Our Honorable Speakers

With a rich experience of over three decades, Ar. Qutub Mandviwala has developed a reputation to provide innovative design solutions within the context. He is an alumnus of Rachana Sansad Mumbai, graduated from the Academy of Architecture in the year 1988.
Ar. Mandviwala engages in various work experiments with new spatial concepts intensifying existing urban landscapes and encompassing all fields of design, from the urban scale to interiors. Known as an architect who consistently pushes the boundaries of sustainable design, he has designed various townships, high-rise buildings, residential, commercial, hotels, hospitals and office interior projects to his credit across India.

Ar. Qutub Mandviwala

Principal Architect Mandviwala Qutub & Associates

Hotelier Par Excellence. Fondly known as PKMK, a Paul Harris Rotarian, is a well-respected and recognized personality in the Indian hospitality space. PKMK has spent over 45 years in senior leadership positions with the Taj Hotels (IHCL) worldwide. A hard-core operations specialist, he is perhaps the only hotelier in India whose multi decade expertise spans the luxury, premium mid-market & economy brands of hotels & resorts.
PKMK was heading the region and instrumental in project development of Taj luxury resorts in Kerala, Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu & Karnataka – Taj Exotica (Bentota & Maldives), Taj Kumarakom, Taj Fisherman’s Cove, Taj Coorg etc.
Based in Bangalore, PKMK is a Graduate of the Institute of Hotel Management, Mumbai. He has also completed the General Manager program at the Cornell University and was subsequently deputed to Seiler Hotels in Zermatt Switzerland for developing the mid-market hotel concept for the Taj. PKMK was also nominated for the Strategic Leadership Development Program of Harvard University.

MOHANKUMAR P K

Former Sr. Leadership,
Taj Hotels
Founder & CEO,
Turnstone Hospitality LLP

RAKESH NAIR, VETERAN WITH 27 YRS OF TOTAL EXPERIENCE & WITH MORE THAN 10 YRS IN SANITARY WARE INDUSTRY HAS BEEN SPEARHEADING BRAND QUEO & HINDWARE WITH FOCUS ON INSTITUTIONAL BUSINESS. UNDER HIS LEADERSHIP, QUEO HAS REGISTERED PHENOMENAL GROWTH AND IS POISED TO DOUBLE THE TURNOVER IN FY 23

Rakesh Nair

Associate Vice President & National Head - Institutional,
QUEO @ HINDWARE LIMITED

Mr. Ashish K Jain is Partner at AEON and has almost 20 years of comprehensive work experience in the field of Sustainability, Green Buildings, BIM, Interior Design and Architecture for projects across different countries including India, USA, Europe & Middle East. He has been leading Sustainability Groups in India and Middle East. As a Thought Leader in Sustainability, he has presented several papers at the various International & Domestic Forums and conducted various lectures on Sustainability at premier Institutes of India. As a Sustainability professional, Ashish has a strong professional experience within the field of sustainable building design including Passive design strategies, Energy & water efficiency, Integrated Designs, Outdoor Thermal Comfort, Net Zero, Low Carbon, Healthy Buildings, Environmental certifications of projects. His core expertise is in advising Architects, Engineers and other professionals of the building industry in sustainability and positively influencing their designs to reduce resource consumption, negative impacts on environment whilst ensuring occupant comfort and well-being.

Ashish K Jain

Partner
AEON Integrated Buiding Design Consultants LLP
MPM, FAAPM, AIID, LEED AP, IGBC Fellow, GRIHA CP

Abhishek is a technology enthusiast focusing on Real Estate he has spent the last 6 years in Proptech as an entrepreneur and in solution design. He is currently leading Proptech Innovation at JLL India and mentoring Proptech start-ups in Germany as part of German Accelerator.

