Professional Experience:
I bring over 20 years of progressive leadership in natural resource management, rural livelihoods, CSR, and community-based enterprise development across India, with a career defined by sustained, substantive engagement with government systems rather than occasional partnership with them.
Government-Embedded Leadership. For nine years, I served as Chief Program Officer & Head of the Science & Technology Resource Centre (STRC) under the Rajiv Gandhi Science & Technology Commission, Government of Maharashtra, holding full institutional, financial and strategic ownership of a government-mandated regional development institution, with direct accountability to its governing body as Member Secretary. Earlier, I spent three years operating from within the office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Government of Odisha, as UNDP's State Project Manager, and two-plus years embedded in national conservation research systems with the Wildlife Institute of India and the National Tiger Conservation Authority. In total, 14-plus years of my career have been spent positioned inside government structures.
CSR and Corporate Partnerships. As Project Director for NMDC's CSR programme in Dantewada, I directed an annual portfolio of approximately ?7 crore, owning the full cycle of budgeting, utilisation certificates, board presentations and compliance reporting, while serving as principal interface between corporate leadership, district administration and host communities in a highly sensitive operating environment.
Rural Entrepreneurship and Livelihoods. I have built natural resource-based livelihood and enterprise systems benefiting 4,000-plus tribal households, including founding Gondwana Craft, a 500-artisan women-led consortium spanning bamboo craft, Gond painting, pottery and Dokra metal art, and a community-owned NTFP enterprise in mahua and honey. I have also held sectoral leadership in the bamboo and non-timber forest produce space.
Carbon, Climate and Landscape Restoration. I currently lead partnerships and operations for the Regeneration Meghalaya Project, a landscape-scale afforestation and reforestation programme run under verified carbon-project protocols, engaging 1,000-plus landowners across the Garo Hills.
Fundraising and Institutional Partnerships. Over my career, I have owned fundraising cycles end to end — opportunity identification, concept notes, proposals, pitching and donor stewardship — mobilising ?3-plus crore in government, CSR and institutional funding from bodies including DST, NASI and Oxfam India.
State-Level and Multi-District Leadership. I have led multi-district and multi-state programme implementation across Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Odisha and Meghalaya, recruiting, mentoring and retaining multidisciplinary and remote field teams of 25-30-plus members, and building second-line leadership and institutional delivery capability in every organisation I have led.
Across these threads, my work has consistently sat at the intersection of government systems, community enterprise, and institutional accountability — translating policy priorities and field realities into fundable, executable, and sustainable programmes.