Asia Disability Country Brief for India - Launch Webinar

Kate Vernon is Director, Strategy and Marketing, based in UK, responsible for driving and overseeing strategic initiatives, research and special projects.  As member of the Executive Team, she works closely with Fern Ngai, as CEO, in defining the strategic direction of the organisation to ensure Community Business maintains its position as the leading not-for-profit advancing responsible and inclusive business practices in Asia.

As a leading member of Community Business since 2005, and the author of numerous pieces of research exploring Diversity and Inclusions issues in Asia, Kate has played an instrumental role in building Community Business as an organisation, and establishing and strengthening its position as a thought leader.

Prior to Community Business, Kate worked for 12 years in the private sector, holding senior international marketing positions for global companies such as Reed Elsevier, Aspect Telecommunications, Cable and Wireless, and PeopleSoft.

Graduated from Durham University, Kate holds a Bachelor degree (first class) of Arts in Chinese Studies. 

Rashmi is Senior Manager, based in Bangalore, India. She plays a leadership role in building Community Business’ India business and has overall responsibilities for the development and growth of the operations in India. 

Apart from Diversity and Inclusion (D&I), Rashmi has extensive experience in various areas of Human Resources, ranging from leadership development, action learning, talent management, employee value proposition to developing a global mindset in the workplace.

Prior to joining Community Business, Rashmi had worked for a multi-national mass media and information company for over 9 years where she was responsible for the Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) strategy and agenda for its India Operation Centre.

Graduated from Symbiosis University in India, Rashmi holds a Master degree of Business Administration in Human Resources and Marketing. She is also keen on continuing her academic pursuit focusing her research on Social Innovation.

Jennifer Manchikanti has 15 years of corporate experience across various talent functions. In her current role as a Diversity & Inclusion Practitioner at EY’s (Ernst and Young LLP) Global Delivery Services, Jennifer is involved in the design, development and implementation of D&I programmes. She drives initiatives that focus on gender parity, cross-cultural and multi-generational teaming, belonging and inclusive leadership. She is also responsible for providing strategic direction and a robust implementation plan to the Professional Networks at EY GDS.

She was one of the founding members and currently part of the advisory team of a charity called U&I, established 7 years ago in Bangalore. She also started and co-leads ‘Soul Sisters’ a mentoring group for women in Bangalore.

Sarv is a technology industry leader with more than 25 years of experience in incubating and scaling businesses. At Dell EMC, Sarv drives the strategy and operations for Centers of Excellence (COE) in India and is responsible R&D, Product Development, Corporate IT and Global Services Delivery from the COEs. He is an executive sponsor for Dell’s relationship with Sony (a key global customer) and DXC Technologies (a large SI partner of Dell). Sarv is very active in industry associations and is currently the Co-Chair of Global Capability Centers (GCC) Council, Nasscom. He engages with startup eco-system as investor & mentor.

Sarv’s role encompasses driving R&D, Product Development and Service Delivery for the global markets, accelerating local innovation through superior customer experience, open innovation with partners & customers and influencing revenue acceleration in high growth markets. He built large organisations in China, India and Egypt (~10,000 employees) that consistently were rewarded as one of the best places to work by Nasscom and Great Place to Work Institute. They are also known as model organizations for growing talent with world class technical and leadership development activities, Innovation and Diversity & Inclusion within Dell EMC and
outside in the industry with many awards. With such a solid foundation, Dell EMC saved over a $1 billion and continue to achieve faster time to market for new products and solutions through the scale of the COEs.

Sarv has a Masters in Computer Sciences. He is very passionate about community activities and contributes to the cause of under-privileged children’s education. Sarv strongly believes in the power of technology for accelerating sustainable socio-economic development and has created visible examples through his direct involvement and influence on the eco-system. A notable achievement is the Dell EMC’s public care digital platform (LifeCare) for population health management adopted by Ministry of Health, Govt of India.

Prateek is the founding director of GiftAbled, a leading social enterprise in the space of disability & inclusion. The focus of his work in recent years has been around livelihood sustenance for Persons with Disability - the engagement of millions of Persons with Disability productively through self-employment. Prateek believes that empowering the physically and the intellectually challenged to work from their own sheltered environment, irrespective of an urban or rural setting is the best way to achieve economic inclusion. GiftAbled, shares and supports best practices in corporations to implement Inclusive procurement.