Abhishek Prasad

IDEA Labs Lead
Work Dynamics
JLL

Mr. Selvarasu M, Managing Director at LEAD Consultancy & Engineering Services (India) Pvt Limited. One of the market Leaders in in India for MEP and green design. His company has been awarded “Leadership award” by both US Green Building Council and Indian Green Building council. Engineering graduate with a post-graduation in management with 30 years of work experience in the areas of Energy Management and sustainability. One of the founding members of World GBC and Indian GBC. USGBC honored LEED Fellowship in the year 2015 for outstanding contribution to sustainability across globe. IGBC honored Fellowship in the year 2016 for outstanding contribution to sustainability in India. Performed energy audit for more than 400 industries and buildings. Facilitated more than 1000 world class buildings achieving LEED & IGBC ratings in India and abroad for several major campus in India and abroad. Conducted more than 400 training programs on sustainability across globe. Played pivotal role in bringing LEED to India also played crucial role in indigenizing LEED rating to suit India.

Selvarasu M

Managing Director – LEAD Consultancy & Engineering Services (India) Pvt Limited
LEED Fellow, IGBC Fellow & USGBC Faculty

One of the few specialists in energy-efficient building designs in India with a master's in Building science and construction management and PhD in Solar passive architecture and earth coupling for space conditioning of buildings, from IT New Delhi He has been in the pursuit of Green and sustainable building design for about two decades and is currently a TERI GRIHA trainer and Evaluator, and also a member of the core group/National advisory committee for Sustainable Cities under the Ministry of Urban housing. Besides winning several national and international awards he has about a dozen research papers in International journals and has delivered lectures in national forums on Energy efficient and eco-friendly designs, Earth coupled architecture etc, and has also been a visiting faculty at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, the CPWD Training Institute, Nirman Bhavan and various other universities and technical institutes. Designing with nature, microclimate, and delivering high-quality buildings within tight cost and time frames as his forte, he has over 200 Prestigious building designs to credit.

Dr. Sujit Kumar

B.Arch, M.Tech, Ph. D
Principal Architect & M.D
klimArt Pvt Ltd

Ms. Jayashree Nagaraj, the Founder President, Chairperson, and the force behind the Professional Housekeepers Association, have over three decades of rich experience in the hospitality industry; during which her hands-on attitude, penchant for constant innovation, and ability to lead teams have been instrumental in growing and evolving the hotel industry to suit the specific needs of the global traveler. Her unique blend of creativity, aesthetic style, and people management skills has produced award-winning strategies in Housekeeping and management at various groups of leading hotels in India. Academically, she has accomplished Post Graduate Diploma in Russian and a Master's Degree in Sociology. Ms. Jayashree and her team from PHA and PHA Yuva are working towards building PHA and PHA Yuva into a renowned association across India within the year 2025 by creating value for every member involved in the Housekeeping and Hygiene operations and by supporting the Government of India to achieve success in initiatives such as Swachh Bharat Mission. Most importantly, PHA and PHA Yuva will be the torch bearer to align the Housekeeping and Hygiene operations in India towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals before 2030.

Jayashree Nagaraj

Founder President & Chairman
Professional Housekeepers Association

Sandhya Anilkumar spent few years in the Hotel industry with the Taj group of hotels and then ventured into Academia. Completed about 27 years in service and plans to continue definitely for another decade. Completed graduation in Hotel Management from IHM Trivandrum and completed Post Graduation in Tourism Management. She is currently pursuing PhD in ‘Sustainability in Hotels’ Has always ensured that the students are enjoying, in the process of learning and has worked together with them to help them achieve their goals. Has trained a variety of student profiles, to name a few- students from Airline institutes, retired defense personnel to upskill them to seek jobs in Hospitality industry, Hotel Management students and Corporates. Has also been a Content developer, planned activities for elementary school curriculum. Worked as an External verifier for a well- known University. To stay informed about the current trends in the industry she became an active member of a National Housekeeping Association- Professional Housekeepers Association. She is a mentor of PHA YUVA, served as the Editor of their online e- magazine. She is also an avid traveler, is very passionate about animals and loves to hike and bike.

