A well-rounded development professional, with a strong track record in mobilizing private investment for infrastructure and creating new markets by working across policy makers, industry leaders, stakeholders, academia and media in South Asia, East Asia and Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia. An IIT and IIM alum, Mr. Mehrotra is a recipient of World Bank Group President’s Award for Excellence for helping India reach grid parity for renewable power through the landmark Rewa project and helping India be in the forefront of the emerging disruptive trends such as corporate procurement of renewable energy. In his previous role he worked in the Secretariat for the Committee on Infrastructure, headed by the Prime Minister in the erstwhile Planning Commission, where he contributed to national level policy, investment frameworks and institutional capacity building to commercialize and modernize infrastructure. He contributed to shaping of marquee transactions such as Delhi and Mumbai airport privatizations and the National Highway Development Program.

Cecile Martin-Phipps is currently Director Strategy and Communication in the International Solar Alliance. She was previously working in the French solar street lighting company, Sunna Design, as Project manager International funding institutions. From 2007 to 2016 she was Project manager International projects and partnerships with international funding institutions at the French Agency for Environment and Energy Management (ADEME). Previously she was a deputy advisor (parliamentary issues, international affairs) to Ministers Serge Lepeltier and Nelly Ollin (in charge of ecology and sustainable development). She graduated in Public Administration and International Studies from the Paris Institute of Political Sciences ( Sciences-Po ) in 2003. She got a certificate on Financing and Deploying Clean Energy from Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and Yale School of Management in 2020.

Dr. Jyoti Parikh is Executive Director of IRADe, New Delhi. She was a Member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change –India and is a recipient of Nobel Peace Prize awarded to IPCC authors in 2007. She has served as energy consultant to the World Bank, the U.S. Department of Energy, EEC, Brussels and UN agencies such as UNIDO, FAO, UNU, UNESCO and so on. She worked as an advisor to various ministries for the Gov. of India. She has held national and international appointments, which includes the Technical Advisory Committee for Energy Trust Funds Programmes of the World Bank; Scientific & Technical Advisory Panel to Global Environment Facility. She was on the Board of directors of IREDA. She obtained Ph.D. from University of Maryland, College Park (967). She has guided 12 Ph.D. theses and given lectures in more than 40 countries around the world. Her publications include many areas ranging energy access, renewable energy, women empowerment, gender and poverty alleviation, energy modelling, energy economics, local and global issues of energy and power systems, environment and climate change problems of the developing countries.

Mahua Acharya leads the Asian operations of CPI, while also supporting high-level strategic planning and further build-up of the organization globally. She is part-time with CPI – she also teaches at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad in an executive education program that she co-founded. Mahua has almost 20 years of international experience and knowledge of green finance, renewable energy, and carbon markets. For the last few years, Mahua was the Assistant Director-General of 29-country intergovernmental agency the Global Green Growth Institute, Seoul, where she established an investment division that worked across 16 countries and mobilized USD 500 million of financing commitments for 10 investment projects and funds. She was previously managing a $50 carbon credit investment fund investing in energy efficiency lighting to low income households – a scheme that later became the prototype for a large-scale replacement program in India. She has held roles in the World Bank, Washington DC and is one of the early pioneers of the carbon market. Mahua holds a Masters’ degree from Yale University. She often writes in international and Indian newspapers and is listed under 100 most mindful women in India.

Meagan Fallone | CEO & Director of Barefoot College International Meagan Fallone is the 2018 Hillary Institute Laureate for her Global Leadership in the areas of Climate Change, Poverty Reduction, Social Justice and Economic Empowerment of Women. She is a Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur and a 2020 winner of the Wise Award for innovation in Education. She is an entrepreneurial thinker who has successfully led for-profit and not-for profit organisations to scale with an approach grounded in design thinking. Meagan is the Founder of Step Up Advisers, a global south advisory firm working to architect bold systems partnerships towards scale and impact in the areas of Renewable Energy, Agriculture, Rural Technology and Women’s Financial Inclusion. Step up Advisers is dedicated to bringing together Communities, Government, Private Sector, Philanthropy, Multilaterals and world class Social Innovation organisations to co-create solutions that will be sustainable and replicable. For the last decade Meagan has been CEO and Director of India’s Barefoot College International, a Skoll Foundation Awardee organisation and now a committed Board member; she has led Barefoot College extensive portfolio of climate focused programs, including the 93 country Barefoot Women Solar Engineering Initiative, the building of 6 Barefoot Colleges in sub saharan Africa and the Pacific, the ENRICHE women’s agency program and a significant development of technology platform that cross the language and literacy barrier. Today, Barefoot College and its net zero community based renewable energy program led entirely by women has achieved a 62% self generated income and delivers 1.3 gigawatts of clean energy annually. Barefoot works deeply with a network of more than 136 partner civil society and fellow social entrepreneurial organisations, with philanthropy, private sector and Governments.

