Board of Directors
Sanjeev Asthana
MD, I- FARM (Chairman)
Sanjeev Asthana currently the Chairman of ACCESS Development Services, is a recognized leader in Food & Agriculture sector with over 25 years of experience in India and internationally. He is the Founder and Managing Partner of I-Farm Venture Advisors; Chairman of Agriculture Skill Council of India (ASCI) and National Skills Foundation of India (NSFI), and serves on the Board of Directors of NCDEX Spot Exchange Ltd. Sanjeev serves on the national committees of all leading industry and trade chambers CII, FICCI, ASSOCHAM and PHDCCI. His international affiliations are with IIED UK, Mainumby Bolivia and Columbia University, USA. He regularly speaks at leading conferences in India and overseas viz. Harvard University Boston, World Bank Beijing and Singapore, ADB Manila, European Parliament Brussels, G-20 Consultation Istanbul, IIM Ahmedabad, Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy Mussorie etc.
Sanjeev Asthana
MD, I- FARM (Chairman)
Dr. Arvind Mayaram
Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Government of India
Arvind Mayaram has a PhD in Finance. Presently he is an independent thinker and Chairman, CUTS Institute for Regulation & Competition. He has earlier held the positions of Finance Secretary and Special Secretary in Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. He has also been the Alternate Governor for India on the Boards of World Bank, ADB and African Development Bank. He was India’s finance deputy in G20 and BRICS. He was also on the Boards of the Reserve Bank of India and the Securities Exchanges Board of India. He was India’s chief negotiator for BRICS New Development
Bank and Asian Infrastructure Development Bank, and co-chair of the Framework Working Group of G-20. He spearheaded the establishment of the framework for mainstreaming Public Private Partnership in India and designed the first PPP module for delivering infrastructure in the rural areas. He was Vice President of the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (WAIPA), formed under the aegis of UNCTAD, UNIDO, FIAS and MIGA for two terms in early 2000. He has been an investment promotion expert with the UNCTAD for several years and his expertise in the area of PPPs is internationally acknowledged.
Dr. Arvind Mayaram
Former Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Government of India
Dr. Joy Deshmukh
Global Head, CSR at Tata Consultancy Services
Joy Deshmukh Ranadive has three decades of experience in the area of gender, development and growth. An economist by training, gold medalist at the Masters level and a doctorate in Economics from the University of Mumbai, India, her career spans work as teacher, researcher, trainer, and head of not-for-profit organizations. Prior to TCS she has been Director, Indian School of Microfinance for Women, Ahmedabad and Country Director, International Centre for Research on Women New Delhi. Joy has several books and papers to her credit in the areas of gender, development, microfinance, human rights and CSR. Currently, as Global Head, CSR, Tata Consultancy Services, a leading global IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, which is part of the Tata Group.
Dr. Joy Deshmukh
Global Head, CSR at Tata Consultancy Services
Biswajit Sen
Formerly World Bank
Biswajit Sen retired as Senior Rural Development Specialist from the World Bank. He has over 35 years’ experience in rural livelihoods, community led development, institutional development, Mr. Sen during his long career in rural development worked for varied assignments with World Bank, UNICEF, MacArthur Foundation USA and Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) of Government of Switzerland. He was one of the initial members of PRADAN and has founded many other development organisations such as GDS, Nalanda and Iimpact in the field of rural development.He is a Graduate of Economics from Delhi University and then did his MBA from the IIM Ahmedabad.
Biswajit Sen
Formerly World Bank
Senthil Kumar
Executive Director, CARE India
Senthil Kumar is the Executive Director for Program Quality and Learning in CARE India. Senthil has more than 17 years of rich experience in social research and programming, spanning humanitarian and long term social development in diverse socio-cultural settings. Senthil has been with CARE India since 2006, where his work spanned areas of research, strategic planning, program design, and project management. He has worked with a range of partners, and brings experience of building and nurturing partnerships with government, private sector, and NGOs. Senthil has a doctoral degree in political science, where his research focused on understanding the role and effectiveness of micro finance promoting institutions in advancing women’s empowerment.
