Our Team

Trustee Board

Dr. Disha Devi Prasad Nawani

Dr. Nawani is the Dean and Professor, School of Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences. She is also a member of Drafting Committee of India Science, Technology and Innovation Policy (2020), a member of Development of Handbook of Textual material, NCERT (2020) and the Managing Editor, Contemporary Education Dialogue, SAGE. Her research interests lie particularly around, curricular, pedagogic and assessment-related issues, teaching-learning resources, teacher education, analysis of educational policies and programmes etc.

Rishabh Lalani

Rishabh Lalani is an independent fundraising strategist with ~11 years of experience in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. In the last 7 years, he has consulted with family offices, corporate foundations, business incubators, and civil society groups to raise close to USD 6 million for philanthropic funding for a variety of causes. Most recently, he volunteered to raise funds for 54 causes across India for Covid-19 relief raising nearly USD 720k in a short span of 6 months. He holds a masters degree from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai.

Amrita Nair

With degrees in Psychology and Social Entrepreneurship, Amrita co-founded Apni Shala, where she champions inclusive education and well-being initiatives. Her work includes DEI training, counseling, and Theatre of the Oppressed facilitation. A former WIPRO Seeding Fellow and trained DEI facilitator, she has developed policies to enhance employee well-being across identities. Currently, she consults with Adhyayan Quality Education Services.

Advisors

Amit Wagh

Amit Wagh is the co-founder of Navigature Consulting, a management consulting and advisory firm. In his earlier roles, Amit was associated with marquee consulting firms; with KPMG as a Sr Partner and as Managing Director with Accenture. Amit holds a Master's degree in Management. He has also completed his MS (Engg) and BE. Amit is the co-founder of DnyanSarita, a not-for-profit initiative that supports students from economically challenged sections of the society in building future-relevant skills. He is passionate about nature, wildlife and has deep interest in spirituality. Wildlife photography is his passion. Amit enjoys trekking and has undertaken many treks in the Himalayas.

Anukriti Goyal

Anukriti Goyal is a co-founder of Apni Shala. Her work in the past decade has cut across thematic areas of grassroots development. She believes in the power of connections and analogies across sectors. You will often find her connecting dots, resources, and people. Anukriti has a bachelor's degree in Polymer Sciences and a master's degree in Social Entrepreneurship.

Anand Nair

Anand Nair is an Advisor for Apni Shala’s Branding and Communications. He is the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at 4AM Worldwide - a multidisciplinary creative communications firm with a presence in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and New Delhi.

Chetna Duggal

Chetna is an Associate Professor at the School of Human Ecology, Tata Institute of Social Sciences. She is a practising psychotherapist with over 15 years of experience. She is project director for the School Initiative for Mental Health Advocacy (SIMHA), an initiative that endeavours to promote well-being of young people in schools through advocacy, research and capacity building. She also heads Rahbar, an initiative to promote training, supervision and professional development for mental health practitioners in India.

Fiona Reynolds

Kavita Anand

Kelli Meeker

Kelli Meeker is the High School IB Coordinator and Learning Leader at the International School of Zug and Lucern. Previously, she was living in Mumbai, India where she served as the Teaching and Learning Coordinator at the American School of Bombay. In 2010 she left her position as a school Literacy Coach and Reading Specialist in Northern California to work internationally. Her first position was as a classroom teacher at Graded, the American School of Sao Paulo, in Brazil. She believes deeply in the potential of creating student-centered learning environments, the responsibility of schools to build equitable and inclusive spaces for learners, and that social and emotional learning and wellness are equally as important as cognitive learning - for all community members.

Rahul Gupta

Rahul Gupta is the Founder of Rajalka Consulting. He has worked as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) with The Akanksha Foundation. He has specialised in Ed. Leadership, Program Strategy, People Development and school transformation initiatives. As a Consulting School Coach for Khoj, he advises the leadership on school leadership, results framework and student learning outcome.

Sucharita Pulepu

Sucharita Palepu has over 30 years of professional experience in the area of Human Resources and Financial services, having worked in several global organizations in senior leadership roles. She is an Independent Director and a Strategic Advisor specialising in Organization & HR Transformation initiatives. Her passion includes contributing to the culture building and governance mechanisms in Organizations to be truly inclusive , vibrant and progressive workplaces.

Sumana Ravi

Sumana Ravi brings over two decades of experience in Management Consulting, Organizational Development and Teaching. An alumna of XLRI and ILSS, she recently transitioned to the development sector to apply her expertise in strategy and systems design to impact organizations. She is passionate about strengthening the institutional backbone: people, processes, and governance, enabling organizations to be resilient and sustainable.

Suvarna Apte

Suvarna Apte is a freelance landscape architect and planner. Educated at the University of Pennsylvania and the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi, she has practiced in San Francisco and New York City. She is enthusiastic about educating the next generation of architects and planners and has taught at University of Hong Kong. She is passionate about our environment- always participating in waste management initiatives, protection of our ecology and public open spaces. She is also actively involved in venture philanthropy, fundraising and strategic communication.

Swetha Ranganathan

Swetha Ranganathan is a co-founder of Apni Shala. Over the past decade she has worked in the space of education, mental health, theatre, and the arts in India and Canada. She enjoys putting together organizational processes and structures to support the complex community engagement programming that non-profits do. Swetha has a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and a master’s degree in Social Entrepreneurship and is a trained Theatre of the Oppressed facilitator.