2019 NOTABLE GUEST SPEAKERS
The Seventh International Colloquium had an extraordinary lineup of speakers from multiple disciplines across the globe.
Dr. Anne Stillman
College Lecturer in English, University of Cambridge
Dr. Anne Stillman teaches English at Clare College, Cambridge including courses in Practical Criticism, literature of the nineteenth and twentieth century (with an emphasis on poetry), and Shakespeare.
The practices of reading aloud, collaboration in performance, and experiment in translation are all important components of her teaching approach.
Her research interests include:
1. voice,
2. verse form,
3. poetic drama (especially Samuel Beckett and Shakespeare),
4. French verse, and
5. the intersections between philosophy and poetry.
Her recent publications include ‘Eleven Pipe Dreams for the Mirlitonnades’, Black Box Manifold no.16 (Summer, 2016); ‘T. S. Eliot Plays Edward Lear’, in Edward Lear and the Play of Poetry, edited by James Williams and Matthew Bevis (Oxford, 2016), and ‘T. S. Eliot’s One Poem’, The Cambridge Humanities Review, Lent term 2016, Issue 11.
Arun Krishnamurthy
Founder, Environmentalist Foundation of India
Mr. Arun Krishnamurthy is the founder of the Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI), a wildlife conservation and habitat restoration group. EFI focuses on real time and result-oriented conservation efforts.
Mr. Krishnamurthy previously worked at Google before leaving in 2007 to start EFI. He has also founded Krish Info Media, a marketing research firm specialising in political research and communications. And he is also the founder of the marketing firm Yogine Danta.
In 2010, he was awarded:
1. the Jane Goodall Institute Global Youth Leadership Award, and
2. the British Council International Climate Champion Excellence Award.
His other awards include:
1. Google Alumni Impact (2011)
2. Rolex Awards for Enterprise (2012)
3. Puthiya Thalaimurai Tamilian Award (2012)
Mr. Krishnamurthy completed his studies at Madras Christian College and the Indian Institute of Mass Communication.
Chandan Keerthi
Leadership Advisor: Strategic Investments, Alliances & Planning
Mr. Chandan Keerthi has 15 years and 360 degrees of experience in covering diverse research and consulting practices, industry verticals and business regions globally.
Mr. Keerthi has rich expertise in delivering customized, winning solutions for helping from business entry to brand excellence.
He is the founder of BCUBE Consulting (Singapore), Cross Country Consulting, and India Insights Intelligence. He is a Senior Partner for Insights, Big Brand Theory and has an established B2B & Consulting practice.
Mr. Keerthi is an HEC alumni and an Oxford recognized Analyst, and has worked as a lead analyst in Emerging Markets at Forrester & Cloud Computing at KPM.
He has been a Product Specialist and Head for Solutions in Public and Infra at Nielsen India. Mr. Keerthi has also spearheaded pilot projects and processes for clients like IBM, Microsoft and HP.
Didier Cadau
Educator and Partner of Chef Michel Basaldella
Mr. Didier Cadau is the founder of the French startup Little Balance, a company specializing in weighing and small household appliances.
He is a graduate of international business. Besides being a cook and a multilingual, specialized educator, he is also a guitarist and singer.
With his partner, the renowned chef Michel Basaldella, Mr. Cadau has set up a successful restaurant of French haute cuisine in the South of France. The restaurant is based on the principles of organic produce and sustainable development.
He is currently planning to open an environmentally responsible “cuisine school” in Mumbai.
Hélène Danel
Vice-Présidente Communauté de Communes Blavet Bellevue Océan
Ms. Hélène Danel is the Vice-President of the Community of communes Blavet Bellevue Ocean, Brittany, France, and has worked for more than 40 years as a local and state civil servant.
In 2009, she was named “Person of the Year” by the newspaper "Le Parisien" for the Yvelines district.
In 2014, Ms. Danel was elected Deputy Mayor for Sustainable Development of Sainte-Hélène, a rural district in Brittany.
Since 2015, Ms. Danel has overseen a project to build a new primary school in Sainte-Hélène utilizing the circular economy principles.
The aim is to create a positive environmental impact rather than simply reducing the negative effects on our planet.
Ravi Sinha
Head of HR Decathlon
Mr. Ravi Sinha is the Human Resources Manager in Decathlon, India.
He is an ardent sports lover who enjoys meeting new people and sharing their dreams and projects.
He specializes in:
1. Brand Purchase portfolio,
2. P&L Management,
3. Customer Satisfaction,
4. Supply Chain, and
5. Human Resources.
Mr. Sinha was our Colloquium guest in 2014 and is responsible for the dynamic five-year partnership we have had with Decathlon India.
Kunal Dhanwant
Recruitment & Learning Leader at Decathlon
Mr. Kunal Dhanwant is shareholder and teammate of Decathalon Sports India.
He is presently working as Recruitment & Learning Leader at Decathlon Sports India, Bangalore, where his role is to help train leaders on topics like recruitment, learning and development.
Decathlon Sports has been present in India for more than 10 years. Its first cash-and-carry flagship store was set up in May of 2009 at Sarjapur, Bangalore.
