Our People

Geetanjali Jha Chakraborty President of Apnalaya

President

GEETANJALI JHA CHAKRABORTY

Geetanjali Jha Chakraborty has been involved with Apnalaya for a long time and has been on the board since 2018. She has a diverse background, with the early years in the corporate sector and more than a decade in the Social Sector. Geetanjali has held leadership and CEO level roles in Concern India Foundation, CHILDLINE India Foundation, and ARMMAN, and is currently on the board of Foundation for Mother and Child Health and a global advisor to Tech Care For All. She is passionate about child protection, urban inequality, and mental health. Geetanjali has a Masters in Social Work and a Masters in Human Rights and Criminal Law. She loves to read on Buddhist philosophy, practice yoga, and enjoys solitary walks. She brings a wealth of experience and expertise to her role at Apnalaya.

Geetanjali Jha Chakraborty President of Apnalaya

President

GEETANJALI JHA CHAKRABORTY

Geetanjali Jha Chakraborty has been involved with Apnalaya for a long time and has been on the board since 2018. She has a diverse background, with the early years in the corporate sector and more than a decade in the Social Sector. Geetanjali has held leadership and CEO level roles in Concern India Foundation, CHILDLINE India Foundation, and ARMMAN, and is currently on the board of Foundation for Mother and Child Health and a global advisor to Tech Care For All. She is passionate about child protection, urban inequality, and mental health. Geetanjali has a Masters in Social Work and a Masters in Human Rights and Criminal Law. She loves to read on Buddhist philosophy, practice yoga, and enjoys solitary walks. She brings a wealth of experience and expertise to her role at Apnalaya.

Board Members

an image of Suman Srivastava, secretary of Apnalaya

SUMAN SRIVASTAVA

Secretary

Suman Srivastava is the Founder and Innovation Artist at Marketing Unplugged. A graduate of Delhi University, IIM Ahmedabad and IMD Lausanne, he is an advertising man, strategist, author and entrepreneur. He has been the CEO of Euro RSCG India and also the Chief Strategy Officer for Euro RSCG Asia Pacific. He was the Chairman of Euro RSCG’s emerging markets planning council and a member of the global management committee. Lastly, he was Vice Chairman & Chief Strategy Officer of FCB Ulka Group in India. He is active in the voluntary sector where he works on causes that range from schooling for slum children to child sexual abuse to rural tourism to skill development. He is currently part of the leadership team at Indian School of Development Management (ISDM). He is a member of iVolunteer’s Whiteboard initiative.

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VRINDA MAHADEVIA

Vrinda Mahadevia works with Julius Baer Wealth Advisory (India) Pvt. Ltd. as Managing Director Senior Advisory. She is also a trustee of Pranic Healing Foundation of Maharashta, and has volunteered with Akanksha and with Jai Vakil School.

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Lata Pillai

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Lata is the Managing Director and Head of Capital Markets, JLL India and is responsible for overseeing the asset management and strategic advisory business lines, including investment sales, advisory and financing business and also the cross regional capital flows. With over 30 years of experience in banking and real estate space , she provides strategic direction to the business. Prior to joining JLL, Lata has worked at ICICI Bank, Deutsche Bank, Edelweiss Financial Services and Yes Bank at senior leadership positions. Lata holds a Masters in Management Studies from Mumbai University and a Bachelors degree in Microbiology from Mumbai University. 

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a photo of Vijaya Balaji CEO and Managing Director at toolbox INDIA Foundation

VIJAYA BALAJI

Treasurer

Vijaya Balaji is the CEO and Managing Director at toolbox INDIA Foundation, and the CEO and Managing Partner at Social Lens. Vijaya is amongst the pioneers in advising the social sector to scale and collaborate across stakeholders. She has served as a knowledge resource for AVPN, Advisory Member for India@75 and is currently an evaluator for the Echoing Green fellowship. She is also on the board of a few NPOs. In her role as CEO of toolbox INDIA, she has expanded the organisation from five projects in 2011 to more than 650 projects. She serves as an advisor and has conceptualised many Capacity Building initiatives.

