Ashish Dhawan, Chairman of the Board

Ashish Dhawan is the Founder and CEO of Central Square Foundation (CSF). He worked for twenty years in the investment management business and ran one of India's leading private equity funds, ChrysCapital. In June 2012, he left his full time role at ChrysCapital to start CSF. Ashish is an MBA with distinction from Harvard University and a dual bachelor's (BS/BA) holder with Magna Cum Laude honours from Yale University. He is on the India Advisory Board of Harvard and a member of Yale’s Development Council.

Ashish serves on the board of several non-profits including Akanksha Foundation, 3.2.1 Education Foundation, Teach For India, Centre for Civil Society, Janaagraha and GiveLife. As Founder and CEO,Central Square Foundation, Ashish hopes to bring a fresh impact-based approach to philanthropy in India. He was recently recognized as the NextGen Leader in Philanthropy by Forbes India.

Parth J Shah, President

Founder and President of Centre for Civil Society, whose research and advocacy work centres on the themes of economic freedom (law, liberty and livelihood campaign), choice and competition in education (fund students, not schools), property right approach for the environment (terracotta vision of stewardship), and good governance (new public management and the duty to publish). Conceptualised and organised liberal educational programs for the Indian youth including Liberty & Society Seminars, Jeevika Livelihood Documentary Competition, and Researching Reality Internship Program. On tn the editorial board of EducationWorld, Vishleshan, and Khoj, and is informal advisor to many non-profits. Youngest Indian member of the Mont Pelerin Society.

Ajay Shah

Currently Professor at the National Institute for Public Finance and Policy in Delhi. Former consultant to Department of Economic Affairs at the Ministry of Finance. Formerly Associate Professor, IGIDR. Listed in Top 10 economists in the Indian Express supplement ‘The Most Powerful Indians in 2010 ’, January 2010.

Amit Kaushik

Former Director in the Ministry of Human Resource Development. Involved in the drafting of the Right to Education Bill, 2005. Worked with UNICEF and UNESCO in designing policies for non-formal education in several countries like Lebanon and Iraq.

Gurcharan Das

Former CEO of Procter & Gamble India and later Managing Director, Procter & Gamble Worldwide. Author of India Unbound and The Difficulty of Being Good. Columnist for Times of India, Dainik Bhaskar, Eenadu, and other papers and guest writer for Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, and Newsweek.

O P Vaish

Founder of a law firm called Vaish Associates, with offices in Delhi and Mumbai and presence all over India. Formerly with the Indian Revenue Service. Chairman of the India branch of the International Fiscal Association and member of the board of governors of Asian-Pacific Tax and Investment Research Centre, Singapore.

Premila Nazareth

Independent governance and research consultant. Worked with the World Bank, the Economist Intelligence Unit in New Delhi and Unctad in New York. Also spearheaded grassroots education and national transparency initiatives in India, working closely with India’s Right to Information movement.