Wheels Global Foundation’s Advisors have deep interest in Wheels mission, impact initiatives and helps Wheels’ team with their deep network of resources, connections, and advice on variety of initiatives.
Typically these are impact-driven professionals and leaders who participate in various meetings and initiatives on a need-basis and play a vital role in WGF’s growth of partners, projects and access to resources.
Mr. Anil Bhandari is the Chairman of Wheels Global Foundation (WGF) Advisory Board and Senior Vice President of a leading NY Wall Street firm. Prior to joining the Wall Street firm, Mr. Bhandari was with Morgan Stanley for fifteen years as Senior Vice President and a member of the Chairman and Director Councils. Earlier he was with Bear Stearns for over 16 years and was appointed Senior Managing Director in 1999.
Mr. Bhandari graduated from Agra University, India with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1964 and received a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in 1969. Mr. Bhandari received a Master of Industrial Engineering in 1971 and an MBA in 1973, both from Ohio State University. In 1997. Mr. Bhandari received The 1997 IITK Distinguished Alumnus Award. Mr. Bhandari has been a speaker at Euro Money and Institutional Investor global conferences. He chaired the 2011 Pan IIT NY Global Conference. Mr. Bhandari served on the Board, Advisory Committee, and as Treasurer of American India Foundation, a 501 C(3) charity founded by President William Jefferson Clinton. He is currently chair of the WHEELS advisory Board (a 501 C3 charity) and is involved with numerous other charities. Mr. Bhandari is currently the Emeritus Member of the Pan IIT USA board.
Currently Visiting Clinical Professor, International Trade, Sustainable Development and Security Issues at the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland College Park (UMD), and Faculty Mentor for the student body, DESI (Develop, Empower, Synergize India). Teaching graduate courses on “Development Diplomacy and Leadership”; mentoring and guiding students; teaching in Executive Development Programs, and coordinating global leadership programs for senior government officials, business executives, and diplomats from many countries. Made significant contributions to outreach activities and international branding of UMD in India, and with leaders, officials, diplomats, business representatives, and students from Vietnam, Indonesia, Brunei, China, Cambodia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and other countries of Latin America and Africa.
Chairman of the 2018 WHEELS Global Foundation (WGF) 1st Annual Summit Conference on “Leveraging Technology for Enhancing Social Impact” at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, the USA in November 2018. Chair of Advisory Board on the follow-up conference on “Smart Villages” at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Gandhinagar in April 2019. WGF is a philanthropic endeavor launched by alumni of the IITs in the USA to leverage technology to scale philanthropy and serve persons at the ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’. WHEELS strives to offer technology-enabled solutions to six major challenges faced by people all over the world: Water, Healthcare, Electricity, Education, Livelihood, and Sustainability.
Chairman, Advisory Council, DiplomacyIndia.com; President, International Conference on “Connecting World Heritage Sites and Civilizations”; and Adjunct Professor at the Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon, India.
An alumnus of IIT, Delhi, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, and a Master’s in Management and Systems. Author of many articles and books. Proficient in English, Hindi, French, Spanish, Punjabi, and Marathi.
Gauri Kumar is a retired member of the 1979 batch of Indian Administrative Services (IAS). She was Secretary (Coordination and Public Grievances), Cabinet Secretariat, and served as Member/Chairperson of the Public Enterprises Selection Board, post her retirement. In the course of her distinguished career, she served as Secretary in the Union Ministry of Labour& Employment and in the Ministry of Home Affairs (Border Management). She has served as Special/Additional Secretary, Ministry of Mines and Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor, Ministry of Environment and Forests. She has also been Principal Secretary, Urban Development; Principal Secretary, Industries & Mines, Industries Commissioner, and Secretary, Education Department in the Government of Gujarat. She also held the position of Director-General, National Institute of Fashion and Technology, Ministry of Textiles.
