content and making it commercially viable combined with her great interest in Music, Health and Lifestyle keeps her going.

In her new avatar Mala, is the Co-Founder of Musiconcepts - a platform for traditional and Independent Music and also the Chief Executive Officer of Healthglades, an entity on Inspired Wellness . 

An advertising veteran with a cool and calm exterior and a passionate soul, Babita Baruah loves to share her knowledge in the industry and management forums. With her motto #MakeItMatter, she fulfills her vision of making a difference using her drive, optimism, and over 20 years of experience with various brands.

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, advanced analytics and Lean Six Sigma methodologies within a design thinking framework 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.

Sanjay Tripathy is a renowned Marketing, Analytics and Digital expert with more than 25 years of industry experience. With experience in diverse domains and industries, and after hugely successful stints in organisations like GCMMF, Pepsico, Mattel, Reliance Infocom and HDFC Life, Sanjay recently shifted gears and moved to the entrepreneurial space.

This digital evangelist, highly regarded design thinker and Guru of leveraging data insights to drive complex organizational transformation projects & initiatives has set up Agilio, Asia’s first Digital Transformation consultancy. Agilio advises & guide businesses in the quest to become future-ready.  Agilio is working with established MNCs & Indian companies as well as talented start-ups who aspire to be in the top quartile of their category.

An early frontrunner in the digital revolution in India, he is a digital marketing veteran with a two-decade experience, Vivek Bhargava is the Chief Executive Officer of DAN Performance Group. He is a TEDx speaker, where he recently delivered a talk on ‘Happiness is a muscle’ at TEDx Coimbatore.

Melanie is the Head of Marketing for Gap, responsible for architecting, and driving the Brand Marketing Strategy for the brand’s launch and presence in India. With data at the core of everything she does, she enjoys constantly experimenting with new technologies and initiatives in the digital marketing, and customer loyalty spheres to deliver double-digit ROI oriented campaigns. Following her gut, and passion to always grow, she spent over half a decade in cross industry client-facing roles in advertising films, contract publishing and PR consultancy in Mumbai, and London. She has worked for clients in the FMCG, lifestyle, and finance space. With the aim to amalgamate her expertise, she joined the retail giant, Arvind Lifestyle Brands Ltd. to manage Marketing and PR for DEBENHAMS and NEXT. She is an alumnus of University of Westminster, UK. In her free time, she enjoys reading, knitting, and playing golf.