Our People
Inakshi Sobti, Chief Executive Officer
Inakshi Sobti is the Chief Executive Officer of the Asia Society India Centre. With extensive experience in education, research and business she is responsible for leading Asia Society’s mission and mandate in India and building a greater engagement across business, foreign policy and the arts between India, the rest of Asia and the US.
Prior to joining Asia Society she spent seven years with Harvard Business School’s India Research Centre leading Community Initiatives for them in South Asia. In this role she worked closely with HBS faculty, its South Asia Advisory Board and alumni to shape & implement the school’s strategy in the region and to deepen linkages with leaders in business, government and academia in South Asia. She curated and convened a series of conversations, conferences, research roundtables and led alumni delegations across South Asia making the HBS South Asia Centre an intellectual hub for academic and global expertise in the region. While at HBS, she also co-authored the center’s first case on Nepal, Chaudhary Group: Re-building Nepal as also a case on family business on the engineering company Thermax Ltd: Changing of the Guard.
Previously, she spent over 15 years with Citigroup India in its Corporate and Investment bank supporting senior corporate relationships over a spectrum of industries developing a comprehensive understanding of banking, credit and financial markets.
An alumnus from The Lady Shriram College, Delhi University and the London School of Economics, she is an avid reader and has a keen interest in art and aesthetics. Committed to inclusion and social enterprise, she serves as a mentor for a not for profit called Katalyst and has supported Ummeed and the Akanksha Foundation.
You can connect with Inakshi at isobti@asiasociety.org
Prof. C Raja Mohan, Senior Fellow, Asia Society Policy Institute
C Raja Mohan is Senior Fellow, Asia Society Policy Institute, New Delhi-a division of the Asia Society India Centre. He is a Visiting Research Professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), National University of Singapore and was previously the Director of ISAS.
Mohan was the founding director of Carnegie India in Delhi, the sixth international center of Carnegie Endowment for Peace. He has been associated with several Indian think tanks, including the Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses and the Observer Research Foundation and served on India’s National Security Advisory Board from ’98-2000 and 2004-06. He also served as the Henry A. Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the Kluge Center, US Library of Congress, Washington DC, during 2009-10 and convened the India chapter of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, during 1995-2005. Earlier, Mohan was a Professor of South Asian Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and the Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore. He has published widely on India's foreign and security policies, Asian geopolitics, arms control, and global governance of new technologies. In his most recent, Mohan co-authored the Adelphi Book, The New Asian Geopolitics: Military Power and Regional Order published by the International Institute of Strategic Studies, London in 2021. He writes a column on international affairs for the Indian Express and the Foreign Policy.
You can connect with Prof. C Raja Mohan at crmohan@asiasociety.org
Radha Mahendru, Director- Strategic Initiatives and Development
Radha Mahendru is the Director, Strategic Initiatives and Development at the Asia Society India Centre. She has vast experience in arts management, curating and programming. For the last ten years, she has worked with cultural organizations, furthering their mandate through conceptualising and executing their public programmes, exhibitions, and special events and has lead fundraising initiatives, collaborations and partnerships for grassroots and global art-based initiatives.
She was the senior programmes manager and curator at Khoj International Artists Association till 2019 and a curatorial member of the Norient Film Festival, Switzerland, Abr Circle and Art Chain India.
An alumnus of Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore, she is the co-author of The Horizon is An Imaginary Line, an ethnographic graphic novel about a young Somali woman’s encounter as a refugee in India.
You can connect with Radha at rmahendru@asiasociety.org
Ketaki Varma, Associate Director - Programmes
Ketaki is Associate Director, Programmes at Asia Society India Centre. She has previously worked as a manager, researcher and writer with various cultural organizations in India and abroad, notably Serendipity Arts Foundation and Critical Collective.
She is interested in the visual cultures of South Asia, specifically popular cinema and contemporary art. She is particularly keen to explore the ways in which visual culture intersects with other disciplines of work.
Ketaki graduated with a Masters in Art and Cultural Management from King's College London.
You can connect with Ketaki at kvarma@asiasociety.org
Rachna Shah, Administrative Officer
Rachna is the Administrative Officer at Asia Society India Centre. She is responsible for carrying out tasks involving finance, human resources and administration among others.
Rachna has been working with the India Centre for more than 15 years. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Arts from the University of Mumbai.