As of September 2018, Decathlon had 65 stores across India, with future plans to expand on the subcontinent.
Mr. Dhanwant is a passionate swimmer and loves all kinds of sports.
He completed his Masters in Business Management & Human Resource Management from the University of Central Lancashire.
2018 NOTABLE GUEST SPEAKERS for the
SIXTH INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM
Dr. Anne Stillman
College Lecturer in English, University of Cambridge
Dr. Anne Stillman teaches English at Clare College, Cambridge including courses in Practical Criticism, literature of the nineteenth and twentieth century (mostly poetry), and Shakespeare.
The practices of reading aloud, collaboration in performance, and experiment in translation are all elements that matter to her for teaching and making work. Her research interests include voice, verse form, poetic drama (especially Samuel Beckett and Shakespeare), French verse, and the intersections between philosophy and poetry.
Her recent publications include ‘Eleven Pipe Dreams for the Mirlitonnades’, Black Box Manifold no.16 (Summer, 2016); ‘T. S. Eliot Plays Edward Lear’, in Edward Lear and the Play of Poetry, edited by James Williams and Matthew Bevis (Oxford, 2016), and ‘T. S. Eliot’s One Poem’, The Cambridge Humanities Review, Lent term 2016, Issue 11.
Chandra Montgomery Nichol
Executive Director of Clonlara School
Chandra Montgomery Nicol is the Executive Director of Clonlara School in Ann Arbor which is the oldest operating K-12 free school in the United States. She is on the Board of Trustees of Clonlara School and a member of the Board of Directors for the Community Chorus of Detroit.
Chandra has 48 years of experience in the field of alternative education and holds a B.A. in German and Political Science and a M.S. in Natural Resources, both from the University of Michigan.
She has served as a grant review panelist for the Michigan Council of Arts and Cultural Affairs and is an autodidact in many fields like non-profit management, team building, vocal performance, and communication arts.
Emmanuel Delannoy
Co-Founder of Pikaia
Emmanuel Delannoy is an entrepreneur, lecturer, and author, and has contributed to the construction of the French Agency for Biodiversity. He is a co-founder of Pikaia, a consulting firm dedicated to helping corporations, SMEs and local authorities implement the ecological reinvention of the economy, and accompanying their strategic reflections throughout their transitions.
Mr. Delannoy is the author of Permaéconomie (Permaeconomy) and L’économie expliquée aux humains (Economy Explained to Humans), published by Wildproject, and has contributed to many collective works, including Le dictionaire de la pensée écologique (The Dictionary of Ecological Thought) (PUF ed.); Humanité et biodiversité, Manifeste pour une nouvelle alliance (Humanity and Biodiversity: Manifest for a New Alliance), (Descartes et Cie ed.); S’approprier les clés de la mutation (Taking Ownership of the Keys to Change) (Chroniques sociales ed.), and the guidebook, Entreprises, relevez le défi de la biodiversité (Corporations, Take up the Challenge of Biodiversity).
Prachi Jha
Life Lab Foundation
Led by Dr. Archana Sharma (Principal Scientist, CERN), Life Lab Foundation makes science education fun and engaging for young people by exposing them to the joy of scientific inquiry. Through interactions with global experts, visits to leading research facilities, and participation in real experiments, we inspire them to stay curious and think like scientists.
Ivneet Singh leads national outreach, school partnerships, programme development and operations at Life Lab Foundation. He has years of experience in FMCG, durables and the education sector.
Prachi Jha leads international partnerships, business development and communications at Life Lab Foundation. She has previously worked with Teach for India and Ashoka University.
Lina Ghotmeh
Founder Principal Architect, Lina Ghotmeh—Architecture
Lina Ghotmeh is a French-Lebanese architect based in Paris and is the founder of the acclaimed international firm Lina Ghotmeh—Architecture. She is currently practicing at LG—A, a group of more than 22 international architects. Her innovative 14-story wooden tower in Paris, Réalimenter Masséna, won Réinventer Paris. Her practice has just completed the design for the WonderLab National Treasures of France exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum.
Lina Ghotmeh is the co-author of the Estonian National Museum (Grand Prix Afex 2016, nominee of the Mies Van Der Rohe Award 2017) building which she designed and realized with her prior partnership DGT -Dorell. She has received awards and accolades for projects including her renovation of Palais de Tokyo’s restaurants (best in Paris) and her Bois d’Anger (1st prize).
She was selected as one of 10 “visionary architects for a new decade” in 2010, the AJAP prize by the French Ministry of Culture and the Prix Dejean by the French Academy of Architecture in 2016. She has taught and lectured worldwide in schools and institutions.
Luisa Munaretto
Co-Founder of Brands & Beyond India LLP
Luisa is a seasoned private equity entrepreneur and investor bringing a deep expertise in B2C, IT-AI, media spaces, and a former partner of 21 Investmenti PE, the Benetton-family sponsored investment fund. Luisa contributes to the expansion of innovative business models and is committed to sharing her expertise and “out of the box” thinking.
