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Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia
Hon'ble Minister of Civil Aviation at Government of IndiaShri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia is currently serving as the Union Minister of Civil Aviation, Government of India. He has also been a four-term Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha (2002-04, 2004-09, 2009-14 & 2014-19). He is a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha from the state of Madhya Pradesh since 2020. A public servant, Shri Scindia began his political journey in 2002. In 2008, he served as the Minister of State for Communications and IT; in 2009 as the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, and then, in 2012 as Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power. Shri Scindia’s tenure as Minister of State for Communications and IT ushered in the transformational Project Arrow that modernized the Indian post offices through new branding and IT-enabled procedures. In his tenure as Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, he successfully brought down transaction costs in Indian exports at various levels - right from the stage of production to the end customer. As Minister of State for Power (Independent charge), he led the establishment of a unified transmission grid network i.e. One Nation One Grid with a 6-sigma reliability system with linkages for power plants, and resolved last-mile distribution issues in collaboration with State Governments. Shri Scindia has been a member of Parliamentary Committees on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports; Defence; Finance; Home and External Affairs. Shri Scindia completed his schooling from the Doon School, Dehradun. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Harvard University, USA and an MBA degree from the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, USA. Besides, Mr. Scindia has also worked at the United Nations, and as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. Apart from his political roles, Shri Scindia is passionate about education. He is currently serving as the President of the Board of Governors at the Scindia School, Madhav Institute of Technology & Sciences, Samrat Ashok Technological Institute and Patron of the Daly College. With an avid interest in cricket, he has also served as the Chairman of the Finance Committee of the BCCI, and as the Former President and Chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association.
Shri Amber Dubey
Joint Secretary at Ministry of Civil AviationShri Amber Dubey is an alumnus of IIT Bombay and IIM Ahmedabad and has a professional experience of over 28 years. He was one of nine professionals selected in Sep 2019 by the Government of India to join as Joint Secretaries in the union government. At Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), he is looking after various critical initiatives, including IT and digital initiatives, skill development, National Aviation University, Flying Training Organization (FTO) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Earlier, he was the India head of aerospace and defence at global consultancy KPMG.
At KPMG, Amber led several assignments related to policy, strategy, bid transactions and regulatory issues. He has assisted central and state governments, regulators, airports, airlines, cargo and MRO companies in India and abroad. Amber has worked closely with the MoCA in drafting the Vision 2040, National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP 2016) and the policy framework for the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS). He had earlier assisted MoCA in drafting the 12th Five Year Plan for aviation. Amber was honoured for ‘valuable contribution to Indian aviation’ in 2012 by the then aviation minister. In 2017, he was nominated by the President of India as member of the Academic Council of the Rajiv Gandhi National Aviation University (RGNAU).
Mr Deepak NG
India Managing Director of Dassault SystèmesDeepak NG was appointed as Managing Director for Dassault Systèmes India in February 2020. He joined Dassault Systèmes in 2011 and carries more than 21 years of experience across different industries. He has driven key transformational projects in various industries including Automotive, Aerospace and Defense, High-tech and Government. In his previous role at Dassault Systèmes, as Director of Global Affairs and Innovative Business Development, he was instrumental to establish new partnerships by engaging in smart city projects and by developing industry-based programs for the workforce of the future.
Dr Arunkumar Sampath
Chair - Meetings & Exposition Board at SAEINDIA
Shri R P Kashyap
Director Operations Drone of DGCA India, Ministry of Civil Aviation25 years of experience in Aviation Industry, Started carrier in 1995 at Civil Aviation Training College CATC Allahabad, Asia's topmost college for Civil Aviation . After Training Joined Airports Authority of India in 1995 at Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel -SVP International Airport as an Asst. Air Traffic Controller. Worked at Ahmedabad and Raipur Airports. Joined DGCA Directorate General of Civil Aviation through UPSC in 2002 , worked in Air safety Directorate for 12 years and carried out regulatory functions for Airprox Investigation and Bird/Wildlife Management, drafted regulation for safe and efficient flow of air traffic and smooth work flow of Civil Aviation . Worked in Flying training Directorate of DGCA for 4 years streamlined the training procedure and pending cases which were 5-6 years old, draft regulations were prepared and advised for exam on demand/ frequency enhancement for CPL exam. Name of Flying training Organisations who were not approved were removed from DGCA website and actions were recommend against forged FTO. Worked as Dy.Dir Operations O/o Director Air Safety (NR) Safdarjung Airport, for 3 years , looked after Airprox investigation, ground handling operations and operational matters at Airports for ensuring safe and efficient Air Transportation through regulation. Regulatory functions and requirement as per CAR,AIP and AIC. July 2020 Transferred to Air Traffic Control Officers Licencing Division, DGCA office CEO R.K Puram Ministry of Civil Aviation, streamlined the process of approval of AELTO/TSP during three months four approval of AELTO/TSP were processed and granted to AAI which was very crucial for ATCO, ELP –English language proficiency training and recency. Special permission were processed for Government of India UDAN scheme for providing ATC service at newly established ATC unit Kushinagar, Rupasi and Jagdalpur airport.
As per recommendations of Government of India taken over charge in December 2020 as First Director Operations Drone Directorate of DGCA , Ministry of Civil Aviation , presently responsible for operations of Drone , Standard operating procedures, formulations of Rules and Regulations for safe and expediters flow of drone operations and projects related with Drone Technology in India
Dr Manish Pande
Director and Head, PAD Division of Quality Council of IndiaA policy administration professional with 20+ years of work experience in domains of quality infrastructure, agriculture, forestry and food services. Mapping opportunities and risk in current processes and new initiatives in existing field of intervention, evaluation and assessment of field projects in the areas of aviation, food, agriculture and forestry, traditional ecological knowledge and formulating schemes for aiding compliance in close co-ordination with various ministries are my forte.
His acumen in problem-solving goes beyond the business front in tackling issues that are systemic, strategic and operations oriented, and in engaging with academic matters as well. I have the ability to identify and resolve key issues in personnel and client management through a holistic weighing of needs of both organisations in action, and in the process, I maintain productive collaborations with institutional partners, policy makers and subject experts.
Specialties: Design and Development of Conformity Assessment Frameworks, Accreditation Assessment and Maintenance, National Interpretations of various standards, Evaluations pertaining to forestry, organic certification, GLOBALG.A.P, RTRS certification including CSRS in Food etc.
Mr Smit Shah
Director of Drone Federation of IndiaSmit, currently based in New Delhi, India, holds a Bachelor's Degree in Engineering from the
Mumbai University and started his career as a software developer with Germin8, a social
intelligence company to build SaaS-based data analytics products.
Passionate about leveraging the power of healthcare data, he co-founded CheckApp - a
health-tech startup, which created an interoperable healthcare data exchange protocol for
on-demand access to clinical data across different healthcare service providers. His work
also involved interacting with state governments to integrate healthcare data exchange with
public health policies.
With his well-rounded business acumen and passion for public policy and technology
integration to solve large scale problems, he currently has a laser focus on the Indian drone
industry and serves as the Director at the Drone Federation of India.
He works ardently with leading drone manufacturers, service providers, public and private
sector corporations for creating opportunities and accelerating the growth of the drone
industry in India.
Smit also plays a prominent role in drone policy advocacy by interacting with civil and
defence government agencies and serves a member of leading government drone policy
and standardisation committees:
Member, National UTM Committee
Ministry of Civil Aviation
Scope of the Committee: Framing the National Unmanned Traffic Management Policy and
overseeing the deployment of UTM Systems in India.
Member, Committee for RPAS Certification Scheme
Quality Council of India
Scope of the Committee: Developing the technical criteria for certification of drones as per
guidelines laid down by the DGCA.
Member, Expert Advisory Group, Device Development Program
Department of Science and Technology
Ministry of Science and Technology
Scope of the Group: Analysing project proposals submitted by industry and academia for
research and development in the drone sector.
Member, Sub-Committee for Standardisation of UAVs
Bureau of Indian Standards
Scope of the Committee: Developing the technical standards for drones and its components
in India.
Dr Satya Chakravarthy
Professor, Aeronautical Engg. at IIT MadrasProf. Satya Chakravarthy is a Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India.
He received his Bachelor of Technology degree in Aerospace Engineering in 1991 from IIT Madras and went to obtain his Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering degree in 1992 and Doctor of Philosophy in 1995, both from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA.
Satya Chakravarthy works in the areas of propulsion and combustion and researches different aspects of combustion in gas turbine and rocket engines. He heads the National Centre for Combustion Research & Development (NCCRD) at IIT Madras. The NCCRD is the largest of its kind in the world, with a 5-storey building that houses state-of-the-art facilities on combustion research, including a 38metre-tall microgravity drop tower. Recently, Satya Chakravarthy is also heading the Centre of Propulsion Technology at IIT Madras.
He has around 100 peer-reviewed archival journal publications to his credit, and presented over 240 conference papers, delivered many keynote/plenary/invited lectures, visited many universities such as MIT, Cambridge, TU Berlin, TU Munich, etc., and industries such as GE, FM Global, etc. He is on the editorial board of Progress in Energy and Combustion Science and is a Colloquium Co-Chair on Solid Fuel Combustion for the International Symposia on Combustion, Dublin 2018 and Adelaide 2020.
He has been awarded the HAL Prize for the best undergraduate in aerospace engineering in 1991, the Young Engineer Award by the Indian National Academy of Engineering in 2003, the Young Faculty Recognition Award by IIT Madras in 2009, the Dalmi-HEMSI-ACRHEM Award by the High Energy Materials Society of India in 2009, and the DRDO Academic Excellence Award by the Defence Research and Development Organization twice, in 2009 and 2016.
Satya Chakravarthy is the Lead Co-founder/CTO of The ePlane Company, a startup company aiming to make a new breed of aircraft called hybrid aerial vehicles for vertical takeoff and landing as well as a long-distance flight to carry goods and passengers, ultimately leading to air taxi operations; Co-founder Advisor of Aerostrovilos, which aims to produce micro gas turbines for decentralized power generation; Agnikul Cosmos, which aims to make mini rocket launch vehicles to launch micro-and nano-satellites into space orbits; X2Fuels & Energy, which aims to convert any kind of wastes—municipal solid wastes and Agri wastes—into crude oil; GalaxEye, which aims to develop multi-sensor remote sensing satellites with edge-computing AI. He is also the faculty mentor of the Avishkar Hyperloop student team at IIT Madras.
He has delivered invited talks titled “Ubiquitous Flying” at the Mahindra Technical Academy on their Great Ideas for Tomorrow (GIFT) programme and at Amadeus on their aGeekprogramme. His web presence includes TedX talks, one on “India’s Space Programme” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lGiLzsNS24 and more recently, another on a topic titled “Defrastructure” (http://progressvideo.tv/videos/democratizing-technology-through-defrastructure-dr-satyanarayanan-chakravarthy-tedxnittrichy) besides his 55 lectures on a graduate-level course on Combustion on YouTube through the National Programme on Technology Enabled Learning (NPTEL) and the first-of-its-kind-in-the-world semester-long course on Electric Aircraft Propulsion, video-recorded through November 2019 (to be uploaded).
Mr Dilipkumar Damodaran
Joint General Manager (ATM-ASM) at Airports Authority of IndiaExperienced Air Traffic Controller, Airspace Manager and Airport Safety Management professional with avid enthusiasm in training and development areas and development and maintenance of Safety Management Systems.
Mr Amit Dutta
Managing Director of Blade IndiaAmit has 23+ years of experience in category management, marketing & sales across diverse industries, leading large cross-functional teams - HUL, Reliance Infocom, GM, Amex. 11+ years with HUL tea category, rich experience in all facets of the business, with his last assignment as Marketing Head. Amit started his entrepreneurial journey in 2009 by launching Quintessentially, a global lifestyle services business and co-founding fellow-Hunch portfolio company, TeaMonk in 2016.
Mr Prakash Eeralli
Director - Program Management Office (PMO) & Retrofit Modification Upgrade (RMU) Center of Excellence (COE) at Honeywell AerospaceEducation:
Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Gulbarga University and Master of Science in Embedded Systems from BITS, Pilani
Honeywell certified six sigma Master Blackbelt
Experience:
A competent leader having 34+ years of experience (19+ years in Honeywell Aerospace) having deep QMS, product certification, and program management expertise
Prakash’s focus in the aerospace business has been on technical leadership, innovation, organizational effectiveness, excellence, and financial accountability while leading high-performing airworthiness, certification, and quality experts, and fostering key relationships with certification regulatory agencies, original equipment manufacturers, airlines, and suppliers.
Specialties: - High-energy, global mindset, efficient, cost-conscious leader with proven results in Air Transport, Business & General Aviation business areas.
- Firsthand knowledge of the entire aerospace product certification cycle.
- Working relationships with India and Foreign certification agency leaders- DGCA, CEMILAC & FAA
- Built strong airworthiness product certification team (FAA approved Software and System TSO Specialists)
Represented Honeywell in Aerospace industry forums and conferences
a) Development of Indian Technical Standard Order (ITSO) standards for aerospace products published by DGCA:
i. ITSO C30c – Aircraft position lights – Member of DGCA standards committee
ii. ITSO C106 – Aircraft Data Computer (ADC) – contributed as independent reviewer
b) Aerospace Partnership Program (ACP) under bi-lateral agreement between India and USA- Provided DO-178B, ARP-4754, ARP-4761 and 14 CFR Part 21 certification standards and regulations to DGCA officers and Indian Aerospace industry member organizations.
c) IACC Conference: Addressed the forum on “Opportunities and Challenges in Aviation and Aerospace Component Manufacturing under BASA Regime”
d) FAA/Asia-pacific bi-lateral partner’s conference – Presented “Component Design / Approval Process – Opportunists and Challenges Aerospace Component Manufacturing
e) Innovation in Aviation Workshop 2018 organized by DGCA and USTDA – topic presented “GPS Aided Geo Augmentation Navigation (GAGAN) – Configuration and Application”
Mr Amit Ganjoo
CEO of ANRA TechnologiesAmit Ganjoo is a serial entrepreneur and currently the Founder and CEO ANRA Technologies, an Award Winning Drone Operations and UAS Traffic Managment (UTM) Platform provider based in Washington DC whose Platform SmartSkies™ is used by multiple commercial and government entities for running and managing commercial drone operations.
Amit has over 20 years of aviation, telecom and wireless experience in both the federal and the commercial space. He is an engineer, a licensed pilot, following a lifelong passion in aviation and builds experimental aircrafts.
Until December 2016, he acted as the co-chair for FCC’s Technical Advisory Council (TAC) for 5G and IoT, which included ground and airborne autonomous vehicles. He was the Director of Engineering at and Principal Architect at Ericsson, providing telecom solutions to commercial customers and Federal Government, where he was the recipient of the Athena Award. He was also the Founder and CEO of a Mobile Marketing company from which he had a successful exit in 2009.
Deployed as part of the Expeditionary Strike Group, he was chief system architect for Navy 4G LTE Sea Pilot, delivering a one of a kind turn-key, secure, unmanned airborne/afloat autonomous 4G LTE Network with applications to directly support the war fighter. He architected the first ever approved classified security architecture for 4G LTE in line with NSA Commercial Solutions for Classified (CSfC) framework, approved for operational deployment in DoD in 2012.
Amit is an adjunct professor at the George Mason University and shares his passion for engineering by teaching in the School of Engineering and volunteers at a local Maker Space in the D.C. area.
Mr Mike Hirschberg
Executive Director of Vertical Flight SocietyMike Hirschberg assumed the duties of the Vertical Flight Society Executive Director in June 2011, after 20 years in the aerospace industry, primarily in vertical flight.
As the VFS Executive Director, he represents the vertical flight technical community and advocates for the advancement of vertical flight research and technology. Mr. Hirschberg is the publisher of all society publications, including Vertiflite, the Journal of the AHS, and the Annual Forum Proceedings.
Mr. Hirschberg was previously a principal aerospace engineer with CENTRA Technology, Inc., providing technical and program management support for over 10 years to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Office of Naval Research (ONR) on advanced aircraft and rotorcraft concepts. Prior to this, Mr. Hirschberg worked from 1994 to 2001 in the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Program Office, supporting the development of the X-32 and X-35 vertical flight propulsion systems.
He served as the Managing Editor of Vertiflite magazine from 1999 to 2011, and had been a contributing author since 1997. Mr. Hirschberg is an internationally-known lecturer, frequently presenting on vertical flight at short courses, meetings, conferences and universities, and is the author/co-author of hundreds of publications on helicopter, V/STOL and advanced aircraft developments, including three books.
Mr. Hirschberg holds a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Virginia (1991), a Masters of Mechanical Engineering from Catholic University of America (1996) and a Master of Business Administration from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech) in 2013.
He is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS).
Mr Aman Johri
CEO of Jatayu Unmanned SystemsAman Johri is the CEO of Jatayu Unmanned Systems. He develops next-generation weapons technology for the Indian Armed Forces. Aman has won several accolades like SKOCH Entrepreneur of the Year and Defense Innovation of the Year at AMRO India 2018. Aman is an Airborne Weapons Specialist, Astronautics Engineer, Industry Captain (Rotor Wing), Helicopter Pilot and youngest lifetime member of the prestigious Rotary Wing Society of India. Aman serves on several policy panels with the Government of India related to Helicopters, Drones and Counter Drone Technology.
Mr Rajendra N Johri
CMD at Aman Aviation & Aerospace SolutionsA competent Aircraft Engineer and MRO leader having 37+ years of experience in Aviation MRO & Verti-lift industry, having deep knowledge on AQMS 9100, CAR-145, CAR-M, Experience in product certification i.a.w CAR-21, and commercial contracts. He holds DGCA B1 & C-Rating AME license/Authorisation on various Helicopters from single piston engine to multi turbine engine and aeroplane. He has the experience of running the Drone & Anti-drone research lab for over five years now, by the brand name of JATAYU UNMANNED TECHNOLOGIES.
He has spent around 37 years in Civil Aviation, with experience ranging from holding various responsible positions in many aviation companies, and now successfully running his own component MRO for Airline in India. In 2005, he felt that Indian MRO needs to grow and it has the potential to be independent and globally competitive. In his opinion, we Indians can be the go-getters, if we dare to compete with the foreign players. His vision was to establish a world class robust MRO which brings pride to the country, is able to deliver within the shortest TAT, without compromising on safety.
Rajendra’s focus has been on technical leadership, innovation, organizational effectiveness, excellence, and financial accountability while leading high-performing airworthiness, certification, and quality experts, and fostering key relationships with certification regulatory agencies, original equipment manufacturers, airlines, and suppliers.
Specialties of Mr Johri : -
- Part of the Governing Council of the Rotary Wing Society of India, the key Not-for profit organisation to support the Verti-lift industry.
- Part of the Board of Trustees of the MRO Association of India, the key Not-for profit organisation to support the MRO industry.
- Has global thinking which is efficient, cost-effective Air Transport, Business & General Aviation business areas.
- Working relationships with India and Foreign certification agency leaders- DGCA, CEMILAC, EASA & FAA
- Built strong airworthiness product certification team -DGCA approved Software in house.
- As the Chairman of the Drone Committee of the Rotary wing Society of India, he represents the vertical flight regulatory and technical community and advocates for the advancement of vertical flight research and technology. Mr Johri has been representing with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, DGCA and in various other forums to iron out the ease of doing business in India.
- Part of the RWSI team HAI (Helicopter Association International) international co-operation team.
Mr Nagendran Kandasamy
Founder & CEO of Throttle AerospaceAviation Geek, Strategists & Cognitive
Skilled in Aerospace, Drones, Defence, IOT, Robotics and Anti-drone Technology
Worked on major aircraft OEM’s globally ie.,, HAL, Boeing, Bombardier, Fokker and Zodiac Aerospace
Passionate on R&D, technology adoption, building low cost product, strategy motion plans.
Bachelor’s Degree focused in Aeronautical Engineering from Hindustan, Chennai.
Mr. Nagesh V Karanth
NVH Consultant & former Sr. Deputy Director of ARAIPresently working as NVH consultant for Industries and Academies.
Graduate Mechanical Engineer with vast experience in the field of evaluation of automotive/ non-automotive, construction Equipments for durability, ride comfort, NVH Improvements using both experimental and CAE Techniques.
With ARAI for 35 + years, worked at various capacities from Evaluation, formulation of Noise and Vibration standards for Automotives and
Non Automotives .
Member of National Committee for Noise Pollution Control (NCNPC) , Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) India for addressing Environmental noise related issues from Vehicles, Gensets, Construction Equipments and involved in formulation of standards for noise pollution control.
Member Secretary of working group in India on Automotive Noise standards for alignment with UNECE Regulations and participated In working group Meetings at UNECE, Geneva.
Published and presented Technical Papers in various conferences including SAE on subject related to Evaluation of Automotive Vehicles for Ride comfort and NVH..
Member of SAEINDIA.
Member of BIS committee dealing with Vibration standards for Human comfort.
Mr Cesar Legendre
Sr. Research Engineer at Actran SoftwareCésar Legendre holds a Ph.D in theoretical and computational aero-acoustics from Université Libre de Bruxelles (2015). He started his career at Free Field Technologies headquarters (Belgium) in Spring 2011. There, he worked as a developer and in research projects in acoustics and aero-acoustics. He is currently a senior research engineer and aeroacoustic development leader continuously contributing to the development of Actran software.
