Theme: Change-the only constant

Panchgani, a small but cosmopolitan town nestled in the arms of the Sahyadri ranges, has over the years developed into a hub for Education, and a centre of Arts, Culture and Environmental Awareness. It is the perfect mileu for holding a TedX event. This event is aimed at inspiring both local and visiting participants to inspire CHANGE through discussion, soul-searching and a meeting of minds.Through a number of inter-active sessions, TedxPanchgani will bring together a compelling mix of creative and powerful speakers and an aware and discerning audience.

Ravine Hotel Confrence Center
Ravine Hotel
Sydney Point, Wai-Panchgani RD
Panchgani, MH, Maharashtra, 412805
India

Anil Singh

Founder and Managing Director

Anil Singh is the founder and Managing Director of Procam International – the company that promotes the iconic TATA Mumbai Marathon, Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, TCS World 10k Bengaluru and the Tata Steel Kolkata 25k. Anil, a national level athlete himself, has led Procam to build a proud legacy of sporting assets of an international scale and pedigree. Having founded India’s first pure-play sports promotion company, Anil is an authority when it comes to the business of brand sponsorships in sports. The last 28 years have seen Procam forging successful partnerships with over 200 Indian and multinational brands across its sporting properties. The social impact of Procam’s sporting endeavors is unrivalled. The distance running events have helped over 700 non-profits raise over Rs 350 crores (55 million USD), making it India’s largest platform for charity.

Dr. Aditi Govitrikar

Doctor, Mother and Actor

Aditi is the first (and only Indian) to have won the Mrs World title. She has had a remarkable journey which began as a Medical Doctor to becoming India’s Supermodel and an Actor. Having studied the human body - as a practicing psychologist - she is pursing the study of human mind. She is an ardent supporter of environmental issues such as reduction of plastic usage and water conservation. She is also an advocate of vegetarianism and launched PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) in India. In a country where mental illness is a taboo, she is ambitious to create awareness about mental health, importance of mental hygiene and detoxifying one’s mind, empower people and inspire them to exercise within inasmuch as external appearance.

Hirander Misra

Chairman & CEO

Hirander Misra is also co-founding Chairman and CEO of GMEX Group, which is a set of companies that offer sustainable and innovative solutions for the new era of global financial markets through an aligned partnership driven approach with exchanges, clearing houses and central securities depositories. This involves the creation and operation of electronic exchanges and post trade infrastructure in equities, debt, FX, derivatives and commodities in both developing and developed markets through the establishment of a cohesive business and technology ecosystem. Previously, he was the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Chi-X Europe Limited, instrumental in taking the company from concept to successful launch. At the time of his departure in February 2010, Chi-X Europe was the second largest equities trading venue in Europe, just behind the LSE Group and was subsequently sold to BATS Global Markets in November 2011 for US$365m.

Kailash Surendranath

Director and Producer

Kailash Surendranath has to his credit as director and producer a series of inspiring national integration films such as The Freedom Torch - Mile Sur Mera Tumhara, Raag Desh, Jhansi Ki Rani, and Phir Mile Sur. These films on national integration have made a lasting impact in the minds of Indian people and have helped in their own way to initiate unity and peace in this vast nation of such diversity. Kailash is an institution and has over the years also made a path breaking contributions to the advertising industry. His work in the field of cinema and TV commercials has always been new and trend setting and his contribution to Indian advertising is definitely notable and historical. Kailash has also been responsible for launching the careers of many current Bollywood stars, and many have faced the camera for the first time under his direction. Salman khan in campa cola, Jackie Shroff, Ashwaria Rai and Arjun Rampal.

Krishna Mckenzie

Farmer, Musican, Actor and Educator.

Krishna Mckenzie, spent his teens at Krishnamurti school in UK. He Arrived in Auroville 1993 and started Solitude Farm in 1996. His work has unfolded with his own deepening relationship with Mother nature and most importantly the question "where does our food come from?." This exploration with the inspiration of Fukuoka has led to the development of a farm that values over 100 different plants that grow in the fields. This exploration focuses firstly on their nutritional and medicinal value, then their cultural and social relevance, their ecological value and their economic potential. He founded Emergence in 2008 with some of India's most outstanding musicians and they have performed in USA and UK as well as all over India etc The farm hosts LIVELY UP YOUR EARTH a yearly eco-music festival celebrating the creativity in our community that has hosted some amazing musicians.

Kunal Kapoor

Co-Founder

Kunal Kapoor is known to everyone as a highly talented and versatile actor. Born in Mumbai in 1978, he first trained under the well-known Barry John and went on to act in a number of critically acclaimed Stage productions with Motley, a theatre group run by acting legend Naseeruddin Shah. Starting his film career as a Director, he soon went on to act in a number of popular films, including Rang De Basanti, for which he received a Filmfare Awards nomination. Many other hit films followed, including Lamhaa and Don 2. More films are in the pipe-line. Kapoor also has many other interests. He is a trained pilot, and Rally Car driver. In 2014, he started training for the Formula Three. A tech geek, he has co-founded Ketto, Asia's largest crowdfunding platform, which has raised almost a billion rupees for social causes. He is also a style icon, who was recently rated by GQ as one of the Top Ten stylish Indian men.

