Lord Jitesh Gadhia

UK Government Investments (UKGI) Board member and Member of the House of Lords

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jitesh-gadhia-07ab5215/

Lord Jitesh Gadhia is a British Indian investment banker and businessman and Member of the House of Lords since September 2016. Lord Gadhia was previously Senior Managing Director at Blackstone based in London and has over 25 years’ investment banking experience, having also held senior positions at Barclays Capital, ABN AMRO and Baring Brothers. He has advised on a wide range of high-profile M&A transactions across developed and emerging markets including some of the largest investment flows between UK and India. Lord Gadhia is currently a Board Member of UK Government Investments, the centre of excellence for corporate finance and corporate governance for the UK Government, managing major assets including Royal Bank of Scotland. Lord Gadhia is also a Board Member of BGL Holdings, which owns comparethemarket.com, the UK’s largest digital price comparison website for financial and household services. He is also a Director of Accord Healthcare, a leading supplier of generic pharmaceuticals in the UK and internationally. Lord Gadhia is a member of the UK-India CEO Forum and serves on the Advisory Board of the City Hindus Network. He graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in economics and attended the London Business School as a Sloan Fellow. Jitesh is an active philanthropist both personally and through The Gadhia Foundation, supporting a wide range of charities in UK and overseas. He is a Patron of the British Asian Trust established by HRH The Prince of Wales, which is active in multiple projects in India.

Baroness Verma

Member of the House of Lords, Former Minister, UN Women

https://www.linkedin.com/in/baroness-sandy-verma-3139a8126/

Baroness Verma has been a business-woman since 1980. She is also a Member of the House of Lords since 2006. Baroness Verma served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for International Development from May 2015 until July 2016. She has been a Conservative member of the House of Lords since 2006 and previously served as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for DECC. Currently Chair of the European External Affairs Committee at the House of Lords, Chair of UN Women UK and Co-Founder of Powerful Women (promoting women in the energy sector). Sandy’s current businesses include Domiciliary Care Services UK (provider of adult social care), Nexus Green (renewable energy) and Oak Stones (a platform for start-up companies). She is also an investor in boutique fitness company, Define London, advisor to digital application company, Pathfinder and advisor to Amity University, India.

CLLR Dhruv Patel OBE

Businessman, Community Organiser and Politician

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dhrvptl/

Dhruv is the Founder and a Director of CHN. He is a businessman with interests in private rented sector property, retail pharmacy and the Lloyds of London insurance market. He is an Independent Elected Councillor at the City of London Corporation representing Aldgate Ward EC3 and is Chair of the City Bridge Trust Committee. He is also the Chair of the local governing body of Hindu faith primary school Avanti Court in Barkingside. He was appointed an OBE in 2018 for his voluntary service to the British Hindu community and to Social Cohesion. He is married with two young children and lives in Leytonstone.

Alpesh Patel OBE (Chairman of Executive Committee)

Dealmaker, Dept for International Trade

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alpeshbpatel/

Alpesh Patel OBE is a barrister turned fund manager. He is a Financial Times author and has had over 200 investment columns published in the FT. He is a UK Government Dealmaker responsible for Middle East and Asia Pacific and bringing high growth tech companies to the UK. He is co-Chair of the Loomba Trust which supports widows and orphans. A former Visiting Fellow in Business at Oxford University, he was a founding member of the UK India Business Council and TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) which mentors entrepreneurs. He previously presented his investment show on Bloomberg TV helping regular people to learn about finance and investing. The then PM appointed him to the UK-India Round table to advise Government on building closer UK India ties. He shares his views on the BBC World News Paper Review to a global audience of 300m and uses it when he can to give a ‘Hindu’ perspective. He also lectures annually at Oxford University on Hinduism and addresses a management audience on Leadership at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies.

