Leadership
Sri Adwayananda Public School is governed by Alliance Educational Foundation, a charitable society established in 1985 to support a balanced education for academic and personal development.
Smt. Radhika Prasad Krishnachandran
AEF Chairperson
Holding a Master’s Degree from the National Institute of Design (NID), and having well over a decade of experience in both academia and industry, Radhika finds her main interest in education and academics, chiefly in teaching. She worked as faculty and HOD, Department of Communication Design, at the Kerala State Institute of Design prior to taking charge of AEF. She continues to serve as visiting faculty and member of the jury and interview board for the M.Des. programmes at NID Bengaluru.
Starting her academic career in design education teaching at the Master’s level, Radhika now is keen on developing and focusing more on primary education, with a thrust on the importance of ‘good education’ for the growing generation.
While keeping in mind that education is universal, Radhika reiterates that her perspective of “alternate education” is not about “freedom” in academics but more about finding a unique way of teaching a child such that they develop a keen interest in learning and understand the importance of disciplined education while also finding their passion in the process. Understanding their passion and diving deeper into their areas of interest would enable each child to not only excel in their career but also enjoy what they do, also delivering their best to the world at large!
“Students must also realise the application of learnt knowledge in various scenarios, which can result in innovation which is important. This, I think, should be the focus for the next generation: valuing education and applying learnt knowledge, which could make them stand apart as well, while also ensuring they become sensitive, responsible citizens!”
Mr. G. Balachandran
AEF Vice-Chairperson
Mr. G. Balachandran is a highly acclaimed international corporate trainer, HRD consultant and motivational speaker, with a postgraduate degree in Business Management. He earlier served as the Divisional, Regional and National Head of the Marketing departments of reputed companies before developing his career as an international trainer over the past three decades.
He is a regular guest speaker at training sessions of the Junior Chamber International, Rotary International and Lions International organisations and has served as the Certification Commissioner for JCI University (USA) and as the Executive Vice President of Junior Chamber India, as well as being a multiple recipient of the Most Outstanding Trainer Award of JCI. He has visited 28 countries and conducted over 6000 programs for companies, organizations and institutions, with clients spread over India, Sri Lanka, the UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.
Mr. Balachandran has recently authored a book titled Good Morning, Bala about living a fuller life.
Mrs Tarla R. Nanavati
AEF General Secretary
Mrs. Tarla Nanavati has a BSc degree in Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University (USA) and an MBA degree from California Coast University (USA). She worked for seven years as a Project Engineer for the Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation in the Electronics Research and Development Centre, Trivandrum, Kerala, receiving an ACTIM French government scholarship to participate in a two-month training session in control and instrumentation in France. In 1987, upon the opening of Sri Adwayananda Public School she joined as Headmistress and then served as Principal until her retirement in March 2024. She continues to serve on the Alliance Educational Foundation board.
Mrs. Asha Nanavati
AEF Joint Secretary
Mrs. Asha Nanavati has more than fifteen years of experience in Content Marketing and Campaign Management in industries as diverse as luxury marketing, beauty, trade fair organization, and finance. She has managed global marketing campaigns and strategies for US, European, and Indian brands.
For Aveda Corporation, part of the Estee Lauder group, Asha was a global marketing lead with online copy, video and social media content overseen by her team.
She has supported campaign and product launches across continents. Her forte is brand management and development, working with established and emerging brands to ensure that the integrity of the vision and brand essence comes through in their online and social media campaigns.
For AEF she organised the International Colloquium on Education conference series from 2013-2023, bringing global thought leaders including UNESCO, the French Ministry of Culture, Adani, Infosys and Intel, among others, to the school for interactive sessions with the school community.
Dr. Krishnachandran
AEF Board Member
Dr. Krishnachandran holds an M.Tech. and Ph.D. from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, in the domain of Mechanical Engineering, specializing in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Having worked in academia through his Post Doctoral Fellowship at IIT Palakkad, he has also worked as a senior research fellow at Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum, where expertise in CFD is applied to predict clinically important parameters for cerebral aneurysm management. Dr. Chandran has also worked in a compressor manufacturing company in Pune, which is where he started his career.
His keen interest in academics and research brought Dr. Krishnachandran to Alliance Educational Foundation wherein he hopes to expand his research in a new venture of AEF.
Mr. A Balakrishnan
AEF Board member
The Executive Director of Geojit Financial Services Limited, Mr. A. Balakrishnan has more than 30 years’ experience in IT and Operations. After earning his postgraduate degree in Mathematics, Computer Science and PGCPM from the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, he served as CEO of an IT company for more than a decade
and was elected President of the Kerala Management Association (2023-24).
As Chief Technology Officer for Geojit Technologies he spearheaded its transformation into a technology-driven retail financial services intermediary, pioneering innovations to enhance clients’ trading experiences. He then established Geojit Technologies, serving as CEO until 2018.
Mr. Balakrishnan was elected President of the Kerala Management Association (2023-24) and was a recipient of the Association’s “Manager of the Year” Award, among numerous other accolades from the business management community.
He also serves as the senior vice-president of the Kerala Management Association(2022-23) and as vice-chairman of the GTech Group of Technology Companies of Kerala.
