Somasekhar Sundaresan is a Judge of the Bombay High Court. Prior to that as a Lawyer, practising as counsel in litigation involving financial sector regulation, competition law, company law and exchange controls, before High Courts, the Supreme Court, regulators and appellate tribunals.
As a member of committees set up by the Union Government, SEBI and the RBI, he has drafted laws governing takeovers, insider trading, variable capital companies, corporate governance of banks and cross-border insolvency. Somasekhar was actively involved in drafting the Indian Financial Code recommended by the Financial Sector Legislative Reform Commission. He serves on the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India’s Advisory Committee on corporate insolvency.

Ashish Chauhan, MD & CEO of National Stock Exchange of India, India and Chancellor, University of Allahabad, India is a technocrat from IIT Bombay and IIM Calcutta.

He has been involved in automation of stock market in India since 1993 when he became the part of the foundation team of NSE. He is credited with setting up screen-based trading, satellite telecom, Nifty index, derivatives trading and many other activities in Indian stock market.
He is considered as the father of modern financial derivatives in India due to his pioneering work in the field. He was instrumental in bringing SGX NIFTY to GIFT NIFTY within a short span of just a year after joining NSE as committed to Hon’ble PM of India’s vision. It is a landmark event for Indian Financial market and in bringing the Indian markets onshore which was offshore for past many years.

He also worked at Reliance group, Mumbai Indians cricket team, BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange). In addition to this, he is a part of many Government & Non – Government committees in India. Ashish has been instrumental in bringing the prestigious Indian Institute of Management (IIM) to Mumbai as the Chairman of the committee that recommended the conversion of NITIE to IIM Mumbai.
He is also serving on the Boards of several Government educational institutions including serving as Chancellor of the University of Allahabad. He is a Board member at IIM Calcutta, Gokhale Institute of
Politics and Economics (GIPE). He is also a faculty at Nottingham University, UK & Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada (Formerly known as Ryerson University). He has co-authored a book, ‘BSE: The Temple of Wealth Creation’. Book titled ‘Sthithpragya: The
Process of Maintaining an Equilibrium’ addresses his life journey. He has been awarded many awards in India and abroad including, recently he has been awarded Lifetime Achievement award from Global Custodian at Singapore, in past Top 50 CIOs in the world by Information Week, US, Digital Icon of the Year, Asian Banker of the Year and many more.

Mr. A. Balasubramanian is the Managing Director & CEO of Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Limited. A stalwart of the mutual fund industry, he brings with him over three decades of rich experience.
He has been associated with the organization since 1994. Prior to assuming the role of the CEO in 2009, Mr. Balasubramanian served as Chief Investment Officer from 2006 to 2009. As Managing Director & CEO, Mr. Balasubramanian oversees Rs. 3 lakh crore in Assets Under Management at Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC. Before joining ABSLAMC in the
year 1994, he worked with GIC Mutual Fund, Can Bank Financial Services and Pandit & Co. between 1989 and 1994.
Mr. Balasubramanian has been awarded CEO of the Year title by Asia Asset Management in 2018 and 2020. He has been awarded Chairman’s Individual Award by The Aditya Birla group for being an Outstanding Leader in 2015 and for being a Leader of Leaders in 2018.

Mr. Balasubramanian is closely associated with key industry bodies. He has been on the board of AMFI (Association of Mutual Funds in India) since 2009 and was the Vice Chairman of AMFI in 2015-2016. He has served as the Chairman of AMFI for two terms, from 2016-2018, and reappointed for the period of 2021 – 2023. He is also the ex-officio Chairman of AMFI’s Financial Literacy Committee. Mr. Balasubramanian is also an esteemed member of the Fund Management Advisory Committee of the International Financial Services Centre Authority (IFSCA). The committee will be advising IFSCA in laying down a long-term plan for the orderly growth and development of the fund management industry in IFSC. He is also a Governor on the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Securities Markets (NISM), and member of the advisory committee of the SEBI Investor Protection and Education Fund (IPEF).
He has completed advanced management programs from Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore and Harvard Business School. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in science (mathematics) and a master’s degree in business administration from GlobalNxt University.
Mr. Balasubramanian is involved with philanthropic work through various charitable organization’s. He is actively engaged in initiatives towards Mother & Child healthcare and supporting Indian Art & Culture. He is one of the active members at Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Centre for Child Heart Care. He is also associated with Sathya Sai University, Gulbarga that imparts knowledge on Human Excellence to students during their higher education. He promotes Indian Arts and Village Traditional Culture by being a Trustee at Melattur Bhagavata Mela Foundation

