Panelist Biographies India's Marketing (R)evolution: Thinking Back and Forging Ahead   Raj Kamble Creative Director, Lowe Worldwide - New York Raj Kamble is a Gold medalist from Sir J. J. School of Arts in Mumbai. His advertising career spans three continents, starting with three years at Lowe-Lintas, Mumbai, then another three years at Lowe, London and now the last four years at Lowe, New York. He is currently overseeing projects for Stella Artois, Unilever, and Ricoh. In the past he worked for The Times of India, Sesa Yellow Pages, Torrent, Shaw Wallace, Fevicol, Hotel Leela Kempinski, Heineken, Reebok, General Motors, the ‘Got milk?’ campaign, and Beck's beer worldwide campaigns. Raj has won more than ninety international awards, including Cannes Lions, One Show pencils, D&AD and Clio's.   Ambi Parameswaran Executive Director and CEO, Mumbai, DraftFCB-Ulka Advertising Ambi M.G. Parameswaran is Executive Director and CEO - Mumbai of Draftfcb-Ulka Advertising, India’s fourth largest advertising group. Ambi is a Chemical Engineer from IIT Madras (Indian Institute of Technology) and an Honour Roll Management Graduate from IIM Calcutta (Indian Institute of Management). In a career spanning over two decades he has handled assignments in marketing, sales and advertising with companies like Rediffusion DY&R, Boots Company and UDI Yellow Pages before dropping anchor at Draftfcb-Ulka Advertising over a decade and half ago. He has worked on brands including Xerox, Strepsils, Digene, Brufen, Santoor Soap, Sundrop Cooking Oil, TCS, ICICI Bank, Wipro, Indica Cars, Tata Indicom among others, covering diverse categories such as automotives, healthcare, telecom, FMCG, corporate etc. Ambi has regularly been contributing articles to premier business publications, has conducted seminars and branding workshops for clients and at several management schools across India and Asia; he is also a guest faculty at his alma mater, IIM Calcutta. Ambi has three books to his credit: “FCB-Ulka Brand Building Advertising – Concepts and Cases”; “Understanding Consumers – Building Powerful Brands Using Consumer Research”; and “Building Brand Value - Five Steps to Building Powerful Brands” (Winner of 2007 NTPC – DMA Book Prize), all published by McGraw Hill India. Ambi served as the President of Advertising Club Bombay (possibly the biggest club of its kind in the world) during the period 2003–05 and became a member of the Board of Governors of IIMC in 2007.   Ashwani Singla Chief Executive, Genesis Burson-Marstellar Ashwani Singla is Chief Executive, Genesis Burson-Marsteller As the chief executive of Genesis Burson-Marsteller, Ashwani’s core responsibility is to shape the business and the service strategy of the firm. Under his tutelage, genesis has grown into India’s most trusted public relations consultancy setting standards of excellence, benchmarking and cutting edge management practices. After seeing to the successful transformation of genesis to its new Avatar Genesis Burson-Marsteller, Ashwani was invited to serve on the Asia Pacific Board of Burson-Marsteller. He has close to two decades of experience of which he has spent over a decade working with clients in developing their public relations programmes. His work has seen him consult across a range of diverse sectors, from IT, Telecom, FMCG, Fashion Lifestyle, Media Entertainment, Automobiles, Power Gas, and Financial Services amongst others. He has counselled multinationals corporations, domestic enterprises and the emerging Indian Multinational enterprises. Ashwani is a firm believer in public relations programmes that make a difference to the business of his clients; he has initiated and led many of the best practices prevalent in the Indian industry public relations today. He often dons the professorial hat in teaching courses and conducting training programmes in public relations across the country. Ashwani plays an active role in his community supporting causes dear to him. He is a trustee of the Genesis Foundation, which facilitates medical treatment for orphans and underprivileged children faced with life threatening medical challenges. He is an India Chapter board member of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC and also plays an active role in the Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI) and the International Communications Consultancy Organization (ICCO). He is an honours graduate in Economics and holds a postgraduate qualification in International Business a diploma in Hotel Management; Ashwani started his career with the hospitality division of ITC Ltd. He is married to Sheila who runs a practice in Human Performance Improvement. Both of them have a generous and a sensitive son Aditya, who is madly in love with horses, puppies and dinosaurs!   Walter Vieira Founder and President, Marketing Advisory Services Walter Vieira has been described by Philip Kotler (the world’s guru on ‘marketing’) as one of ‘the best speakers on Marketing in Asia.’ Walter is a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants of India. He has been in the practice of management consultancy since 1975 (32 years) when he set up the first marketing consultancy company in India. He was awarded the Life time Achievement Award in 2005. He earlier worked in senior positions in Glaxo, Warner Lambert Boots for 14 years, when he left as Marketing head for India – and concurrently General Manager for Boots, Sri Lanka and Bangla Desh. He was responsible for some of the most successful launches in the pharmaceutical industry. Walter has been consultant in marketing and training to many of the largest corporations in India – A V Birla Group (textiles, cement, aluminium); Tatas (IT, cosmetics, consumer, chemicals); Mafatlal (textiles); Levers; BASF; Bayer; Hoechst; Philips et al and organizations in USA, Middle East; Africa, South East Asia. He has covered a broad canvas from Industrial products to FMCG. Walter is the only speaker to be invited to address three consecutive World Congress of Management Consultants in Rome, Yokohama and Berlin. Walter has the distinction of writing the longest running column ‘Executive Career path’ for Business World (India). He has published over 700 articles in the Business General press. He has written 11 books – some of them best sellers – translated into Chinese and Indonesian and 3 books in collaboration with Prof. C. Northcote Parkinson of Parkinson’s Law fame. He has been active in social marketing – and has been ‘probono’ consultant to Cancer Aid Society; World Wildlife Fund for Nature; Consumer Education Research Centre; The Workshop for Mentally Challenged Women – among others. He has been the President of the Institute of Management Consultants of India (1986-1991); the Founder/Chairman of Asia Pacific Conference of Management Consultants; and the first Asian to be elected Chairman of the 42-country world apex body of management consultants (ICMCI) International Council of Management Consulting Institutes. Walter has been Visiting Professor since 1989 at the Kellogg Business School, N W University, USA; and has lectured at Cornell; Drexel; Brady; NYU; URI; Lake Forest – in USA; Boston College, Zaragoza, Spain and many other business schools in Asia. Walter has straddled the space between business and academia – and shares his vast experience with students and peers, to help make this a better world!   Mohanbir Sawhney (Moderator) McCormick Tribune Professor of Technology, Kellogg School of Management Prof. Sawhney is a globally recognized scholar, teacher, consultant and speaker in technology marketing, new media, innovation and e-business. His research and teaching interests include marketing and media in the connected world, process-centric marketing, collaborative marketing, organic growth and network-centric innovation. He has been widely recognized as a thought leader. Business Week named him as one of the 25 most influential people in e-Business. Crain’s Chicago Business named him a member of “40 under 40”, a select group of young business leaders in the Chicago area. He is a Fellow of the World Economic Forum. Prof. Sawhney is the co-author of three books - The Seven Steps to Nirvana: Strategic Insights into eBusiness Transformation, Techventure: New Rules for Value and Profit from Silicon Valley, and Kellogg on Technology Innovation and is currently co-authoring Unbounded Creativity: Harnessing the Power of Network-Centric Innovation. His research has been published in leading journals like California Management Review, Harvard Business Review, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Management Science, Marketing Science, MIT Sloan Management Review, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. He has also written several influential trade articles in publications like the Financial Times, CIO Magazine, and Business 2.0. He has won several awards for his teaching and research, including the 2005 runner-up for Best Paper in Journal of Interactive Marketing, the 2001 Accenture Award for the best paper published in California Management Review in 2000 and the Outstanding Professor of the Year at Kellogg in 1998. Prof. Sawhney advises and speaks to Global 2000 firms and governments worldwide. His speaking and consulting clients include Accenture, Adobe Systems, Bank of America, Boeing, Cisco Systems, Dell, Denstu, DuPont, Ericsson, Fidelity Investments, Goldman Sachs, Hallmark, HCL Technologies, Honeywell, IBM Consulting Services, Infosys, Johnson Johnson, Kellogg Company, Kraft Foods, Microsoft, Motorola, MTV Networks, NCR Teradata, Nissan Motor, Nomura Research Institute, Rockwell Automation, SAP, Sony, WMS Gaming, Telemar and Thomson Corporation. He has served as an advisor to the Government of Oman, and is an advisor to the U.S. Jordan Business Alliance. He serves on the boards and advisory boards of several technology startup companies, including EXLService, Fieldglass, MarketRx and Confluent Surgical. Prof. Sawhney holds a Ph.D. in marketing from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania; a Master’s degree in management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta; and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. Indian Hospitality: Heritage Meets the New World   Raymond