Banking and Finance

Dixit Joshi

Managing Director at Deutsche Bank

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dixit-joshi-8a5b5b11b/

Dixit Joshi has been the Managing Director at Deutsche Bank for the past 9 years and has also doubled up as the Group Treasurer from 2017 to date. Dixit is also a Board Director for ISDA, Pratham UK and an Advisory Board Member for the City Hindus Network. He is also a trustee for the Student Sponsorship Programme from 2016.

Sushil Saluja

Experienced International Business Leader in Technology and Financial Services with Special Focus on Education

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sushil-saluja-977b7210/

Sushil is a highly experienced international business leader in the technology / financial services sector in over 40 countries. His interests lie in international business, technology-led transformation and education. He currently acts as Corporate Advisor to PE/investment firms, filling senior interim management roles and has Directorships at the British Council and University of Greenwich.

Dipen Jobanputra

Senior Vice President – Sales, Jefferies

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dipen/

Dipen is a Senior Vice President at Jefferies, working in the Electronic Trading Solutions team since 2006.  Prior to Jefferies he worked for DresdnerKlienwort in the Digital Markets division.  He started his City career at Goldman Sachs working in the London, Frankfurt and Tokyo offices. He is a graduate of Cardiff University and holds an LLB(Hons) in Law and Japanese, he also has a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice.  He is fluent in English, Gujarati and Japanese. In his spare time Dipen runs Second Degree a members only theatre club and will visit the theatre at least 40 times a year, he is also an investor a number of West End theatre productions.  Additional interests include Skiing (organising the CHN Ski trips) and stand up comedy as a performer/writer and audience member.

Vikesh Patel

President and CEO, Cboe Clear Europe

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikesh-patel-b1398a19/

Vikesh became President of Cboe Clear Europe and head of its Management Board in March 2023. He is focused on enhancing the company’s leading risk, control and operational frameworks, defining and executing the company strategy and deepening client relationships through the increased adoption and usage of Cboe Clear Europe’s products and services. Vikesh joined from SWIFT, where he was Global Head of Securities, a role in which he supported SWIFT’s overarching strategy of instant, frictionless transactions for capital markets and FX. In addition, Vikesh was a senior Diversity & Inclusion Sponsor within SWIFT, focusing on Race and Ethnicity. Prior to that, Vikesh was SWIFT’s Head of UK and Ireland and in 2021 expanded his responsibilities to include the Head of Americas. In this role he strengthened the cooperative’s key relationships and delivered commercial performance across its portfolio of products and services. Prior to SWIFT, Vikesh was Chief Operating Officer at LCH focusing on strategy, risk management and the development of new products for the EquityClear and RepoClear businesses. Vikesh has also served in global executive roles at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, with a primary focus on market infrastructure and post trade strategy. He began his career at HM Treasury working on a range of domestic and international policy areas and served as a Private Secretary to both the Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Economic Secretary to the Treasury.

Heeral Shah

Head of ESG Strategy & Propositions, Wholesale Lending, Corporate and Investment Banking, Barclays

https://www.linkedin.com/in/heeral-shah-92119879/

Heeral has held a variety of roles in Barclays since she joined the bank 20+  years ago on the Barclays Leadership Programme (graduate scheme).  She is a seasoned banker starting her career in the Investment Bank, with experience in Global Loan Syndication, Leveraged Finance on Financial Sponsor backed buy-outs, International Corporate Banking, Financial Institutions Group. Most recently, Heeral led the UK Debt Structuring team within Wholesale Lending at Barclays, Corporate and Investment Banking. Heeral is hugely passionate about D, E&I and the power of the financial sector to create lasting contributions across gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic agendas. She founded the Asian Professionals Resource Group, making Barclays a more inclusive employer for colleagues of Asian descent with a particular focus on intersectionality.

Nikhil Sharma

Associate at Morgan Stanley

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhil-sharma-53099873/

Nikhil is an Associate in Morgan Stanley’s UK Investment Banking team, having started his career as an Analyst in 2019. He graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in Natural Sciences and Management. In his spare time, Nikhil plays tennis and squash, having competed for his University, and is a keen runner and avid reader.

