ZS Prize Jury members



Ravi Venkatesan



Jury Chairman, Business Leader, Author, and Social Entrepreneur

  • Chairman of the Board, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet
  • Founder/Chairman of the Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME) and UNICEF Special Representative for Young People and Innovation
  • Board member at Rockefeller Foundation and Hitachi Ltd
  • Former chairman of Microsoft India, Former Chairman of Bank of Baroda, Former board member and Co-Chairman of Infosys, and Former Chairman of Cummins India
  • Author of "Conquering the Chaos: Win in India, Win Everywhere" and "What the Heck do I do with my Life"
  • MBA from Harvard Business School, MS from Purdue University, and BTech from IIT Bombay

G V Prasad



Indian business executive, and co-Chairman and Managing Director of Dr. Reddy's Laboratories

  • Architect of Dr. Reddy's successful global generics strategy. He primarily focusses on mentoring leaders, driving innovation in science, technology and digitalization while championing the cause of the planet, purpose, and patients.
  • Chairman of the CII National Committee on Pharmaceuticals.
  • Honorary Consul of the Kingdom of Belgium in Hyderabad.
  • Degree in Industrial Administration from Purdue University, Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from Illinois Institute from Technology, Chicago.
  • He is a photography enthusiast and supports nature and wildlife. He is involved with the activities of the World Wildlife Fund, AP and Telangana chapter, Wildlife Trust (WTI) of India and other conservation-oriented organisations.
  • Board Member of institutions such as Indian School of Business and Ashoka University.
  • Also served on the Boards of educational institutions such as IIT Hyderabad and S V University, technology company Cyient and non-profit organization Acumen Fund.
  • Graduate degree in Industrial Administration from Purdue University and a Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago

Aarti Shah, Ph.D



Board Member at NVIDIA and Northwestern Mutual

  • Retired SVP and Chief Information and Digital Officer, Eli Lilly & Co.
  • 28 years of Pharma experience
  • Honored as a Woman of Influence by the Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ), Fierce Women in Biopharma by FiercePharma
  • One of the top four finalists for the 12th annual MIT Sloan CIO Leadership Award (2019). CTO of the Year (2019) by IBJ and TechPoint.
  • Serves on several nonprofit boards, including the Indiana India Business Council and Shrimad Rajchandra Love & Care USA.
  • Served on the Indianapolis Public Library Foundation board for the full term of 9 years and on Center for Interfaith Cooperation for the full term of 4 years.
  • Ph.D. in applied statistics from the University of California, Riverside, Master's in Science and mathematics from Gujarat University

Prof. K. Srinath Reddy



President, Public Health Foundation of India

  • Former head of the Department of Cardiology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi
  • First Bernard Lown Visiting Professor of Cardiovascular Health at the Harvard School of Public Health
  • Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at Harvard Medical School
  • Adjunct Professor at Emory University, and University of Sydney
  • Advisor on Health to the Indian State Governments of Odisha, Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh
  • First Indian elected to the National Academy of Medicine, USA
  • Former President of the World Heart Federation
  • Author of "Make Health in India: Reaching A Billion Plus"
  • Recipient of the Padma Bhushan

Vinita Bali



Global business leader, ex-MD & CEO of Britannia

  • Non-executive Director on the Global Boards of Cognizant Technology Solutions and SATS Limited
  • Non-Executive Director on the Boards of CRISIL Ltd and Syngene International Limited
  • Chairperson, CII National Committee on Nutrition
  • Multiple key Marketing, General Management and Chief Executive Officer roles at The Coca-Cola Company and Cadbury Schweppes PLC in the UK, Nigeria, South Africa, Latin America and the USA
  • Global Board Member of Syngenta International AG (April 2012 to June 2017), Smith & Nephew plc (December 2014 to December 2020), Bunge Limited (Jan 2018 to May 2021) and GAIN (Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition), a Swiss Foundation, based in Geneva (July 2010 to December 2018)

Vijay Chandru



Co-Founder, Strand Life Sciences

  • Co-founder of PicoPeta Simputers and Pioneer at AI Foundry
  • Technology Pioneer of the World Economic Forum in 2007, and the Biospectrum Biotech Entrepreneur of 2007
  • Ex-Professor at Purdue University and Indian Institute of Science
  • Co-authored the book Optimization Methods for Logical Inference
  • Ph.D. in Mathematics of Decision Sciences from MIT, MS from UCLA

Sandeep Singhal



Entrepreneur, Pioneer in Indian Venture Capital Industry

  • Senior Advisor, Avaana Capital
  • Independent Director at Titan Company Ltd and HT Media Ltd
  • Co-founder and Senior Advisor, Nexus Venture Partners; Co-founder and ex-CEO, Medusind Solutions
  • MBA from Wharton with a dual major in Finance and Marketing; BS from Stanford in Electrical Engineering

Dr. Ferzaan Engineer



Co-founder and Chairman, Cytecare Hospitals

  • Co-founder and Joint Chairman of Medwell Ventures, Member of the Board of Directors of Sun Pharma Advanced Research Company (SPARC) and Cytespace Research
  • Ph.D in Pharmaceutical Sciences from University of South Carolina, B Pharm from LM College of Pharmacy
  • Executive Management programs from INSEAD, IIM Ahmedabad, and Kenan-Flagler Business School
  • Launched international CRO industry in India and served as Chairman and CEO of Quintiles India from 1997 to 2010
  • Also served on the Board of Cenduit LLC and on the Advisory Boards of Chiratae Ventures, Cellworks (USA), Image Core Lab and Indian Society for Clinical Research (ISCR) and member of CII National Committee on Drugs and Pharmaceuticals and the FICCI Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology Committee.
  • Previously worked as Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the United States, followed by an industry position as Vice President of Research for Core Healthcare
  • Member of professional bodies such as AAPS and AACP
  • Received the AACP New Investigator's Award in 1990 and received research grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA
  • Published papers in leading international journals and lectured at several conferences and at management schools such as IIMA and the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge