Prachi Deo

Founder & Executive Director, Nayi Disha

Prachi has 13 years of technical and project management experience in the software industry in India and the US. She has led the IT team for a strategic marketing firm in Chicago. More recently she worked as a Project Manager with Microsoft Global Delivery in Hyderabad, which she quit to to pursue her passion for working on the issue Intellectual Developmental Disabilities (IDD). Prachi’s brother, who has Downs Syndrome, is her inspiration for setting up Nayi Disha.

Nidhi Srivastava

Nidhi is an English graduate from Delhi University and a Post-graduate in Information Technology. She has been working in the field of learning and development for over a decade, during which she was associated with large corporates, startups, NGOs and leading international Schools. One of her assignments, which she cherishes and believes helped her define her calling, was with a renowned International School in Hyderabad, where she was tasked with developing content in the areas of Compassion, Bravery and Empathy for students (young girls). While researching for the content, she was exposed to the hardships and other challenges that people go through in the society. And this left Nidhi thinking that she needs to use her acquired skills and knowledge to give back to the community and make a difference in people’s life. She found her calling at Nayi Disha Resource Center. She leads the Service Directory effort at Nayi Disha and wants to create a largest service directory for the parents with kids/adults with Intellectual and Developmental difficulty so they do not have to run from pillar to post for information related to Therapists, Special Schools etc. She also leads Social Media outreach at Nayi Disha to spread awareness about this initiative. Apart from her work she enjoys long drives and different cuisines.

Dr Ajay Sharma 

Dr. Ajay Sharma is a consultant neurodevelopmental pediatrician and the ex-Clinical Director at Evelina London, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, London, UK.  He has extensive clinical and teaching experience of child development and developmental disorders. He has written articles and book chapters and has co-authored and edited books on child development.  He also provides training to practitioners and is passionate about creating accessible learning material for practitioners and parents.

Visalakshi M

Visalakshi has more than 6 years of experience in IT industry with good experience in Web Application Development, Testing, Data migration with in-depth analytical experience. She has worked with TCS and CTS in India and Belgium. She is an engineering graduate from University of Madras. She is an ardent learner, enjoys problem-solving, hands on by nature, loves to share knowledge and a good team player. She is very happy to be associated with Nayi Disha. She is keen in creating a great web & app experience for the users and to harness the data to bring more insights.

Vedika Phansalkar

She has studied Masters in Clinical Psychology from University of Mumbai and is currently pursuing Advanced Diploma in Counselling Psychology. She has received training in various psychotherapies, such as Transactional Analysis with Gestalt work and Rational Emotive and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. She attended a Child Therapy Training course from Trijog Counselling Centre, and has interned in hospitals such as Kalwa and Masina Hospital in Mumbai, where she was exposed to children with developmental delays. She firmly believes that “Healed people, Heal people” and hence, changing the life of one person can create a chain of change. Her academic and psychotherapy training has helped her to understand the significance of the role of parents, peers and environment in the life of children, even more when they have difficulties. She believes that it takes a village to raise a child, and chooses to be an actively participating member of the village.

Jagdish Jalanila

An Osmania University and XLRI Jamshedpur alumni, Jagdish has 6+ years of experience in finance & accounting. His experience involves GL Accounting, including preparation of monthly MIS, Financial reporting including P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash flow on monthly basis and has managed payrolls. Jagdish ensures that accounts of Nayi Disha are accurate and all the legal compliance are met. Jagdish loves crunching number and Jagdish loves to crunch numbers ,a keen learner and is equally enthusiastic to contribute to other aspects of Nayi Disha.

Otherwise, Jagdish is a chilled out guy, loves to socialise in his spare time, binge watches television and reads a book or two.

Babita Bante

Babita has done her graduation in fine arts. She brings her experience in designing and developing user-centered digital/print marketing material from initial concept to final, polished deliverable. Her Creativity and Innovation can be seen in Nayi-Disha Resource Centre’s videos, Infographics, Website, Newsletter etc. Apart from this she also finds time to do painting, portrait, clay modelling and photography. She has two beautiful daughters.

Anitha Shankar

Anitha Shankar had similar plans to create service directory to help parents based in Bangalore. Instead of duplicating the effort, she decided to join hands and is leading the directory effort for Bangalore. She has single-handedly managed to expand Bangalore directory with a bunch of student interns and volunteers.

An adventure sports lover, an avid trekker, and an alumni of NOLS, she has always loved being close to nature. Her earlier ventures were related to outdoor education, nature, sustainability and survival in the wild.

Reema Gupta

Reema Gupta heads the Centre for Learning and Management Practice and Corporate Relations at ISB and a mother to a beautiful teenager with special needs.

