Emmanuel Upputuru (2009-10)
Emmanuel Upputuru is currently the National Creative Director of Publicis India. He has been in the advertising industry for around fifteen years now. However one genre that has always been close to his heart is the social sector. And throughout his career he has developed pro-bono campaigns for clients like Sambhavna Trust that was founded for Bhopal Gas Tragic victims, National Association for the Blind and Action Aid campaign for the marginalized sections of the society and an award-winning domestic violence campaign for Breakthrough. It is through his communication skills, that he has been promoting citizen action. Lately this has been done through his ‘Let Gandhi Talk’ campaign for ‘In Gandhi’s Shoes’ project. He believes that connecting people to Gandhi’s example of nonviolent leadership is the best way to promote citizen action, as it provides a more accessible model of leadership and change that is open to all. This campaign has not only started a new conversation around Gandhi in schools and colleges but also won laurels at Cannes Award Festivals – the Oscars of advertising. He believes that it is important to inspire young people to explore options of nonviolent change and leadership to build a better world around us.
Shailendra Uniyal(2009-10)
Shailendra Uniyal has worked as an advertising copywriter, documentary filmmaker, television producer and program manager for the cricket for peace project. It is through his communication skills, that he has been promoting citizen action lately. This has been done through the ‘Let Gandhi Talk’ campaign and ‘In Gandhi’s Shoes’ project. Mr.Shailendra believes that connecting people to Gandhi’s example of nonviolent leadership is the best way to promote citizen action as it provides a more accessible model of leadership and change that is open to all. This campaign has not only started a new conversation around Gandhi in schools and colleges but also won laurels at Cannes Award Festivals – the Oscars of advertising. He believes that it is indeed important to inspire young people to explore options of nonviolent change and leadership to build a better world around us.
Rajendra Misra (2008-09)
R K Misra, an IIT Kanpur/ Tokyo University graduate, has been a serial entrepreneur. Having spent substantial time in Japan, where he completed his master’s degree and started his first business venture, Rajendra decided to move back to India in 1995. He established SAHYOG – Indian Council for Public Private Partnership, a PPP advocacy organization to facilitate policy framework and implementation of PPP initiatives across the country. He took a constructive and socially responsible approach to deliver Karnataka’s first set of PPP projects by building 3 major four lane roads (measuring around 30 Kms, costing in excess of Rs. 30 Crores) in most congested corridors, involving large sums of money and coordination. This experiment was first of its kind in the country, where road users and beneficiaries paid for 50% of the cost. In 2008, he was also chosen as the winner of Lead India initiative of Times of India. Rajendra is now working on the Change India Movement, founded by him.