Our Board
Dr. Kalpana Sankar
Managing Trustee of Hand in Hand India and
Founder and Mentor of Hand in Hand Inclusive Development and Services
Dr. Sankar is a double doctorate with a Ph.D in nuclear physics and in gender studies. Also the co-founder of Hand in Hand India, Dr.Sankar has been involved in the women’s self-help group movement in Tamil Nadu for over two decades. She has been a consultant with UNOPS, UNDP, Christian Aid and Wetlands International on Gender and Microfinance. She has authored several books on child labour, microfinance and women’s empowerment. Dr. Sankar was honoured with the ‘Nari Shakti Puraskar 2016’ instituted by the Ministry of Women and Development, Government of India on International Women’s Day (March 8th, 2017) for her contribution to the empowerment of vulnerable and marginalized women.
Mr. Banabihari Panda
Chairman
Mr Banabihari Panda superannuated from Indian Bank in December 2015 as the President and Whole Time Director of Ind Bank Merchant Banking Services Ltd and concurrently the Managing Director of Ind Bank Housing Finance Ltd.- the two listed Subsidiaries of Indian Bank. His career as an Officer in Indian Bank spanned about 39 years during which period he worked as a Branch Manager, as a Zonal Manager of Bhubaneswar and Mumbai Zone, as DGM, Risk Management in HO, as a Faculty Member in IMAGE, the apex training College of Indian Bank in Chennai. He has Co-authored a Book on “Management Accounting & Financial Management”. He has done MA (Economics), LL. B, MBA, CAIIB, PG Diplomas in Treasury, Investment & Risk Management and in International Banking & Finance. Post retirement, he has been associated with Belstar Microfinance Ltd. for over six years, as a consultant.
Mr. Sandip Mookerjee
Director
Mr. Sandip Mookerjee, has more than 37 years of experience working with various corporate in the financial sector, public and private enterprises / MNCs as well as in the social development arenain leadership levels. He has wide exposure in People management, Human Resources, Learning & Development, Insurance Underwriting, Marketing, Sales, Fund Raising, Project Management etc. Sandip has also extensively handled Board, Legal and Company Secretarial matters, apart from general management from a macro level. He was also engaged to set up and run nascent businesses in various geographies.
Mr. Harishankar Mani
Director
Mr.Mani holds a Bachelor degree in Physics and Law. He has 24 Years of practice in property rights and has specialized in Arbitration & Conciliation Proceedings, Trademark, Civil Suits, among other areas of expertise, on the original Side of the Madras High Court. He has done Trademark branding for several leading brands including Milka Group of Companies, Saravana Stores, KrishSrikkanth, and Milkyway. He is a Regular Speaker in Seminars conducted by ICAI, ICSI and University of Madras. He has attended International Conferences in Brussels, Berlin and Kathmandu representing the Indian Liberal Group, India.
Mr. Amuthasekaran Nachiappan
Managing Director
Mr. Nachiappan is a postgraduate in Sociology. He started his development career with Vivekananda Kendra, a social service organisation based in Kanyakumari, India. His experience spans grassroots’ action, education, and monitoring and evaluation. Mr. Nachiappan has extensive project experience in watershed management, natural resource development, rural development and promotion of renewable energy such as biogas, solar energy and wind energy in rural areas. He has also monitored several NGO projects for Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India.