N. Bickson Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces Raymond Bickson, whose hospitality career spans more than 30 years and four continents, joined Taj Hotels in January 2003 to oversee all luxury property operations. In July 2003, he was named managing director and chief executive officer of The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), a division of India’s Tata Group, with responsibility for all Taj Hotels operations and management, hospitality and travel subsidiary companies. Under his leadership, the Taj Group has seen rapid global expansion, with new developments and acquisitions in key world markets, including Africa, Australia, Bhutan, Dubai, India, Maldives, Malaysia and the U.S. The Taj Group has formed strategic partnerships with other luxury hotel chains and cruise lines; developed innovative new products, including India’s first luxury safari lodges and tours, and steadily increased revenues, with FY2006 profits estimated at 40% more than 2005. Previously, Bickson served as vice president and general manager of The Mark in New York for The Rafael Group Hoteliers Monaco and with Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group for 15 years. His prior experience includes management positions with Regent International Hotels in New York, Chicago, Dallas, Puerto Rico, Melbourne and Shanghai, and training positions with Hotel Plaza Athenee Paris, Le Montreux Palace Switzerland and the Kahala Hilton Hawaii. An American national, Bickson attended The École Hôtelière Lausanne – Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School, and was awarded an honorary doctorate in hospitality management by Johnson & Wales University, Rhode Island. Acclaimed as one of the “Top 10 Best Hotel Managers” by Leaders magazine, Bickson is a member of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC); the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF); and the advisory boards of The Leading Hotels of the World (LHW), Cornell Hotel School Center for Hospitality Research and École Hôtelière Lausanne. Recipient of the Corporate Hotelier of the World Award 2007, by HOTELS Magazine.   Deepak Brara Executive Director - Americas, Air India Deepak Brara has recently been posted to New York as Executive Director – Americas for Air India, with overall responsibility for the airline’s operations in the U.S.A. and Canada, as well as sales and marketing activity throughout the Western Hemisphere for India’s largest carrier. Prior to assuming charge of his present post, Mr. Brara held key managerial roles over the course of his 32-year career in the Indian Aviation industry, having joined the erstwhile Indian Airlines in 1976. Most recently, he was Executive Director – Sales & Marketing at Air India headquarters in Mumbai since July 2007. During this time, he simultaneously held charge as Managing Director of Alliance Air, a wholly owned subsidiary of Indian Airlines. Other positions held by Mr. Brara at Indian Airlines include Director of Public Relations – Corporate (2005-2006), Regional Director for Northern India (2004-2005), Director Stores & Purchasing (2003-2004) and General Manager Market Planning (1999-2003) Prior to 1999, Mr. Brara’s career development at Indian Airlines included a 2-year stint in Calcutta in charge of the Eastern India and Southeast Asia region, and a 1.5 year deputation to the office of Air India’s Managing Director. He was instrumental in the development and launch of the joint Air India/Indian Airlines loyalty program (Flying Returns), Indian Airlines’ international market expansion, and SITAR, a Computer Reservation System (CRS) developed jointly with U.S. based Sabre system. In his early years, he was assigned to the Corporate Planning Department where he held charge of Schedule and Network planning, and later Marketing Research and Statistics, where he developed the carrier’s MIS. Mr. Brara graduated from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi and completed his Masters in Management Studies at Bombay. He is married, has two daughters and is a gardening enthusiast.   Amitabh Kant Member of Indian Administrative Service, Presently Principal Secretary (Industries & Commerce), Government of Kerala Amitabh Kant is a member of Indian Administrative Service and is presently posted as Principal Secretary (Industries & Commerce), Government of Kerala. From 2001 to 2007, Mr. Kant served as the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. He has extensive experience in International Marketing, Travel & Tourism and Hospitality industry. He conceptualized and executed the positioning and branding of Kerala as “God’s Own Country” and later the “Incredible !ndia” campaign. Both these campaigns won several International awards and embraced a host of activities – Infrastructure development, product enhancement, changes in organizational culture and promotional partnerships based on intensive market research. The Incredible India Campaign, led to India winning the PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Authority) Grand Award for the Best International Destination Campaign Worldwide in 2007 