Mr Pranjal Mehta
Co-Founder of The ePlane CompanyPranjal Mehta is a co-founder of The ePlane Company. Since its creation in 2019, he takes care of all things business at ePlane. He received his Bachelors in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from IIT Madras in 2019. He has been awarded the best student entrepreneur by IITM and the global top 30 student entrepreneurs by ASES at Stanford. Pranjal made his 1st award winning business plan in 2014 during high school – an electric bike taxi service. In freshman year at college, he founded Pikkollo, a waste collection project. As a sophomore, Pranjal won Samsung EDGE B-Plan Competition competing against 25+ year old MBA candidates from top business schools in India. After meeting Prof Satya, he attempted a helicopter taxi startup in Bangalore in his junior year. During college, he interned at Samsung, Schlumberger, Amadeus and BigBasket.com and received full time job offers from Schlumberger and Nomura. In his free time, Pranjal watches football, standup, and F1.
Mr Suresh Menon
Director & Heads the Innovation, Intellectual Property & Patents of AmadeusMr. Suresh Menon is a highly accomplished professional with over 35 years of combined experience in the Airlines, Airports, Transportation and Hospitality industry across various management and technology consulting roles.
At Amadeus, Suresh is Director & Heads the Innovation, Intellectual Property & Patents. He has been very successful in envisioning and executing Innovation led Ideathons, Hackathons and thus creating Intellectual Property and Patents at Amadeus. Under his leadership Amadeus Bangalore contributes 38% of IP&P filed globally.
Before Amadeus, Suresh has worked with Airlines and Tech giants like Perot Systems TSI, Kenya Airways, Lufthansa, Finnair and Dell Technologies and has led teams across geographies.
He has travelled to 158 countries and lived in 6 continents until now.
He has garnered a rich business experience while working in diverse functions such as Revenue Accounting & Management, Commercial, eCommerce, Passenger, Cargo, Flight Operations, Strategy Planning, Airport Operations, and Airline Network Development.
In 1998, he worked with a Malaysia based Airline as its Country Manager for the Indian Subcontinent where his efforts were recognized in the Indian aviation sector for bringing in the first international scheduled cargo operator into India. He helped set-up the operations in Sri Lanka as well.
In 2000 he worked with Kenya Airways as Business Process Re-Engineering Program Manager, driving the airlines Automation and Digital Transformation, following which he worked with Lufthansa and Continental in their transformations as well.
Since 2003, he has been associated with several global technology companies in different leadership roles driving business growth, P&L management, solutions delivery and innovation to the Airlines industry.
Suresh’s experience encompasses the complete life cycle implementation in several key airlines and airport solutions.
In 2020 Suresh was awarded the Indian Achievers Award in Travel & Hospitality industry for the key contribution in Aviation Business & Technology recognized by the Govt of India.
Some of his key experiences have been in the implementation of state of art Customer Experience management solution, Business Intelligence and Analytic, Cargo solutions, Weight and Balance solution, Passenger Services System, and Airport Solutions etc.
Suresh considers Airport implementation, Altéa implementation, Business Intelligence, Airline CRM and development of a slew of innovative solutions as his core specialization as his experience encompass complete life cycle implementation in several key airlines and airport solutions.
Suresh is a wildlife photography, conservationist enthusiast, philanthropist. enjoys playing Golf, listening to music, travelling, and cooking during his time off.
Apart from his job, Suresh is the Director for Literacy and International Services for Rotary Bangalore and has been an active member of Rotary.
Suresh’s purpose in life is to help children and thus to drive positive change, he helped open a school named #SMAYA in Ernakulam, Kerala. His classmates and he have sponsored 67 children's fees and other requirements for school currently.
Suresh works with #UrjavaFoundation empowering women and during COVID they ensured tailoring machines were delivered to 80 women’s homes, to keep their livelihood going. He provides similar support to the LGBTQiA+ community.
Dr Kamesh Namuduri
Professor, Electrical Engineering at University of North TexasAreas of Expertise: Airborne Networks, Advanced Air Mobility, and Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Communications
Biography: Kamesh Namuduri is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and the director of Autonomous Systems Laboratory at the University of North Texas (UNT). He received his B.S. degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Osmania University, India, in 1984, M.S. degree in Computer Science from University of Hyderabad in 1986, and Ph.D. degree in Computer Science and Engineering from University of South Florida in 1992. Over the past eleven years, his research is focused on aerial networking and communications. He is serving as the chair for two Standards Working Groups (IEEE 1920.1: Aerial Communications and Networking and IEEE P1920.2: Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications for Unmanned Aircraft Systems). Namuduri is named as a “Distinguished Lecturer” by the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society for the term 2021-2023.
