- By JVG Krishna Murthy
- 0 Comments
- March 6, 2025
LIVE Webinar – 08 March 2025
Women’s Day: The Power of Taking Charge
Webinar Panelists
Dr. Kannan Moudgalya ~ Spoken Tutorials, IIT Bombay
SaiSudha Sugavanam ~ Spoken Tutorials, IIT Bombay
Mr. Ratan Agarwal ~ Moderator, President – WHEELS Global Foundation
Webinar Summary
As we were gathering testimonials for this year’s Spoken Tutorial Calendar, we were overwhelmed by the number of women who stepped forward to share their transformational journeys. Their stories reinforced what we have always believed—when given the right skills and opportunities, women break barriers, build confidence, and shape a better future for themselves and their communities.
This realization inspired us to dedicate this year’s calendar to celebrating these remarkable women. The response has been incredible, and the appreciation we’ve received has only strengthened our commitment to reaching even more women.
Saturday ~ March 08, 2025
430pm IST, 6am EST
WHEELS Global Foundation (WGF), “An Initiative of IIT Alumni, USA” with the mission of Technology-Enabled Philanthropy. WHEELS has also been selected by NITI Aayog, Govt. of India as a member of the Committee for Innovation and Technology Transfer. WHEELS has also signed an MOU with the Ministry for Panchayati Raj for a technology partnership in Rural Development.
Panelists Overview
Ms. Saisudha Sugavanam
Saisudha Sugavanam is currently a Senior Project Manager at IIT Bombay. Her association with radio dates back to her university days when she pursued a Master’s degree in Electronic Media at College of Engineering, Guindy. She was the first broadcaster to go on air on Anna FM 90.4, India’s first community radio station.
As a journalist and radio broadcaster with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), she served as a radio producer and broadcaster. Among other programs, she hosted a popular talk show where she interviewed prominent personalities, including the late Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Kapil Dev, Kamal Haasan, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, A.R. Rahman, and many others. During her tenure with the BBC, she also covered major sporting events such as the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, and the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League.
Dr Kannan Moudgalya
Prof. Kannan M. Moudgalya is an Emeritus Fellow at IIT Bombay. He was previously the Erach and Meheroo Mehta Advanced Education Technology Chair Professor at IIT Bombay. He has a Ph.D. (in Chemical Engineering) and a Master of Electrical Engineering degree from Rice University. He has a B.Tech in chemical engineering from IIT Madras. Kannan was a visiting professor at the University of Alberta during 2003-04. He has written four textbooks and several papers in international journals and conferences. He works in the areas of control, simulation, and modeling. Kannan is now devoting his time to spreading education on a massive scale, without quality dilution.
He has been focusing on spoken tutorials, open-source software systems, and affordable tablets and laptops. He believes that it is possible to provide high-quality education to all our children through a combination of education, and information and communication technologies, making India a developed country in the process. Kannan has held the posts of Associate Dean (R&D), Head of Application Software Cell and Head of the Centre for Distance Engineering Education Programme, at IIT Bombay. He was a Member of the Standing Committee of the National Mission on Education through ICT (NMEICT), MHRD, Government of India, for five years. Kannan received the Google MOOCs Research Award for developing the offline capability in Spoken Tutorials. He was nominated for the HT for Mumbai 2015 award. The Spoken Tutorial project received the best price in the Reimagine Education Award, instituted by QS and Wharton School, in the Nurturing Employment category. Kannan received the Pt. DeenDayal Upadhyaya Recognition for Reengineering India 2020
Mr Ratan Agarwal
Mr Ratan Agarwal serves on the Wheels’ Board as President, bringing nearly three decades of rich experience in building and scaling multiple new start-ups and executive roles (in strategy, operations, marketing, and business development) at several Fortune 500 companies. Currently, Ratan is a co-founder and managing partner of CARBON Group Global, a global sustainability solutions-holding company, creating rapid replications (‘CARBON Copies”) of proven solutions with market-based models in Education & Learning, Women’s Empowerment, Resources (Food, Energy, Water), Health, and Economic Development.
In addition to the CARBON role, Ratan is dedicating his time in supporting innovation ecosystem in northeast corridor through his investment activities (via Keiretsu Forum and Mid-Atlantic Bo-Angels) and mentoring (at local incubator TechLaunch NJ). Ratan is a Board Advisor to several start-ups in Cloud/SaaS, software, and digital marketing.
While at Cisco, Ratan led the incubation and launch of Cisco’s IoT solutions and Cloud Infrastructure services, in addition to running a multi-billion global services business. Prior to Cisco, Ratan led the marketing & business development of two business units at Telcordia and led several consulting engagements at A.T. Kearney. Ratan received his MBA at Wharton School and Masters in Structural Engineering at IIT Bombay and lives in New Jersey. (Ratan Agarwal | LinkedIn)
