Dr. Jagdish N. Sheth is the Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing at the Goizueta Business School, Emory University. He is nationally and internationally known for his scholarly contribution in Marketing, Customer Satisfaction, Global Competition, and Strategic Thinking. Prior to his present position, Dr. Sheth was the Robert E. Brooker Professor of Marketing at the University of Southern California (7 years), the Walter H. Stellner Distinguished Professor of Marketing at the University of Illinois (15 years), and on the faculty of Columbia University (5 years) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2 years). Professor Sheth has shared his expertise working for numerous industries and companies in the United States, Europe and Asia, both as a consultant and as a seminar leader. He has offered an amazing 5,000+ presentations in at least twenty countries. Dr. Sheth has been rated as one of the ten top marketing professors in the country in a survey of marketing professionals. His many books and articles are among the most frequently cited publications in marketing. Professor Sheth is one of only four Americans ever honoured with the Viktor Mataja Medal from the Austrian Research Society in Vienna for his contributions to advertising and consumer research. In 1989 he was awarded the Outstanding Marketing Educator award by the Academy of Marketing Science, and in 1991 he received the Outstanding Educator Award by the Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI). Dr. Sheth was also accorded the P.D. Converse Award for his outstanding contributions to theory in marketing in 1992 by the American Marketing Association.

Dr. Trehan set a goal for himself that no one had ever achieved: to build a world-class heart institute in a country where facilities did not meet international standards. He was inspired to do so by the Indians who traveled across the world to be treated by him and wanted to know why the same care was not available at home. With funding from an Indian industrialist, Dr. Trehan opened the Escorts Heart Institute and Research Center (EHIRC) in New Delhi in 1988. Today it is one of the largest facilities of its kind in the world, with nine state-of-the-art operating rooms and 350 beds. Dr. Trehan serves as its Executive Director and Chief Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeon. The center performs over 4,000 heart surgeries each year. Dr. Trehan says he will not retire or rest until he has personally trained 100 surgeons, a human legacy he will leave for his country. And instead of stopping with one renowned institution, the 57-year old dynamo is building other hospitals. Dr. Trehan has performed more than 30,000 heart surgeries. Working 15 plus hours per day, he takes part in about 16 operations daily, hustling from one OR to the next.

Mr Harshavardhan Neotia an alumnus of St Xavier’s college Kolkata has done the Owner President Management Programme from the prestigious Harvard Business School USA. He has a versatile Industrial exposure as an entrepreneur spanning over various companies in the capacity of Director & Chairman like Ganpati Parks, Ambuja Cement Eastern Limited, Bengal Ambuja Housing Development Limited, Gujarat Ambuja Cements Limited, GGL Hotel and Resorts Co Ltd. His interests for the development of West Bengal are well noted from his signature projects like City Centre, at Salt Lake, the Heritage Plaza known as Swabhumi and the development of up market residential and resort projects like the “Shyamolima” and the Ffort Radisson which is Kolkata’s first quality get-away resort and Conference Centre. Presently he is also associated with various Business Organizations in the capacity of Chairman and Board Member like CII, YPO, Indian Chamber Of Commerce and IIT Kharagpur. He is on the Board of Governors of IIM Calcutta. He is also the Honorary Consul of Israel in West Bengal. He was awarded Padmashri by India Govt for his outstanding initiative in forging public private partnership for development of social housing. His other areas of interest include relationship with various social and cultural organisations in Kolkata like Padatik, Jana Pravha Trust, Homage Trust, and Academy of Fine Arts Kolkata.

Born in December 1944, Arvind Singh Mewar is the grandson of Lieut. General His Late Highness Maharana Sir Sri Bhupal Singhji of Udaipur. Shriji, Arvind Singh Mewar was educated at prestigious Mayo College, Ajmer from where he completed his School Certificate conducted by the Cambridge University. Thereafter, he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree at Maharana Bhupal College, Udaipur. To polish his natural business acumen, he undertook at hotel management course from The Metropolitan College, St. Albans in Britain, He then furthered his studies and training in the U.S, thus becoming familiar with every practical aspect of running first-class hotels internationally. A great sense of dedication to his magnificent heritage – which he considers “essential and urgent” – guides and drives his business interests. He is passionately immersed in the task of preserving, acquiring painstakingly restoring and cataloguing for posterity, the historical artifacts and antiques at Udaipur’s City Palace Museum, along with the establishment of a comprehensive library collection of Rajasthani literature, music and art; together with the conservation of Mewar’s historic monuments, Palaces and other heritage sties. Arvind Singh Mewar established the Maharana Mewar Research Institute dedicated to the research and publication of the priceless wealth of information and facts about the history of Mewar. Shriji’s varied interests cover not only history, culture and education; he has also been a keen sportsman in his time, excelling in hockey and cricket and had played at prestigious tournaments. He is the Managing Director / Chairman of the chain of famous palaces / heritage properties metamorphosed into luxurious hotels. Among them are Udaipur’s ethereal Lake Palace, the Shikarbadi retreat, the historic Fateh Prakash and the amazing Shiv Niwas Palace, along with others established throughout Rajasthan, and new ones on the drawing board. Ever since he took complete charge of management of these companies, he has introduced and adopted latest technologies and modern techniques of management. Under his leadership, all the Companies have shown a phenomenal rate of growth.