and to India being rated as No.1 Destination of the world – Condenast Traveler Reader’s Award, 2007. He has structured large infrastructure projects for diversification of India’s tourism product and sourced international funding through the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and UNDP. During his tenure as Chairman and Managing Director, India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) from 2003 to 2006, he radically restructured the organization and turned it around into a highly profitable commercial enterprise. He also has wide ranging experience in innovative technical and financial structuring of Private – Public – Partnership in infrastructure projects and implemented the Calicut Airport project based on user’s fee, the BSES Kerala Power project and the Mattanchary Bridge project.  From 1997 to 2001, he served as the Secretary of Tourism with Government of Kerala. During this period, Kerala emerged as India’s fastest growing tourism destination and won acclaims such as: One of the Ten “Exotic Paradises” of the World - National Geographic Traveler, Best Performing State (1999, 2000 and 2001) (three years in succession), Government of India. In his prior roles as Managing Director, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, Commissioner Rural Development, and District Collector Calicut, he has led large multi-disciplinary teams cutting across government, private sector, NGOs and civil society to ensure successful project execution and delivery.   Atul Kumria Regional Director - North America, Kingfisher Airlines Atul Kumria is the Regional Director of North America for Kingfisher Airlines, one of the top leading airlines of India. He has shown his expertise in the airport industry for two decades. He has a good understanding of both cultures and the dynamics of the relationship between the different countries and their people. He has worked in leadership positions with international airlines and was responsible for service delivery, policy, procedural development, performance metrics and the development of new customer focused initiatives. He started his career with Pan Am World Airways, one of the leading airlines of North America, at that time, and then later with Delta and United airlines. He continued to develop his management skills while broadening his experience and exposure to different areas of the airline industry. As Station Manager, Jet Airways, he redesigned the organizational structure of the hub to improve effectiveness and inter-departmental corporation. In 2001, he joined United Airlines as their Delhi station manager and coordinated their startup of the largest foreign airline station in Northern India in two months. After one year he moved to Singapore as General Manager, United Airlines. He successfully achieved the goals and the company objectives, which required close coordination with the U.S Embassy, the Government of Singapore, TSA, other United Airlines departments around the world and the local airport authority. In 2004, he moved to Chicago and became one of the prime key member of the Chicago headquarter of United Airlines, where his team supported the International airport locations in over 30 countries worldwide. He was accountable for operational excellence and service standards at different locations all over the world, where United provided handling services to other airlines. He served as a leader of cross departmental teams on numerous station startups including Ho Chi Minh City, Nagoya, Kuwait, five cities in Mexico and Liberia in Costa Rica. He is a graduate from Delhi University and has received several recognitions for his successful work in the airlines industry. He is respected in the industry as a leader focused on excellence and for delivering bottom line results. Currently, as a senior representative of Kingfisher Airlines in North America, Atul Kumria is focused on the successful launch of the airline in the continent.   Geoff Murray (Moderator) Managing Director, Macquarie Capital Advisors Geoff Murray is a Managing Director with Macquarie Capital Advisors, part of the Australian-based Macquarie Group. At Macquarie Mr. Murray is supporting the development of a broad aviation and aerospace portfolio principally focused on aircraft engineering, manufacturing and aftermarket services. This complements Macquarie’s current aviation portfolio, which includes airports, aircraft, engines and other aviation-related assets. Prior to joining Macquarie, Mr. Murray spent twelve years as a management consultant, both at A.T. Kearney and Oliver Wyman. His principal focus was on the airline sector, but he also conducted engagements in the trucking, rail and hospitality industries. In the airline sector, Mr. Murray worked on the development of start-up airline business plans in India, Australia and the United States, as well as strategic studies that included mergers and acquisitions as well as the spin-off of airline assets and the establishment of joint ventures. Mr. Murray holds a bachelors degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering and Transportation from Northwestern