Sandhya Anilkumar

Assistant Professor,
Faculty of Hospitality Management
and Catering Technology,
Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences
Member of Professional Housekeepers Association Mentor - PHA YUVA

Ms. Jyoti Meenakshi is an alumini of IHM&CT Chennai and have a PG in Facilities management.Over a span of 20 plus years ,She has been an entrepreneur ,worked in the Hospitality industry (Taj, Oberoi and Hyatt)before moving to Facilities Management. She started her career in Facilities Management with BPL India, moving to Sodexo, Sasken ,Atkins ,TCFM ( Embassy Group) and now handle the Soft Services for International Real Estate Partners. She is also a guest lecturer with NIMMS Mumbai and Gems school . An avid reader have stared a library with 5 other likeminded people in her community space. This library has been set up with not just books being donated but also the furniture and storage space and is probably the first of its kind. Her mantra in life is to take each day as it comes and to constantly upskill knowledge. I am proud to be a Life member of PHA since 6 years.

Jyoti Meenakshi

General Manager
INTERNATIONAL REAL ESTATE PARTNERS
Member of Professional Housekeepers Association

Currently working as the Executive Housekeeper for the pre-opening twin hotels complex, Hilton & Hilton Garden Inn Bengaluru Embassy Manyata Business Park. I have more than eighteen years of work experience in Housekeeping, Front Office and Training with India’s leading hotel chains, namely, Hilton, Hyatt, Taj, ITC Welcomgroup, Royal Orchid Hotels Ltd. and Fortune Park Hotels Ltd., by Welcomgroup. I am a lifetime member of the Professional Housekeepers Association since 2015 and had been the Vice President Learning & Development for the PHA Telangana Chapter from the year 2015 to 2018. I started my career as a Banquet Sales Assistant with Fortune Park Hotels, Ahmedabad, but soon moved to Housekeeping with Taj President, Mumbai. Since then Housekeeping has been my forte with small stints in training. Taj President gave me the foundation and the values to develop my skills. More experiences followed, finally leading the career path to where I stand today, with Hilton. Having worked with different brands, both Indian and International, helped me look at the different aspects of managing my work and my personal life in a more creative way.

Payal Joshi

Executive Housekeeper HILTON AND HILTON GARDEN INN BENGALURU EMBASSY MANYATA BUSINESS PARK
Member of Professional Housekeepers Association

He is popularly known as an Innovation Specialist for finding creative and viable solutions to problems related to his discipline or interdiscipline. He received his Ph.D. in Marketing from Anna University. He has been the Gold medalist in M.Sc Hotel and Catering Management and Secured University Fifth Rank in B.Sc Hotel and Catering Management from Madras University. He has worked with South India’s First Ecotel Hotel, The Raintree Hotel, as part of the pre- opening team involved in setting up complete brand standards for the hotel. He started his career as a Hotel Operational Trainee(HOT) and was raised to a managerial position having successfully managed the F&B Outlets, including the largest banqueting venue, generating revenue over crores and guests from 195 countries with Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, in particular, Vivanta By Taj Connemara, the only heritage hotel in Chennai built in 1854. Currently, He is serving as an Associate Professor at Garden City University, Bangalore. He is also the Director-Internal Quality Assurance Cell, Dean-Research, and Innovation Council, and CEO-GCU Incubation Centre at GCU and Vice- President- Learning and Development- PHA Karnataka Chapter.

Dr.D.P. Sudhagar

Associate Professor - GCU
Director-IQAC
VP-Learning and Development,
Professional Housekeepers Association - KARATAKA CHAPTER

Nikhil Sharma joined Wyndham Hotels & Resorts as the Regional Director Eurasia in September 2019. In his role, Nikhil is responsible for supporting franchise and new hotel opening operations, national sales, revenue management and local marketing. Sharma is instrumental in further nurturing relationships with owners and franchise partners to drive system contribution, revenue, performance, quality, operational excellence and brand engagement. In his early career, Nikhil joined IHCL as a Hotel Operations Management trainee where before becoming a Revenue Manager with IHG. Prior to joining Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, Nikhil spent 4 years with Ginger hotels, a TATA Enterprise, as the Chief Operating Officer. Sharma was also a founding member of the Lemon Tree Hotel Company, building India’s fastest growing upscale hotel brand as the Chief Operating Officer.

