Leadership - FIDR

Our Leaders

Andrea Seale

Andrea Seale is Chief Executive Officer at Canadian Cancer Society. International Development expert,
long standing experience with consulting with Blueprint Fundraising and Communications & as the
Deputy CEO of David Suzuki Foundation. Andrea has worked with leading nonprofit organizations to
build loyal communities of supporters and communicate campaigns with flair.
She has an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Communications from McGill University and a Diploma in Public
Relations from Mount Royal University. Andrea has taught nonprofit management, communications and
donor development to hundreds of organizations. As a volunteer, she has served on the board of
Vancity Community Foundation, Modo (a pioneering car sharing co-operative) and the Association of
Fundraising Professionals.

Bhaskar Parichha

Bhaskar is a Bhubaneswar-based author. He was part of the total literacy campaign of the early nineties
which was based on the Ernakulum model of 100 per cent literacy. He has also been into development
issues and has a long experience in documenting and communicating pro-people issues.
A documentary film maker for Doordarshan, he has done a series of programs on development. He has
also produced and directed a TV series on relief and rehabilitation of the 1999 Super Cyclone in Odisha.

Debi Prasan Patnaik

Debi is a Chartered Accountant by profession with financial monitoring, audit and review in the
development sector as his specialized field. Over the years, he has built a formidable reputation in
transparent and innovative program assessments, which includes development of tools and training of
researchers and field managers.
He been the consultant for review and audit of CARE sponsored Nutrition & Health programme and
CASHE (Microfinance programme) since 2002.He is an expert in micro finance intervention, survey,
strategy and monitoring in the underdeveloped regions of Orissa, a field that is dear to him and that has
kept him engaged since a few decades.

Rita Soni

From the Class of 1992, Stevens Institute of Technology, and also alumnus of International Affairs at
Columbia University�s School of International and Public Affairs, is a prominent lead among the Indian
diaspora in the US, has worked with American India Foundation and as the past CEO of NASSCOM
Foundation has worked towards strengthening the efforts of the IT Industry towards inclusive growth
and bridging the gaps between private sectors and non-profits to contribute to the cause of social
development.

Rwitwika Bhattacharya

She is the founder and CEO of Swaniti Initiative, a non-profit that delivers development solutions to
elected officials across India. Prior to Swaniti, she worked at the World Bank as an associate where she
was researching and developing policy solutions on issues of livelihood and job creation.
She is a graduate of Harvard Kennedy School�s Master�s in Public Policy program and has a bachelor�s in
Political Science and Economics from Wake Forest University. Her publications include Frontiers in
Development Policy (World Bank), A Primer on Labor Policies (World Bank) and Global Business School
Network (Harvard Business School).

Satyabhushan Dash

Satyabhusan Dash is currently working as an Associate Professor in Indian Institute of Management (IIM)
Lucknow. He is a Ph.D. from Vinod Gupta School of Management, IIT, Kharagpur and a graduate
engineer from the College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Orissa.
He has been awarded Canadian Studies Doctoral Research Fellowship for Doctoral Research in
Management in 2001. During his Ph.D. study, he had worked as a Visiting Doctoral Research Fellow at
I.H. Asper School of Business, University of Manitoba, Canada. He has executed several research projects
in India, USA and Canada. Dr. Dash is the Chairperson in Center for Marketing in Emerging Economies.

Richard Palmer

Richard studied for a degree in Education at Nottingham Trent and has taught children from 3 � 18 years
old in a number of Schools. In January of 2004 Richard became Head of The Junior School at St
Christopher and in January of 2007 Richard became the overall Head of St Christopher.
St Christopher is a registered charity and educates over 500 children with a number coming from a
variety of countries.In addition to being the Head of St Christopher, Richard is a committee member of
The Society of Heads having been Chairman for the Academic Year 2013-2014. This is a Society of over
100 Heads of Independent Schools. He has also been a Director of The Independent Schools Council. He
is also a School Inspector with the Independent Schools Inspectorate and he is a Fellow of The Royal
Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce.

Anvita Dulluri

Anvita is a climate law and policy researcher, currently working as a consultant to the Loss and Damage
Unit of the Adaptation Division at the UNFCCC Secretariat in Bonn. She pursued her master�s in
environmental sciences at the University of Cologne, Germany. Her areas of focus include adaptation
governance, socio-ecological resilience, and biodiversity. After securing a research grant from the Inlaks
Ravisankaran Small Grants Programme in 2019, she conducted her field research for her master's
dissertation in Odisha, as an intern with the Dakshin Foundation, Bengaluru. Her work explores the
limitations of top-down disaster and risk-centered adaptation approaches in strengthening the long-
term ecosystem resilience of coastal ecosystems.

Zubair Kabir

A graduate in Medicine (MBBS) from India and MD in Public Health Medicine, Dr. Kabir has worked as a
Senior Resident in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and as a primary care physician in
Odisha, before completing both Masters (MSc) and PhD in Trinity College, Dublin.
His post-doc positions in Trinity, Tobacco Free Research Institute Ireland, and in Harvard School of Public
Health were primarily focused on non-communicable disease epidemiology and tobacco control in
particular.He has been a NCI-HRB joint cancer research fellow at the Harvard School of Public Health and
possesses a joint affiliation as a Visiting Scientist with the Centre for Global Tobacco Control, Harvard
School of Public Health.

Parmesh Ranjan

Parmesh Ranjan is a Technocrat cum Social Reformer spreading the awareness message of �Be
Responsible to our surroundings�. His signature statement about the current status of our society is,
�We the Human Beings Have Become Injurious to Ourselves�. All the evils be it climate change,
Unemployment, Poverty, social, economic & political disparity plaguing the mankind today has been
created by us only and it can only be resolved by �U� & �I� working together to bring Peace & Harmony
in the Society. His Motto in Life is �???????? ?????�.On 15 Feb 2019, Parmesh was part of the six member
delegation on Responsible Parenthood Act led by Dr. Sanjiv Balyan, Member of Parliament to meet the
Honorable President Mr. RamNath Kovind. His campaign on Responsible Parenthood was also
mentioned in this year�s Independence Day speech of the Honourable Prime Minister Mr. Narender
Modi.

Akshita M. Bhanj Deo

A graduate of Bard College majored in Political Science and Human Rights as a Davis Scholar.
Previous position included working in New Delhi, as associate to the Vice-Chairman at SUN Group, a
leading principal investor and private equity fund manager in Russia, India and other emerging
markets and prior to that was as a communications and senior media executive at Edelman (PR and
PA Agency) and as a global communications associate at the International Rescue Committee,
specializing in communications around resettling refugees in 29 US program offices.
Being an avid traveller, she has studied and worked in 3 countries spanning India, Singapore and the
United States. Having been through a liberal arts education, she has acquired the skills of problem
solving, critical thinking and understood how to utilize her analytical skills to help her see problems
with a multifaceted approach � crucial in making vital decisions within a diverse community.