University. Mr. Murray was a 1996 recipient of the George B. Dantzig Dissertation Prize given by the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science (INFORMS). A former airline pilot and active flight instructor, Mr. Murray spent his early career as a member of the Boeing T-45A and F/A-18 C/D flight test teams. India's Media Entertainment Industry: The World's Window to India   Rahul Kansal Brand Director, The Times of India Group Rahul Kansal, 50, is Director in charge of some of the main newspaper brands of The Times of India Group, India’s largest and perhaps most successful media conglomerate. His responsibilities include The Times of India, Navbharat Times, The Mirror range of city newspapers, and some regional publications. He is responsible for the business performance as well as the editorial/content of these brands. During his six-year tenure with the group, The Times of India has emerged as the world’s highest circulated English morning newspaper across genres and formats, ahead of such giants as USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. Apart from helping steer TOI to success in most markets that it operates in today, he is responsible for having developed and executed several high profile brand initiatives (like India Poised and Lead India), resulting in the TOI being ranked as amongst the highest-profile brands in India across categories of products, well ahead of any other media brand in the country. Rahul has been an advertising and marketing professional for 29 years. He graduated from SRCC, Delhi University in 1977, and after an MBA from IIM Calcutta in 1979 has worked with some of India’s leading ad agencies such as JWT, O&M and Leo Burnett before joining The Times Group. He is a member of several professional bodies in the fields of advertising and media and has taught at various business schools.   Shekhar Kapur Film Director Shekhar Kapur did his schooling at the Modern School in New Delhi and graduated with an Honours degree in Economics from St Stephens College, University of Delhi. Thereafter he trained to be a Chartered Accountant in the UK and having obtained his degree in Accountancy, he worked variously as a Corporate Planner for Burmah Oil and as a Management Consultant in the UK. He then decided to switch careers to the Entertainment Industry and started as an Actor both on film and on TV. On film he played lead roles with directors like Govind Nihilani (Drishti), Vijay Anand (Jaan Haazir Hai), Mani Kaul (Nazar) and Basu Chatterjee (Jeena Yahan), with actresses like Dimple Kapadia and Shabana Azmi. On TV Shekhar is best known for the lead roles he played in the serials Khandaan, Udaan and Mahanagar. Switching to directing, Shekhar directed some of the most popular and critically acclaimed films of that time such as Masoom and Mr India. Both films are even popular today. But it was with his 5th film Bandit Queen, based on the life of Phoolan Devi that Shekhar achieved international recognition, a film that went on to win several international awards, and created quite stir in India. Thereafter he moved to the UK and directed his first International film “Elizabeth” that won him 8 Oscar nominations including best picture. He continued his international career with major films like “Four Feathers” and most recently “Elizabeth – The Golden Age” In between films Shekhar also co-produced and created the Stage Musical show called “Bombay Dreams” along with Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber which went on to be a huge hit in the West End in London and on Broadway in New York. He also introduced composer A R Rahman to the international arena. He has also directed several award winning commercials. Shekhar also was a successful Talk Show host for Channel 4 TV in London with a show called “On the other Hand”. Two years ago he co-founded the Company ‘Virgin Comics and Animation’ along with the famous author Deepak Chopra and British Entrepreneur Richard Branson. The company now employs over 200 artists in Bangalore and is considered a major IP creation company internationally. Shekhar Kapur has also been a regular speaker at the World Economic Forum and various technology and investment banking conferences all over the world, speaking on issues such as New Media, the rise of Asian Media and the future of Convergence between Technology and Media. Shekhar is an Advisor on the Board of the Singapore Media Development Authority, and also on the Marina Bay Sands Casino in Singapore. He serves on the Prime Minister’s committee on Information, Communication and Entertainment (ICE). He is an active member of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and has been on several Jury’s at International Film Festival’s all over the world. He is an active Scuba Diver and has been a Scuba diving instructor too. Currently he is in development with a film called Paani, which tells the story of a city of the future which has run out of water and the Water wars have broken out. He is also developing a couple of animation films.   