He is serving as the Chair for the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society’s Ad Hoc Committee on Drones, as the Vice Chair for “Aerial Communications”, an emerging technology initiative of the IEEE Communication Society, and as an Expert Adviser on UAVs, COM/Access Core Standards Committee, IEEE Communications Society. He is a co-editor for the book titled “UAV Networks and Communications” published by the Cambridge University Press in 2017. He is leading the Smart and Connected Community project on “Deployable Communication Systems” in collaboration with the government, public, and private organizations. This living laboratory project was demonstrated thrice during the Global City Teams Challenge hosted jointly by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and US Ignite in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. He contributed to the development of research agenda, requirements and blueprints highly deployable communications systems led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and National Public Safety Telecommunications Council. In 2020, Namuduri successfully led a team of seven organizations including three universities and four private companies engaging as an airspace partner in the Advanced Air Mobility, National Campaign Developmental Test project directed by NASA. In 20211-2022, he is a leading the North Texas Cohort engaging as an infrastructure partner in the AAM National Campaign directed by NASA. This team will be conducting several flight tests in the near future aimed at understanding the challenges when UAVs are deployed at scale in real-world.
Gp Capt RK Narang (Retd.)
Director - Strategic Initiatives of Drone Federation of IndiaProfessionally qualified and decorated former Indian Air Force (IAF) officer, drone expert, author and policy analyst with experience of leadership, management and operations.
Flying supervisor and holder of Civil Helicopter Pilot’s License (CHPL) with more than 4700 hours of flying experience. Demonstrated capability in leading people, large organisations, managing resources and deliver in critical situations. A keen learner, M Sc in Defence & Strategic Studies and is pursuing PhD.
Worked as Research/Senior Fellow at the Centre for Air Power Studies (CAPS); authored book titled “India’s Quest for UAVs and Challenges” and research papers including on aviation, drones, drone regulations, Make in India & military history. Believer in India's potential to become drone-manufacturing hub, and drones can transform India’s manned and unmanned aviation sector into a high value sector.
Dr Rajalakshmi P
Professor at IIT HyderabadDr. P Rajalakshmi, is Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Hyderabad, which she joined in 2009. Her research is in the area of Drone based sensing, wireless communications, Internet of Things, Cyber Physical Systems targeting applications like agriculture, transportation – aerial and terrestrial, healthcare, environmental monitoring and smart buildings. She has been handling R&D projects as PI/co-PI, funded by industry and Government of India in these areas. She is also the Project Director of DST NMICPS Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigations Foundation (TiHAN) at IITH. Along with fundamental theoretical research in IoT/CPS about wireless communications, low-complex signal processing algorithms, sensor development, she also emphasizes on translational research which involves development of minimum viable and user beneficial products. Out of her research activities, she has filed 10 patents, published over 30 Journals and 100 conference peer-reviewed papers. She is awarded Young Faculty Research Fellowship under Visvesvaraya PhD Programme starting January 2016 for a period of 5 years, ‘Digital Trail Blazer Award 2016’ by India Today at National Level and in Telangana state, best paper/poster Awards in reputed conference. She is a Member of CII Telangana Digital Transformation and IT Panel since August 2018. She is a mentor for Start-up company (SKIoT) incubated at IITH, founded by 2 PhD students from her lab.
Mr Prashant Pitti
Co-Founder of EaseMyTripMr. Prashant Pitti, the co-founder of EaseMyTrip is a graduate from IIT Madras and has an experience of 16 years in the Travel and Tourism Industry. Being in business, he also has a good grasp on banking and the working of social applications. At EaseMyTrip he overlooks brand and digital marketing, handles investor relations, keeps a close eye on the development of the products and triggers media management. Previously, he had worked for a few years in the United States in companies likes HSBC and Capital One however today, EaseMyTrip is the second most visited OTA platform in India and is increasingly gaining traction by the day.
Mr Sandipan Sen
Founder & CEO of TropoGoSandipan Sen brings 15+ years of Strategy/Management Consulting & Product management experience from Top-Tier Brands Like Deutsche Bank, Barclays, UBS, Royal Dutch Shell, Cognizant Technology Solutions. Sandipan Holds a Master’s Degree in Statistics (Distinction Holder) from prestigious Indian Statistical Institute, MIT (Financial Risk Management) & Harvard Business School (Entrepreneurial Studies).
Prior Founding TropoGo Sandipan has been Trusted C Level Technology Advisors for Digital transformations. In his Last Role Sandipan Lead Multi-Million Blockchain Program for Royal Dutch Shell, globally. He has traveled across 19 countries and currently lives in Cardiff, The UK with his Wife & Son.
