Speakers

Speakers

Giri Giridhar
Senior Director - Finance & Member of the India Board, Merck Sharpe & Dohme
Mr. Giridhar has had over 25 years of extensive global experience built across FMCG, Retail, Pharma and Financial Services. He has lived and worked in India, Dubai, Singapore and London. He began his career in 1987 and has worked at Diageo Plc, ITC Ltd, Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), the Aditya Birla Group and briefly at Spandana Microfinance. Prior to moving to MSD in India, he was working as the Group CFO for Wockhardt.

Mr. Giridhar is on the Advisory Board of the CFO India Magazine. In 2013, Giri won the CFO of the Year award for Excellence in Finance to enable a Turnaround –by IMA CFO Forum and the Top 100 CFOs in India Award– given by the CFO India Magazine in 2012. Giri is on the advisory panel of UnLtd India, an Indo-British non-profit initiative on Social Entrepreneurship.

Mr. Giridhar is Chartered Accountant and holds an MBA degree from IIM –Ahmedabad. He has attended leadership programmes at INSEAD and London Business School.

Winnie John
Regional Demand and Supply Director - Europe CH Supply Chain GSK Consumer Healthcare
Mr. Winnie John has over 25 years of professional experience in Supply Chain of fast moving consumer goods and healthcare business in Indian Sub Continent and Europe.

Has wide range of experience in Consumer goods industry and has held prestigious positions as Supply Chain Director at Country /Regional levels , Factory Operations Director of large / multiple sites as well as led significant business transformation projects in India Sub Continent , Europe and at global levels.

Since 2013 , located in corporate head quarters of GlaxoSmithKline Plc at London and currently operating as Regional Demand and Supply Director of Europe business . Prior to this assignment , was working with GSK Consumer business in India Sub continent since 2002 and has held leadership roles and was part of the management team.

Prior to GSK , he had an 8 Year association with Unilever in India and 4 years with Marico in manufacturing and has played an important role in diverse sectors.

Vinod Rai
Former Comptroller and Auditor General of India
Vinod Rai joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1972 and was from the Kerala cadre. His assignments in the State Government included stints as Secretary (Agriculture), Principal Secretary (Finance) and Managing Director, Kerala State Cooperative Marketing Federation. At the federal level also, he has held senior positions, including Deputy Secretary in Ministry of Commerce, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Defense, and Secretary Ministry of Finance. He took over as the Comptroller & Auditor General of India in January 2008.

His responsibilities in the international arena included Chairmanship of the U.N. Panel of External Auditors and membership of the Governing Board of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI).

He was also the Chairman of the Governing Board of the Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI). He is a keen tennis player and his interests include gardening and mountaineering.

Yogesh Dhingra
CFO & COO of Blue Dart Express Limited
Yogesh Dhingra is CFO & COO of Blue Dart Express Limited, South Asia's number one air express and integrated transportation, distribution and logistics Company. also an integral part of the Deutsche Post DHL group. He has been a Blue Darter for over 22 years, with an overall experience of 30 years across diverse industries.

In the midst of the economic slowdown, Yogesh led various cost optimization & rationalization initiatives to ensure that Blue Dart remains a profitable organization in the short run whilst ensuring the long term business sustainable plans are on course.
Yogesh is a member of the ICAI, ASSOCHAM, FICCI, IMA, CII and the Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI). Under his able leadership, amongst various recognition and accolades, Blue Dart won the Cost Management Excellence Award by 10th National Award for Excellence in Cost Management, ICAI Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting, was short-listed amongst Top 25 Best Managed Companies in India by E&Y – BT, voted a Superbrand for 7 consecutive times, won the Reader‘s Digest Most Trusted Brand Platinum Award 2013 and the company was selected by The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) as one of the top 25 companies adopting good corporate governance practices and has been ranked 10th amongst top 100 ‘Best companies to Work for in India 2013’ by Great Place to Work Institute, India.

For his exceptional contribution to corporate finance, Yogesh was conferred the prestigious League of Excellence Award by CFO India, CFO of the Year award by Thought Leader Awards 2014, Asia’s Best CFO Award at 4th CMO Asia Awards for Branding and Marketing, ‘Best CFO of an MNC (Mid-sized companies)’ at 4th Business Today – Yes Bank CFO award 2013, The Greatest Corporate Leader of India Award 2013, Responsible Business Leader Award 2013, CFO100 Roll of Honour thrice in a row – in 2011 for ‘Winning Edge in Growth (Revenue focus)’, in 2012 for ‘Winning Edge in Strategy’ and in 2013 for ‘Winning Edge in Raising Capital/Fund Management – Revenues above Rs. 1000 cr.’

Yogesh never leaves an opportunity for social service. He is often sighted in his enthusiastic best at the Graduation Ceremony of a batch of Blue Edge students motivating them (Blue Edge: Empowering Lives is a program initiated by Blue Dart to educate and empower young students from slum communities), at a Blood Donation Drive or a Clean-up Drive at the Carter Road seashore.