Raju Narisetti Managing Editor, Mint Raju Narisetti is Managing Editor of Mint, the national business paper that launched on February 01 2007 in India, and is published by HT Media Ltd with an exclusive partnership with The Wall Street Journal. Mint, with a circulation of 106,000 (Sept 30 2007), is India’s first Berliner format daily newspaper and is published from New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. Its companion website is www.livemint.com. Until June 1, 2006, Raju Narisetti was Editor of The Wall Street Journal Europe as well as a Deputy Managing Editor of The Wall Street Journal in the U.S., where he also held overall responsibility for European and Middle East/Africa coverage for all three editions of WSJ. He had been instrumental in the development of the European and Asian editions as a convenient, easy-to-read, global business news briefing, which includes the launch of a compact format in October 2005 to replace the broadsheet edition and closer integration with The Wall Street Journal Online. A 13-year veteran of The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Narisetti (born June 26 1966) had been in charge of The Wall Street Journal Europe since February 2003, first as a Managing Editor and later as the Editor. Under his news stewardship, the Journal Europe won several journalism honors, including a 2004 Overseas Press Club award, the German Marshall Fund prize, the 2004 Best International Publication award from Media Tenor and six Business Journalist of the Year 2005 awards from the World Leadership Forum. Mr. Narisetti also played a key role in the creation and execution of a Global News Desk for all three editions of The Wall Street Journal. Prior to his European stint, Mr. Narisetti was a deputy national editor for The Wall Street Journal in New York from April 2002, helping guide daily news coverage. A reporting intern for the Journal in the summer of 1991, Mr. Narisetti joined the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal as a reporter in 1994 in its Pittsburgh bureau, covering manufacturing industries and writing a regular page-one column on workplace issues. His subsequent reporting assignments included covering consumer-product companies such as Procter Gamble and later, from New York, covering technology companies including IBM and Xerox. Mr. Narisetti moved to an editing role in February 1999, first as an assistant news editor on the Journal's national news desk, and, in September, was named a news editor in charge of media, retail, advertising and consumer-product coverage. In October 2000, he took on the additional responsibility for handling technology-news coverage. Prior to joining the Journal, he was a business writer for the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News from 1992-94; and The Economic Times from 1989-90. Born in Hyderabad, Mr. Narisetti has a bachelor's degree in economics and sociology from Osmania University in Hyderabad. He received a Post-Graduate Diploma in Management from the Institute of Rural Management (IRMA) in Anand, a postgraduate diploma from the Times of India School of Journalism in New Delhi and an M.A. in Journalism from Indiana University in Bloomington, USA. In 2007 Mr. Narisetti was named as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. He is also a life member of the South Asian Journalists Association, New York, and HT Media’s representative at the World Newspapers Association. Mr. Narisetti is a weekly contributor to the global BBC’s World Service Radio program, where he discusses the week’s topical business news out of India. Mr. Narisetti who is based in New Delhi is married to Kim Barrington, an editor, and has two daughters, Leila and Zola.   Sarbvir Singh Managing Director, Capital18 Sarbvir Singh is the Managing Director of Capital18, the Network18 Group’s venture capital and private equity business. The Network18 Group is one of India’s leading full play media conglomerates with interests in television, internet, filmed entertainment, mobile content and allied businesses (http://www.network18online.com). Through its holding in Television Eighteen India Ltd (TV18), Network18 operates India’s leading business news television channels - CNBC TV18 and CNBC Awaaz. It also runs India’s leading Internet company Web18, as well as one of India’s leading real time news terminal providers, Newswire18. Through its holding in Global Broadcast News Ltd (GBN), Network18 operates in the news and entertainment space with news channels CNN-IBN, IBN7 and IBN Lokmat, and a joint venture with Viacom called Viacom18. The JV operates the MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon channels in India - as also Studio18, the Group’s filmed entertainment operation and will be launching a Hindi general entertainment channel. Additionally, Network18 holds the Group’s online & on-air retail venture, Homeshop18. The Group has recently announced its print foray with the acquisition of strategic control of Infomedia (Yellow Pages & Magzines), a JV with Jagran Prakashan to launch a Hindi business paper and a strategic alliance with Forbes to launch a business magazine in India. As the managing director of Capital18, Sarbvir