Associate Professor Dr.Varughese K.John, PhD, MBA, MPhil, MCom, LLB.

Researcher and Data Analyst in Social Science

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Varughese K. John, has got more than 35 years of teaching and research experience in the domain of commerce and management.  Currently, he is a full-time faculty member of the Graduate School of eLearning (MS Program in Management and Ph.D. Program in eLM), Assumption University of Thailand. Also, he is a visiting professor of another university in Vietnam and also an adjudicator of Ph.D. dissertations of many other Universities. His specializations are financial management, banking, and managerial accounting. He did his Ph. D. on ‘Non-performing Assets of Indian commercial banks’. He has got a number of publications in world class journals and used to publish research articles in the daily ‘Bangkok Post’. He has contributed many research papers in the international conferences in Australia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, and India – has been honored with the best paper presentation award in IPN Conferences, 2018 at Perth, Australia. He started his teaching career in the year 1983 in the colleges under the management of Malankara Syrian Catholic colleges in Kerala, India and eventually became the Principal of Pazhassiraja College, Pulpally, Wayanad, Kerala during the period 2011 to 2015. He served as a member of the Faculty of Commerce, University of Kerala for three years (2004-2007). He got industrial experience by serving in different companies in the middle-east. His educational qualifications include – Ph.D., MBA, M.Phil., M.Com. and LL.B.

Assistant Professor Dr. Kuldeep Nagi,Ph.D,MBA,BSc.

Program Director of Ph.D, Recipient of Fulbright Fellowship Award & Dan Evans Award for Excellence and Writer columnist.

Assistant Professor Dr. Kuldeep Nagi is the Program Director of Ph.D in eLearning Methodology for Graduate School of eLearning (GSeL) at Assumption University, Thailand. He was born and educated in India but matured and flourished in Seattle, WA, USA. He is an American citizen and recipient of Fulbright Fellowship Award-2006 in USA to work at Assumption University, Thailand. While working in Seattle Community College District (SCCD) in USA, he also received Dan Evans Award for Excellence in Teaching. He spent the prime of his life working at various institutions of Higher Education based in Seattle, WA, USA. After joining Assumption University in Thailand in 2006 he has written more than 3 dozen papers for international conferences, proceedings and journals. In addition to working as a Director of the Ph.D. program, he is also working as Managing Editor of Monthly eNewsletter called eLearning@AU, Managing Editor of AU-eJournal of Interdisciplinary Research http://www.ejir.au.edu/, Member-Editorial Board- ABAC Journal. Dr. Kuldeep is a writer columnist for the NATION and BANGKOKPOST, daily newspapers published in Bangkok.

Mr. Sreedhar Bevara, MBA, B.Com

Former Senior General Manager: Panasonic Middle East & Africa, Thought Leader, Speaker & Author of ‘Moment of Signal’ (Amazon’s International Bestseller)

Mr. Sreedhar Bevara, Senior GM, Panasonic is a business leader and has over 25 years of experience the FGCG & Consumer Electronics industry.

Sreedhar, an alumna of IIM Ahmedabad also held key positions in LG Electronics, Dometic, The Hindu and the Tata Group. Sreedhar also runs a charity through BMR Trust to offer “Bright Morning Rise” to the needy and suffering.

He is also the author of Amazon Bestselling book “Moment of Signal”.

Mr. Sreedhar was recently invited to speak in IIT Delhi & IIM Ahmedabad.

An inspiring story, in true slum dog millionaire style: from street vendor to waiter, milk delivery boy to door-to-door salesman, and eventually General Manager at Panasonic Corporation, Sreedhar Bevara is a life study on how embracing your moments of signals can help you realize your full leadership potential.

He grew from the bottom to find himself at the top. Learn his secrets and become the leader you truly are. He emphasizes, ‘the best way to excel is not to follow the signals, but to find them for yourself’.

He is passionate about the “leadership within us” and has spoken on the topic to world-class names in the region. Living currently in the vibrant city of Dubai, Sreedhar travels extensively and is obsessed with fitness.

