THE PILLARS OF SRKKF
Lord Bhikhu Parekh
Shri N. Gopalaswami
Prof. Ashish Nanda
Shri Pravin K. Laheri
Prof. Arun Tiwari
He chairs a committee of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to facilitate the ‘Make in India’ campaign in the strategic sector. He joined Defense Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) in 1982 and worked under Dr APJ Abdul Kalam’s dynamic leadership, who then appointed him as the Programme Director to develop civilian spin-offs of defence technology.
He received the Defense Technology Spin-Off Award for his brilliant innovation in developing India’s first coronary stent with Cardiologist Dr B. Soma Raju, known as Kalam-Raju Stent of Care Foundation and later the Care Hospitals. He also co-authored ‘Wings of Fire’, the autobiography of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam
He is an enthusiastic thought leader, paving a new path for green buildings, communities and cities. Known for his optimism, embedding purpose in everything he touches, Mahesh’s vision is a universal adoption of high-minded practices, with healthy buildings as urgent civic responsibilities to ensure a better quality of life for current and future generations. One of Business Insider’s 100 People Transforming Business, Mahesh is trusted across the globe by investors and policymakers.
For five years, Mahesh led a community of millions of green builders as President and CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) and the global technology platform Arc, transforming green building standards to ensure public health, equity, and environmental sustainability in communities across the world. Through USGBC, Mahesh was at the helm of the LEED rating system.
He served as a Principal Secretary and Chief Secretary, Government of Gujarat, from 2003 to 2005. He also served as the Chairman of the Board of large industrial units and corporate giants PSUs like Gujarat State Investment Ltd. and Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd.
He is an educationalist, having studied at India’s best-known institutions, IIM-Ahmedabad and IIT-Delhi. He is a former Director of IIM-A and a recipient of the President of India Gold Medal twice.
He was also appointed as a member of the Executive Council of the Gujarat National Law University. He received the IIT-Delhi Distinguished Alumni Award for his work in Management Education and was conferred the 10th Distinguished Global Thinker Award by IILM.
He is a 1966 batch Indian Administrative Services Officer from Gujarat Cadre awarded with the Padma Bhushan in 2015. He took over the charge as CEC on 30 June 2006 and retired in April 2009. He is currently the president of Vivekananda Educational Society, which administers a group of schools in & around Chennai.
He was appointed as the Chairman of Kalakshetra for a term of five years. He was also district magistrate in the Kutch and Kheda district; Municipal Commissioner of Surat City; Director of Relief; Director of Higher Education and Joint Secretary (Home Department), Government of Gujarat.
He is an eminent political theorist and Labour member of the House of Lords. He has contributed immensely towards societal changes that were once a major cause of concern to Britain’s culture in the early ’70s. He has pioneered many concepts on multiculturalism, collective rights and responsibility and other socio-cultural issues that have influenced the governance in the United Kingdom.
He worked to bring about a non-interventionist and tolerant political view where people of different ethnicities could live in harmony. Through his ideologies and his unrelenting dedication to his work, he managed to bring a significant understanding of Indian culture on a global platform.