Gauri Kumar holds a degree of BSc in Physics, Mathematics, and Statistics from Allahabad University. She completed her MSc in Mathematics from Lucknow University and was awarded seven gold medals in the course of her studies, for exceptional academic distinction. She also holds a Master in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. She was awarded the Littauer Fellowship by Harvard University, for her commitment to excellence, academic achievement, and public service.
She is currently an Independent Director on the Boards of Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited (GSFC), Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd (GNFC), TVS Supply chain Solutions, and Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Ltd (GMDC). She is appointed by CVC as an Independent External Monitor for the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL).
She is the Founder of an Edu tech startup which has launched an integrated Learning Platform for the whole education eco-system, encompassing teachers, students, parents, and schools. It’s positioned as a medium for making quality education accessible at scale. She is a Special Invitee to the Management Committee of the Bangalore Chamber of Industry & Commerce (BCIC).
She is the Founder and Trustee of VayahVikas, an organization for the elderly, based in Bengaluru. She is on the Advisory Board of the Pahle India Foundation. She is a Member of the Board of Governors of Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration, Ahmedabad.
She is the Delhi Public School (DPS) Society nominee on the Management Committees of several DPS schools in Gujarat and UP. She has contributed a chapter on ‘Industry and Labour’ in the recently published book ‘Accelerating India: 7 Years of Modi Government’, edited by Shri K J Alphons, Member of Parliament, and a foreword by Shri Ajit Doval, National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister of India.
Dr. Sushil Bhatia is the President of Anu Data Inc. He pursued his B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay in 1966 and later Ph.D. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1972.
Recollecting memories associated with IIT Bombay, he said, “Those were the days. First time out of my parents’ house and living by myself. Making new friends, playing, teasing, bonding, having fun along with learning technical skills. Learning to learn technology as well as dealing with people”.
Rajesh serves as tax & legal advisor on Wheels Board of Advisors and plays a key role in all strategic decisions. Rajesh has more than 20 years of international tax experience, and has worked with clients across various industries, including financial services, private equity, IT, energy sectors, power sector, defense, and real estate. Rajesh has been advising large U.S. companies advising on Int’l tax cross-border issues, planning, acquisition, structuring, and repatriation. He has managed large Int’l tax compliance, E&P Study, and FTC for fortune 50 Companies with a strong knowledge of CorpTax and One Source International tax software.
Rajesh has also worked with PE firms in Mauritius, Singapore, and India with a primary focus on U.S. inbound planning, tax compliance cash repatriation, FATCA, FBAR filing, and performing PFIC analysis.
I have worked in several countries and am very familiar with cross-cultural issues, as well as building strong cross-functional relationships.
Rajesh received his bachelor of commerce degree from the University of Mumbai and then pursued his law education with degrees from the University of Mumbai and Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Mr. Bindra is a senior geotechnical engineer and operations executive with a successful track record in engineering, sales, and executive management, with more than 20 years in the Civil Infrastructure and Energy Industry. Experience ranging from several multi-national companies to building and turning around assignments of more entrepreneurial ventures over the last ten years.
Mr. Bindra is currently Senior Vice President, Strategic Industry Solutions, LLC (www.sisn.com), a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner providing and implementing financial and operational software for Contracting and Professional Services focused companies. He has gained progressive experience in both private and public sectors and specializes in Growth strategies, asset management, turnaround, sales leadership, solution selling, P&L management and increasing profits, acquisition integration, contract negotiation, strategic alliances, ERP, CRM, and application outsourcing, and development. In 1995, he was the recipient of the Confederation of British Industry Scholarship to train in the UK. He sits on the editorial advisory committee of the trade magazine, Geosynthetics and has published several technical papers in the US and overseas. He chaired the 2013 Pan IIT Houston Global Conference. He is currently the President of Pan IIT USA, an IIT Alumni Association (a 501 C6), and involved with numerous other charities. A veritable globetrotter who has lived and worked in Singapore, the UK, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Mexico, and in cities within the US. When Mr. Bindra lived in New Zealand, he became the first turbaned Sikh to be accepted as a commissioned officer into the Royal New Zealand Navy Volunteer Reserve. Mr. Bindra earned a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and a Diploma in Construction Management in India. He has a Master’s Degree in Geotechnical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT-Delhi) and an MBA in Project Management and International Business from Massey University, New Zealand.