Consultancy

Nishma Gosrani OBE

Partner Bain

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishmagosrani/

Nishma Gosrani OBE is a Financial Services Partner at Bain & Company in London. Her work focuses on human capital transformation, as well as the future of work and culture. Nishma has nearly two decades of Big 4 Financial Services Consulting experience across geographies, throughout which she has architected and deployed strategic people initiatives. Her breadth of expertise spans all facets of human capital, workforce strategy, re-organisation design, cost restructuring, and talent management. Her work lies at the intersection of front and middle office, as well as corporate and enabling functions, with a comprehensive understanding of the impact of regulatory reform. For several years, she led the Financial Services Culture, People Change, and Organisation Design practice for another top firm. Nishma has been listed in the Financial Times’ “Top 35 Future Leaders” list. She was invested with an OBE in Her Majesty’s 2020 Honours List for services to diversity and inclusion, pioneering gender pay gap reporting, and the subsequent changes to the Equality Act. She has been honoured with numerous other awards, including “Asian Professional of the Year” at the Asian Achievers Awards, and was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Tarang Kumar

Founder & CEO, AccelNorth Partners (Scale-Up, VC and PE advisory)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarang-tk-advisory/

Tarang Kumar is Founder & CEO of AccelNorth Partners. His company works with revenue-generating businesses to help them on strategic advice, as well as connecting them to private equity and venture capital investors. The company also works with private equity and venture capital investors on their own strategy, operations and marketing to LPs. Prior to this, Tarang was the Principal in-charge of EMEA Fund Investments at Private Markets $500bn giant Hamilton Lane, where he led or co-led over 70 investments and sat on a number of PE and VC fund advisory boards. He helped grow the business in EMEA and in 2018 was named as a Rising Star in Private Equity by the Financial News (40 under 40). Prior to this, Tarang worked at JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, RBS and PwC Strategy. Tarang has an MA and BA (Hons) in Economics from the University of Cambridge and passed, on first attempt, all his CFA and CAIA exams.

Priyen Patel

Partner at Deloitte

https://www.linkedin.com/in/priyenpatel/

Priyen Patel is a Strategy advisor serving clients in the Aerospace & Defence sector on growth, commercial strategy, transactions, restructuring, contract negotiation, operational improvement and data analytics. He also formerly worked as a Senior Economic Advisor and Economic Analyst at the HM Treasury. He was also the UK Financial & Economics Attache to the EU.

SEWA/Community Outreach

Hemal Randerwala

Managing Director Arjun Global Ltd and Founder and Chairman of Go Dharmic

linkedin.com/in/hemal-randerwala-4800722a/

Hemal Randerwala has over fifteen years of experience in the financial markets. Arjun Global is a finance and technology consultancy firm working with International exchanges, and assisting firms with strengthening relationships and new product development. He is also the founder of www.godharmic.com a volunteering platform for social change. He has co-authored two books: ‘The Power of Dharma’ and ‘Pearls of Wisdom from Hinduism’​ and is currently working on a book translating the Upanishads with Ram Dass titled, ‘Be Your Self’.

Geeta Srivastava

Founder at Magic of India

https://www.linkedin.com/in/geetasrivastava/

Outstanding Achievement British Indian Award winner Geeta Srivastava, nurtures a social enterprise called Magic Of India aimed at bringing Indian culture and language alive in a fun and engaging way, through classes, school workshops and festive events. One of her flagship events in the year is the widely attended is Holi At London, which is a massive community event. Her other roles include being the Director of The Indus Entrepreneurs UK, a networking organisation, as well as serving as Producer of a 13-episode television series on the best Indian restaurants of London.