Mr. Ajit Balakrishnan graduated from IIM Calcutta in 1971 with two awards
Public Service roles. He was Chairman for Board of Governors IIM Calcutta for 2 terms of 5 years each (2006-2016)
– Member of Committee that updated Indian IT Act 2008, personally wrote Section 79 on Intermediaries;
– Chaired Ministry of Information Technology Working Group on Internet Governance and Proliferation (2005-2008)
– Member of Education Ministry’s IIM Review Committee 2008 (“IIMs: From great Teaching Institutions to Thought Leadership Centres”);
– Chaired Education Ministry’s Committee on Online Education, 2010
– Chaired Education Ministry’s Committee on National Education Policy (NEP 2020) Subcommittee on Higher Education and Employment: 2020

Arman Eshraghi is a Professor of Finance and Chair of Finance and Investment at Cardiff Business School, UK. His academic research spans finance and accounting with interests including behavioral finance, financial technology and corporate governance. His work is published in some of the leading journals of the field, cited in the media including the Financial Times, Washington Post, Harvard Business Review, Forbes and Bloomberg, and contributed to handbooks published by Cambridge University, Wiley, Springer, Routledge and Emerald.

Professor Eshraghi is Editor-in-Chief of International Review of Economics and Finance, Senior Editor of Finance Research Letters and the Global Finance Journal, Shimomura Fellow of the Development Bank of Japan, Fellow of the Centre for Decision-Making Uncertainty at UCL, Director of the Cardiff Fintech Research Group, and a former Advisory Panel Member at Fintech Wales. He has advised several fintech and investment firms in recent years.

Distinguished Professor of Finance and Economics at Rutgers University
Editor in Chief of RQFA and RPBFMP

Professor Cheng-Few Lee is a Distinguished Professor of Finance at Rutgers Business School, Rutgers University and was chairperson of the Department of Finance from 1988–1995. He has also served on the faculty of the University of Illinois (IBE Professor of Finance) and the University of Georgia. He has maintained academic and consulting ties in Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and the United States for the past three decades. He has been a consultant to many prominent groups including, the American Insurance Group, the World Bank, the United Nations, The Marmon Group Inc., Wintek Corporation, and Polaris Financial Group.
Professor Lee founded the Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting (RQFA) in 1990 and the Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP) in 1998, and serves as managing editor for both journals. He was also a co-editor of the Financial Review (1985-1991) and the Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance (1987-1989). In the past 50 years, Dr. Lee has written numerous textbooks ranging in subject matters from financial management to corporate finance, security analysis and portfolio management to financial analysis, planning and forecasting, and business statistics. In addition, he edited two popular books, Encyclopedia of Finance (with Alice C. Lee) and Handbook of Quantitative Finance and Risk Management (with Alice C. Lee and John Lee). Dr. Lee has also published more than 220 articles in more than 20 different journals in finance, accounting, economics, statistics, and management. Professor Lee was ranked the most published finance professor worldwide during the period 1953-2008.
Professor Lee had earned following honors and awards:
(a) Special Recognition Award for his dedication and diligence as a founding father of The Financial Economics and Accounting Conference (Founded in 1990),
(b) In Recognition of Outstanding Service as Editor of The Financial Review 1986–1991,
(c) RBS Dean’s Meritorious Award for Lifetime Achievement in Research 2013–2014 in Recognition of Outstanding Research Contributions,
(d) Siwei Cheng Award in Quantitative Management by International Academy of Information Technology and Quantitative Management (IAITQM) in April 2013,
(e) Member of the Board of Policy Advisors to Research Center On Fictitious Economy and Data Science, Chinese Academy of Science in 2009,
(f) Lifetime Achievement Award in Recognition of exceptional contributions and long-term commitment by William Peterson University at 17th Annual International Conference on Applied Business and Economics in November 2021,
(g) Fellow of ITQM (International Academy of Information Technology and Quantitative Management) 2022, and (h) Rutgers University 2023 Chancellor-Provost Faculty Excellence Awards.
Professor Lee was the intellectual force behind the creation of the new Masters of Quantitative Finance program at Rutgers University. This program began in 2001 and has been ranked as one of the top fifteen quantitative finance programs in the United States. Professor Lee started the Conference on Financial Economics and Accounting. This conference is a consortium of Rutgers University, New York University, Temple University, University of Maryland, Georgia State University, Tulane University, Indiana University, and University of Toronto. This conference is the most well-known conference in finance and accounting.