Dr Ajay Shukla, Ph.D, MBA, BE.
Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Higher Education UAE

Dr. Ajay has the unique distinction of bringing several global universities and institutions to the UAE such as University of Birmingham (UK), Babson College (Boston US), Inscape Education Group (South Africa) etc. through his efforts in building the market landscape knowledge, business case and supporting the local licensing, accreditation, institutional set-up and operations.

He supported the establishment and growth of international student enrollments at several universities in UAE including SP Jain Institute of Business Management, Manipal Institute, Amity University, University of South Wales, Heriot Watts University, Hult International Business School, Ajman University, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Middlesex University Dubai to name a few.

Dr. Ajay has built his credentials with regulators and education investors through his high quality authoritative and ethically sound work and understanding of transnational higher education deeply.           

Prior to his current role, Ajay served as the CEO for one of UAEs leading higher education holding company with  a significant investment from the world largest private education provider, GEMS Education/Varkey Group. During his 29-year career, he has worked in direct-to-consumer business as well as B2B businesses at leadership level roles.

In his early career at American Express (1989-2001), he was the head of marketing and business development for the consumer card business in India and was a significant contributor to launching a locally billed card business in India. He was awarded the Chairman’s Award for Quality for this contribution.

Ajay was the founder Vice President of ABN AMRO Bank Credit Cards (2011-2004) where he built the bank’s credit card business in India from scratch to become one of the top multinational credit cards brands within two years of the launch.

He has also headed Reader’s Digest (2004-2005) business in India as CEO. He was recognized by the Indian media industry as the ‘Best Media Marketer of the Year’

At McGraw-Hill Education (2005-2014) Ajay led the digital transformation of the business. For his efforts in growing the McGraw-Hill business, he was chosen from over 10,000 employees and awarded the company’s highest individual honor Excellence in Leadership Award.

Ajay is passionate about education and the impact this sector has on society and economies.      

He is an Engineering graduate from the renowned Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and a top-ranked from one of India’s leading business schools – Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Delhi University. He has received the prestigious National Talent Scholarship (NTS) from the Indian government throughout his secondary school and college education.          

Ajay serves on the advisory board of mediciinstitute.org   India’s think tank for mission-focused governance. He has served as a trustee on the board of National Book Trust of India, for three years, to promote literacy and reading as a Ministry of Human Resources development nominee. Ajay has also advised National Skills Development Corporation of India to transform skills training for the youth. He was also the general secretary of the Association of Publishers in India (API) and intellectual property and copyright committee at American Chamber of Commerce.

Mamta Thakur
Former CEO (ASEAN), Arc Skills

Mamta Thakur is an accomplished business leader with 23 years of experience in P&L Management, Business Development, Sales, Account Leadership, Process Outsourcing and Service Delivery in cross-sector skills and training business as well as in Telecom, Hospitality, Insurance and BPO industries. 

She gained this experience while working in the fields of Learning and Development, Customer Service and Sales Operations in 30+ countries across South Asia, Middle East, South East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, India, US and UK. Her contributions in socially-impactful business have led to be honoured with the Women Achievers’ Award by the Legal Council of India in 2019.

Mr. Amulya Sah, PGD PM & IR, PG Diploma in PM&IR (XISS Ranchi)

Former Senior Director HR. Head HR group Samsung R&D Institute India,Transformative HR Leader, Change agent, Digitization facilitator, Engagement architect, Trainer and Diversity champion.

Amulya is heading HR as Sr. Director for the Mobile R&D Lab of Samsung with 2200+ employee. Leading 56-member team (25 core HR members). He is transformative HR leader with over 20 Years of experience in setting up new teams, offices and supporting multi business (Mfg, Services, FMCG, R&D) in multi geographical location. (India, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Dubai). Amulya is an experienced change agent with strong track record in scaling businesses and supporting organisational restructuring and growth. His expertise includes: Digitization facilitator for HR Systems and Processes, Architect for employee friendly policies and great work place & Diversity champion

Dr. Manoj Varghese,Ph.D, MS, MBA, BE.