Entrepreneurship/Technology

Sachin Duggal

Chief Wizard @builderai (formerly engineer.ai)

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sachin-dev-duggal-255406/

Sachin Duggal is an innovation mad entrepreneur, Sachin’s aim is to build technology that simplifies the lives of every day users and increases the penetration of information technology to those who do not have it today. He is an Information Systems Engineer with specialisation in Mandarin, Finance, Distributed Systems, Software Engineering, Computational Maths and Operations research with Game Theory.

Shalini Khemka CBE

Founder, CEO and Board Director of E2Exchange (E2E), Dealmaker, UK Government

https://www.linkedin.com/in/e2exchange/

Shalini Khemka CBE champions and connects entrepreneurs, creates communities, invests equity capital and recruits non-executive directors for SMEs. Shalini’s background is in financial services, with a specialism in banking. In previous executive roles, Shalini co-founded the world’s first online ‘bank to bank’ trade finance company, after which she served as an Investment Director at LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group. Shalini also brings extensive advisory experience to UK Export Finance (UKEF), having previously served on the Advisory Board of the Centre for Entrepreneurs (CFE) and the Development Board of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Currently, she is a fellow of Burton & South Derbyshire College, and a member of both the Mayor of London’s Business Advisory Board and the Advisory Committee of the Commonwealth Entrepreneurs. As a member of UKEF’s Board, Shalini supports the Chief Executive and Ministers in developing UKEF’s strategy and overseeing its operations by providing advice, challenge and assurance.

Jay Vitale

Founder, CEO Air For Life UK LTD

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-vitale-9694aa138

Jay Vitale studied Medicine at King’s College London Guy’s King’s and St Thomas School of Medicine. He has used his medical training and his past 20 years of International Business experience to develop the current Air for Life(AFL) product line and the AFL brand. He has developed the company’s international client and corporate partnerships and supplier relations over the past 10 years. Jay’s rapid route to commercial success has been achieved by way of winning international contracts and in his business strategies. Jay has taken full advantage of DIT Overseas Market Introduction Services (OMIS) (via British Embassies and Foreign Trade Departments) and has forged a new blueprint as an example to follow by other entrepreneurs and companies as an British Entrepreneurial success story and is marketed by the British Government. Jay now sits on the board of the GEP and attends regular British Government round table meetings. Jay’s network of International partnerships has been boosted since bringing the technology and the company to the UK in 2017 under the Global Entrepreneur Program with dealmaker, advisor and mentor Alpesh Patel.Jay also has a keen interest in mixed martial arts and is a black belt in Muay Thai Boxing and has spent the last 3 years in Asia training in world famous MMA gyms alongside World Champion Muay Thai fighters.

Bijal Shah

Vice President, Regulatory Policy at Deutsche Bank

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bijal-shah-55252311/

Bijal Shah is an experienced Vice-President with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry. Bijal is the Personal Development Lead at the City Hindus Network and has chaired and co-ordinated various mental health events with the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police in London to tackle mental health stigma within ethnic minority communities.

Nilesh Solanki

PwC Hindu Network Founder / Steering Board

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nilesh-solanki-a8a8a65/?originalSubdomain=uk

Nilesh is a Senior Technologist at PwC managing government secure data and Microsoft App Development Strategy. Nilesh founded the first Hindu network in the city 20 years ago and established a dynamic team to run one of the most active networks in PwC.

Nilesh resides in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire and has been a community activist for over 30 years. He is the Assistant General Secretary of Sewa UK, which is part of the 25+ country Sewa International movement. He was instrumental in setting up a Sewa volunteering base camp at the Poland / Ukraine Border in 2022. Nilesh was one of the founding members of National Hindu Students Forum UK since 1991, with over 8000 members in 50 chapters.

His work in the D&I space listed him in The EMpower Top 100 Ethnic Minority Future Leader Role Models 2019/20. He is married with 2 children and loves running, completing 4 marathons and counting.