Nikhil Sharma

Regional Director Eurasia
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts

Building Physicist & Sustainability Consultant: A resource person to Architects, Consultants, Developers, and MSMEs to reduce carbon footprint, facilitates compliances by maintaining a current understanding of the trends & influences of sustainable design, construction materials & technology available locally/globally. br> In her research work, garnered many National & International Awards & Publications.
Founding Director of an All-Women Start-Up- TerraLive Envirotech Pvt Ltd. br> As Core Committee member of Indian Green Building Council- Bengaluru Chapter br> Member task force & advisory group : Green Rating by CII-IGBC for Affordable Housing.
US-DoE sponsored project, executed by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory & CII-IGBC “User Guide for Implementing Energy Conservation Building Code ECBC 2017 in Data Centers” br> Co-hosted TEDCircle meets on climate change & showcase people’s action on ground. br> She undertakes consultancy, training, educational programs and workshops pertaining to Net Zero advocacy for de-carbonizing the built environment.

Dr. Kanwal Kamra S

Sustainability Consultant
LEED, IGBC, GRIHA, RESET
MD-TerraLive Envirotech Pvt. Ltd,
Member-Carbon Leadership Forum-Bengaluru Hub

Thoughts and actions when guided towards Understanding, the journey becomes pleasant and peaceful. Mr. Dinesh representing Raenco is one who believes in this and is passionate in knowledge sharing With an extensive experience in bed and bath linen manufacturing and laundry operations exclusively for the hospitality industry you can ofcourse direct your questions and have your doubts clarified. To have a better understanding of the right choice of material and to know if your linen is rightly priced you can demand for an online presentation with his team. Your goal and direction on cost cutting on the bed and bath linen can be well guided by him.

Dinesh Rajagopal

Director
Raenco Mills Private Limited

Mr. Vilas Pawar joined Choice Hospitality India as Chief Executive Officer in January 2006. He is responsible for developing and managing the operations of the company in the Indian region for Choice Hotel International. Choice Hotels India is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Choice Hotels International, one of the largest and most widespread lodging franchisors of the world with over 7500 hotels worldwide. Choice Hotels India has over 41 hotels operational and another 18 under various stages of development in important business and leisure cities Pan India with the brand offering of Comfort, Quality, and Clarion. Graduated from the Institute of Hotel Management-Mumbai, and an alumnus of Mayo College, Ajmer, he has rich hospitality experience for over 35 years, in setting up, operating, and managing hospitality organizations. In the past, he has worked with Taj Group of Hotels, Hyatt Hotels, and Carlson Hospitality.

Vilas Pawar

CEO
Choice Hotels India

Series Speakers

C.S. Ramachandran (Ram) serves as Vice President, Hotel Revenue Optimization for South Asia, Middle East, Africa & Australasia for Preferred Hotels & Resorts. In this role, he helps the hotels maximize the effectiveness of their online distribution channels and optimize revenue through better revenue strategies. Ram has over 22 years of rich expertise in hotel management, the majority of which has been dedicated to revenue management and digital marketing. He also is a member of the Revenue Management Advisory board for HSMAI Asia Pacific.

CS Ramachandran

V.P Hotel Revenue Optimization South Asia, Middle East, Africa & Australasia
Preferred Hotels

Atul is Chief Operating Officer for Best Western Hotels & Resorts, an American hotel group having more than 4700 hotels in 100+ locations. He spearhead the operations for India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. A Chartered Accountant by profession Atul has over 2 decades of experience in the hospitality industry. He comes with a wealth of experience in operating hotels, in depth local knowledge and the right credentials to lead, drive and support Best Western Hotels & Resorts aggressive expansion plans in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. He brings with him a global perspective that has been honed through finance, operational and development roles across various hotel categories. As a Chief Operating Officer, Atul’s vision is to expand Best Western foot prints in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, enhancing Best Western’s image in the region, driving quality and consistent growth for developers and investors, improving the guest experience and service culture. Prior to his current role, Atul was a part of leadership team of Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group in India. Under his leadership Best Western brand secured 1 st position as a preferred hotel franchise operator and 12 th position in Asia by Franchise Asia.

