Mr. Hemendra Kothari (Chairman)
Founder, Chairman and Trustee of the Hemendra Kothari Foundation and the Wildlife Conservation Trust, Hemendra Kothari represents the fourth generation of a family of prominent stockbrokers. Former President of the Bombay Stock Exchange, Kothari founded DSP Financial Consultants Limited which later became DSP Merrill Lynch Ltd. He served as its Chairman till 2009 and is currently the Chairman of DSP Investment Managers Private Limited. A board member of several industrial companies, Kothari is associated with the Confederation of Indian Industry. Keenly involved in environmental, educational, health and cultural initiatives, he is a Member of the Rajasthan State Board for Wildlife, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the Advisory Council of the Global Tiger Forum (GTF), and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) Governing Council; and the India Chairman of TNC-The Nature Conservancy Centre.
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Mr. Bittu Sahgal
Founder-Editor of Sanctuary Asia, India’s first wildlife magazine, Bittu Sahgal has produced over 30 wildlife documentaries that have been aired on India’s national television network. His columns on environment and development feature in a number of English and regional language publications in India and overseas. He is involved with several global conservation campaigns and is an active member on a range of government and non-government organization boards and committees. His key involvements focus around campaigns to save tigers and to highlight the connection between human rights, biodiversity conservation, deforestation, ecosystem values and climate change.
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Ms. Aditi Kothari Desai
Aditi Kothari Desai is the Vice Chairperson of DSP Investment Managers Pvt Ltd. (DSPIM). She also heads Sales, Marketing and E-Business and serves as a member of the Executive Committee.
Aditi is passionate about the digitization of the financial sector and was instrumental in the launch of all DSP’s digital platforms including its investment platform, education platform, corporate platform and its distributor platform. She is very focused on the future of investment management and its distribution and is therefore very engaged in fintech for the wealth space. Aditi also leads financial wellness initiatives at DSPIM and was instrumental in launching Winvestor, a special initiative aimed at empowering women with confidence and financial knowledge to plan for their economic and long-term security.
Aditi joined Merrill Lynch’s investment banking group in New York in 1998, primarily working on M&A activities in the Financial Institutions Group. Subsequently, she worked in DSP Merrill Lynch as part of the fixed income sales team and later joined DSP Merrill Lynch Fund Managers in 2002 (now DSPIM) where she worked on various projects, including establishing an offshore fund for foreign investors.
Aditi is a Trustee in the Hemendra Kothari Foundation as well as the Wildlife Conservation Trust. She is passionate about viewing and saving wildlife. Apart from being an Independent Director at Godrej Agrovet, she also serves on the Board of DASRA, a leading strategic philanthropy foundation in India.
Aditi is also an Advisory Council Member with the British Asian Trust.
Aditi holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
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Ms. Shuchi Kothari
Shuchi, a passionate wildlife enthusiast and an avid wildlife photographer has been visiting wildlife parks across India and Africa with her family since she was five years old. She is a director of Health & Glow Retailing Pvt. Ltd., a beauty retail chain with 119 stores across India, and Foodworld Supermarkets Pvt. Ltd., a grocery chain with 35 stores across Bengaluru. She represents Epic Foundation; a US based social organization supporting children and youth globally, in India. Shuchi is also a trustee of the Hemendra Kothari Foundation (HKF). She has a Bachelor of Science in Economics (BSE) from the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, USA and a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Harvard Business School in Boston, MA.
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Mr. Anand Khatau
Anand Khatau is Managing Director-Senior Advisor at Julius Baer Wealth Advisor India Private Limited and has been part of the team that established Merrill Lynch’s Wealth Management Practice in India. He has three decades of experience in acquiring and managing client’s portfolios, and closely works with leading fund managers, analysts, leading industry players to assess global situation and formulate the strategy for asset allocation in client’s portfolios. He is successfully managing relationship of few Large Listed Corporates, Trusts, Promoter Family & Family offices, CXO And CEO’s.
Anand is also president at Malabar Hill Club. Prior to joining the firm, Anand was a Senior Consultant with Ernst & Young, where he was advising Indian and multinational companies on their India strategy, and advised clients on their tax and business issues. Anand is a commerce graduate from University of Mumbai and is a Chartered Accountant.
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Header image © Dr. Anish Andheria