Ramesh Ramanathan is a social entrepreneur, and works on urban issues in India. He is co-founder of Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, a non-profit focused on transforming quality of life in Urban India. He is also Chairman of Janalakshmi Social Services, a not-for-profit social business holding company that has promoted enterprises in urban financial inclusion and urban affordable housing.

Ramesh works closely with government on urban issues in a pro-bono capacity. His current positions include being the National Technical Advisor, Government of India for the Jawarharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, the country's flagship urban mission.

Prior to his social initiatives, Ramesh held leadership positions with Citibank in New York and London, in the bank’s capital markets business.

Ramesh has an MS in Physics from BITS Pilani, an MBA from Yale University and a CFA from AIMR. In 2007, he was chosen as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Swati Ramanathan is co-founder, Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, a non-profit committed to transforming quality of life in urban India. She is also Chairperson of India Urban Space, a non-profit focused on improving the quality of spatial planning and policies in India.

Swati works closely with government on urban issues in a pro-bono capacity. She has written several books on urban planning and design. She writes regularly in national media about urban governance and planning issues.

Prior to these initiatives, Swati worked in the United States with Van Summern Architecture, Planning and Design and the United Kingdom with Gensler & Associates.

Swati holds a Master’s degree from Pratt Institute, New York. For her work on Property Title systems and the development of the Jaipur Master Plan 2021, she received Rajasthan’s highest civilian award, the Rajyotsava Puraskar. In 2007, Swati was chosen as a Young Asian Leader by the Asia Society.

With over three decades experience in projects and manufacturing management in FMCG, Food, Paper and Chemicals, Mr Nayar has wide spectrum experience in new and green field units’ up-gradation, expansion, building and commissioning.

He was formerly the Executive Director at Unilever Subsidiaries in India, UK and Egypt where he focused on Technology, Profit Improvement programmes, Acquisitions and Mergers.

Mr Nayar has been associated with Janaagraha since 2004. He has been heading the Janaagraha Working Council and has recently become one of the Trustees.

Sapna is the coordinator of our Human Resources and Volunteer Management program. She comes with five years of experience as a software developer. Sapna joined Janaagraha right from its inception ten years ago and is an invaluable member of the Janaagraha team. In her time at Janaagraha, she has assisted in both community grassroots campaigns as well as in government and technology related interventions. Her forte is volunteer management and under her leadership, Janaagraha has had more than 10,000 volunteers who have contributed their energy to the organisation.

Indira is the coordinator of our Technology team. She joined Janaagraha in 2004 and has been a dedicated member of the team since then. She comes with over ten years of experience in software development, application programming and web development. This experience has helped anchor the technology team even as Janaagraha expands its online presence and leverages technology to make a lasting impact.

Indira has an MS in Computer Science from the San Jose State University, USA. In her free time she loves running and aspires towards conquering the Everest Base Camp.

Valli manages the Bala Janaagraha program at Janaagraha. She comes with several years of experience in counselling, marketing and market research. Besides this, she has also managed the Annual Concerts for youth at the National Academy of Learning, Bangalore.

Valli has a Double Majors in Psychology and Sociology from Mumbai University. She is an avid percussionist, plays seven musical instruments and has taught music to underprivileged children at Sunday School.

Srikanth coordinates the PROOF program. He brings with him eight years of professional experience across financial and management accounting and audit. He worked at Standard Chartered Bank and KPMG during this time. He is also an Associate Member of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

Srikanth loves reading and nurtures a fascination for Hindu Mythology.

Vardhaman has worked on governance & administrative reforms; social accountability and service delivery improvements since 2006. Political Science and Public Policy are the areas of his specialisation. At Janaagraaha, his contributions would focus on capacity building across its key initiatives toward good urban governance and management.

He relishes travelling – going places, meeting people and soaking up the sights; sounds; tastes and aromas of different cultures and ways of life. He is an aspiring agro-preneur with a passion for ‘organic farming’.

