Board of Trustees

GURGAON (RURAL DEVELOPMENT)

Ganesan Balachander holds a PhD in ecology and evolution from Rutgers University and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, USA. He was the Ford Foundation's South Asia representative for about six years until late 2008. Prior to that, he was engaged in conservation projects, working on tropical forests and coral reefs with the World Wildlife Fund and the Nature Conservancy, developing green businesses, and working in the Himalayas as the Asia Director for the Mountain Institute. He currently serves on the Consortium Board of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), overseeing the reform process across the 15 centers in the system. In his earlier career he was a vice president at Citibank, New York.

Jayshree Balachander holds a master's degree in public policy (development studies) from Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs, Princeton University. From 1979-1992 she was a part of the Indian Administration Services (IAS), serving various government departments. Since 1992 she has worked for the World Bank in South and East Asia and Africa on issues such as health, nutrition, human resource development and education.

Kamal Bawa an evolutionary ecologist and conservation biologist, is Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He is the founder-president of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) based in Bangalore, India. He holds a PhD from Panjab University. A prolific scholar, he has received lot of recognitions from prestigious organizations worldwide.

Nishat Farooq has retired as director of State Resource Centre (SRC), Delhi, which also included the National Nodal Centre for Gender Planning. Currently she is a member of the National Book Promotion Committee of the Ministry of Human Resource Development and an independent consultant for UNESCO, NFUAJ (Japan) and NGOs.

Gensuke Tokoro, is the former (1983-1999) research director of Plant Genetic Systems, now Bayer CropScience, Belgium. He was a board member of Hoechst Shering AgrEvo, Germany; of Nunza, The Netherlands; of CropDesign, Belgium; and of the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Belgium. Currently he is a board member of Misr Hytech Seed Company, Egypt, and of Devgen, Belgium, and a member of the steering committee of IPBO, Belgium. He holds a PhD in chemistry from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium.

Jan Leemans, is the former (1983-1999) research director of Plant Genetic Systems, now Bayer CropScience, Belgium. He was a board member of Hoechst Shering AgrEvo, Germany; of Nunza, The Netherlands; of CropDesign, Belgium; and of the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Belgium. Currently he is a board member of Misr Hytech Seed Company, Egypt, and of Devgen, Belgium, and a member of the steering committee of IPBO, Belgium. He holds a PhD in chemistry from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium.

Y. C. Nanda is chairman of Agriculture Finance Corporation Ltd., Mumbai, and holds leadership positions as chairman/director/trustee of a number of organizations, mainly in the microfinance and development sectors. He retired as the chairman of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) following 38 years of experience in the rural banking and central banking industries. He is a former member of the National Commission on Farmers.

Air Vice Marshal (Retired) S. Sahni has been associated with the NGO Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI) since 1985. His main areas of work have been in integrated watershed development in Bundelkhand areas of UP/MP, increasing farmers income by proper land use, introducing the tropical legume Dhaincha for agricultural purposes, sustainable livelihoods mainly for women in nonfarm sectors, and rejuvenating degraded forests.

Ben Sehgal, holds a PhD in biophysical chemistry from Northwestern University, Evanston, USA, and worked as researcher in cell biology for the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, USA. Ben is a member of the board of directors of the Sehgal Family Foundation, USA, and primarily assists IRRAD with its publications and outreach efforts. He is a board member of the William L. Brown Center at the Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, USA.

Raman K. Sehgal, holds an MBA from Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines, and is an established professional in all aspects of the seed business. He is currently the managing director and a member of the board of directors of Misr Hytech Seed International, Egypt, and a member of the board of directors of Hytech Seed, India.

Rajat Jay Sehgal, is the executive vice president of the Sehgal Family Foundation, and a representative of the S.M. Sehgal Foundation in India. An alumnus of the University of Iowa, USA, he worked in information technology in leading private-sector organizations in the US and India for sixteen years and served as director of information technology at Proagro Group of Companies, India. Jay served as the managing trustee and executive director of S. M. Sehgal Foundation and IRRAD for 10 years.

Jagadish Shukla, PhD, DSc, is a professor and founding chair of the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Earth Sciences at George Mason University, Virginia, USA, and president of the Institute of Global Environment and Society, USA. One of his major weather and climate research themes is to demonstrate the existence of predictability in the midst of chaos. This work has led to the creation of new institutions worldwide to produce dynamic seasonal predictions of climate. Shukla also established Gandhi College in his native village in Ballia, U.P., to help educate rural girls.

Suhas P. Wani, works as a regional theme coordinator (Asia) and principal scientist (watersheds), Global Theme on Agro Ecosystems, ICRISAT, Patancheru. He specializes in integrated watershed management, wasteland development, biodiesel plantation, integrated nutrient management and carbon sequestration, with the aim of conservation of natural resources and their sustainable use for improving livelihoods in the semi-arid tropics.

Advisors

S.K. Vasal, is an accomplished Plant breeder and genetiest from CIMMYT whose research on maize led to the development of high quality protein maize. He is the World Food Prize laureate for the year 2000. He is also the recipient of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan Award for Leadership in Agriculture.

Bhamy Shenoy, is a graduate of IIT Madras and Ph.D from University of Houston. After working abroad, he returned to Mysore to get involved in India's development. As an activist, he has been associated with Mysore Grahakara Parishat, an NGO for consumer protection and Pratham, an NGO for providing education to slum children. He writes articles regularly on social development and energy sector.

Amitabh Kundu, PhD, is Professor of Economics at the Centre for the Study of Regional Development and Dean of the School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has been nominated as a member of National Statistical Commission in 2006.