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 Partnerships and Development
Radha Mahendru is the Director Development and Strategic Partnerships 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, Programme Manager
Ketaki is Programme Manager for Arts and Culture at Asia Society India Centre. She has previously worked as an arts administrator and researcher with various arts organizations in India and abroad, notably Serendipity Arts Foundation and Critical Collective.
She is interested in the visual cultures of South Asia, specifically the intersection between popular cinema and contemporary art. Ketaki graduated with a Masters in Art and Cultural Management from King's College London.
You can connect with Ketaki at kvarma@asiasociety.org
Taarini Savara, Programme Officer
Taarini is the Programme Officer 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
Purvaja Modak, Programme Manager
Purvaja Modak is the Programme Manager for Business and Policy at the Asia Society India Centre. She is also an invited member of the Indo Pacific Circle, a curated network of early and mid career scholars working on emerging issues in the Indo Pacific region.
Her research focuses on issues of global economic governance, international trade and finance, economic diplomacy and multilateral financial institutions. She has previously worked as a Research Fellow, International Relations – Geoeconomics at the Centre for Public Policy Research (CPPR) and a Researcher for Geoeconomic Studies and the Manager of the Research Office at Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations, a Mumbai based foreign policy think tank working at the intersection of business and foreign policy.
She was a fellow at the 2nd G20 Global Leadership Programme 2019, hosted by the Korean Development Institute (KDI) and the Korean Ministry of Strategy and Finance. Purvaja has also held Research Assistant and Research Associate positions in her academic departments at both Bachelors and Masters levels. She has also interned at Reliable Investments, an exclusive franchisee of Motilal Oswal Securities Ltd. She holds a Masters degree in Economics (MA) from the University of Mumbai with a focus on international trade, finance and regional monetary arrangements and a Bachelors Degree in Economics (BA) from Jai Hind College, Mumbai.
You can connect with Purvaja at pmodak@asiasociety.org
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, politics, and global affairs.
She has worked in multiple capacities with NGOs and in the field of political consultancy. Apart from her regular work, she writes academic articles and papers, 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
Rohan Khattar Singh, Programme Officer
Rohan is Programme Assistant for Special Projects, Social Media and Communications. He has previously worked at the Centre for Air Power Studies as a Research Associate and Nivia Sports as Assistant Manager of Communications.
Rohan holds a Bachelor's in International Relations with a minor in Asian Studies from James Madison University, Virginia. He also holds a Master's degree in Diplomacy, Law & Business with a specialization in Peace and Conflict Studies from O.P Jindal Global University in Sonipat. Rohan is the co-author of a book titled "Two Lanes Through Afghanistan", which was written after conducting field research in Kabul on the importance of land-based regional connectivity for Afghanistan's agricultural economy. He has also written scholarly articles for the Centre for Air Power Studies, contributing to the Defence & Diplomacy journal, and online publications like 9DashLine, The International Scholar, and NIICE, Nepal. He has conducted extensive on-field research in Kabul, Afghanistan and in the border district of Kokrajhar in Assam, studying the local transboundary agreements between various ethnic groups of India and Bhutan. He is passionate about defence and military studies and all things South Asia.
You can connect with Rohan at rsingh@asiasociety.org
Pritish Gupta, Research Associate, Asia Society Policy Institute
Pritish has previously worked in the Strategic Studies Program at the Observer Research Foundation and the Institute of Chinese Studies as a Research Intern.
At Observer Research Foundation, he wrote commentaries and research papers on Russia and Eurasia'. He also runs a newsletter 'Russia and Beyond' . He holds a Master's degree in International Relations from Jindal School of International Affairs, O.P Jindal Global University in Sonipat.
You can connect with Pritish at pgupta@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