Luisa co-founded the Brands Beyond fund in Delhi & Singapore as an innovative expansion capital investment business whose mission is to create economic and social value drawing on the deep cultural heritage of India, which benefits several segments of the lifestyle space like ayurvedic wellness, apparel, embroideries, leather goods, and many others. The development of leading “Made in India” lifestyle brands implies the empowerment and the inclusion in growth of millions of people who are today manufacturing outstanding masterpieces in different fields.
Luisa also contributes to businesses that leverage artificial intelligence and promote female talent, such as Claranova (an IT group based in Paris that operates in artificial intelligence and digital printing) and MyBataz (a digital media company based in Bangalore).
Pat Montgomery
Founder of the Clonlara Program
Pat Montgomery and her husband, Jim, founded Clonlara School in 1967. It grew to include several programs, most notably, the Clonlara School HBEP (now renamed the Off-Campus Program) which serves families all over the world.
Pat earned her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership at Wayne State University in Detroit (1981). Retired now from directing Clonlara, and also from her recent role as Director of the Associates of the Sisters of Divine Providence. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Susan Beaird
Former President and Member of Charles T. And Carolyn W. I. Beaird Family Foundation
Mrs. Susan Beaird is former president and lifetime board member of the Charles T. and Carolyn W. I. Beaird Family Foundation, a philanthropic organization based in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA. She is also former chair of the National Convention of Family Foundations of the Council on Foundations, USA.
Mrs. Beaird has been an entrepreneur and executive director of a non-profit organization. For fifteen years she served on the board of directors of a school in her locality, and she has also been a supporter and well wisher of the school for the past twenty-eight years. She is the mother of three children and has seven grandchildren.
Pascal Leclercq
Director of the National Institute of Arts and Crafts, Ministry of Culture, Paris, France
Mr. Pascal Leclercq received his Masters and Post-Graduate Diploma from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Paris Institute of Political Studies). He taught sociology at Lille University (1970-1971), at Beyrouth University, Lebanon (1973-1975), and at Paris-Nanterre (1976-1977).
He was then appointed senior executive at the National Audiovisual Institute (1977-1980), and then Director of Training (1980-1983) in charge of Cinema at theMinistry of Foreign Relations (1983-1986), International Relations Manager at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (1986-1987), and General Director of the French Film Institute (1987-1991). He was Director of the Inter-cultural Dialogue at the Ministry of Culture (1991-1994), and General Secretary of the Arts and Crafts Council at the Ministry of Culture (1994-2001).
From 2001 to 2004, he was General Director of Culture at Lille (2001-2004), and was in charge of the project "Lille, 2003 European Capital of Culture". He was appointed Head of Development at the National Manufacture and Museum of Ceramics & China-Paris/Sevres (2007-2009). He was professor at the ISEAM Business School, Paris from 2007 to 2011. He is currently Director of the Institut des Métiers d’Art, Paris (from 2010 to present).
Pascal Leclercq also served as UNESCO expert for Intangible Cultural Heritage (1994-2001), President of Choreographic Company Ea Sola (1995-2010), and Vice-president (2006-2011) and then President (2011) of the Committee of Ethnographic Cinema at the Museum of Mankind, Paris. Pascal Leclercq also serves as President of the French Association for Alliance Educational Foundation (2003 to the present).
Previous Guests
Mrs. Seema Anand
Co-founder of “Biomimicry India Network” and “Biomimicry India Lab and Studio”, consulting and research in the field of biomimicry and architecture.
Dr. Craig Benjamin
Professor of History, Grand Valley State University, Michigan, USA and Professor of the Big History Project, started by Bill Gates. Dr. Benjamin specialised in ancient world history including Inner Eurasia.
Jean-Paul Capitani
Co-founder Actes Sud publishing house. Officer of the Order of Art and Culture, France. Agronomist. Founder of alternative school, L’Ecole du Domaine du Possible.
Prashant Dhawan
Co-founder of the ‘Biomimicry India Network’ and ‘Biomimicry Lab and Studio’. MBA from ISB Hyderabad, Biomimicry Professional Certification from Biomimicry 3.8, U.S.A.
Sally W. Gorrel
LCSW, graduated from the University of Arkansas with a BS and a Master’s degree in Social Work.
Dr. Huma Masood
Programme Officer, Gender & Education UNESCO, for India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka. PhD, International Relations / Gender and Education, Jawahar Lal Nehru University.
Beverley Munday
Academic Advisor at Clonlara School for the Off Campus Program. Master’s of Education in Educational Leadership from the Open University, England.
Mme. Françoise Nyssen
Former Minister of Culture, France. Founder and former president of Actes Sud publishing house. Founder of alternative school, "L’Ecole du Domaine du Possible".
Paul Sagoo
CEO of Lemon Group International & Founder of the Asian Awards and The British Science Awards.
Mr. Daniel Rodary
Daniel Rodary, Coordinator, Life-Saving Trees program at Biomimicry Europa, is managing the “Saviour Trees” programme in Haiti, India, and Mexico since 2011.