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MALINI THADANI

With the acumen gained from two successful careers, the first in the Indian Revenue Service and the second at HSBC in India and Hong Kong, Malini serves on corporate and not-for-profit boards and advises organisations to design and operationalise the effective integration of sustainability, ESG and communications into their strategic vision, so as to future-proof their organisations.

 

Malini has been a strategic advisor on Sustainability and ESG for board-level and senior business leaders. As a leader of high-level stakeholder groups, she has held positions on international and regional boards for industry bodies and not-for-profits.

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Our Leadership Team

an image of mr. praveen singh, CEO of apnalaya

Praveen Singh

CEO

Praveen Singh is a sector practitioner with over 22 years of experience in child rights, education, and local governance. He has previously been associated with organisations such as Magic Bus, Techno Serve, Arpan and CRY and brings a wealth of leadership experience and passion for creating positive impact at scale. Praveen has been a consultant with the Commissionerate of rural development in Gujarat and advocated with state governments for a successful campaign against child labour. He is also a visiting faculty at some of the leading academic institutions.

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Ninad_Apnalaya

Dr Ninad Salunkhe

COO

Ninad is a public health professional with over 14 years of progressive experience in this domain. He has done his Masters in Health Services and Hospital Management from London South Bank University and Bachelors in Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery from Y.M.T Ayurvedic Medical College, Navi-Mumbai, India.  

Prior to returning to Apnalaya, he was working with LEHS|WISH as a Team Lead for the Primary Healthcare Strengthening Project with BMC, he was associated with H T Parekh Foundation as a Grants Manager for Healthcare portfolio, with Apnalaya for seven years, SNEHA, Kingsmith Care Ltd – London, Heythrop College- London, Randstad Ltd –London, British Red Cross- London and many more.  

He has contributed towards Public Health & Program Management and his key skills include – Disability Programs Management, Mental Health Management, Strategy setting and Decision-making, building Network and Community Relations, Child Protection and Clinical Protocols etc.  

Ninad belongs to Thane, Maharashtra and likes playing badminton, table tennis and travelling to unexplored places. 

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Yasmin_Apnalaya

Yasmin Mulla

Director, Citizenship & Advocacy

Yasmin joined Apnalaya as Director, Citizenship & Advocacy in August 2022. She has a Master’s in Social Psychology from University of Mumbai. With over two decades of experience in the social development space, her areas of expertise include conceptualising and designing social interventions, capacity building, programme management and mentoring. She is a skilled facilitator on the themes of Employability Skills, Life Skills, Gender, SRHR and Child rights. She likes to be seen as a human rights defender and is passionate about volunteering and travelling.

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a photo of ms. poornima nair, director of health and disability at apnalaya

Poornima nair

Director, Health & Disability

Poornima joined Apnalaya as Director, Health & Disability in 2018. She has a Master’s in Science, Public Health and Nutrition from Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda. Poornima brings almost a decade of experience in maternal and child health and nutrition to Apnalaya. She has managed operations of clinical services and worked as a monitoring and evaluation fellow, documenting practices regarding infant and young child feeding and care in a tribal community. Poornima joined the Foundation for Mother and Child Health and eventually became Head of the Nutrition Team and later Director (POSHAN). Her keen interest in micro-nutrients makes Poornima our coveted lunch-time food inspector.

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an image of ms. SHACHI PHADKE Director, MEAL and Communications

Shachi phadke

Director, MEAL and Communications

Shachi is a development sector professional with over fifteen years of experience in programme strategy, content creation and impact analysis. She joined Apnalaya in April 2023 as Director for MEAL and Communications. Shachi is keen on always using people centric approach in her work. She is enjoys travelling and bad movie adaptations of her favourite books. 

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a photo of pratima aggarwal, director (sustainability) at apnalaya

pratima aggarwal

Director, Sustainability

Pratima Aggarwal is a strong believer in the power of commitment and compassion in changing and shaping the world around us. An engineer by education, she made the decision to quit her job at Infosys, to work as a teacher in a government school. She has ever since persevered to build and multiply the impact of organisations working in the sector of environment, livelihoods, and education.

Pratima joined Apnalaya as Director – Sustainability in July 2020. With over 14 years of experience in various sectors, Pratima brings with her a strong sense of passion and empathy which are the driving force in her work. She is passionate about biking, sports and can often be found completely absorbed in a game of puzzles, during her free time.

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