leads a team responsible for evaluating and making investments in the media and entertainment sector. Capital18 brings a unique combination of financial and intellectual capital, leveraging the knowledge, resources and infrastructure of the group, to bear on ventures helping them scale faster. The firm is active across all sub segments of media including print, radio, web, mobile, gaming, outdoor, sports, animation, education and of course TV & films. There is a special focus on scalable businesses that in some cases seek to benefit from technological discontinuities and in others are capable of marching right through them. Sarbvir has 13 years of global experience in investment management and business operations. He started his career with Emerson Electric in Hong Kong, responsible first for business development across Asia and then marketing in China. Subsequently, he spent five years with Citigroup in New York, where he was responsible for evaluating and making investments in the global consumer sector. Most recently, he was co-managing an investment management boutique that invested private client assets in India. He holds a degree in business management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.   Barbara O'Keefe (Moderator) Dean, School of Communication, Northwestern University Barbara J. O'Keefe (A.B., A.M., Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) is Dean of the School of Communication, Annenberg University Professor, and Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University. Prior to Northwestern, she was a Professor in the School of Information at the University of Michigan and Director of the UM Media Union, a center for development and application of advanced communication and information technologies. She has also served on the faculty at Wayne State University, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She has studied the development of communication competence across the lifespan as well as the impact of collaboration and learning technologies on individuals and groups, and she is currently a partner in a multi-year, cross-institutional project to guide and promote development of interactive media for children. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the Markle Foundation, the University of Illinois, and Illinova Corporation. She is the author or co-author of over 75 articles, reviews, and chapters in books and refereed conference proceedings. She co-edited Rethinking Communication: Vol. 1, Paradigm issues (1989) and Rethinking Communication: Vol. II, Paradigm Exemplars, surveys of the state-of-the-art in communication theory and research. Her work has earned special recognition from the National Communication Association, the International Communication Association, and the American Forensics Association. She has served as an associate editor or reviewer for such journals as Communication Monographs, Journal of Communication, Communication Research, Human Communication Research, Language and Social Psychology, Research on Language and Social Interaction, Argumentation, Argumentation and Advocacy, and the International Journal of Systems, Man, and Cybernetics. Reflections and Closing Remarks   Bala Balachandran J.L. Kellogg Professor of Accounting Information and Management, Kellogg School of Management Bala Balachandran began his teaching career in 1960 while a graduate student at Annamalai University, India. In 1967 he moved to the University of Dayton and in 1971, to Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, where he taught management courses while working on his doctorate. In 1973 he joined the Kellogg School of Management faculty. He was Chairman of the Department of Accounting Information and Management from 1979 - 1983. In 1984 he was appointed Professor of Accounting Information and Management and was Director of the Accounting Research Center from 1985-2006. Professor Balachandran's teaching interests include managerial accounting, auditing, management information systems, and mathematical programming. He is one of three Kellogg faculty members who started the Information Resource Management Program (IRM) at Northwestern in 1974. He has authored more than 55 research articles and is currently writing a managerial accounting textbook with emphasis on cost management in an automated manufacturing environment. He is department editor in accounting for Management Science, associate editor for The Accounting Review and on the editorial boards of Contemporary Accounting Research, and the Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Finance. Professor Balachandran's research deals with performance evaluation, cost management, audit planning, allocation models, and forecasting. His recent work includes auditors' legal liability and game theoretic cost allocation models with transfer pricing. His work has earned numerous scholastic honors, awards, and fellowships, and he serves as a consultant to senior management in industry, as well as to the U.S. Air Force, in the areas of accounting, forecasting, and strategic decision support systems. He has provided executive education for various companies and the government and is the program director for "Managing Cost Information for Effective Strategic Decisions," a three-day program conducted at the James L. Allen Center each year during the spring and fall.   