BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Mr. Ostawal joined Warburg Pincus in 2007 and since then has been working with the firm's Indian affiliate. He is involved with the firm's Investment Advisory activities in India and evaluates opportunities in Financial Services and Healthcare sectors in India.

Prior to joining Warburg Pincus, Mr. Ostawal was an Associate with 3i India and McKinsey & Company.

He is a Director of Laurus Labs Limited, AU Small Finance Bank Limited, D B Power & Group Companies, Computer Age Management Services Pvt. Ltd., Sterling Software Private Limited and Fusion Microfinance Private Limited.

Mr. Ostawal holds a Chartered Accountancy degree from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and an M.B.A. from The Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

Joydeep Dutta Roy, a career Banker for around 25 years is currently the Executive Director at Bank of Baroda, one of India’s premier public sector Banks. 

Having joined Bank of Baroda in the year 1996, he has handled a variety of functions in the Bank, across levels and has been instrumental in spearheading many projects and initiatives for the Bank. 

After completing very successful stints in the Bank as the Head of HR, Head of Integration at the time of amalgamation of erstwhile Dena and erstwhile Vijaya Banks with Bank of Baroda, Regional Head of Bank’s Dehradun and Bareilly Regions, he was elevated to the position of Chief General Manager and was posted in the Office of the MD & CEO of the Bank. As a Chief General Manager, he was in charge of strategy formulation & implementation in the Bank and for conducting Bank level and Vertical level reviews apart from managing the Subsidiaries & Joint Ventures of the Bank. He has been driving a Bank-wide transformation project called BOB-NOWW that was initiated in view of changed imperatives and push towards digitalisation, post the pandemic. 

As Executive Director in Bank of Baroda, he currently manages the entire Operations of the Bank besides the futuristic BOB-NOWW project, IT, Finance, Wealth Management and the Digital functions of the Bank. He has earlier held charge of the Risk, Compliance, Audit, HR, Credit Monitoring and Collections functions of the Bank as the ED incharge, with great success.  

He is also the non-executive Chairman on the Board of “Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India Pvt. Ltd.” and a Director on the Boards of  “India First Life Insurance Company Limited”, “Bank of Baroda (UK) Limited” and “Bank of Baroda (Botswana) Limited”. His previous directorship assignments have been on the Boards of “The Nainital Bank Ltd.”, “Baroda Global Shared Services Ltd.” and “Bank of Baroda (Tanzania) Ltd.”. 

Joydeep holds an Honours degree in Economics from Delhi University, besides being a law graduate and an MBA from the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in Mumbai. 

Mr. Chogle, a veteran FMCG Professional with a strong customer and marketing orientation, runs his own Brand Advisory and Strategic Consulting Practice in the consumer & Retail space with clients across SMEs, large Indian companies and MNCs.

Prior to his consulting practice, he had a varied and successful marketing career internationally and in India, spanning over 30 years. He has worked in senior leadership positions in general management and consumer marketing with two of the finest companies in their peer groups- Procter & Gamble and British American.

He is currently the advisor and management consultant specializing in Retail and Consumer Products Industry with clients like Nielsen and other organisations .

In a vibrant career spanning 35-years, Mr. K.S. Gopalakrishnan has held leadership roles as CEO/CFO/Actuary in Life Insurance and CEO in Reinsurance.

Rising from the ranks as an Actuarial Apprentice in LIC of India at the start of his career to leadership positions for insurance companies such as Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance Company, Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company and Aegon Life Insurance Company, Mr. Gopalakrishnan’s career trajectory displays his firm grasp in the areas of finance, actuarial, pricing, product design, regulations, underwriting, claims, as well as governance, and Board and shareholder concerns. After completing a successful stint as CEO for India business at RGA Reinsurance Company, Mr. Gopalakrishnan continues to be a consultant and advisor in a wider insurance ecosystem. He has been a key contributor in industry pioneering unit linked products, online term insurance products and various customer oriented initiatives.

Mr. Gopalakrishnan holds a graduate degree in Mathematics from Vivekananda College in Chennai and is a Fellow member of the Institute of Actuaries of India. He has completed courses in strategy and digital technology from premier international institutes such as Duke University, Stanford University, MIT and INSEAD. He has been a member of several committees in the Indian insurance industry and IRDAI. He is currently an elected member of the Council of the Institute of Actuaries of India.

Mr. Hemant Kaul is an MBA from the University of Rajasthan. He started his career as a Probationary Officer with State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur in 1977. He was part of the start-up team at UTI/ Axis Bank, where he set up and lead the Retail Banking Division. Hemant was also the MD & CEO of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance. Hemant is passionate about the Fintech sector where he is involved as a mentor and Angel investor.

Hemant loves to travel and read. He and his wife Annu, live in Jaipur.

Harita is a Masters degree holder from IIT Delhi and lives with her husband in Gurgaon, India. Harita joined Sutherland as the Global Head of the Enterprise Business in 2017 she brings in 3 decades of vast Global experience in the Digital and IT services sector. In her current role - the focus for APAC is to establish Sutherland as a true Digital Transformation Innovation partner for customers.

Prior to Sutherland, she worked for Microsoft India where she led the growth of the Customer Service and Support operations for Enterprise customers across India and Greater China. She started her career at NIIT Technologies and managed various portfolios and Technology centres of excellence.Post pandemic she is leading her teams to explore new business and work models.

Harita is a Master's graduate from IIT Delhi and lives with her husband in Gurgaon, India.Very passionate about CSR, she drives innovative projects in her current role and volunteers at 2 NGOs.

Vishakha RM has helmed IndiaFirst Life as its MD & CEO since March 2015. Under her strong leadership, the company has demonstrated a significant growth rate and steadily risen in industry ranking. Leading from the front, Vishakha spearheaded the seamless transition of shareholding from former partner, Legal and General to Warburg Pincus in 2019.  

Vishakha has been recognised  by ET-BFSI.com as Dynamic Women Leaders in India (2022) and Powerful Women Leaders in BFSI sector (2021). She features in Business Today’s Most Powerful Women (2022) and has won CEO of the Year award at Campaign India's Women Leading Change 2022 Award. Vishakha ranked among the Top 50 of Fortune India’s ‘Most Powerful Women’ in business three times in a row (2017, 2018, and 2019). She has also been bestowed with ‘Most Influential Woman’ by the Business World magazine. ICAI bestowed Vishakha with the prestigious award of CA Business Leader – Women (2017).  

During her tenure, IndiaFirst Life was recognised by Great Place to Work® Institute (India) as -- India's Best Workplaces in BFSI 2021 three times in a row, Great Place to Work-Certified" for the fourth consecutive year, India's Best Workplaces for Women 2021, and India's Best 100 Companies to Work For 2021. The organisation won Life Insurance Company of The Year at India Insurance Summit 2022 and The Economic Times Best Brands 2021 award by The Economic Times. 

A thought leader, she is a member of CII National Council and co-chairs the CII Pension and Insurance committee. She is also a member of CII National committee of financial inclusion and CII Task Force on Fintech. She is an independent Director on the board of NRB Bearings Private Limited.  

Vishakha continues to guide and mentor the upcoming generation of thinkers and leaders. Some of her prestigious mentorship associations include International Insurance Society (IIS) Mentor program, WWB Leadership and Diversity for Innovation Program, RGA Leaders for Tomorrow and WILL Forum. As a mentor,  she actively contributes as a Charter Member of Exqualifi by AIWMI. 

A Chartered Accountant equipped with a Post Graduate Diploma in Computer Systems, Vishakha is also a Fellow of the Insurance Institute of India.