SPEAKER PROFILES

A. Gitesh Sarma, High Commissioner of India - Australia

Born on 25th March 1961. Completed his B.A. (Hons) and M.A. in Political Science from Delhi University.

Joined the in 1986. Worked in Ministry of External Affairs as Under Secretary (Europe East) and Director (Central Asia).

Mr. Sarma’s overseas assignments include Indian Missions in Russia, Ukraine, , Pakistan, and United Kingdom. He has been Ambassador of India to Uzbekistan and High Commissioner of India in Fiji.

Additionally, served as the Officer on Special Duty (IT Enabled Services) in the Information Technology Department of the state of Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad, India. He was also Joint Secretary (External Relations) in the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India. Mr. Sarma was Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs until November 2019. https://www.hcicanberra.gov.in/page/amb-profile/

The Hon Barry O’Farrell AO, High Commissioner Designate to India

Mr O’Farrell was announced as Australia’s High Commissioner to India on Tuesday 18 February 2020. He served in the Parliament of New South Wales from 1995 to 2015, including as the State’s 43rd Premier between 2011 and 2014. Australia’s most populous and multicultural State, New South Wales generates a third of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.

As Premier, Mr O’Farrell initiated and led annual trade missions to India to promote economic, cultural, and social links between New South Wales and the states of India. He has also served as NSW’s Special Envoy for India and has made a significant contribution as the Deputy Chair of the Australia India Council Board.

Mr O’Farrell has a Bachelor of Arts from the Australian National University, Canberra. Born in Melbourne, Mr O’Farrell grew up in Darwin. He is married to Rosemary and they have two adult sons. https://www.dfat.gov.au/about-us/our-people/homs/Pages/high-commissioner-to-india

Ambassador Anil Wadhwa

Ambassador Anil Wadhwa was a member of the Indian Foreign Service from 1979 to 2017 and has served as Indian Ambassador to , Thailand, , , , and . As Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs of India he oversaw relations with South East Asia, Gulf and West Asia, Pacific and Australasia. He has served as the Indian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to FAO, IFAD, WFP, UNESCAP and worked with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague heading the Government Relations and Media and Public Affairs Branches. Ambassador Wadhwa has been India’s chief delegate to the East Asia Summit, Asean - India, Asem, ACD, the Arab League, Mekong Ganga Cooperation, and ARF meetings. He has been leading the CII task force for writing the Australia an Economic Strategy Report for the Indian government. Ambassador Wadhwa is currently a Distinguished Fellow with the Vivekananda International Foundation, , and an Independent Director on the Boards of some Corporate firms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anil_Wadhwa

Jennifer Westacott AO, Chief Executive, BCA

The Business Council of Australia is the nation’s premier business organisation, advocating for a stronger and fairer society through a more prosperous Australia. Jennifer Westacott AO has served as Chief Executive of the Business Council of Australia since 2011, bringing a unique combination of extensive policy experience in both the public and private sectors.

Under her leadership, the Business Council tirelessly champions meaningful policies that strengthen the ability of businesses to grow the economy for the benefit of all Australians. Jennifer built her career in the public sector, working in senior leadership positions in the NSW and Victorian governments.

She has served as the Director General of the NSW Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources; the Secretary of the Victorian Department of Education and Training; and the Director of Housing in Victoria. She was also the Deputy Director General of the NSW Department of Community Services, and the Deputy Director General of the NSW Department of Housing.

As a senior partner at KPMG, Jennifer advised major corporations on climate change and sustainability and advised governments across Australia on significant reform priorities. Jennifer has an unrivalled understanding of how the public and private sectors intersect and can work together to achieve the best outcomes in the national interest.

Since 2013, Jennifer has served as a Non-Executive Director of Wesfarmers Limited. She is the Chair of the Western City & Aerotropolis Authority, which is overseeing the design and delivery of the Western Sydney Aerotropolis. The global employment centre and investment hub will surround the Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport at Badgerys Creek.

Jennifer is an Adjunct Professor at the City Futures Research Centre of the University of NSW. She is the inaugural Chair of the Board of Studio Schools of Australia, a patron of Mental Health Australia, the Co-Patron of Pride in Diversity, and a patron of the Pinnacle Foundation.

