Executive Management

Manjeet Kripalani

Executive Director

Manjeet Kripalani is the former India Bureau chief of Businessweek magazine. During her extensive career in journalism (BusinessWeek, Worth and Forbes magazines), she has won several awards, including the Gerald Loeb Award, the George Polk Award, Overseas Press Club and Daniel Pearl Awards. Kripalani was the 2006-07 Edward R. Murrow Press Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, New York, which inspired her to found Gateway House. Read more.

Neelam Deo

Director

A distinguished diplomat, Neelam has been the Indian Ambassador to Denmark and Ivory Coast with concurrent accreditation to several West African countries. She has also served in Indian embassies in Washington D.C., Bangkok and Rome. Her last assignment was as Consul General in New York. Her most challenging mission was liaising with the U.S. congress on strategic issues in Washington D.C. Read more.

Akshay Mathur

Chief Executive Officer and Director of Research

Akshay worked with Fidelity Investments in Boston for over 7 years as a Principal Architect in the Strategy and Architecture group of the multi-billion dollar Institutional and Retail Brokerage division where he was an expert in Research and Strategy Formulation. Read more.

Research Team

Management Team

Aashna Agarwal

Researcher; Manager, Website and Publications

Aashna Agarwal graduated from the London School of Economics with an MSc degree in International Political Economy, prior to which she completed her Bachelor’s of Arts with a major in Economics from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. She has interned with KPMG, the International Center for Research on Women and Global Relations Forum. She has an interest in Chinese politics & foreign policy and political economics. Read more

Nikhil Dasari

Manager, Management Office

Nikhil Dasari has over seven years of experience working in Banking and the Energy sector in India. He has freelanced as a writer and has been published in Madras Courier, a UK based on-line magazine. He graduated as an Electronics and Communications Engineer from JNTU, Hyderabad. He has an MA in Human Resources Management from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Recently, he acquired a Master’s in International Studies and Diplomacy from SOAS, London. His research interests include India’s national security, applying cognitive approaches to foreign policy analysis, and great power politics.

Purvaja Modak

Manager, Research Office & Researcher, Geoeconomics Studies Programme

Purvaja Modak holds a Masters degree in Economics (MA) from the University of Mumbai with a focus on international trade, finance and regional monetary arrangements. She finished her Bachelors in Economics (BA) from Jai Hind College. Purvaja has previously held Research Assistant and Research Associate positions in her academic departments at both Bachelors and Masters levels. She has also interned at Reliable Investments, an exclusive franchisee of Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd. Read more

Sagnik Chakraborty

Manager, Management Office & Researcher, Cybersecurity Studies Programme

Sagnik Chakraborty’s work focuses on technology and national security. He is a software engineer by profession with more than 9 years of experience in the IT industry. Prior to Gateway House, he worked with Tata Consultancy Services. He has held various roles in his IT career, starting from a developer to a consultant to an operations & product manager. He is interested in cyber security, fintech, business analytics and disruptive technologies. Read more

Amrita Menon

Management Associate

Amrita Menon graduated from Sophia College, University of Mumbai with a BA in History. She completed the LAMP Fellowship in 2019 where she served as a Legislative and Research Assistant to a Member of Parliament. She has a keen interest in international relations and public policy.

Aliasger Bootwalla

Media and Outreach Associate

Aliasger Bootwalla graduated from the University of Mumbai with a BA in economics. He has worked with the Mullen Lowe Lintas Group where he managed communications for brands in corporate and finance practice. Ali has an interest in public policy, international relations and financial markets.

Daniella Singh

Design Associate

Daniella Singh graduated from St. Xavier’s College Autonomous, Mumbai with a BA in Mass Media, majoring in Journalism. She has a keen interest in publication design and data visualization and has previously worked with Condenast India and Pratham Education foundation. She is currently pursuing a Post Graduate Diploma in Critical Thinking and Aesthetics at Jnanapravaha Mumbai.

Nandini Bhaskaran

Editor

Nandini Bhaskaran works as editor with Gateway House. A journalist with over 15 years of full-time experience, she has been with the Times group and Business India magazine, among other publications. She has also edited books, including biographies and fiction, and research papers on the environment and sustainable architecture. Read more

Asha Rani

Information Specialist

Asha Rani is responsible for data collection, archiving, and coordinating the Gateway House library. Prior to this, she was the Reference Librarian at the American Library in Mumbai for 13 years, and taught at Isabella Thoburn College in Lucknow for five years. She holds a Masters in Library and Information Services from the University of Toledo, Ohio.

Administration

Celine D’Silva

Office Manager

Celine D’Silva has previously worked at a regional channel called TARA (Television Aimed at Regional Audience) as well as at Millipore India Ltd, a company that produces filters.

Carmen Rodrigues

Administration Associate

Carmen has graduated from the University of Mumbai with a B.A. degree in Psychology & Sociology. She has worked with Tata Autocomp Systems Limited, a company promoted by the TATA Group and was a secretary to the General Manager – Corporate Planning.