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Swadhaar's Board consists of seven Directors, representing the Promoters and other major shareholders.
Lalita D. Gupte, Chairperson of the Board
As the former Joint Managing Director and member of the board of ICICI Bank Limited, the largest private sector bank in India, Lalita D. Gupte took responsibility for spearheading the Bank’s growing international operations in 2001. She held various leadership positions across many divisions, including Corporate and Retail Banking, Strategy, Planning and Resources and International Banking. Mrs. Gupte retired at the end of October 2006 and is currently Chairperson of ICICI Venture Funds Management Company Limited. Having won numerous awards and accolades throughout her career, Mrs. Gupte was ranked 93rd on the Forbes "100 Most Powerful Women in the World” list.
Mrs. Gupte serves on the boards of ICICI Venture funds Management Co Ltd., Bharat Forge Ltd., Kirloskar Brothers Ltd, Alstom ( a public limited French Company), HPCL- Mittal Energy Limited and Godrej Properties Limited. She is also a member of the Board of Management of Narsee Monjee Institute of Management & Higher Studies.
Veena Mankar, Managing Director
Veena Mankar, one of the two founders of Swadhaar, has over 30 years of experience in development and commercial banking, having started her career with the erstwhile finance institution, ICICI Ltd. (now ICICI Bank Ltd.). She has served as an independent consultant to a number of international banks and was the India country representative of WestLB Group, a European commercial bank. In addition, Mrs. Mankar was the founding Managing Director of a Non-Banking Finance Company offering factoring, which established itself as India’s largest independent factoring company in just three years under her leadership. Mrs. Mankar continues to be a consultant to the Malta-based FIMBank and serves as a Director on the boards of three of FIMBank’s factoring joint ventures, respectively based in India, Dubai and Egypt.
Mrs. Mankar earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
Anita Ramchandran, Independent Director
Anita Ramachandran has 30 years of experience in consulting and human resources. She is the founding Managing Director of Cerebrus Consultants, a firm that specialises in organisation restructuring, human resources strategy, compensation and benefits and performance management. She has also gained recognition as an authority on the topic of compensation and benefits in India.
Ms. Ramachandran has an MBA from the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Bombay.
Siddhartha Hanumara Chowdri, Nominee Director - ACCION International
Siddhartha Hanumara Chowdri is an India Country Manager for ACCION International (ACCION), Bangalore. Since 2005, he has led ACCION’s efforts in India, where he works as a microfinance consultant on several of ACCION's projects. Prior to his work in India, Mr. Chowdri worked in San Jose, Costa Rica as an intern at ProFund Internacional/CALMEADOW, a microfinance investment fund managing company. He also served as a consultant to the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (The Velugu Project) in Andhra Pradesh, India, where his projects included training over 100 field staff in livelihood enhancement strategies, collaborating with women's self-help groups on income-generating activities, and conducting a pilot microlending program.
Mr. Chowdri holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Chicago and an MBA from the Yale School of Management
Valerie Kindt, Nominee Director – ACCION International
Valérie Kindt joined ACCION International (ACCION) in 2000. She currently serves as an observer on the board of United Villages, a Bottom of the Pyramid goods distributor with operations in India. Ms. Kindt also heads Global Training and Capacity Building at ACCION and manages the Swadhaar technical assistance and management contract. Previously Ms. Kindt provided technical assistance to ACCION’s partners in Haiti, Africa and the Middle East. Her areas of expertise include microfinance start-ups, product development and capacity-based lending. Before joining ACCION, Ms. Kindt worked for five years as a microfinance consultant in Uzbekistan, Albania, Lebanon and Egypt for the World Bank, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Catholic Relief Services and the Soros Foundation. She also was an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) for three years.
Ms. Kindt holds a bachelor's degree in international relations from the University of Sussex (U.K.) and a master's degree in Arab studies and economic development from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Geeta Dutta Goel, Nominee Director - Michael & Susan Dell Foundation
Geeta Goel manages the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation’s (MSDF) microfinance initiative in India, which includes a portfolio of over 10 microfinance (and related) institutions. Prior to joining MSDF, she spent over 12 years with the Corporate Finance Group of PricewaterhouseCoopers in India, where she advised large Indian and multi-national clients on joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, business plans and valuations. Ms. Goel has also advised clients including Bacardi Martini, Whyte & Mackay, UB Group, Havells India, Berger Paints, British Telecom and Eveready Group in capital structuring and raising private equity.
Ms. Goel holds a bachelor’s degree from Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
Srinivas Bhaskar Rao, Nominee Director - Indian Family Trust
Srinivas Rao, who holds both an MBA and a degree in engineering, has extensive experience in the development-banking sector. For more than 22 years, he has worked in promoting and funding small and medium enterprises in the industrially under-developed areas of Maharashtra. Mr. Rao has also been involved in nurturing and supporting start-up ventures of entrepreneurs in various sectors.
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