Consumer Experience Speakers in India

Aditya Ghosh, Co-founder of AkasaAir is a remarkable leader known for driving hyper-growth across various organizations. With experience in managing a workforce of over 25,000 employees, Aditya has a Midas touch in transforming people-driven organizations globally. Aditya serves on the Board of Directors of Fabindia - India’s largest retail platform; and OYO, one of the world’s leading hospitality chains, contributing his expertise to diverse sectors. Aditya started his career in 1996 as a corporate law executive, providing legal counsel to notable entities like InterGlobe, GSK Beecham, PepsiCo, and the World Bank. His leadership journey includes serving as the former President and Board Member of IndiGo, propelling the airline to success, and later transitioning to the unicorn OYO. A compelling speaker, Harvard Business school graduate Aditya shares insights and experiences from his leadership roles at various corporate events and conferences, captivating audiences with his blend of professional and personal skills.

Vivek is a seasoned leader in retail and e-commerce, boasting robust expertise in strategy development, steering growth, and digital innovations, with notable P&L ownership across diverse sectors. His career highlights include pioneering India's first omni-channel venture for a prominent department store at shoppersstop.com and founding the second-largest online gifting platform in the country, giftease.com. Notably, Vivek established and headed a premier retail consulting practice at KSA Technopak, while strategically cultivating and implementing numerous businesses across consulting and corporate realms. With a wealth of experience in physical retail, omnichannel, and e-commerce, Vivek’s cross-functional proficiency spans strategy, operations, technology, and change management, fueling digital transformation and process enhancement within organizations.

Santosh Desai, a distinguished authority in the realm of luxury brands, is renowned for his keen insights and deep understanding of consumer behavior. With a career spanning several decades, he has left an indelible mark on the luxury industry. Santosh's expertise lies in decoding the intricate nuances of luxury and its evolving landscape. His work has shaped the strategies of numerous renowned brands, guiding them towards the pinnacle of success. As a thought leader and prolific writer, his observations on the intersection of luxury, culture, and consumer preferences have been widely acclaimed.

Formalizing Fast-food: 

Venkatesh Iyer's journey is nothing short of phenomenal, transitioning from corporate to being an entrepreneur. He is the founder of Goli Vada Pav, an Indian fastfood restaurant chain with the goal of selling hygienically prepared food with an authentic touch since 2004. It was hailed as the Most Admired Food Chain of Indian Origin and presented with the Golden Spoon Award by Coca-Cola. From finance to food, with over 15 years of experience in corporate finance and investment banking, Iyer has been helping entrepreneurs translate ideas into story boards using critical thinking, imagination, communication, and raising funds for them. Overcoming the unpredictability in supply chain, he planned for vadas to be mechanised, with machines assisting in the production of uniformly sized and shaped vadas. Thanks to this investment in technology, Goli overcome three big problems in a single shot – wastage, pilferage and standardization.

An embodiment of a leader who leads from the front, and gets things done, Dr. Lohani is credited with saving the life of several organisations including Air India, Indian Railways, Madhya Pradesh Tourism, and more. He is the recipient of numerous Lifetime Achievement Awards, Excellence in Governance Award, and other National Awards. Dr. Ashwani Lohani, IRSME 1980 is working as CEO, GMRSB and earlier worked as the CMD of Air India on two occasions during which he helped the organization earn operating profits for two years. He also worked as the Chairman, Railway Board when the railways went through major reforms resulting in impetus to the Vande Bharat train, Dedicated Freight Corridors, High-Speed Railway between Ahmedabad and Mumbai, cleanliness levels, improvements to infrastructure, and above all a vastly improved safety record.

Vinay Pushpakaran is a global keynote speaker, educator, TEDx speaker and an expert on Customer Centricity. He is the President of the Professional Speakers Association of India. With more than 20 years of experience as a marketer and brand strategist, Vinay coaches thought leaders, experts and aspiring professional speakers to identify their niche and turn their passion of speaking into a paid profession. 

Vinay is the founder and CEO of Miyagi Learning Solutions, a corporate training enterprise that has been empowering students and professionals in the communication and public speaking space for more than 12 years. He is also a Professor of Customer Centricity at Great Lakes Institute of Management (Corporate Learning), one of the leading b-schools in Chennai, India. He has delivered impactful keynotes and engaging workshops for leading corporate houses in India like Toshiba, SAP Labs, CADD Centre, Griffith Foods and City Union Bank.

Shobha Prasad is an award-winning research and insights professional, widely recognized for her contributions to both Indian and international forums. As Founder Director of Drshti Strategic Research Services, she has presented extensively at ESOMAR conferences, where four of her papers have earned accolades for Best Paper or Best Presented Paper, including the prestigious Peter Cooper Award for Qualitative Excellence. Known for her sharp intellect and engaging delivery, Shobha is also a sought-after speaker in the global insights community. Beyond research, she leads a parallel life as a cartoonist, drawing inspiration from everyday moments and the rich material her professional world provides. Her humorous take on corporate and consumer life is captured in her book Funny Business – Consumers, Corporates and Other Cartoons. Shobha’s unique blend of analytical rigor and creative expression makes her a distinctive voice in both the research industry and the world of cartooning.

Swati is an independent advisor to consumer tech companies. Over the past 2 decades, she has led large business verticals in leadership roles across Netflix, GroupM, Nat Geo & more across India & APAC. Today, she actively advises consumer tech companies focused on brand as a core MOAT - some of her recent work includes CRED, SUGAR Cosmetics amongst others. 

Apart from her consulting commitments, She is a program director at GrowthX, a members only club focused on growth leaders, where she teaches the CRAFT of brand led growth to early stage product founders & leaders. She is also an active angel investor and typically invests in super early stage post PMF companies with a particular interest in purpose driven consumer tech companies led by ambitious founders.

Her weekends are largely spent speaking to early stage women founders - she has mentored 100+ founders in the last 18 months in association with IIM-Bangalore & Goldman Sachs.

A seasoned business creator, strategic advisor, board member and expert in digital transformation and sustainability, Shrijeet Mishra brings nearly four decades of corporate leadership experience to his work. Throughout his career, he has driven transformative change across global conglomerates like the Aditya Birla Group, BCCL and Unilever by leading large-scale business turnarounds, spearheading innovation and embedding sustainability at the core of strategic initiatives.

Recently retired from his role as Chief Innovation Officer at the Aditya Birla Group, a $65 billion Fortune 500 conglomerate, Shrijeet led a multifaceted innovation agenda, including digitalization, data & analytics, consumer-centric solutions, innovation fund ecosystems, brand development, and sustainability across the Group. In 2023, he also led the successful incubation & launch of the strategic B2B Commerce Initiative called Birla Pivot which expected to reach $1 billion valuation in 5 years. 

Aditi is a Customer Strategist, who works with CEO’s and founders and enables companies to communicate brand stories to their customers. She is also a global speaker, a visiting faculty at a reputed Mumbai college and a consultant and a social scientist.

She has   experience across different domains of Customer centricity such as Customer Insights, Experience design, Trends & innovation, Experience design. She was responsible for designing best practices in Customer Centricity for TATA group companies and media strategy for Clients at Denstu group.

She effectively converted  business problems to consumer-led solutions in Quantum CS, AC Nielsen, 9dot9 Media and then consumer solutions to brand success at Reliance, TATA Sons and Dentsu group.

A certified foresight analyst, a certified design thinker and a certified Customer experience professional, she advises companies both B2B and B2C on developing their customer strategy. Her bestseller workshop is on Thought leadership for B2B companies.