You can connect with Rachna at rshah@asiasociety.org
Taarini Savara, Programme Manager
Taarini is the Programme Manager for Arts and Culture at Asia Society India Centre. In the past, she has worked as an Administrator and Researcher with multiple Art Organisations including the Rubin Museum of Art (New York) and Serendipity Arts Foundation (New Delhi).
While her interest in the arts spectrum is dynamic, her research has revolved around art accessibility and education initiatives. Taarini holds a Bachelors in Fine Arts from LaSalle College of Arts, Singapore and recently graduated with a Masters in Museum Studies from the University of San Francisco.
You can connect with Taarini at tsavara@asiasociety.org
Ankita Ghosh, Programme Officer
Ankita is the Programme Officer for Arts and Culture at Asia Society India Centre. With a postgraduate degree in Media and Cultural Studies from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Mumbai, her prior work experience includes assisting several organisations with design, documentation, creative communications, curation and research within the arts. Her last assignment was with Angus Montgomery Arts (India) and she was the Digital and Communications Manager for India Art Fair 2023.
Drawn to the arts because of its ability to creatively engage people, she is driven to contribute towards a public-oriented programming in the arts. Her work is motivated through in-depth research, creative programme development and strategic communications. Ankita’s research interests include exploring visual culture via everyday human experiences, gauging the state of the artisan economy in India and grasping the politics of documentary photography and filmmaking.
You can connect with Ankita at aghosh@asiasociety.org.
Shreya Ramachandran, Senior Programme Officer
Shreya Ramachandran is Senior Programmes Officer at Asia Society India Centre. She has undergraduate and master's degrees in South Asian Studies, and her past work experience includes research at Harvard Business School and communications at Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health (BALM).
She is also a writer, and her first novel, 'The Worlds Within You' (Penguin India) came out in 2022.
Jayashri Ramesh Sundaram, Programme Officer
Jayashri is Programme Officer for Business and Policy at Asia Society India Centre. She researches and works at the intersection of policy and political and civil society.
She has worked in multiple capacities with NGOs and in the field of political consultancy. Apart from her regular work, she writes for journals, especially on refugee policies. She holds a Masters in International Relations from S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), NTU Singapore, and a bachelors degree in Journalism from M.O.P Vaishnav College Chennai, India.
You can connect with Jayashri at jsundaram@asiasociety.org
Shhreyaa Mande, Development and Outreach Officer
Shhreyaa Mande is the Development and Outreach Officer at the Asia Society India Center. She has completed her bachelor’s in political science (summa cum laude and with honors) from University of Toledo, Ohio, USA, and her master in political science, specializing in international relations from McGill University, Quebec, Canada.
Her master’s research essay assessed the reasons for India’s partial engagement with the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda.
Dr. Rishi Gupta, Research Fellow, Asia Society Policy Institute
Dr. Rishi Gupta is a Research Fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute in New Delhi – a division of the Asia Society India Centre, Mumbai. He is a Visiting Fellow at the Asian Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs (AIDIA), Kathmandu, Nepal. He was previously associated with the Vivekananda International Foundation and Center for Air Power Studies, New Delhi.
He holds a PhD from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India, MPhil in Foreign Policy Studies from the Institute of Foreign Policy Studies, Kolkata, and MA in South Asian Studies from the UNESCO Madanjeet Singh Institute for South Asia Regional Cooperation (UMISARC) at Pondicherry University, Pondicherry. He was an Exchange Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. His areas of research interest include the Indo-Pacific, South Asian Regional Security, Himalayan Politics and India’s National Security. His research writings regularly appear on various national and international platforms.
You can connect with Rishi at rgupta@asiasociety.org
Rahul Jaybhay, Research Assistant
Rahul Jaybhay is a Research Assistant at the Asia Society Policy Institute, New Delhi. He is currently specializing in International Relations theories and Middle Powers’ strategies to manage the great power competition. He holds a Bachelor's in Economics from Fergusson College, Pune; and completed his graduate studies in Politics with Specialization in International Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Previously he has worked as a research assistant with Centre for Land Warfare Studies for a period of 6 months, focusing on the role of Artificial Intelligence in International Relations and the Indo-Pacific International Affairs. He has also published on platforms like Australia Outlook (AIIA), The National Interest, 9dashline, Lowy Institute (The Interpreter), CLAWS Issue Briefs.