Top 10 Trending Speakers September 2021
As we enter the final quarter of 2021, we look back at some of the finest voices and thought leadership that inspired many lives and enhanced their learning experience during the month of September. Featuring a fantastic line-up from sports, media, ed tech, BFSI and more, the top trending speakers of September is bringing to the forefront some of the most passionate leaders.
On the occasion of the release, Deepshikha Kumar, Founder, SpeakIn comments, “There is an increasing interest among the people to know about stories – Stories about how accomplished individuals make it all happen. Any random search on the internet can offer you loads of information. But what it doesn’t offer you is perspective. People don’t just want to know what someone has done anymore. They now want to know the story behind the success of these leaders. They want to learn from it. The Top 10 Trending Speakers highlights thought leaders who are not just accomplished individuals, but also exceptional story tellers.”
The Top Trending Speakers for September 2021 are:
Suhas LY
Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj is an Indian professional para-badminton player who recently won a silver medal in the SL-4 category at the Tokyo Paralympics 2020. Suhas is a District Magistrate in Gautam Buddha Nagar and an IAS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre’s 2007 batch. Previously he has also served as the District Magistrate of Prayagraj. Suhas was the first Indian bureaucrat to win a professional International Badminton Championship in the 2016 Asian Para-Badminton Championships in Beijing, China. He is also the recipient of Uttar Pradesh’s highest civilian honour ‘Yash Bharti’. Recently Suhas was also featured amongst SpeakIn’s latest edition of India’s Distinguished IAS Officers. He comments on success, “There is no one path for success or happiness. There are stories and stories of happiness and value”.
Akshay Munjal
Akshay Munjal is the Founder and CEO of Hero Vired – an EdTech platform set to transform education by creating impactful learning experiences with world-class partnerships along with fun, effective, practical, hands-on training in cutting-edge programs. He is also the President at BML Munjal University and has overseen the whole functioning of the University, from its conception in 2011. A third generation entrepreneur, he has also been an active member of the Rotary Society of India and has also volunteered with the United Nations. He shares his golden rule about entrepreneurship, “A lot of the time I meet entrepreneurs, who are in love with their ideas. But does the market even want it or needs it? So it is very important to keep in your mind, who are you doing it for and are they willing to pay for it.”
Kaveree Bamzai
Kaveree Bamzai is a senior journalist, author and columnist. She has worked for India Today, The Indian Express, and The Times of India for over 30 years. She is the author of the novels: No Regrets: The Guilt-Free Woman’s Guide to a Good Life and Bollywood Today. Kaveree was India Today’s first and so far only female editor. She serves on a number of committees, including the CII Women Exemplar Committee and the FICCI Sanitation Awards Jury. She is a mentor with the Karm Fellowship and has been recognized by Save The Children as a changemaker. She challenges the way society looks at women and comments, “We’re all so haunted by the idea of being perfect mothers, perfect wives, perfect daughters, and perfect at work. And I think that needs to change”.
Vikram Chandra
Vikram Chandra is an award winning Indian journalist who established Editorji Technologies, a multilingual video news platform. He presents many of Editorji’s signature shows, including The News Guru, a weekly show that provides an in-depth analysis of the week’s major news stories. Vikram formerly served as the CEO of the NDTV Group. He is regarded as one of India’s top journalists today. His journalistic reputation was established while reporting the Kashmir war. In 2007, he received the designation “Global Leader for Tomorrow” from the World Economic Forum in Davos when he was selected as a “Young Global Leader.” He quotes about journalism, “As a journalist, you are trained to deal with horrors in the real world – and to somehow keep reporting with your emotions in check”.
Mehool Parekh
Mehool Parekh is a Private Equity and Venture Capital investment professional with wide-ranging experience in investments and funds management. As a part of a closely held private equity investment group since early 2006, Mehool Parekh has been a private equity investor and key Board member in several leading companies in India and overseas. He is a founder of Programmatic India Technologies, an AI-driven programmatic DSP catering to Indian markets. Mehool was also the Founder and Managing Partner of the India Venture Fund/Infinity Fund II, an affiliate of Advent International in the early 2000s.
R Rajeshwar Upadhyay
With over 28 years of experience, Prof. Rajeshwar Upadhyay is currently the Dean of the Academy of Applied Emotional Intelligence (AAEI). He aspires to develop “10,000 Master Teachers of Emotional Intelligence by 2025” He has trained over 48,000 executives over the last 16 years and 38,000 professionals in Emotional Intelligence related themes, across Government, Public, and Private sectors. He is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Leadership Review and CEO at Par Excellence Leadership Solutions. Prof. Upadhyay is a visiting faculty at ISB Hyderabad, KAIST, Seoul, LBSNAA, SVPNPA, NAIR, IIPA, NISA. He comments about emotional intelligence, “At a particular level of seniority, your technical and functional capabilities are presumed. That you’re good at doing your job, is a given. But over and above doing your job, are you able to include, collaborate, empathize, relate? A large percentage of personal productivity goes up when you increase self-awareness. Self awareness is a very central theme in emotional intelligence.”
John Ho
John Ho is the Global Head of Legal, Financial Markets at Standard Chartered Bank, where he is responsible for supervising and providing legal advice, transactional, and documentation assistance for the bank, its branches, and affiliates across the world. He is also the co-chair of the ISDA Legal and Regulatory Committee for Southeast Asia. On key global and regional regulatory reform changes, such as Interbank Offered Rate (IBOR) reforms, MIFID II/MIFIR, Dodd-Frank, EMIR, CRDIV, FATCA, CCPs, and Margin Reforms for Uncleared Derivatives, he has been involved in fostering closer working relationships and rapport with industry groups and regulators. John is also the Co-Chair, Financial Services at Enterprise Ethereum Alliance. On the importance of employee wellbeing in the ‘new normal’, he comments, “It has been a tough year for all of us and yet, this is also the year for us to learn, to evolve, and to adapt to a new pattern of work. We strive to ensure that communication whilst the emotional and physical well-being of our employees is just as important.”
Vinay Singhal
Vinay Singhal is the Co-Founder and CEO at STAGE – an Indian language content platform (OTT) for artist-led entertainment such as poetry, comedy and storytelling etc. He is also the Co-Founder at Badlega Bharat – an online organization for youth awareness. Vinay is an alumnus of SRM University, Chennai. He comments about understanding the Indian audience, “Most people have misunderstood Bharat audience and their behaviour of using internet products. My co-founders and I have grown up in very small villages of the country and so represent Bharat in its most authentic form.”
Neelotpal Shukla
Neelotpal Shukla is a Quantitative Research Manager at Morningstar. He has been working in the quantitative finance space for 4 years focusing on algorithmic portfolio construction, large-scale numerical computations, and machine learning. He owns a dual master’s degree from internationally acclaimed schools focusing on extensive scientific research spanning 3 years and 2 thesis projects. He also has experience in factor investing, risk modeling, portfolio construction, probabilistic modeling, computational engineering, advanced data analysis, and uncertainty quantification.
Manish Guptaa
Manish Guptaa is the Head of Buying, Merchandising and SCM at 24Seven, Godfrey Phillips. He is an experienced Professional Retailer. He is an expert in P&L handling, Trend Analysis, Negotiation, Categorical Data Analysis, Operations Management, and Sales. Previously, he was the Deputy General Manager, Buying and Merchandising at Bharti Retail and has also served as the Operations Head North at BigBazaar, Future Group. Manish has a strong consulting professional with Strategic Retail Management focused in Retail Management from the Indian School of Business.