In 2018, Jennifer was made an Officer (AO) in the General Division of the Order of Australia. Jennifer has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of New South Wales and in 2017 received an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Letters) from her alma mater. She was a Chevening Scholar at the London School of Economics. https://www.bca.com.au/jennifer_westacott

Dianne Tipping – Chair, Export Council of Australia

Dianne has had a long and varied career in international trade promotion and facilitation. Dianne Tipping is the founder and Managing Director of Excon International Pty Ltd. a Global Management Consultancy business that specializes in the teaching/training and management of International trade - particularly focusing on the digital evolution by recognizing the changing needs of the international business community. Over the years Dianne has increasingly developed practical programs and creative business tools that build the capability and capacity of companies to grow internationally.

Dianne is involved in the following organisations: Chair of the ECA (Export Council of Australia) Managing Director Excon International Pty. Ltd. Director: AITTDF Ltd. (Australian International Trade and Transport Industry Development Fund) Chairman of the Education Committee for the Australian Institute of Export Chair Export Council of Australia Finance Committee Honorary Associate University of Sydney – Discipline School of Business Councilor – NSW State Council – NSW Business Chamber Director: CADF Pty. Ltd. (Industry Funding Body) Director: ASL Aerospace Australia Pty. Ltd. Director: TradeIT Global (PVT) Ltd Director: Tradeit Global Pty.Ltd. Managing Director: Ruby Roze Pty. Ltd. Director: APDA Ltd.

Executive Committee Member of Regional Development of Australia (RDA) – Sydney (Federal Government) Numerous Government and Non-Government Committees - including Committees with the Dept. of Home Affairs and the Dept. of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Australia Independent Consultant to ITC (The International Trade Centre/Geneva) Member of the Australian Customs Advisory Board Industry Committee Member for Australia’s National Committee on Trade Facilitation. Currently involved in the EU-Sri Lanka Trade-Related Assistance Program – increasing SME’s Trade competitiveness in regional and EU markets. (Building the trade capability and capacity of SME’s) Currently involved in the EU - Afghanistan Trade-Related Assistance Program – increasing SME’s Trade competitiveness in regional and EU markets. (Building the trade capability and capacity of SME’s) Member of the East Sydney Regional Advisory Council for NSW Business Chamber. Member of the Infrastructure Committee for NSW Business Chamber Member Australian Institute of Company Directors https://www.export.org.au/trainers/diane-tipping

Vikram Singh, Country Head - Australia and New Zealand at Tata Consultancy Services

Vikram Singh has more than 21 years of global experience in information technology, strategy and business development.

As TCS’s senior leader in Australia and New Zealand, he is responsible for sales and operations across both markets.

Vikram assumed his current role in 2019 after a decade running TCS’s operation in the Philippines, during which time the company was named Technology Company of the Year at the Asia CEO Awards. He previously worked in business development roles in North America and in corporate sales in the company’s home market.

He holds an MBA from India’s BK School of Management, a Masters in Sales & Marketing from IIRM in Jaipur, and a Bachelor of Technology in Electronics & Instrumentation from CET, Trivandrum.

He is a patron of the Australia India Institute and represents TCS on the Confederation of Indian Industries, India’s peak business organisation.

Vikram lives in Sydney with his wife and two daughters and is an avid golfer and badminton player. https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikram-singh-ba580a3/

Mr. Manish Gupta, Consul General of India, Sydney

Manish Gupta is a career diplomat and a member of the Indian Foreign Service since 1998. In the course of a diplomatic career spanning over 20 years, he has held various positions in New Delhi and abroad. He has extensive experience in dealing with multilateral issues.

Prior to assuming his current responsibilities, he served in the Ministry of External Affairs as Joint Secretary for Overseas Indian Affairs overseeing migration and mobility, emigration policy, labour and manpower cooperation, skill development initiatives and welfare and protection of Overseas Indians related matters. He was also CEO of India Centre for Migration (ICM), which is a think-tank of the Ministry on matters related to international migration.

Earlier, he has served as Consul General of India in Istanbul, Turkey (2013-2016) and in Permanent Mission of India to the , New York (2009-2013). His other diplomatic assignments were in Dakar (2002-2005) and Brussels (2000-2002). He has also served as desk officer for Nepal in the Northern Division (2005-2009).

Mr. Gupta holds a B.Tech degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University. He is married to Nimeesha Gupta and has one son.

Cgisydney.gov.in

Neville Roach, AIBC Chairman Emeritus

Neville Joseph Roach AO is Chairman of the Advisory Board for Australia and New Zealand of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). He is an Honours Graduate of the University of Bombay, majoring in Economics and Political Science.

He is also a Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society.

