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Leadership & Governing Council

The people who steer Katha — a leadership team and a board drawn from education, science, publishing, law and business.

Leadership team

Leadership team

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Geeta

Geeta Dharmarajan

Founder & President Emeritus

Padma Shri awardee, writer and educationist who founded Katha in 1988 and created StoryPedagogy®. An Ashoka Fellow, she has spent over three decades proving that a well-told story can pull a child out of poverty and into possibility.

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Ramakrishna

Prof. Ramakrishna Ramaswamy

President

A distinguished scientist and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad with a long career as a professor at JNU. He anchors Katha's board with academic rigour, research credibility and steady long-term governance.

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Rajesh

Rajesh Soundararajan

Executive Director

Leads strategy, partnerships, fundraising, technology and publishing. A former IBM and Microsoft leader across Asia-Pacific and a published author, he pairs corporate scale with a storyteller's instinct to carry Katha's mission to millions more children.

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Anand

Dr. Anand Singh Rana

Group COO

Group Chief Operating Officer with more than two decades across social, education and development programmes. He turns ambitious strategy into on-the-ground delivery, overseeing operations, finance and the systems that let Katha run cleanly at national scale.

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Ravin

Ravin Carr

CEO, Katha Books

Chief Executive of Katha's publishing arm, with two decades in product, marketing and sales. He leads the list of award-winning children's titles and Storyshop, bridging editorial craft with the commercial reach that helps fund Katha's work.

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Parvinder

Parvinder Kaur

Advisor, Education

A veteran educator who has shaped Katha's classroom practice for years, translating StoryPedagogy® into everyday teaching. She mentors teachers and safeguards the quality and joy of learning across Katha's schools and programmes.

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Vinodh

Vinodh Soundarajan

Chief Technology Officer

Drives Katha's digital backbone — the learning platform, content delivery and data that carry StoryPedagogy® to the remotest classrooms. He leads engineering and emerging technology, including AI, to help the 300M mission reach every child, faster.

The board

Governing Council

Our board members hail from the upper echelons of education, science, publishing, business and public service. Their guidance and commitment steer Katha toward its goals.

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Ramakrishna

Professor Ramakrishna Ramaswamy

President

Honorary Professor at IISER Berhampur; taught physics at JNU for over three decades. Former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hyderabad and President of the Indian Academy of Sciences.

Profile ↗
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R

R Balasubramanian

Vice President

Practising Chartered Accountant and Managing Partner at S Ramanand Aiyar & Co. (est. 1950), with 47+ years across audit, international taxation and FEMA advisory.

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Rajesh

Rajesh Soundararajan

Executive Director · Ex Officio

Executive Director of Katha and a former IBM and Microsoft Asia-Pacific leader, steering strategy, partnerships, fundraising and technology.

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Anshu

Anshu Vaish

Member

Former IAS officer who retired as Secretary, School Education & Literacy, Government of India — decades of expertise in governance, policy and public administration.

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R

R Govinda

Member

Education scholar and former Vice-Chancellor of NIEPA; JP Naik National Fellow, with deep expertise in primary education, policy research and decentralised governance.

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Sakshi

Sakshi Jain

Member

Designer and educator heading Visual Communication Design at IIAD; an NID and ISB graduate with award-winning picture-book design to her name.

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Sashwati

Sashwati Banerjee

Member

Founding Managing Director of Sesame Workshop India (Galli Galli Sim Sim), a pioneer in early-childhood media reaching millions of children.

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Sudhir

Sudhir Singh Dungarpur

Member

A Partner at PwC and a leader across media, arts and cultural initiatives, bringing creative-industry perspective to education and community engagement.

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Sukrita

Dr. Sukrita Paul Kumar

Member

Award-winning poet and former Aruna Asaf Ali Chair at Delhi University; recipient of the Rabindranath Tagore Prize 2023 and a noted literary scholar.

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Sunil

Sunil Purayil Puthiya

Member

A senior corporate technology leader with 27+ years of global experience across strategy, operations and organisational scaling.

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Read the full story of our founder, Geeta Dharmarajan →
Bios of our founding members and past Governing Council members are available on request: info@katha.org.