Distinguished Faculty.
World-Class Mentors.

Prof N M Agarwal

Former Professor and Head of IIM Bangalore OB Department. PhD from IIM Ahmedabad, he has been a consultant to many public sector and private sector organizations. He has consulted for Punjab PWD, Union Textile Commissioner, Madras Refinery, Mahindra Tractors, Cochin Refinery, SAP Lab, BWSSB Bangalore, Karnataka Electricity Board, KIOCL and Fractal Analytics.

Prof. Agrawal consulted with Toshiba (India) from 2015–2023, helping line managers to write cases. The cases were used by the organization to train their Japanese and Indian Managers about cross-cultural management and project management. He has designed and conducted more than 1,200 management development programmes in India and abroad.

Client organizations include: ABB, Atos, BHEL, CIG, CISCO, Fractal Analytics, IBM, ICICI Bank, JSW, Laxmi Bank – Nepal, National Bank of Dubai, Novo Nordisk, People's Bank – Sri Lanka, Randstad, Siemens, Schneider, Toshiba, and UTC.

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Kuruvilla Thomas

Thomas Kuruvilla serves on the Global Board of Arthur D. Little and leads the firm's operations across the Middle East and India. As Head of the Strategy & Organisation Practice in South Asia and the Middle East, he brings over 25 years of consulting experience across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

A pioneer in public sector transformation, Thomas has led high-impact national and regional programs in economic development and digital transformation across various sectors, including transport, logistics, telecom, healthcare, and smart cities. He teaches Family Conglomerate Governance and Consulting at premier Indian Institutes of Management (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Udaipur) and serves on the Industry Advisory Panel of S P Jain School of Global Management.

Core Expertise: Strategy development & execution, organisation design, M&A and due diligence, transformation & turnaround, and performance management. Industry focus spans telecom, maritime, logistics, financial services, and real estate — with deep specialisation in public sector and family business advisory.

Thomas holds a degree in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from Kerala University and an MBA from Melbourne Business School, Australia / Asian Institute of Management, Philippines. Before joining Arthur D. Little in 1998, he worked with Larsen & Toubro.

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Dr Rajeev Gowda

M V Rajeev Gowda is an Indian politician and academician. He is a former Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha and a national spokesperson for the Indian National Congress. He currently serves as Chairman of the Congress Research Department.

He was Professor of Economics and Social Sciences and the Chairperson of the Centre for Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, where he taught a range of courses. He served as the Director of the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India.

A PhD from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, he has consulted with many organizations and is the former Vice Chairman of the Karnataka Planning Board. He is currently the Advisor for Bridge India, a progressive non-profit think tank set up in London in 2018.

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Biju Dhanapalan (Biju D)

Biju Dhanapalan is a distinguished figure with an illustrious 27-year career at the forefront of animation and visual effects. Combining practical industry experience with seven years as an Associate Professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, Biju embodies a unique blend of academic acumen and hands-on expertise in 3D animation, visual effects, and virtual production processes.

With a background in engineering and industrial design, Biju's professional trajectory has been marked by a consistent pursuit of innovation at the intersection of art, engineering, and media technologies. As a VFX supervisor, Biju has contributed to 116 feature films, including India's pioneering VFX-intensive feature film in 2003 and the direction of India's first stereoscopic animated short film in 2009. Notably, Biju has also served as a Stereoscopic Visual Director for acclaimed musician A.R. Rahman's concerts, showcasing groundbreaking work in real-time stereographic projections.

Biju's collaborative projects with video artists have been exhibited in prestigious institutions worldwide. Research interests span interdisciplinary collaborations, with notable projects such as 'Capturing Kathakali' garnering international recognition for its innovative approach to digital archiving. Biju has also helped formulate the Skills Framework blueprint for the animation, filmmaking, and gaming industries in Singapore.

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Dr Kalpana Gopalan IAS

She is a composite public policy professional — practitioner, policymaker, scholar, author, volunteer & mother. Ranked 19 in the All-India Civil Service Examination, 1987, her 35-year work experience in the Indian Administrative Service spans land administration, urban management, public distribution system, rural development, sports, labour, animal husbandry, fisheries, public grievances, training & education.

She is recognised with 14 awards for her public service, citations from 15 institutions, 4 fellowships for her academic work and felicitations from 10 institutions. She holds a Doctorate & Masters in Public Policy from IIM Bangalore and was rated among the "top 2 percent of doctoral candidates in the past decade" for her research on infrastructure PPPs. A gold medallist & university topper in her undergraduate and masters, she was Visiting Fellow at McGill & Concordia Universities, EU Fellow at Salerno University & Maxwell scholar at Syracuse University. She trained at Harvard, Chicago Universities & LSE.

She presents papers in national and international fora, has published 4 books and many journal articles and book chapters, and delivered over 500 talks on public & social policy. She associates with reputed educational institutions globally as Visiting Faculty/Fellow/Governing Body Member in IIMA, IIMS, IIMI, National Institute of Urban Affairs, ISEC, IISc, IIMB, Kristu Jayanti Law College, Acharya B-School & Kuvempu Rural University. She is Advisor to Bangalore City Corporation, Grant Thornton, AIMS School of Business, Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapith & Presidency University.

She volunteers as Advisor to Akshayapatra Foundation, Youth on the Move, Asia Entrepreneurship, GRAAM, Bangalore Women Forum, Action for India, Centre for Health & Development, HER Initiative & World Congress on Women.

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