Vinod Nair Managing Partner - India Practice, Diamond Management & Technology Consultants Vinod Nair, the Managing Partner of Diamond’s India practice, has been a trusted advisor to clients throughout India, Europe and South Africa on a range of strategic and operational issues over the past 10 years. Now based in Mumbai, Vinod’s clients include leading international companies in the mobile and fixed telecommunications, technology, media, and manufacturing sectors, as well as potential investors in the private equity sector. His expertise includes corporate and business unit strategy, investment assessment and due diligence support, market entry strategy and marketing execution, operational performance improvement and new business launches. In the telecommunications arena Vinod has worked with leading fixed and mobile operators in Europe on such issues as successful market entry strategies for mobile operators, market segmentation and proposition development for voice and data offers, development and validation of fixed/mobile convergent solutions, analytical marketing techniques to improve customer lifetime values and mobile application strategies for handset vendors. Vinod joined Diamond in 1999 and played a key role in establishing the firm’s UK practice. Prior to that, Vinod worked for McKinsey & Company in India and South Africa with a focus on helping clients improve their operational capabilities. He has also worked with OC&C Strategy Consultants in London, serving clients in the telecom, media and private equity sectors. Vinod has a Bachelor of Technology (B. Tech.) degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.   Dipak Jain Dean, Kellogg School of Management; Sandy and Morton Goldman Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies; Professor of Marketing A distinguished teacher and scholar, Dipak C. Jain has been dean of the Kellogg School of Management since July 2001. He brings more than 20 years of experience in management and education to his position at the school’s helm. Dean Jain is the Sandy and Morton Goldman Professor in Entrepreneurial Studies and a professor of marketing at the Kellogg School, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1987. Prior to his appointment as Dean, he served as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs for five years and worked closely with former Kellogg School Dean Donald P. Jacobs to set the agenda for the school’s curriculum, faculty and research activities. Dean Jain’s areas of research include the marketing of high-tech products; market segmentation and competitive market structure analysis; cross-cultural issues in global product diffusion; new product diffusion; and forecasting models. He has had more than 50 articles published in leading academic journals. Dean Jain teaches courses on marketing research, new products and services, and statistical models in marketing. In 2003, he was appointed as a foreign affairs adviser for the Prime Minister of Thailand. He has served as a consultant to Microsoft, Novartis, American Express, Sony, Nissan, Motorola, Eli Lilly, Phillips and Hyatt International. He also serves as a member of the board of directors of Hartmarx Corporation, Deere & Company, Northern Trust Corporation and Reliance Industries (India). He is also a former director at United Airlines and Peoples Energy. Dean Jain’s teaching honors include the Sidney Levy Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1995; the John D.C. Little Best Paper Award in 1991; Kraft research professorships in 1989-90 and 1990-91; the Beatrice research professorship in 1987-88; the Outstanding Educator Award from the State of Assam in India in 1982; the Gold Medal for the Best Post-Graduate of the Year from Gauhati University in India in 1978; the Gold Medal for the Best Graduate of the Year from Darrang College in Assam in India in 1976; the Gold Medal from Jaycees International in 1976; the Youth Merit Award from Rotary International in 1976; and the Jawaharlal Nehru Merit Award, Government of India in 1976. Dean Jain has served as the departmental editor for the journal Management Science, the area editor for Marketing Science and associate editor for the Journal of Business and Economic Statistics. He is also a former member of the editorial board of the Journal of Marketing Research. His long career in education began as a student in Tezpur (Assam), India. He went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in mathematics and statistics in 1976 and his master’s degree in mathematical statistics in 1978 from Gauhati University in India. He taught at Gauhati for the next five years before leaving for Dallas to pursue his PhD in marketing at the University of Texas. In addition to his positions at the Kellogg School, Dean Jain has been a visiting professor of marketing since 1989 at the Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.