Board

Dr. Tara Thiagarajan is the Chairperson and Managing Director of Madura and a Director of Microcredit Foundation of India. She is primarily a scientist whose interests encompass understanding complex systems and using a science based approach to solve large scale human problems through scalable for-profit enterprise. She is also currently a visiting scientist at the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore where she works on understanding how dynamical structures of distributed electrical activity give rise to integrated perception and behaviour. She has a PhD in Neuroscience from Stanford University where she worked on how neurons adapt to changes in their ability to communicate with one another. Her post doctoral work was at the National Institutes of Health where she worked on understanding neural network dynamics and emergent structures in the electrical field.

In her pre-science life she did a BA in Mathematics at Brandeis University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management where she was an Austin scholar. She has previously worked in the textile industry in India and in the pharmaceutical industry in the United States in various roles including marketing, project management and strategic planning. She blogs at the physicsofpoverty.blogspot.com.

Ramaraj is a Senior Advisor at Sequoia Capital and is a member of the Global Board of Trustees of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs). Previously he was the Co- Founder and CEO of Sify Limited, the pioneer and leader in Internet, Networking and eCommerce Services in India. Sify was the first Indian Internet company to be listed on the Nasdaq National Market in the US (NASDAQ : SIFY).

Ramaraj was recognized as the ‘Evangelist of the Year’ at the India Internet World Convention in September 2000 and voted IT Person of the Year 2000 in the CNET.com poll in India. He was invited by the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan to be a member of UN’s Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) and is the first Indian to be invited to the Board of directors of ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers).

Mr. R. Ramaraj holds a B.Tech in chemical engineering from the University of Madras and a M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

"I am very impressed with the truly social focus of Madura in what could otherwise be a cold, commercial face. From providing the lowest interest rates to entrepreneurship training, all so efficiently is truly inspiring"

Mr. Ashok Mirza is the Founder-Director of the Apcom group of companies including Dax Networks and Cenza Technologies. He has over 35 years of experience in the IT industry, beginning his career with IBM Corporation in 1971.

He holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from the Institute of Technology, BHU India and has attended the Wharton School's SMU Executive Education Program.

“One of my main reasons for associating with Madura is the socio-economic difference they are making in village families through the women. This began with our Founder-Chairman, Dr KM Thiagarajan’s vision, deep belief and commitment to economic growth in rural areas, by creating and educating Self Help Groups & providing them with capital. This is a belief that by educating, informing and empowering women, India will prosper.”

Mr. N.C. Sarabeswaran is a senior partner with the well established audit firm Jagannath & Sarabeswaran in Chennai and currently serves on the board of GMR Energy Limited and Road Sector Companies of the GMR group where he is also Chairman of the Audit Committee. He has previously held board positions in a number of banks including the Vysya Bank and the Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank, both as an RBI nominee and in an independent capacity.

Mr. Sarabeswaran is the past President of Indo- Australian Chamber of Commerce, a bi-national Chamber headquartered in Chennai. He is also the primary Trustee of Veda Pati Nidhi Trust, a 25 year old Trust supporting more than two hundred old, indigent Pandits and runs two other family Trusts catering to needs of the underprivileged.

Mr. Sarabeswaran graduated from Madras University and is a qualified Chartered Accountant. He has been a certified Chartered Accountant since 1968.

As Accenture’s Director for Human Resources Strategy, Rahul Varma is responsible for crafting and driving Accenture’s HR strategy across the company’s businesses globally. Additionally, he has global responsibility for leadership and capability development for the HR organisation. Rahul is the founder of Accenture’s HR Academy programme, leading the network of HR Academies across India, Philippines, China and South Africa. He plays a key role in Accenture’s strategic growth markets, leading HR capability building initiatives and advising local leadership on people management. Rahul is a member of Accenture’s HR Executive Leadership Team, reporting to Accenture’s Chief Human Resources Officer. He is currently based in Singapore and has been with Accenture since 1994.

Prior to this, Rahul led Accenture’s HR function in India from 1999 to 2007 as Senior Vice President, India HR. During his stint, Accenture grew from being a niche management consulting firm employing about 200 people into a multi-business organisation (Consulting, Technology and BPO) with over 37,000 people, in what is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s biggest corporate organic growth stories. Rahul led the HR organisation across the company’s businesses, overseeing HR strategy and service delivery including recruiting, employee life cycle management, resource management, compensation, HR technology, strategic initiatives and programmes, leadership development, policies and employee relations. During this period, Rahul and his team created several new people practices which were critical to Accenture’s transformation into one of the largest and well established employers of choice in the country.

Rahul has a Master’s degree in Personnel Management (MPM) from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune, and a Bachelor’s degree in Honours in Economics from Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi.

“It has been a privilege for me to be associated with Madura Microfinance. I have found the leadership to be inspirational, forward thinking, and deeply committed to their mission. There are wonderful stories of employees who were once beneficiaries of its loans and have since become proud ambassadors. Social value creation is embedded in every facet of the organisation - be it the care with which new members are educated and prepared for self-sustenance…or the laser focus on operations so they receive funds at the lowest possible rates. There is a great story being scripted in Madura!”

Sandeep is a Founder and Managing Director of Elevar Equity, a leading equity investor in the market at the base of the economic pyramid i.e. the underserved 4 billion people in emerging economies like India, Mexico, Columbia, Peru, Brazil, Indonesia and the Philippines. Elevar provides long term equity capital to high growth companies that deliver “high volume and low cost” financial and other life changing services to people at the base of the economic pyramid.

Prior to co-founding Elevar, he was with Unitus, where he founded Unitus’ India operations in 2004. He conceptualized Unitus’ India strategy, built the India team and partnered with seven microfinance institutions that cumulatively lent to over 2.5 million women across multiple states. Subsequently, he was Chief Innovation Officer at Unitus, test piloting ideas and projects on a global basis shaping Unitus’ long term strategy.

Sandeep has served as a Director of Ujjivan and Comat Technologies. In different capacities, Sandeep has represented or advised organizations such as Google, Amazon, Ashoka, Singapore Telecom and IL&FS Trust Company. Sandeep has an integrated law & arts honors degree from the National Law School of India University in Bangalore, India.

“Elevar invested in Madura because of the relationships it has with its customers and its vision to build multiple products for them. Its financial performance and efficiency has given the organization the ability to adopt a differentiated strategy to meet the needs of its customers.”

R.M. Nair started his career with RBI, IDBI and has served SIDBI for the last 16 years, presently in the capacity of General Manager. By working with these three national level apex institutions, he has gained considerable experience in the appraisal of large industrial and service sector projects, as well as developing expertise on Development Banking.

His stint with SIDBI during the last one and a half decade has enriched his understanding of the needs and potential of the under-developed regions of the country, and the SSI sector in general, by virtue of his postings in the Northeastern, Eastern and Northern regions.

Mr. Nair has varied experience of handling large, medium and small scale service sector projects. His present mission is to build the capacity of microfinance institutions to upscale their microfinance activities to Micro Enterprises, thus creating not only income generating avenues for the poor but also rural employment and overall rural economic growth.