Vikram Akula Founder and CEO, SKS Microfinance A former management consultant with McKinsey & Company, has over a decade of work and research experience in microfinance. He was a Fulbright Scholar in India and a researcher with the Worldwatch Institute. He has also worked as a community organizer with the Deccan Development Society in India. He holds a B.A. from Tufts, an M.A. from Yale and, has a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He has received several awards for his work with SKS, including the Echoing Green Public Service Entrepreneur Fellowship.   Shekhar Iyer Chief Operating Officer, Vistaar Technologies Shekhar leads Vistaar, a software development company in India. Prior to that, Shekhar Iyer spent 12 years at the Bombay headquarters of Chase Manhattan Bank. At Chase, Shekhar held various positions in the Corporate Finance and Global Services divisions and was responsible for origination, marketing and execution of products, including derivates, project advisory, syndicated loans and capital market bonds to top tier corporate clients in the private and public sector. In Global Services, he managed a team, consisting of 10 sales professionals, responsible for marketing cash management services and structured trade products to clients in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives and Mauritius. In 1996, Shekhar was the recipient of the "Ambassador Award" given to the most successful salesperson in Asia Pacific region. At the time of leaving the bank, he was the head of the Capital Market Fiduciary Services division in India. Prior to Chase, Shekhar worked in Bank of India for 11 years. Among his various assignments in the bank, he was part of a team that created computerized credit information and monitoring system for the bank's credit portfolio - a system that was later adopted as an industry standard.   Ravi Kumar Managing Director & CEO of National Commodities & Derivatives Exchange Ltd. (NCDEX) NCDEX is a national level multi commodity exchange, the first of its kind in India. The assignment responsibility includes leading and setting up and operationalising on commercial basis - the Exchange. The role includes responsibility for influencing and evolution of laws and policies & interaction with regulators & concerned national and state level ministries. Ravi has 32 year banking experience of which over 9 years as head of the function reporting directly to the MD/ED. The experience spans both grass root (branch) level areas as well as at administrative offices - across retail, corporate and treasury banking areas, both in India and abroad. The roles involved evolving policies and delivery structures for the bank, choosing the technology platforms, evolving risk management structures and influencing the evolution of the operating environment. Prior to his current assignment, Mr. Ravikumar was Senior General Manager & Head of Emerging Corporates (SMEs) & Agri Business of ICICI Limited. His responsibilities also included evolving of necessary strategies, business models, management of credit risk on exposures to SMEs and delivery mechanisms to grow and sustain the business in this segment so as to become a large & important player in this segment in a short span of time. The role also involves in pro-actively participating in the evolution of macro-policies. As Head Agri Business, the role included similar responsibilities as in case of SMEs; in the very first full year of functioning, the bank emerged as the second largest (incremental) lender to agri business sector in India with disbursals of over Rs. 20.00 billion.   Sitaram Rao Development Consultant, Chartered Accountant, and Cost Accountant Sitaram has held Chief Executive and senior advisory positions with several finance and international marketing companies including the DCL Group (India), Muscat Finance Company (Sultanate of Oman), Laila Group (India), and Paradigm Infotech (USA). He has also served as a visiting faculty member at Management Development Institute (Delhi), Industrial Finance Corporation of India, Computer Maintenance Corporation, and the State Bank of India. He holds degrees in both Commerce and Law from Bombay University.   Geoff Woolley Founding Partner, Dominion Ventures; Chairman, European Venture Partners Geoff Woolley is founding partner of Dominion Ventures, Inc., which he founded in 1985, and Chairman of European Venture Partners, and Chairman of MACC Private Equity. For over 25 years, Geoff has been involved in financing more than 300 emerging growth companies, including Ceina, Coinstar, Hotmail, and Human Genome Science while managing more than $1.5 billion in cumulative assets. His non-profit experience includes being the founding chairman of the NAMES Project Foundation, (the AIDS Memorial Quilt) and working with foundations to empower the less fortunate. He founded and chairs University Venture Fund at the University of Utah, the nations largest and most successful student led venture fund. Geoff holds a B.S. in business management from Brigham Young University and an M.B.A from the University of Utah.