As Deputy Governor, Dr. Mohan will look after the Monetary Policy Department, Department of Statistical Analysis and Computer Services, Department of Economic Analysis and Policy, Secretary's Department, Financial Market Department and also Co-ordination work.

Earlier, in September 2002, he was appointed as the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank for a period of three years. He relinquished that post in October 2004 when he was appointed as Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. Born on January 14, 1948, Dr. Rakesh Mohan received his Masters degree and Doctorate in Economics from Princeton University and BA in Economics from Yale University. He is also a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Imperial College of Science and Technology, University of London.

Dr. Rakesh Mohan has researched extensively in the areas of economic reforms and liberalisation, industrial economics, urban economics, infrastructure studies and economic regulation. monetary policy and the financial sector. He is the author of three books on urban economics and urban development and co-author of one on Indian economic policy reforms and of numerous articles.

Dr. Rakesh Mohan has been Director and Chief Executive of the Indian Council for Research and International Economic Relations and Vice Chairman, Infrastructure Development Finance Company. He also held the position of Adviser to the Finance Minister and Chief Economic Adviser between January 4, 2001 and May 15, 2002. He has also been Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister; Member of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India; Member of the Board of Governors, Institute of Economic Growth; Member, Board of Governors, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy; Member, Governing Body, National Council of Applied Economic Research; Member, Board of Governors, Madras School of Economics; Member of the Atomic Energy Commission and of the Space Commission. As Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs he was also Alternate Governor of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

Recently, he co-chaired the G20 Working Group “Enhancing Sound Regulation and Strengthening Transparency” (2009). He also co-chaired the “Committee on Financial Sector Assessment” (2009) set up by the Government of India. He also chaired the “Working Group on Capital Flows and Emerging Market Economies” (2009) (set up by the Committee on Global Financial System). Earlier, he chaired the Expert Group on Railways (1999-2001); Expert Group on Commercialisation of Infrastructure Projects (1994-96) and the Expert Group on Petrochemicals (1992-93).

He also Co-chaired the Joint Study Group on economic cooperation between India and Singapore (2002-2003); India and Sri Lanka (2003-2004), and India and China (2004-2005) He served as Economic Adviser to the Government of India in the Ministry of Industry (1988-1996) where he played a major role in the formulation of the new Industrial, Trade and Foreign Investment Policy and at the Development Policy Division of the Planning Commission (1986-1988). He has also been Director of the State Bank of India, National Housing Bank, Industrial Reconstruction Bank of India, the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) and the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). He has also been a Member of Tariff Authority for Major Ports (1997-2002) and the Securities Exchange Board of India (2001-02).

He is the author of three books on urban economics and urban development, as well as numerous articles. His latest book “Monetary Policy in a Globalised World: A Practitioner’s View” (Oxford University Press) was released in February 2009.

He holds the Robert P. Bauman Chair of Strategic Leadership at the London Business School and is the Chairman of the Strategic and International Management Department. He is also the author or co-author of several best-selling business books including Game Changing Strategies published in 2008.

A graduate of Harvard Business School and Boston University, Costas Markides worked as an Associate with the Cyprus Development Bank and as a Research Associate at Harvard Business School before joining London Business School in 1990. He has taught on a wide range of in-company programmes and is on the Academic Board of the Cyprus International Institute of Management (CIIM).
Costas Markides has written about a broad range of business issues including strategic innovation, corporate restructuring and international acquisitions. He regularly contributes to journals including the Harvard Business Review and the Sloan Management Review. Costas is also a member of the Editorial Boards of the Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management and Governance, European Management Journal, Journal of Strategy and Management and Sloan Management Review. He is a member of the Academy of Management and the Strategic Management Society and was a Fellow of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland from 1999-2003.

Adlabs has a dominant and comprehensive presence in Film Services: Motion Picture Processing and Digital Post Production, Film Restoration, Digital Mastering, Studios and Equipment rentals with facilities located at US and India. Adlabs also operates BIG Cinemas, India's largest cinema chain with about 430 screens spread across India, US and Malaysia. It has a significant presence in the film distribution space with a nationwide presence across India as well as offices in London, New York, Los Angeles and Malaysia. Adlabs' television venture, Synergy Adlabs, is among the top players in the television programming industry.

Anil has been closely associated with Adlabs since Reliance ADA Group acquired majority and controlling interest in the company in September 2005. As a member of the Management Council, he was involved in driving corporatization process, business growth strategy and organizational development, and was subsequently designated CEO of the company in April 2008.

Backed by the Reliance ADA Group, Adlabs has seen strong growth in terms of canvas and scale of operations. For FY 09, for the 9 month period until December 2008, the company clocked a topline of US$ 110 million and an EBIDTA from Operations of US$ 17.4 million. Adlabs has been the recipient of several accolades for its capabilities. Apart from 8 national awards for film processing, BIG Cinemas is the recipient of the International Exhibitor of Year Award at CineAsia 2008 at Macau. Adlabs is also implementing cutting edge capabilities with the launch of Asia's first true 4K DI facility with real time grading capabilities and was the first cinema operator in India to start rolling out Digital Cinema using Hollywood-standard DCI-grade projectors and servers. Lowry Digital, an Adlabs subsidiary is universally regarded one of the best digital restoration facilities. Lowry Digital's clients are predominantly industry giants, Walt Disney, Paramount Pictures, MGM and 20th Century Fox and entertainment leaders like George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and James Cameron, to name a few.

Prior to Reliance, Anil was with ICICI Group for 8 years, where he was involved in project financing. He has completed key project appraisals in telecom, transportation, manufacturing and services sectors and gained exposure to negotiations, term-sheets, financing structures, international due-diligence practices, concession and license agreements and dealings with central and state governments.