Mr Omer Sharar
CEO of InfiniDomeOmer Sharar is co-founder and CEO of infiniDome – the GPS Security Company. Leveraging his deep knowledge and experience in the GPS timing and synchronization world, Omer co-founded infiniDome in 2016 with a goal of protecting wireless communications of autonomous vehicles, drones, fleets and critical infrastructure from jamming and spoofing attacks.
Omer holds a BSc. in Mathematics and Computer Science from the Ben Gurion University, and an MBA in International Business from IDC Herzliya.
Mr Anshul Sharma
Co-Founder of Redwing LabsAnshul Sharma is the co-founder of Redwing Labs and an alum of Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia - '21.
Redwing labs is building a drone based logistical system to democratize on-demand delivery for healthcare products across geographies. In the past, Redwing has worked with WeRobotics in Papua New Guinea for demonstration of polio vaccines delivery by drones. In October of this year, Redwing is also scheduled to start the country's first corridor based drone delivery trials in Telangana under World Economic Forum's - Medicines from the Sky Program.
The founding team of Redwing is one of the most awarded aerospace engineers in the country with awards from NASA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin & Airbus through collegiate competitions. Redwing is backed by Techstars India, Beyond Capital Fund & other marquee investors.
Mr Lalan Singh
Technical Manager - A&D, South and ASEAN at AnsysLalan Singh is a Regional Technical Manager, Ansys. Lalan has been with Ansys over 15 years and has a broad range of experiences in engineering analysis. He leads a team of experts supporting simulation activities for various Aerospace systems. He obtained his master’s degree from IIT Kharagpur.
Mr Paul A. Stoelting
Aircraft Director - Growth & Innovation of Moog IncPaul A. Stoelting is the Aircraft Director for Growth & Innovation at Moog Inc. with 25yrs. of experience in the design and development of aircraft flight control systems. He has worked on and led teams which developed such systems for the V-22, UH-60, F-35, F-18EF, 747-8 LCE, Gulfstream G-280 and Embraer E2. He has held various positions within Moog from Engineering to Program Management and now on the Leadership team. Currently, within Growth & Innovation he is focused on growing new business and capabilities that will serve as the company’s future growth path on revolutionary new aircraft that are now becoming possible due to electrification. These new systems will safely change the way the current air transportation system moves people and cargo very soon. Paul has an MS in Finance from Georgetown University, an MS in Computer Science from the University at Buffalo and a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology.
Mr Shripathi V
Head - Technical & Business Dev. - Aerospace & Defense at MSC SoftwareShripathi leads the Technical & Business Development for Aerospace & Defence domain at MSC Software, Indo-Pacific Pacific region.
He started his career at Indian Institute of Science as a Project Engineer in the UAV Lab. Shripathi is currently working with MSC Software on Aeroelasticity, Structural Dynamics, Optimisation, Thermal, Composites and various integrated simulation solutions.
He is member of SAE India Aerospace Forum and also member of BIS TED 14:1.
Shripathi has credit of implementing various advanced simulation solutions at Global OEMs. He played a key role in providing integrated simulations to indigenious Indian defense projects.
Mr Shravan Vatambeti
Founder of AviancoMr. Shravan Vatambeti is a seasoned Aerospace and Aviation professional and Entrepreneur with over 20 years of global experience in the industry. Shravan has a Bachelor Degree in Engineering and Masters in Business Management from George Mason University, USA. His experience in the Aerospace industry includes working on various avionics systems, aircraft systems, communication and navigations systems, subject matter expert in safety critical systems design, development and FAA certification. Avianco is founded by him with primary focus of building complete suite of Airspace Management, Operations and Fleet Management technology solutions for the emerging UAV, UAM and AAM.
Avianco’s indigenous UAV Traffic Management suite, SkyNet, is integrated and tested with various Drone OEM and ecosystem partners. We are very proud to be the first indigenous UTM technology company and part of BVLOS and Medicine from Sky pilot projects in India.
Mr Woodward William
Chair - PNT Committee at SAE InternationalBill Woodward is internationally recognized as a leader in PNT and responsible for the creation of SAE International’s PNT Committee. As a peer recognized technical leader, he serves as chair of SAE International’s Aerospace Avionic Systems Group and is the former chair of SAE International’s Aerospace Fiber Optics and Applied Photonics Committee. He is well known internationally as the author of numerous books on fiber optics and network cabling. He has decades of direct experience in the design, development, installation, and operation of military electronic systems, electrical systems, propulsion control systems, navigation systems, and test equipment.