Dr. Bhagyashree Patil –Founder & Chairperson- Rise & Shine  Biotech  

Dr. Bhagyashree Patil, is the Founder Chairperson of Rise and Shine  Biotech Pvt. Ltd and Pro-Chancellor of Dr. D. Y. Patil Vidyapeeth  Society, Pune.  

An educationist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, she is an  advocate of women empowerment. 

Rise ‘n Shine Group of Companies has been recognized by the  Progressive Search for Excellence as the first and only Indian  company to be actively involved in the global floriculture breeding  space. This biotechnology company is a result of her entrepreneurial  skills fused with her passion for Women Empowerment, which aims  at serving the farmers and growers of our country and  internationally.  

Dr. Bhagyashree Patil has received many accolades and awards for  her contributions in various fields and has donned many hats in her  sprawling career.

Dr P. Chandra Shekara is the Director General of MANAGE. He is also the Vice President of NSEE. Earlier he was Director General of NIAM – CCS. He has over 30 years of experience in Agricultural Extension Management, Agri-Entrepreneurship Development, Agricultural Marketing Management and Public-Private-Partnership.

Dr Chandra Shekara is bestowed with many awards including LifeTime Achievement Award-2019 from SRDA in Agricultural Extension.

Ram Kaundinya is an expert in the field of business of agriculture. He is an author, strategic management consultant, teacher and a policy analyst in India. He is a graduate in Agricultural Sciences and MBA from IIM, Ahmedabad.

He worked for 22 years in agrochemical industry in Hoechst, Cyanamid Agro and for 13 years in the seed industry at Emergent Genetics as the Global CEO of Advanta Seeds of UPL Group.

Mergers and Acquisitions is a major area of Kaundinya’s expertise having led his companies in multiple transactions across the world.

Ram served as the Chairman of the Crop Life India & ABLE AG and is currently the Director General of Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII).

He served as an independent director on the boards of Axis Bank. He is also on the boards of Axis Finance, Syngenta India, CapAleph Advisors, Bruhat Energy Solutions & Technologies, AgriRain Industries and Vasudhaika Software Solutions.

He served as a member of the MS Swaminathan Task Force on biotechnology policy for Indian agriculture and as a member of a committee set up by the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister of India.

Ram consults companies and VC/PE funds in areas of strategic planning and M&A. Serves on the Expert Review Committee of Access to Seeds Foundation and the Netherlands MAIZE Independent Steering Committee of the CGIAR Institution CYMMIT.

He has co-founded ThinkAg.

Group Head - Agri & IT Businesses at ITC Limited

S Sivakumar is the Group Head of Agri and IT Businesses of ITC Limited. He is the Chairman of Technico Agri Sciences Limited, and Vice Chairman of ITC Infotech India Limited and its subsidiaries in the UK and USA.

SITC’s trailblazing e-Choupal initiative was developed and executed under Sivakumar's leadership of the Agri Business Division.

Topper of the Class of 1983 from the Institute of Rural Management Anand, (IRMA), Sivakumar worked with a farmers' cooperative for six years before joining ITC in 1989.

Sivakumar is a member on the Advisory Council to the Ministry of Rural Development of Government of India on the National Rural Livelihoods Mission, the Commodity Derivatives Advisory Committee of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Board of Governors of Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA).

Among other organisations, Sivakumar has served on the Boards of India's National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), and Indo US Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture, the Private Sector Committee of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Social Innovation.