Dr Harveen Chugh (Deputy Chair of City Hindus Network)

Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship

https://www.linkedin.com/in/harveenchugh

Harveen Chugh is Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Warwick Business School. She won two National Enterprise Educator Awards in 2020 for Enterprise Catalyst and People’s Choice. She has been globally recognised as one of the Best 40 Under 40 Business School Professors by Poets&Quants in 2019. Harveen has prior industry experience as a consultant, entrepreneur and growth manager for start-ups. Her passion is working with students and entrepreneurs to develop new business ideas. 

Samit Kumar Biswas

Founder, Director and CEO Advatech Healthcare Europe & Advatech Healthcare Pvt. Ltd

https://www.linkedin.com/in/samit-kumar-biswas-9222a617/

Samit Biswas is a Health Care professional with nearly 23+ years of experience in Strategic Management, Business Operations, Marketing, New Business Development, and Product Management and 10 years in Commercial Functions. The Founder & CEO of Advatech Healthcare Pvt. Ltd & Advatech Healthcare Europe Ltd. He launched India’s First App-based Ambulance services to offer BLS/ALS Ambulances within 15-20 minutes across East & Delhi NCR. He holds the distinction of contributing maximum to the underprivileged children’s education under Corporate Social Responsibility program.

Sandip Patel

Entrepreneurial Management Professional

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandipcullen/

Former Captain in the British Army, served in Afghanistan, ex-Sandhurst. He is a motivational leader, with a deep understanding of business needs and proven ability to drive success.

Business

Nish Kotecha

Co-Founder and Chairman Finboot, Deputy Chair, London Chamber of Commerce

https://www.linkedin.com/in/nish-kotecha-98b1a3/

Nish Kotecha is a serial technology, fintech and social entrepreneur. Currently the Co-founder and Chair of Finboot (London, Barcelona) which is the dynamic company behind MARCO, a unique block chain agnostic, enterprise grade SaaS product. Finboot is part of the DIT Global Entrepreneur programme. Nish started his career as a corporate financier at Sphere Partners, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan, Barclays (BZW).

Dimpi Dattani

Global Transformation Program Manager and Change Management Consultant

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dimpidattani/

Dimpi Dattani is a Global Transformation Program Manager and Change Management Consultant. She is currently the Group HR Program Manager for InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG).

Archana Patel

Business Owner, Minuteman Press

https://www.linkedin.com/in/archana-patel-09b79429/

Archana Patel is now a new business owner at Minuteman Press Huddersfield. She formerly worked with BBC, CNBC and the NHS Foundation Trust as the Programme Executive – Education and Events.

Government and Civil services

Aekta Patel

Head of Growth Capital, Dept for International Trade

https://www.linkedin.com/in/aektamahajanpatel/

Aekta Patel is the Head of the Venture Capital Team at the Department for International Trade. In this role she helps bring more overseas VC investment and private wealth investment into UK companies and UK funds. She also leads a team of specialists to help attract more funds to set up in the UK. Prior to DIT, she worked in the Cabinet Office working closely with Ministers and Number 10; leading on initiatives such as growing social investment in the UK as well as making government departments more efficient. Before joining the Civil Service, she spent a few years working as a Management Consultant at Accenture, followed by a 2 year stint in Deutsche Bank’s global strategy team. In 2012, Aekta was selected as one of Management Today’s “35 Women Under 35” list.

Law

Raenu Barod

Former Partner at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

https://www.linkedin.com/in/raenu-barod-5371b110/

Raenu Barod is a former partner in Hinshaw & Culbertson’s London and New York offices. She practices in the area of commercial litigation and arbitration, with a focus on reinsurance and insurance matters.