Senthil Kumar
Executive Director, CARE India
Vipin Sharma
CEO, ACCESS Development Services
Vipin Sharma is the founding CEO of ACCESS, set up in 2006.Starting his career with the Reserve Bank of India, Vipin has thirty six years of experience in banking, agriculture and rural development, micro enterprise development and microfinance in varied institutions including NABARD, Rural Non- Farm Development Agency (RUDA), Govt of Rajasthan and CARE India. As Executive Director of RUDA, Vipin helped the Govt of Rajasthan to develop strategies for promoting non-farm sector in the state through a sub-sector approach. At CARE,
Vipin was the Programme Director of the Microfinance Unit and a part of the Regional Leadership Team. In the last ten years, Vipin has also helped to setup two specialized affiliates of ACCESS viz. ACCESS-ASSIST to support and advance financial inclusion in India and Ode to Earth to help primary producers sell their products in mainstream markets. Vipin is a member of the Smart Campaign Steering Committee, working on issues relating to client protection.
Vipin Sharma
CEO, ACCESS Development Services
Senior Management Team
Vipin Sharma
CEO, ACCESS Development Services
Vipin Sharma is the founding CEO of ACCESS, set up in 2006.Starting his career with the Reserve Bank of India, Vipin has thirty six years of experience in banking, agriculture and rural development, micro enterprise development and microfinance in varied institutions including NABARD, Rural Non- Farm Development Agency (RUDA), Govt of Rajasthan and CARE India. As Executive Director of RUDA, Vipin helped the Govt of Rajasthan to develop strategies for promoting non-farm sector in the state through a sub-sector approach. At CARE,
Vipin was the Programme Director of the Microfinance Unit and a part of the Regional Leadership Team. In the last ten years, Vipin has also helped to setup two specialized affiliates of ACCESS viz. ACCESS-ASSIST to support and advance financial inclusion in India and Ode to Earth to help primary producers sell their products in mainstream markets. Vipin is a member of the Smart Campaign Steering Committee, working on issues relating to client protection.
Vipin Sharma
CEO, ACCESS Development Services
Ram Narayan Ghatak
Senior Vice President and Head of Operations
Dr. Ram Narayan Ghatak is a development professional with over two decades of experience. He has worked majorly in areas of agribusiness management, policy advocacy and strategic consulting, regulatory evolution and banking etc. Dr. Ghatak is a Post Graduate Diploma in Rural Management from the Institute of Rural Management, Anand, Gujarat. Before that he did his graduation in Agriculture from Visva-Bharati University, Sriniketan, WB (1985 to 89) and thereafter MSc and PhD in Agricultural Economics from Banaras Hindu University, UP and Sardar Patel University, Gujarat respectively. Dr. Ghatak has worked in close coordination with various Govt. agencies; prominent among them are Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Railways etc. He has the experience of dealing with and represented many National level institutions/bodies like Milk and Milk Products Advisory Board (MMPO) and National Productivity Council (NPC) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India, National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI), etc. Before joining ACCESS Development Services, he worked as Vice President – Strategy, Rural Services at SREI Sahaj e-Village Ltd., Kolkata and as Head of Business Strategy and Compliance, Rural and Inclusive Banking Group at ICICI Bank, Mumbai.
Ram Narayan Ghatak
Senior Vice President and Head of Operations
Puja Gour
Vice President
Puja is a rural management professional with over 15 years of expertise spanning project management, social research and knowledge management & policy advocacy. Within ACCESS, Puja leads on the organisation’s flagship initiative besides handling other organizational responsibilities. Prior to ACCESS, she has worked with livelihoods consulting firms like STADD providing expert technical advice on execution and management of complex livelihoods programs. She has also worked on integrated natural resource management programs with the Indo-German Bilateral Project on Watershed Management besides being involved in the preparation of the pioneering “Madhya Pradesh Human Development Report.” Puja holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Forestry Management from the India Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal and B.Sc. in Botany from Miranda House, Delhi University.
Puja Gour
Vice President
Radhika Agashe
Executive Director, ACCESS ASSIST
Radhika is the Executive Director of ACCESS-ASSIST and has led the transition of the microfinance portfolio and resources from ACCESS into ASSIST. She specializes in microfinance operations and social performance management, social research, financial education and training and curriculum development. She holds a Post Graduate degree from the Indian Institute of Forest Management. She is an active member on Working Groups of Social Performance Task Force (SPTF) and SMART Client Protection Campaign and also represents ASSIST on the Responsible Finance Forum led by the IFC. She recently co-edited the Microfinance India Social Performance Report 2011. Radhika has in the past been associated with many organizations of repute such as EDA Rural Systems, BASIX, Intellecap and Sambodhi Research and Communications.