Dr Nair assumed charge as Director, NISM on 20th September 2021.

Dr. Nair was a Member of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) during 2016-21. Before joining the SAT, he was an officer of the Indian Economic Service for about 31 years and held various positions in the Government of India. These positions include Director [Commodity Derivatives Market], Director [Development Policy], Director [Capital Markets], Adviser [Capital Markets], Secretary [FSLRC] etc. In the Ministries of Food and Consumer Affairs, Planning Commission and Finance Ministry respectively.  

He was involved in substantive policy-law-institutional reforms in the financial sector in various capacities. These include report of the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC), Bankruptcy Law Reforms leading to the enactment of the “Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016”, reforming commodity derivatives market regulation culminating in the merger of the Forward Markets Commission with the Securities and Exchange Board of India and a modern monetary policy framework with a Monetary Policy Committee, culminating in necessary amendments to the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934; to mention a few of such reforms.

Dr. Nair has a Ph.D. in Economics (Market Regulation) from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. He has a Masters in Development Economics from the University of East Anglia, UK and Masters and Bachelor’s degrees in Economics from the Kerala University.

He has been a member of several Committees/Working Groups/Task Forces dealing with various issues in the financial sector. He has also been writing articles on topical financial sector issues.

Dr. Nair started his career in 1983 as a lecturer of Economics.

Dong Lou is a Professor of Finance at the London School of Economics, a Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research, and an Academic Consultant/Visitor to the Bank of England. Professor Lou received his PhD in Financial Economics from Yale University in 2009, and an undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Columbia University in 2004. Professor Lou has published on a wide range of topics and has received many awards for his research. His main research areas include asset pricing, investment management, behavioral finance, and China’s financial markets. He currently serves as an Associate Editor at the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and Management Science.

Mr. G Balasubramanian has three decades of experience in executive training, teaching consulting and research in Management, Accounting, Finance and Information Technology. He has served as Dean of IFMR GSB for 8 years.

Visiting faculty for several African countries, in the area of management, finance and information technology, under the sponsorship of the Commonwealth Secretariat. Additionally, he has served as visiting faculty at IIM Indore, IIM Trichy, Great Lakes Institute of Management and LIBA, Chennai.

He has Designed and implemented Decision Support systems for major organization and Participated as a resource person in a study of disinvestments of public sector enterprises sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

He Has guided 8 Doctoral students and is currently guiding one Ph.d student and Serves as a member of doctoral committee of doctoral students at Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He has Published papers in the area of capital markets, accounting, and information technology and knowledge management & Co-authored a book titled, “Brain Re-engineering”.

His current areas of interest include Valuation modeling, Activity based costing & management, strategic cost management, Performance measurement systems, Business intelligence, IT strategies and the role of neuro-biological infrastructure for management. He Serves as the Managing Editor of the journal “Journal of Emerging Market Finance”
He is a Heartfulness practitioner since 2006 and is a Heartfulness guide

Dr. Kevin R. James is an economist in the Systemic Risk Centre at the London School of Economics. His research focuses upon economic growth, financial market effectiveness, systemic risk, and corporate finance, and his papers have been published in leading finance and economic journals. He has previously worked at the SEC in the US and Financial Conduct Authority, the Financial Services Authority, and the Bank of England in the UK. He has a PhD in Economics from UCLA and a BA (Hons) from Swarthmore College.