He worked for IBM from 1965 to 1980 and Fujitsu from 1980 to 2004, serving as CEO of Fujitsu Australia and New Zealand from 1989 to 2000 and Chairman. He is currently Chairman of FNS Pty Ltd and TCSM Pty Ltd, both subsidiaries of TCS and of Collaborative Services Network Pty Ltd.

He was Chairman of AIBC from 2000 to 2006.

He is a member of the Indian Prime Minister’s Global Advisory Council of Overseas Indians. He is also a member of the Australian Government’s Advisory Panel on Positive Ageing (APPA) and Patron of the UNSW node of the Australia India Institute and the Australian Chapter of India’s peak IT industry association NASSCOM.

He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 2000 for his contribution to business, especially the IT industry and for the development of Australian Multiculturalism. In 2008, he received the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award, India’s highest honour for Overseas Indians from the President of India.

He is married and has 3 children and 8 grandchildren. His vision for the Australia – India relationship is that it should be of mutual benefit and be founded on mutual respect. He believes that both countries need to give significantly higher priority to the bilateral relationship that they do at present. https://aibc.org.au/neville-roach-chairman-emeritus/

Jim Varghese, National Chair, Australia India Business Council

Jim Varghese AM brings decades of leadership, experience running multifaceted businesses and presenting the public and private sector in various international forums. He is Chairman and owner of the Leadership Company Qld Pty Ltd and Director of the Springfield Land Corporation (SLC). Jim completed a very successful period as the Chief Executive Officer of the SLC and from April 2012, and continues as an Executive Director of the SLC. Jim was also appointed part-time Executive Director (Business Development) for the Australia India Institute in November 2014.

Jim has over 30 years’ experience as a Chief Executive in leading government agencies covering Transport, Main Roads, Education, Training, Employment and Primary Industries in both the Victorian and Queensland public sector. He has an outstanding track record as a Chief Executive capable of running multifaceted businesses with a determined focus and proven ability to deliver excellent and innovative results against a challenging and continuously changing environment. Jim has represented the public and the private sector in significant trade missions and forums in China, Middle East, United Kingdom, United States, Malaysia, Indonesia, and India. Jim is the Chair of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Committee that delivered the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Brisbane, and the Mahatma Gandhi Inspiration Bridge in Springfield, which were unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G20.

Jim Varghese AM has played a key role in commercialising forestry, water, road construction and aviation. Jim was also at the forefront of promoting and implementing public/private partnerships in Education and Training, and was Chairman of Aviation Australia Ltd.

Jim has a professional and passionate interest in service delivery and best practice management. He is the creator of the award winning “Three Learning Frames” management approach, which aligns outcomes with congruent relationships, structures, systems and capabilities. He was awarded the Centenary Medal for services to the Public Sector and in 2009 was awarded an Order of Australia for Services to Public Sector Reform and Services to the Community.

Jim has been granted the award of Fellow of these professional organisations: Certified Practicing Accountant (CPA), Australian Institute of Management, Royal Institute of Public Administration and Australian Marketing Institute. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Jim Varghese AM is also on the board of EIDOS, Deputy Chair of the Puuya Foundation (serving the indigenous community of Lockhart River in North Queensland) and is a director of the Qld Mental Health Foundation. Jim is Co-Patron of the Federation of Indian Communities, and Chair of the Order of Malta (Queensland Branch).

Jim is an accomplished author and contributor of articles on information management, crisis management, change and organisational transformation. Jim served for over three years as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Queensland. He has also served on the Council of Queensland University of Technology, the Senate of University of Queensland and is currently serving on the Council of the University of Southern Queensland. He holds the formal qualifications of Bachelor of Arts with Honours in contemporary Australian History and Bachelor of Divinity from the University of Queensland. He also holds a Master of Business Administration and a Diploma in Education from Melbourne University.

Since October 2015, Jim has been chairing the Queensland Government review on the taxi industry and technological disruption and is due to report to the Queensland government in July 2016. https://aibc.org.au/jim-varghese-am/

Sanushka Seomangal, National Vice Chair, Australia India Business Council

Sanushka Seomangal is a Special Counsel in Thomson Geer’s Sydney office where she specialises in public and private equity and debt fundraising, initial public offerings (IPOs), and mergers and acquisitions involving both private and listed companies. Thomson Geer is among the 10 largest law firms in Australia, with around 500 people, including 98 Partners operating out of offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. Sanushka also advises

clients on joint ventures, acquisitions and sales of businesses and companies and on general corporate and commercial matters.