Radhika Agashe
Executive Director, ACCESS ASSIST
Surendra
Vice President
Surendra Verdia
Vice President
Amulya Mohanty
Vice President
Dr. Mohanty has got 24 years of national and international experience in rural development (Livelihoods, Microfinance), value chain development. cluster development, Institution building and consultancy services. After working with several premier institutions, he has been associated with ACCESS Development Services since its inception (last 11 years). He has performed lead roles in programme planning, coordination, monitoring, research, implementation, policy dialogue, technical assistance and knowledge management to support rural livelihoods, through improved farming system, value chain development and promoted several SHG Federations, Producers Companies in India. Having worked in the states like Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and North East, conducted several studies, consultancies and successfully implemented several national and international donor funded projects related to microfinance / agriculture / rural / urban development with multi-level stakeholders which includes Government and Non-Government partners. His present focus is on promotion and sustainability of Producer Companies in both farm and non-farm sectors.
Amulya Mohanty
Vice President
Sukhbir Ahluwalia
Associate Vice President- HR
Sukhbir is an experienced human resource professional with sound experience in strategizing and planning the Human Resource function. During her career she has been associated with organizations in India and abroad across a wide spectrum of industries. She holds a post graduate diploma in business management with specialization in Human Resource and an advance diploma in Training and Development. She is leading the HR function for ACCESS and its affiliate with the focus to establish the best talent practices in ACCESS.
Sukhbir Ahluwalia
Associate Vice President- HR
Lalitha Sridharan
Senior Manager- Program Support
Lalitha Sridharan is an experienced administration professional of over 20 years with sound expertise in planning big event management. Before joining ACCESS, she started her career with CARE India an International NGO. In ACCESS she manages overall office operations, administrative systems, procedures, and policies and HR administration.
Lalitha Sridharan
Senior Manager- Program Support
Subir Ghosh
Associate Vice President- Program Support
Subir Ghosh leads ACCESS’s financial strategy and operations including grant and contract management. Prior to joining ACCESS, Subir has worked with Oxfam, Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust (HLFPPT), Gramin Vikas Trust (GVT) and ABC India Ltd. He has over 18 years of experience of which 16 years have been in the development Sector. Subir specialises in financial planning, fund management, budgeting, donor financial contract management, audits, and taxation, implementation of systems & processes and general administration. He has extensive experience in administering large budgets funded by donors like USAID, European Union, UNICEF, UNDP, Dell Foundation, DFID and CIDA. Subir has completed his CWA (Final Group I) and MBA in Finance.
Subir Ghosh
Associate Vice President- Program Support
Radhika Kumari
Associate Vice President
Radhika is a product of Mayo College Girls School, Ajmer and an English Literature graduate from Delhi’s St. Stephens’ College. Radhika has been channeling her professional energies into the field of rural development for the last decade. She has focused her work on developing programs on poverty alleviation and non-farm livelihood enhancement. This responsibility implies providing non-agrarian skill development to several artisans below the poverty line and thereafter linking them to mainstream niche markets with a systematic understanding of market dynamics. Not only does such a strategy ensures sustainable livelihoods for the disadvantaged but also equips them with the agency to determine their equation with the market. Apart from ACCESS, Radhika was earlier associated with Helpage India, headed the Marketing and Business Development for ‘A different India’ and was a consultant to the Government of Rajasthan on Urban slums. She free-lanced with various not for profits and NGOs in between. After having spent many years in Delhi, she is now based in her hometown, Jaipur.
Radhika Kumari
Associate Vice President
Suvendu Rout
Associate Vice President
With an MA in Economics and Post-Graduate Diploma in Management of NGOs (PGDMN), Suvendu has more than 14 years of varied experience. He has had the advantage of working on the areas of policy, research and management from the perspective of a private consultancy, the Government and NGOs. Before coming on board at ACCESS, Suvendu was with the CSR wing of Ambuja Cement. He has also worked at MART and the Gujarat State Watershed Management Agency.
Suvendu Rout
Associate Vice President
Sudipto Saha
Associate Vice President
Sudipto Saha has more than 14 years of microfinance, livelihoods and development experience across India and other countries like Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. He is experienced in monitoring and leading operations team. He has promoted around 15 Farmers Producers Organization (FPOs) in West Bengal and is providing them strategic and operational inputs to make them sustainable and viable.
Prior to joining ACCESS he has worked for EDA/M-CRIL being involved in conducting Impact Assessments of Institutions at the individual, household and community levels. Sudipto has also worked with Sir Ratan Tata Trust being responsible for appraisal, review and monitoring of various livelihoods & microfinance projects across several states in India.
Sudipto Saha
Associate Vice President