Dr. Rashi Gupta, fondly known as “Batterywali of India”, is the pioneer of manufacturing of Advanced Lithium Batteries in India alongwith the “Worlds Smartest Lithium Battery”. She is the Founder & Managing Director of Vision Mechatronics Private Ltd, leading it towards a name to reckon for in the field of Robotics, Renewable Energy & Energy Storage. A Women Entrepreneur who has been fearless & ferocious in creating a brand for herself & the company in these male dominated fields. If one takes a closer look at the alchemy of this achiever, two distinct virtues pop up, besides perseverance & hard work. These are: pioneering spirit & willingness. Coupled with an impressive background, it was not therefore surprising that she became a prominent name in the Renewable Energy Sector of India and is featured as Asia’s Most Influential Women in Renewable Energy, 2020. She has been working on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment issues globally. She holds degrees of BE, MBA, LLM, & PhD to her title. She is a committee member of Bureau of Indian Standards for Batteries, Energy Storage and E-Mobility. She is also Member of International ElectroTechnical Commission. She is also a committee member of National Energy Storage Committee- FICCI, CleanTech Business Club- Chair of Task Force- Energy Storage & Smart Energy, Chairperson-Womens India CBC, CBC Vice Chair India.

Ms Banerjee leads CII’s work in the areas of Economic Affairs, Finance, Public Policy, Regulatory Affairs, Corporate Governance, Legal Services, and Energy & Infrastructure – which includes the core sectors of power, renewables, hydrocarbons, roads & highways, railways, shipping, aviation, real estate, construction and Smart Cities. One of her key responsibilities is to build upon linkages between the federal, state and foreign governments to join the dots on India’s policy landscape. Ms Banerjee and her team of 40 highly qualified professionals work across portfolios as diverse as policy advocacy and sectoral roadmaps, business and technology reports, major events and social development programmes through high-level stakeholder engagements with government officials, industry captains, investors, civil society, and the international community. She has represented CII on different conferences and panels across the world in the space of clean energy. She has also been a strong proponent of clean energy and has led various Government interactions and has accompanied various Ministers and senior Government officials on international delegation for presenting India as a favourable renewable energy destination. As part of CII’s senior management, Ms Banerjee reports to the Director General and is integral to the institution’s efforts to promote India’s sustainable economic growth. Her work has provided CII a range of opportunities to align with the global agenda of driving growth with a human face. Ms Banerjee joined CII in 2014 and is based out of its Central Office in New Delhi. Ms Banerjee’s work experience spans 28 years. Prior to CII, she served as National Economics Editor at India’s largest business daily, The Economic Times, for 22 years. Writing and public policy advocacy comes naturally to her, and she has expounded her skills through numerous articles on subjects such as macroeconomics, government policy, finance, energy and social issues, receiving recognition from global institutions. She was a part of ET’s senior leadership strategy team, and played a crucial role in shaping its content and branding. Ms Banerjee holds a Master’s degree in International Relations.

Susan Ferguson joined UN Women in 2017 as the UN Women Representative in Papua New Guinea, after a long career in international development. She has lived and worked in South Africa, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, where she has lived for 12 years. Susan has experience in working with grass roots development agencies; establishing and managing social services; working within Local, State and Federal Government in Australia on social policy and social programmes. Her diverse career is spanned by the themes of gender equality and social justice. Susan is a development practitioner and is proud to have been part of UN Women, working to achieve the mandate of equality for women and girls in different countries. Susan, a national of Australia, has a Master's degree of International and Community Development and has 4 girls. She wants them to grow up in a just world where their contributions are valued and respected.

Vaishali Nigam Sinha is the Chief Sustainability and CSR Officer at ReNew Power, one of India’s largest renewable energy companies and Founding Chair, ReNew Foundation. A keen advocate of climate change, sustainable development and gender parity, Vaishali is striving to create a socio-economic order characterized by deeper sensitivity towards environmental issues and more empowered women. She Chairs the UN Global Compact Network India’s Gender Committee, South Asian Women In Energy– a body set up under USISPF to promote diversity and gender equity in energy sector and CII’s Indian Women Network. She is a regular speaker at forums like the Climate Week NYC, Clinton Global Initiative, and events organized by WEF and UN agencies. Vaishali has been listed amongst India’s 100 most important PR professionals, Asia’s Most Influential Women in Renewable Energy and India’s Top 25 Impactful CSR leaders. She is an alumnus of Harvard Business School, Columbia University (SIPA) and Hindu College.