Prior to joining ISB, Reema worked for EMC Corporation in Massachusetts as Senior Director and led many companywide strategic initiatives. She has over 13 years of experience working in the IT related field and was recognised as the “Top 10 women to watch” in Massachusetts, for her work in Science and Technology. Reema has also worked as Managing Director for Anokhi Aasha Society, which is an NGO working with children with various disabilities.

She has an MBA from Babson College, US and an undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering from Northeastern University.

Vivek Subramanian

VIVEK SUBRAMANIAN has vast experience across strategy, fund raising, business development, operations and financial management. Prior to founding Fourth Partner Energy, a renewable energy company focusing upon delivering distributed solar solutions to commercial and industrial clients; he was the Founding Partner at Avigo Capital, an Indian SME focused PE fund (AUM $375 million). Vivek holds an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering.

Vivek brings his in-depth experience of strategy, operations and financial management to the Nayi Disha Board.

Sudarsana Kundu

Sudarsana is an expert on gender equality and development with more than 15 years of experience in the private and public sector. She is currently the Country Director for Gender at Work – a non-profit organization that works on issues of social justice. In the past she has worked with UN Women where she led the organization’s work on gender responsive governance with a focus on improved service delivery to women.

Sudarsana has an MBA from XLRI and a graduate degree in public administration from Columbia University

Kashyap Mody

Kashyap Mody, Senior Vice President Treasury at Reliance Industries, is the Head of Investments for RIL managing a Fixed Income & Equity Portfolio of USD 12 bn. leading a team of fixed income analysts and equity analysts. Under his leadership of the last four years, Fixed Income and Equities Portfolios returns have consistently outperformed Mutual Fund Portfolios, produced above target returns for Reliance Treasury. He Joined Reliance Industries in December 2011. Prior to Reliance, Kashyap worked with Citibank for nine years in different roles in Treasury.

He holds a degree from University of Mumbai in Commerce and is a 2001 Chartered Accountant graduate, rank holder in CA Foundation and CA Intermediate examinations.

Kashyap is also a passionate long distance runner and its likely that you will bump into him on Mumbai roads early in the morning

Kashyap is a total Mumbaikar and stays in Sion, Mumbai along with his wife and two lovely kids.

Hari Subramanian

Hari Subramanian is the Head India Operations of Colruyt Group.

He has more than 18 years of experience in different management functions and in his current role his primary focus is on organizational vision & strategies, people development & partnerships, operational excellence & business development for the Colruyt Group. He is also heading the strategy for business expansion for the group in India.

Hari lives with his wife and two children in Hyderabad.

Jo Chopra 

Jo Chopra McGowan is the Executive Director of Latika Roy Foundation, a voluntary organization in Dehradun for children with disability. She is also a prolific writer who champions the inclusion of all children. Jo’s journey with disability began in 1989 when she and her husband Ravi adopted Moy Moy, a beautiful baby with cerebral palsy. We were all saddened to hear of Moy Moy’s unexpected death this July. Moy Moy has left behind a legacy and she continues to give hope to children with disabilities around India and the world who struggle to gain acceptance.

Ambika Srinivasan

Ambika Srinivasan is a Molecular Neuroscience doctorate from McGill University, Canada. She has experience in teaching graduate courses, including a stint conducting science outreach programs for a Biotechnology startup company at Hyderabad. She has keen interest in exploring and advancing the current teaching methodologies in the life sciences space. Prior to pursuing her PhD, she gained research experience by working at CSIR labs such as Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology and the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology. With a Masters in Biomedical Genetics from Vellore Institute of Technology, she has acquired academic training that allows her to better understand the risks and causes of developmental disorders.

Dr Lokesh Lingappa

Post his graduation from Hubli, Karnataka.Dr Lingappa went on to pursue post-graduation in Pediatric training ( PGIPMER,Chandigarh) and DM( neurology) in NIMHANS, Bengaluru. He went on to further complete MRCPCH in UK and trained as a fellow in various prestigious pediatric hospitals in the United Kingdom.

Dr Lingappa’s vision is to develop high quality pediatric neurology services in India and he continues to work @Rainbow hospitals in Hyderabad with an able team of doctors supporting him. With multiple national and international publications to his credit, Dr Lingappa has also authored a few chapters in books released by the Indian academy of Pediatrics.

Dr. Ram Kairam

Dr. Ram Kairam is a pediatric neurologist with over 40 years of experience in the field of developmental disorders, Autism in particular. He is one of the founding members of the Autism Treatment and Advocacy Center at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, New York, USA. His current focus is patient/caregiver education and advocacy.