Prof N. R. Bhanumurthy has taken charge as the first Vice-Chancellor of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar School of Economics University, Bengaluru (BASE University), in June 2020. He is currently on deputation from NIPFP, New Delhi, where he has been a Professor since 2009. Prior to this he worked as Assistant Professor and Associate Professor at Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi.
His research areas are macro-monetary economics, fiscal policy, international money & finance, macroeconomic modeling and development economics. In these areas he has authored over 90 research papers, five books, and over 250 short articles in newspapers and magazines. His views on Indian economy is very regularly quoted in both print and visual media. He has successfully co-supervised 6 Ph.d students and was part of Doctoral committee of 5 Ph.d students. He had brief stints at UNESCAP, Bangkok and at UNDP RCC at Colombo as Macroeconomist. He was a Visiting Fellow at MSH, Paris, Mcgill University, Montreal and ADB, Manila. He has been a consultant to UN-DESA (New York), UN-ESCWA (Beirut), UNDP-Nepal, UNDP-Bhutan, UNESCAP, ILO, the World Bank, and ADB.
He has served on over 25 government committees constituted by Finance Ministry, Ministry of Statistics, Ministry of Rural Development, National Statistical Commission, Ministry of Education, erstwhile Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, RBI, SEBI, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Government of Karnataka, among others. Dr Bhanumurthy is currently serving as Managing Trustee of the Indian Econometric Society Trust and also Managing Trustee of Indian Economic Association Trust for Research and Development since 2010. He was Secretary of the Indian Econometric Society for over 17 years between 2006 and 2023. As part of the India’s G20 presidency, Dr Bhanumurthy is nominated as a Chair for the T20 Taskforce-1 on ‘Macroeconomics, Trade and Livelihoods’
He has received two prestigious awards: Mahalanobis Memorial Medal (National) Award for the year 2014 for his contributions to the field of quantitative economics in India; and “VKRV Rao Prize in Social Sciences (Economics)” for the year 2015, for high quality research and for significant contributions to social science research in India.

Partha Ray is currently Director, National Institute of Bank Management, Pune. He was a Professor of Economics at the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Kolkata, India during December 2011 – April 2021. During 2007 – 2011 he was Adviser to the Executive Director (India) at the International Monetary Fund, Washington D.C. Earlier (during 1989 – 2006) he was working in the specialist cadre of Economists in the Reserve Bank of India (RBI); his last position was Director, Department of Economic and Policy Research, RBI. Educated in Kolkata, Mumbai and Oxford, he has written extensively on issues relating to various global economic issues. His recent publications include: The Law of One Price (with Vinodh Madhavan, Routledge, 2023); The Political Economy of BRICS Countries: The Quest for Inclusive Growth (jointly edited with Biju Paul Abraham; World Scientific, 2020); Macroeconomic Policies for Emerging and Developing Economies (with A Vasudevan; Sage Publications, 2018); Financial and Fiscal Policies: Crises and New Reality (with Y V Reddy and Narayan Valluri; Oxford University Press, 2015).

Mr. Sunil Kadam is the Registrar of National Institute of Securities Markets(NISM), an educational initiative of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Mr. Kadam holds a degree of Master of Business Administration (MBA) from University of Pune. Prior to taking over as Registrar of NISM, Mr. Kadam was Regional Director of Northern Regional Office of SEBI. Mr. Kadam has joined SEBI in 1996 and during his tenure in SEBI he has worked in various departments in SEBI and handled the work relating to administration and inspection of Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs) and SEBI registered intermediaries, surveillance and investigations, corporation finance, forensic accounting, corporate governance, Business Responsibility Reports, Indian Depository Receipts (IDRs), E-voting, search and seizure, treasury and accounts, enquiry and adjudications, litigations, etc. Mr. Kadam was also a member of SEBI Committee on Disclosures and Accounting Standards (SCODA) and Auditing & Assurance Standards Board of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). He has also represented SEBI in Asian Roundtable on Corporate Governance meetings organized by the Organization for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD) and was also part of OECD report on “Related Party Transactions and Minority Shareholder Protection”.