Punam Denley

Partner at Blanchards Law

https://www.linkedin.com/in/punam-denley-87a2aa29/

Punam Denley set up Blanchards law, a boutique family law practice in the City and the Home Counties. She is a solicitor, mediator and collaborative lawyer, carrying out divorce, finance and children work. She has 25 years of experience in this area of law. She prides herself on her accessibility to her clients and the quality of her work. She is a published author. In the Legal 500, she “attracts plaudits from clients”, as well as being described as “organised, empathetic and strategically excellent.” She specialises in private family law and particularly income and asset distribution on divorce. She deals with both international and domestic matters. She has particular expertise in appealing against previous orders and setting aside orders made in financial proceedings, and applications under Part III of the MFPA 1984. She commentates on legal matters and lecture regularly. Aside from two books, she writes for legal journals and lecture to other solicitors and professionals. She participates in web and other training sessions and recordings for other lawyers.

Vijay Goel

Partner, Singhania & Co LLP, Chairman Assocham

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vijay-goel-4353a511/

Vijay Goel is Partner at Singhania & Co. LLP. He is the founder of the “Indo-European Business Forum” established in 2007. Vijay was conferred an award in 2015 by Indian Finance Minister Mr Arun Jaitley. He was also conferred Asian Achievers ‘Award for Professional of the Year’in 2010, ‘National Law Day Award’ in 2009 by Her Excellency, Smt. Pratibha Devi Singh Patil, the Hon’ble President of Republic of India, for his most exemplary contributions in commercial law and in strengthening Indo-UK business relations and ‘Asian Leadership in Europe’ by Asian Who’s Who International in 2009. Vijay also doubles up as advisor to the Hinduja group and was Special Advisor to the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) for investments. (www.cbcglobal.org) that has connections in 53 countries.

Kishan Chandarana, FRSA

Head of Legal at The London Metal Exchange

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kishan-chandarana-frsa-9b007565/

Kishan is Head of Legal at The London Metal Exchange – the world centre for industrial metals trading. Immediately before joining The London Metal Exchange, Kishan was Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships at Barclays Bank in London. Previously, Kishan worked for Clifford Chance in London, Warsaw and Amsterdam. In 2019, Kishan was awarded the prestigious European Lawyers: Rising Star Award. While at university and law school, Kishan served as Vice President of the National Hindu Students Forum. Outside of his day job, Kishan is a non-executive director of Renaisi – a Hackney based social enterprise serving local London communities.

Hetal Mehta

Senior European Economist at Legal and General Investment Management

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hetalmehta/

Hetal Mehta is an experienced Economist with a demonstrated history of working in the investment management industry. Skilled in Economic Research, Econometrics, Macroeconomics, International Economics, and Economic Modeling. Strong finance professional with a Master of Science – MS focused in Economics from University of Bath.

Diversity and Interfaith

Param Singh MBE

Member Board of Trustees, City Sikh Network

https://www.linkedin.com/in/paramsingh/

Param is part of City Sikh Network and will be helping us with our inter-faith work and our collaborative events with City Sikh Network.

Atul K. Shah

Professor at City, University of London

https://www.linkedin.com/in/atulkshah/

Professor Atul K. Shah of City, University of London has a distinguished record of community leadership and innovation lasting four decades. He is founder of various organisations and initiatives, including the Young Jains, which are now a global movement. A Chartered Accountant with a PhD from London School of Economics, Professor Atul Shah is a public intellectual with a clear stance on Ethical and Sustainable business with an extensive research and education record in reforming business. The Jains have a several thousand year record of success in finance, and in the City, they comprise a large number of professionals in senior positions. His international book ‘Jainism and Ethical Finance’ published by Routledge is a pioneering work on sustainable finance. He has spoken on Dharma in Business and Fear of Finance for BBC Radio 4, and has Board leadership experience from several organisations. At CHN he is keen to engage the City in the cultural and ethical leadership that Hindus and Jains bring to finance which can help transform the industry at a time when such reforms are so urgently needed. To educate Britain about the strength of the Indian diaspora, he conducted a 1500 mile Masala Tour of Britain which was profiled in the Guardian.