Our Advisors

Recipient of the Padma Shri Award in 2004, Gowri Ishwaran is an internationally recognized educationist with over 35 years of experience, and a passionate believer in the power of education to create change. Her innovative, values-based approach to learning has catalysed a paradigm shift in the Indian educational sphere. She was the founding Principal of Sanskriti School, New Delhi, which is counted among the leading schools of India, and she serves as CEO of The Global Education and Leadership Foundation (tGELF). At tGELF, she has been instrumental in the development and spread of the ground-breaking leadership development curriculum, which has reached more than three million students both in India and abroad. She is one of the Senior Administrators of the Shiv Nadar Foundation, sits on the Advisory Board of the Shiv Nadar School and is a member of the Governing Council of the Vedica Scholars Programme for Women, an educational initiative of the Vedica Foundation and Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication.

Anuradha Das Mathur is the Founder & Director of The Vedica Scholars Programme for Women. She is Founder and Director of 9.9 Media, one of India’s fastest growing niche media companies, which believes in raising the bar for higher education through publications like EDU that helps decision makers at higher education institutions govern their institutions smartly. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, she ran BusinessWorld, one of India’s most widely read business magazines and worked for The Economist Group. Anuradha was selected as one of 25 young, talented, emerging global woman leaders for the prestigious Global Emerging Women Leader’s Programme, offered by Fortune magazine and the US State Department. Her passion for improving women’s participation in the workforce took root during this programme and has led to pioneering ventures such as The Foundation for Working Women, a platform where public policy, infrastructure and awareness come together to help women ‘live their choice to work’.

Sharmistha brings to the helm in the education domain, freshness and vivacity that is as arresting as it is infectious. A University ranker from Lady Shri Ram College (B.A. Philosophy Hons) and an M.A. in English, she has spent 25 years in key positions across a slew of branded and start-up schools in India (Shiv Nadar School, Sanskriti School, DPS, St Columba’s, Shri Ram Global and Gyanshree School) and abroad (APG School in Bahrain for 11 years where she was Vice Principal). Having successfully played administrative roles of Principal, Vice Principal and Head of School in several of these, at The DN Wisdom Tree Global School she is capitalizing on her experience in school auditing, curriculum development, teacher training/ mentoring, pedagogical practice and life skills development in an R&D function, where she endeavours to support school management and make a difference to standards in educational execution. Known for her meticulous planning, engaging workshops, astute counselling and above all, her team building skills, Sharmistha goes about putting vision to work, and gets all on board to enjoy the thrilling ride.