Dr. Vinnie Jauhari is M.Sc.(Hons.) in Electronics from Panjab University, Chandigarh and MBA (Gold Medalist) (Marketing). She received her Ph.D. on Corporate Entrepreneurship from IITD and her Post-Doc from the United Nations University, Tokyo in the area of Technology and Society. She has worked at IILM before she joined Institute for International Management and Technology as Associate Professor and Associate Dean. Dr. Jauhari is currently Professor and The Head of the School of Management & Entrepreneurship at IIMT. She is also the founding editor of the Journal of Services Research, has over 45 publications in National and International Journals and has also authored books on Business Strategy and Services Management. Her area of expertise is Corporate Entrepreneurship, Strategic Management, Technology and Marketing.

Dr. Mahmood A. Khan
Professor, Hospitality & Tourism Management
Virginia Tech’s Northern Virginia Center, USA

Mahmood A. Khan, Ph.D., R.D., F.M.P., Professor in Hospitality & Tourism Management at Virginia Tech’s National Capital Region campus, has served in teaching, research and administrative positions for past 30 years, working at major U.S. universities. His area of specialization is in Franchising and International Service Management. Dr. Khan is the author of seven books including Concepts of Foodservice Operations and Management; Restaurant Franchising; Encyclopedia of Hospitality and Tourism Management; and Nutrition for Foodservice Managers. He has traveled extensively and lectured nationally and internationally. He has offered workshops and seminars for various professional organizations in several countries. He is a Fulbright Scholar and have received several awards including Stevenson Fletcher Award for outstanding contribution to hospitality education and research, John Wiley & Sons Award for lifetime contribution to outstanding research and scholarship; Donald K. Tressler Award for scholarship; and Cesar Ritz Award for scholarly contribution.

He has served on the Board of Governors of the Educational Foundation of the International Franchise Association, on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Hospitality and Tourism Association, as a Trustee of the International College of Hospitality Management and as a Trustee on the Foundation of the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association’s International Association. He is also a member of several hospitality professional associations.

"Dr. Shyam S. Lodha is Professor of Marketing and International Business and chairman of the Marketing Department at Southern Connecticut State University, New Haven, Connecticut,USA. He had his education in India and in the United States, and joined university eaching profession in 1958. Before joining the Southern Connecticut State University in 1983,
Dr. Lodha was a professor of marketing at Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India. Since 1985, Dr. Lodha is Editor-in-chief of the 'Business Journal', a refereed publication of the School of Business, Southern Connecticut State University and New England Business Administration Association. He has also been editor of other two journals namely ' Asian Review' and 'Management Systems Review'.

Dr. Lodha is founder President of New England Business Administration Association (NEBAA), and is currently chairman of its Board of Directors. Dr. Lodha has organized several executive development programs, national and international conferences, workshops , seminars and symposiums on global topics in USA and in other parts of the world. He has authored and edited several publications and articles and research papers in the area of marketing and global business. He is a frequent speaker at corporations, international /social organizations, management institutes and universities here and abroad.

Dr. Pramod Paliwal is BA (Gold Medallist), MBA & PhD in Marketing. He started his career with India’s premier cement company, The ACC Limited in 1991 and confronted the challenges of marketing in the then newly liberalised regime. After working for around 7 years in the industry, he embarked on his academic career with an affiliate of ML Sukhadia University, Udaipur, where he taught Marketing to the Post Graduate students for over another 7 years. Dr. Paliwal has conducted Executive Development Programmes and undertakes consultancy assignments. He has a penchant of exploring offbeat areas in Marketing and Management and that has resulted into over 20 publications in National and International Journals. He is also supervising PhD projects in Marketing. He is on the academic committees of various universities and Government organisations. Presently he is heading the Business School and Hospitality Management School at Institute for International Management & Technology, Bengal at Raichak, Kolkata. His areas of interest are Branding, Sales & Distribution Management and Strategic Management.

Captain G.R. Gopinath is the Managing Director of Air Deccan. He is a graduate of the National Defence Academy and has served in the Indian Army. A recipient of the prestigious ROLEX Award for Ecological site farming and the WIPRO PRSI Award, he is the driving force behind the organization.
 

Dr. Ajay holds a Ph.D. in operations management from Michigan State
University and is currently a Professor of Operations Management at the Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, City University of New York. His research and teaching interests are in quality, offshoring and technology management. His research has won several awards and grants, and has been published in Decision Sciences, Journal of Operations Management, International Journal of Production Research and other top tier journals. Ajay has several years of industry and consulting experience, and has been an invited speaker at various forums in academia and industry in the US and abroad.