Mandakini Mathur

Founder, chairperson

Mandakini Mathur did her M-Phil in Cinema Studies from the Sorbonne, Paris in 1989. Based in Panchgani, since 1997, she has been making feature and documentary films on issues of environmental concern, Indian culture, spirituality and on child centric themes. She writes film scripts, stories and poetry (Radha, Poems of Love, published by Partridge). Aapa-Akka was her first feature film venture in 2010. In 2009 she founded Devrai Art Village, a NGO that strives to empower tribal craftsmen through their art. Experimenting with different mediums and designs, Devrai Art Village has brought about an innovation in the ancient art form of lost wax nonferrous metal casting. ‘Rock Dhokra’ (under patent process) is a never tried before technology for fusing stone and brass. She has written the script for – A Tiger’s Cry – an Indo British feature film under production around the theme of protecting Indian wildlife and the Jungles with Shyam Benegal as the director.

Mangesh Desai

Illusionist and Mentalist

Mangesh Desai is a Standup Illusionist and Mentalist. Mangesh started performing magic at the age of 5. He was a hobby performer until he was hired by american cruise ships as an onboard magician. He is Bollywoods favorite Magic trainer. He has trained stars including Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Hritik Roshan and others. Featured on various News Channels, Talent Shows including Indias Got talent. He is a partner in Magic Terminal, India's first magic training company. He is India's only member of The Magic Circle, London. He conducts workshops on improving decisions based on the principles of illusions.

Piyush Pandey

Creative Director

Piyush Pandey hardly needs any introduction! This award-winning Creative Director is a person of many talents, and has had a wide-ranging and illustrious career that has spanned many fields. Born in Jaipur in 1955, Piyush was a keen sportsman, talented enough to play cricket for the Ranji Trophy. Later he worked for a time as a Tea Taster. However, the Advertising field always intrigued and attracted him. He has worked at McAleer & Keenor, and later to Ogilvie & Mather where he soon became one of India’s foremost Ad Gurus. Here, he conceptualized a number of brilliant Ads which are still remembered today, including the iconic Ad for Fevicol, which won him the prestigious Abby Award and an A&M Magazine Award. His many innovative campaigns have seen him winning numerous accolades and many prestigious Awards, under his leadership Ogilvy & Mather became the third-largest advertising agency in India. In 2016, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri for his excellence.

Sandeep S Kate

Proctologist, Marathoner, Comics & Spintop collector

The Founder of Satara Runners, a community & family based voluntary organisation. The Satara Hill Half Marathon, organised by Satara Runners, is one of the most loved & popular distance running events in India. He has helped create a health and fitness revolution in his home town Satara, turning this small & quaint city in the western ghats into a much sought after sporting destination. He has run Marathons , Ultramarathons & obstacle course events around the world. He is a general surgeon, specialising in Proctology & Hernia surgery. He loves collecting old comics & Spinning tops. He is currently working on promoting his pet project - " The Soil Games ", where families & communities come together to play traditional long forgotten Indian games like Spin tops, Gilli Danda , Lagori, Marbles, Langdi, Hopscotch, etc. His wants to help create a cultural movement where new & old generations come together to play - to get "down & dirty " in the soil once again!

Siddharth Hande

Social Entrepreneur

Siddharth Hande is a spatial data analyst by training. He is interested in social entrepreneurship, technology, urban planning, informality and the circular economy in the developing world. He is the founder of Kabadiwalla Connect, an award winning social enterprise in the field of waste management. Prior to Kabadiwalla Connect, He worked as a consultant in some of India's premier urban policy and research think tanks, including the Indo-German Centre for Sustainability at IIT-Madras, The Indian Institute for Human Settlements and the Institute for Financial Management and Research.

Stefan Hermann

Executive Director

German born author, social entrepreneur and global nomad Stefan Hermann (58) is an advocate for the re-invention of education. His passion for the subject can best be seen on the Oprah Winfrey show in May 2013 (check www.genderations.org). For over a decade he been growing his global, more-than-for-profit network for youth mentoring called GenDerations International, currently active in Southern Africa, Europe, the US and as of recent in India. For large parts of recent years he has resided in Pune’s Deccan Gymkhana historic part of town. For years he taught as a guest professor at the University for Social Pedagogy in Lausanne, Switzerland. Between May and November 2017 he served as the 1st Executive Director of Boys to Men San Francisco Bay Area. Stefan is certified at the highest level of the world’s largest men’s organization “The ManKind Project” heading up weekends with often more than 100 men in attendance.