Vinay Karle is a financial and software industry veteran, experienced in advanced analytics and enterprise technologies. He currently serves as a Director at Citibank, based in New York City, and is responsible for building products using Data Insights and Artificial Intelligence.
Vinay’s experience spans many industries and functions, including investment banking, enterprise software, pharmaceutical, supply chain, telecommunication, education, and hedge funds. During his career, he has led many strategic initiatives and managed global software, development teams.
Vinay has been active in the IIT alumni community as a volunteer for almost two decades and has served on the boards of a few non-profits/NGOs in the United States and India. Vinay is actively involved in improving educational standards through grassroots efforts at JalkotZillaParishad school. In 2007, Jalkotgrampanchayat (village administration) conferred the ‘Jalkot Bhushan’ award on Vinay. He was also named a finalist for Barclays’ ‘Chairman’s Award’ in 2010 for commitment to the global community. He and Sujay Kumar, a NASA scientist, are working on a Drought Mitigation and Monitoring project for planners and policymakers in Maharashtra, India.
He received his bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and his master’s degree in Engineering from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, in 1999.
Wheels Global’s Youth Council is a platform for young & future leaders to participate and ensure WGF continues to stay relevant with its model and programs. Youth Council is headed by YagyaDatt Sharma.
Yagya is the very first young volunteer for WHEELS Global Foundation since its official incorporation in 2013. He is currently serving WHEELS as ‘Director of Technology Services’ playing a key role in all technical infrastructure services-related operations & initiatives while working closely with visionary Board Members. He is also working as Sr. Principal Engineer at a Software MNC- Hughes Systique in Germantown(MD).
Yagya has been instrumental in laying the foundation of all technical infrastructure services for WHEELS including designing & building a Website using the latest technology #NationBuilder cloud platform with Ruby and Liquid programming integrated with Secure Online donations system having project-wise tracking for each transaction, linking with multiple payment processors i.e. PayPal, Banks & Authorize.net, Setting up Software of ‘Auction platforms’ for annual fundraiser GALA, Managing Newsletters and Email Marketing via MailChimp software, Maintaining Contact/Donor Databases and Online transactions Audits, etc. He has also contributed to coming up with ideas for defining branding/marketing strategy, managing social media, and coming up with the statistics for our outreach programs or webinar series.
He graduated from NIT Allahabad in Computer Science & Engineering after being ranked in the Top 0.1% of countrywide applicants for ‘All India Engineering Entrance Examination'(AIEEE-2004, now renamed as ‘Joint Entrance Exam'(JEE) for IITs and NITs). There is an interesting long story of how he got associated with WHEELS due to his passion for contributing to social change, without any prior acquaintance with WHEELS or any of its board members. He narrated his story in brief as opening remarks during WHEELS 2nd Gala at Taj Pierre, New York which was well appreciated by 300+ Business Leaders and Indian-American CEOs in the audience in attendance. Yagya has a passion for social reforms himself coming out from a small & under-developed town of Jhansi District of Bundelkhand area(India) where he has seen and experienced real-life problems since his childhood. His parents and family are still living there in a small town and he contributes by taking social initiatives in his capacity to help unprivileged people back in his hometown via his parents. He is also a blogger on social issues (https://yagyasharma.net) and their solutions since his college days and has published some articles in leading newspapers as well as been interviewed by multiple local news channels.
Yagya is working closely with WHEELS Board Members under their great vision of changing lives and on various social initiatives using technology. He also contributes to event planning, sharing ideas and managing Young volunteers, and participates in Board discussions. He has been a bright student in all his academics and received district & state-level Govt scholarships for meritorious students through qualifying exams, also won multiple quizzes at various stages. He is also awarded by the Indian Ambassador at the Embassy of India, Washington DC for winning the quiz on Indian Heritage in Oct 2018.