Atul Jain

Chief Operating Officer
Best Western Hotels & Resorts
India, Sri Lanka & Bangladesh

Mr. Ashish Rakheja is Partner at AEON Consultants with post graduate degree in Thermal Engineering from IIT Delhi with over 28 years of work experience and has designed over 3000 projects including Hotels, Airports, Hospitals, Retail, Residential, Commercial, High rises and Industrial projects. Mr Rakheja specializes in high-performance buildings and has been actively involved in leading design activities of electro-mechanical services for ten Net Zero Energy Buildings, two Net Zero Water Townships and over sixty Platinum rated green projects in India. Mr Rakheja has won many awards and delivered over 1000 talks on various facets of building design across the world. He is an active member of over 20 Technical societies and regularly contributes his time on writing Standards, codes & position papers for Government bodies & Technical societies. He is involved in imparting training to budding Architects in the field of Building Services and a visiting faculty at leading schools in India.

Ashish Rakheja

Partner
AEON Integrated Buiding Design Consultants LLP

RITU’s introduction to hotels was from her growing years when her father was with the Oberoi hotel in Singapore. Her passion for hotels grew from experiencing hospitality with the finest Indian brands. Her career started at the iconic Taj Mahal Hotel, Delhi thereby getting insight to hotel operations. Designing for hotels was therefore the natural course and TID India was born in 1995. Alongwith the international team and her associates in India, her journey of twenty five years has been an amazing experience. With a young team of design professionals, she has journey edacross India and neighbouring countries to work on hotel projects ranging from budget , business to luxury hotels and resorts, from new build to renovation and also specialised areas such as Spas and fitness clubs. She has worked with top hotel brands in the country, such as Taj, ITC Fortune, International brands such as Accor, IHG; Marriott, Hyatt and also hotel owners of Kenilworth Hotels and Swosti Hotels. Her other creative pursuits include reading and writing. She has recently launched her late father’s book “Hotel Futurama & Other Stories” which she had edited and compiled. It is available on Amazon and kindle ebook. Ritu is also part of the National Council Advisory team to WICCI Hospitality Tourism Council in India (Women’s Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry)

Ritu Bhatia Kler

Managing Director
TID® -TOTAL INTEGRATED DESIGN (INDIA) PVT LTD

Tajinder is a dynamic professional having 2 decades of experience in Sales & Marketing, Service Operations and Revenue Expansion activities within the Hospitality Sector. He holds strong business acumen with an ability to execute a wide range of Global Sales and Marketing strategies to establish market presence as well as increasing revenues and profitability for the company. He hold extensive multiple brand experience from luxury to mid-scale hotel segment covering all aspects of the sales & marketing cycle including pre-opening, opening & post-opening, re-positioning and re-structuring. He has been associated with some of the finest Global Hotel Chains and in the past has worked with Marriott International, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, Accor Hotel Group and Starwood Worldwide Inc. at various corporate profiles and roles. He is an active contributor to many editorials and speaker at various forums like ITB Asia – Messe Berlin, NDTV Good Times - India International Travel & Tourism Summit (IITT), South Asia Travel & Tourism Exchange (SATTE), FICCI MICE Conclave and Digital India. He is been a Jury member at DMA Asia CMO Choice Awards.

Tajinder Singh

Sr. Area Director WWS
India and South Asia
BWH Hotel Group

Sunil Baby

Country manager - India
NAFFCO India

Vilas Pawar

CEO
Choice Hotels India

Having a complete understanding of the Owners expectations, Brand Standards and Performance criteria’s brings in unique value to Hospitality Projects of all segments. She was a Part of Hilton Brand when it first arrived in India in 1995 and had the opportunity to be associated with Hilton Worldwide again in 2009 - 2013 in the capacity of Director Design & Projects and responsible for Design & FF&E for Luxury, Full and Focus Service Hospitality Projects in Indian Subcontinent. She has contributed towards the India Specific Prototypes for Hilton Brands Hampton and Hilton Garden Inn. She also wears many more hats : State President of WICCI Hospitality & Tourism Council for Delhi NCR Advisory board member of HPMF ( Hospitality Procurement Managers Forum ) Advisory Board member of PHA ( Professional Housekeepers Association ) Committee member ANZIBA ( Australia New Zealand India Business association )

Madhu Chandhok

State President
WICCI Hospitality & Tourism Council Delhi NCR
Director & Founding Partner
pip2020, India

Abhishek Prasad

IDEA Labs Lead
Work Dynamics
JLL

Our Honorable Speakers

Series Speakers

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