Sanushka’s areas of legal expertise include advice on the Corporations Act, compliance with ASX listing rules, corporate restructuring, corporate governance issues and the duties of directors across various industry sectors including resources, financial markets, payments technology, internet products and aviation.

Sanushka’s practice is largely cross-border with an Asiafocus and she has expertise in capital markets and M&A transactions involving clients in the People’s Republic of China, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and India, as well as clients in the USA and the UK. Sanushka holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Natal, South Africa, a Master of Applied Law from the University of Queensland and a Master of Business Law from the University of Sydney.

Amongst her many professional achievements, Sanushka was recently named one of the Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence. She was also a finalist at the Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Awards 2015 and has just advised on a successful simple corporate bond offer, only the fourth of its kind in Australia. Sanushka has a particular interest in India and is a co-founder and director of the School of Policy and Governance (SPG) and a co-founder of the Australia India Youth Dialogue (AIYD).

SPG is a non-profit private university that was established in May 2017 to facilitate the education and upskilling of the brightest in civil society to build a better India and world through high quality educational programs in public policy, law and governance. Once fully established, SPG will offer 3 masters programs and be a research-based institution geared towards the developing world, with a physical campus in India by 2021. In the interim, SPG is delivering a series of executive education programs in India in partnership with UNSW Sydney. SPG is also working on establishing an Indian Policy Review, an online subscription-based publication, delivering research-backed content to a mass audience. For more information visit www.policyandgovernance.in.

AIYD is a diplomatic program which provides a forum at which young Australian and Indian leaders are brought together on an annual basis to hold constructive dialogue about various issues of significance to the Australia-India relationship. AIYD is supported by the Australian Government, the Indian Government. Since its inception in 2011, AIYD has made incredible inroads into improved bilateral relations between the two countries. For more information visit www.aiyd.org.

Sanushka is also the former Chair of the Australia India Business Council NSW (AIBC) Young Professionals Chapter, and former member of the Women in Business Chapter Committee of the AIBC. In her role as Chair of the Young Professionals Chapter, Sanushka was instrumental in hosting high

profile professional and networking events for members, including a mentoring program, an address by Dr Shashi Tharoor and a Distinguished Lecture Series featuring Dr John Laker AO, amongst others. In the past she has also been a member of the NSW Government Ministerial Consultative Committee representing the Indian community in NSW. Sanushka is a mentor in Macquarie University’s 2018 Lucy Mentoring Program and a member of amongst other organisations, UN Women Australia and Women on Boards.

Sanushka was a member of the founding board of Red Hands Limited, a non-profit organisation based in Sydney which raises funds for distribution to an accredited NGO in Chennai, India for the purposes providing micro-loans to women with business plans. She has also previously been a member of the Advisory Board of Tara Ed, a not for profit organization which focuses on the creation of cross cultural links between Australian and Indian Schools, hands on training programs for Indian and Australian teachers and the provision of resources for rural schools. https://aibc.org.au/sanushka-seomangal-national-vice-chair-aibc/

Sheba Nandkeolyar, Immediate Past Chair, AIBC

Sheba is AIBC’s immediate past National Chair and was AIBC’s first woman National Chair. Sheba has been at the forefront in organizing Trade Missions to and from India and other Asian countries. She has actively contributed to FTA / CECA inputs and has been advising Prime Ministers, Premiers, Ministers and Government officials on trade & business matters pertaining to India. Sheba was invited by former Prime Minister of Australia Hon Tony Abbott for the CEO delegation, which he led to India to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sheba was actively involved as the AIBC National Vice Chair, in hosting Prime Minister Modi for an AIBC business leaders’ event when he visited Australia in 2014.

Sheba was appointed as a Board member of DFAT’s Australia India Council from 2014 – 2019, by Hon. Julie Bishop, then Minister of Foreign Affairs. This appointment saw Sheba being tasked with Economic Diplomacy & Women in Business initiatives to facilitate the bilateral business relationship between Australia & India. Sheba is a Reference Group member of the India Economic Strategy 2035 and actively contributed though strategic inputs and a white paper.

She founded MultiConnexions Group 15 years ago, which specialises in Brand Diversity in marketing & communications (including Diaspora marketing globally) and is one the leading independent company in this industry in Australia.

Sheba is on several Industry & business boards and as a businesswoman, she has actively advocated for Australian businesses to open-up and embrace globalisation. https://aibc.org.au/sheba-nandkeolyar-immediate-past-chair/