Gen. Prasad retired from the Indian Army. He taught Military Law and Police duties to Corps of Military Police. In addition, he was the Director of the Defence Institute of Quality Assurance, Bangalore. He is the Coordinator for the Area Suraksha Mitra project of Janaagraha.

In his spare time, he teaches yoga, enjoys reading and music and is known for his funny bone.

Santosh More joins the JanaRoots programme as a Manager. A qualified mechanical engineer, Santosh worked with Infosys in diverse roles for over 2 years. He was in the first cohort of the two-year Teach For India (TFI) fellowship. During this time, he worked as a fulltime teacher for kids from under-privileged communities.

Some of his previous assignments include – Aparajita, a women empowerment project, Seeds of Empowerment- a spin-off of Stanford University School of Education as Manager-Program Operations and designing a CSR education model for Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd.

Partha comes with a 22 years of experience in sales & marketing  in NGO’s–like GreenPeace, Akshay Patra and Plan India, in Television with Discovery Networks India,  in Beverages and Tyres with Pepsi & Dunlop. He is an expertise in managing business operations, formulating and implementing business strategies, developing new business, management of franchising processes, key accounts and debtors. He is also experienced in managing international markets of Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. He has a Bachelors and Master’s Degree in English Literature from University of Calcutta.

Babina has joined us as the Manager for the Human Resource and Volunteer Management Program.  She is a commerce graduate who has close to a decade of experience in the HR field.

She started her career at e-Serve, Bangalore and later moved on to Gulf Infotech, Qatar. Her last stints were with Navgati, a HR solutions provider and later with Zyme Solutions, a channel data solutions provider. In her free time she enjoys reading classics, music and international movies.

Indu manages Administration at Janaagraha. Qualified as a primary school teacher, he joined Janaagraha at its inception, ten years ago. His commitment and dedication to the organisation stems from passion and energy in Janaagraha.

Indu is an avid sports-lover and likes to play cricket in his free time.

Gitesh is a part of JanaOnline program as a Solutions Manager. He is a product management and marketing professional who brings with him around five years of experience in digital marketing, mobile applications and online/social media industry.

He completed his PGDM in Marketing from T.A. Pai Management Institute, Manipal and worked with Sify Technologies prior to joining Janaagraha. He loves to eat, cook, read and drive.

Joylita comes to Janaagraha with experience in conceptualizing and building Mobile and Web Products at various entertainment studios in Los Angeles and various start-ups in Bangalore. She believes technology is a great leveller and enabler and sees great potential in using technology to drive community action at the ground level. 

Joylita has a BE in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Manipal University and MS in Engineering Management from University of Southern California. In her free time, she is avid reader, an ardent traveller and a lover of food and languages.

Babu comes to Janaagraha with 18 years of IT experience in ERP, Hospitality and Healthcare domains. He has managed Operations (IT/Admin) for almost 7 years and also started an IT company, GreeneStep Technologies, in 2008.

He is passionate about driving and networking.

Ebony Bertorelli is an international development practitioner and researcher interested in multi-sectoral policy-making, locally-anchored capacity development, social/technological innovation for poverty and inequality, and how the developed world approaches issues of development.

She has published on civil society-state partnerships, global health diplomacy, and multi-stakeholder policy-making. Through her previous experience she has collaborated with organizations such as the World Economic Forum, the Rockefeller Foundation, the World Health Organization, the Pan-American Health Organization, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and has participated in international policy-making platforms including the United Nations.

Ebony has held fellowships at the Institute for Health and Social Policy and the Institute for the Study of International Development. She holds a Masters in the Comparative Politics of the Developing World from McGill University and a B.A. in film and political science from the University of British Columbia. She loves her cats, bicycling, and food.

Karthik Murthy is the Coordinator for the JanaOnline Program. He comes with over twelve years of experience in both traditional and new media. Having completed PG in Business Management. He has previously worked for Amagi, RBNL, Times of India Group.

Karthik loves long drives and cookiing.