Anil is 41 years old and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. He trained with India's leading firm - AF Ferguson & Co. Anil also has a Bachelors Honours Degree in Commerce from Delhi University.

She has been a frequent commentator on CNBC, CNN International, and the BBC World Service, speaking most often on the political situation in Pakistan. She has also given numerous presentations to clients and at international conferences, speaking most recently on India's macroeconomic environment.

Prior to joining the EIU's London headquarters in 2007, Ms Bardalai worked in the company's New York office managing Country Finance, which covers financial services and financing techniques in 45 countries. Concurrently, she was Asia Regional Editor, responsible for Country Finance and Country Commerce reports on ten large emerging Asian economies. She was educated at New York University.

Sal joined the company in 1996 and over the years has managed to involve himself in over 400 innovation projects covering a vast variety of issues.

Before joining ?What If! Sal worked for United Distillers and was responsible for setting up their Global Duty Free Division. Previous to that he spent nine years at Procter and Gamble, which he joined after graduating from Cambridge University. Part of his time at Procter and Gamble was spent working for the company in India.

He has advised on raising equity finance (private equity, IPO's through to large Privatisations and equity derivatives); debt finance (including hybrids) and on their Mergers and Acquisitions strategy. He has managed transactions worth over US$30 billion for companies worldwide.

Nish is a board member of Palmtree Technology (www.palmtreetechnology.com) focussed on developing the next wave of internet security products and Masher (www.masher.com), a unique business in launched in conjunction with BBC Worldwide. Nish is a founder and the current elected President of TiE UK (www.tie-uk.org) and elected Board Member to the TiE Global Board of Trustees (www.tie.org). Nish is a graduate of the London School of Economics; a member of the International Who's Who and a brown belt in the art of Ki Aikido.

Phillip Coppin joined Sterlite in 2002 and has held various positions that include quality assurance, marketing, research and product development. His experience spans 21 years, during which he has also worked with Corning Inc and British Telecommunications Research Laboratories. Phillip holds a graduate degree in Physics from Louborough University of Technology.

Armed with a wealth of strategic knowledge and business acumen, Colvyn has championed the kind of creative thinking that breaks boxes, pushes envelopes, propels brands and drives business. Under his leadership, JWT India is today the fastest growing, most successful agency group, having built a formidable reputation on its professional capabilities across a diverse spectrum of marcom services. His mantra is simple: 'Creativity is a marketing tool'.

Colvyn has been with the JWT Company for 29 years and has been associated with FMCG, Durables, Financial Services, Technology, Telecom and Service categories. He has personally worked on some of the world's most successful global brands like Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Microsoft, Nestle, HSBC, Franklin Templeton, Cadbury, Ford, Citibank, GSK, Unilever, BAT, as well as India's finest brands like Hero Honda, Hero Cycles, Reynolds, Himalaya, and others.

He has been President of Contract Advertising - a JWT Group company which is an independent and parallel network, and Managing Director of JWT Sri Lanka.

He has been Jury member and Chairman of many Industry related forums, creative awards shows, and a speaker at Wharton's India Economic Forum and involved with various Industry related initiatives; as well as being integral in developing the idea, content and execution for India's first Brand Summit, and Chairman Goafest 2009, amongst others.

Under Colvyn's leadership, JWT India made history this year having won 2 Grand Prix's, both a first for India. The Cannes Grand Prix for the Lead India campaign, which also won India's first Titanium Lion in the Integrated category, and the Jay Chiat Grand Prix for DTC's Diamond Bride, besides leading the awards tally amongst agencies in India.

With approxmiately US$50 Billion in capital under management and top-decile returns, Apollo is one of the largest and most successful private equity firms in the world with focus on Chemicals, Media&Telecom, Automotive, Metal & Industrial Products, Business & Financial Services, Logistics & SCM and Leisure, Hotels and Gaming industry.

Prior to Apollo, Mr. Bhandari was managing director of The View Group, an India-focused private equity firm. He was an early participant in the sourcing, execution and development of transactions and enterprises which leveraged operating resources in India and has been integrally involved with approximately twenty such transactions, several of which were pioneering in their structure, strategy and timing. Mr. Bhandari was also previously a member of the private equity team and later a manager of hedge fund capital at the Harvard Management Company which manages the endowment of Harvard University. Mr. Bhandari graduated with an S.B in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and with an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Backed by Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI), Multi Screen is involved in the operation and distribution of television channels and advertising sales in India and to South Asians across the world.  Multi Screen is among the region's leading television channel operators and is comprised of Hindi-language general entertainment television channel, Sony Entertainment Television (SET); India’s premium movies and special events channel, SET MAX; SAB, a Hindi channel focusing on entertaining modern India; and SET PIX, which airs Hollywood movie product. 

In India, Multi Screen has a bundle of channels that includes SPTI’s other highly successful branded channels, AXN and ANIMAX.  SET, SET MAX, AXN, ANIMAX, SAB and SET PIX are part of the bouquet of channels distributed by TheOneAlliance, a joint venture between Multi Screen Media and Discovery Communications India.  Channels in TheOneAlliance also include Discovery, Discovery Travel & Living, Animal Planet, NDTV 24X7, NDTV India, NDTV Profit, MTV, VH1, NICK, Headlines Today, Aaj Tak and Tez.

Prior to joining the Multi Screen board, Singh was a principal at Diogenes Capital, LLC, a private equity fund in Los Angeles, California.  Prior to that, he was chairman and CEO of Compete, Inc., in Boston, Massachusetts, a predictive analytics service using online consumer behavior data to predict offline sales.  Prior to Compete, he was CEO of several companies specializing in management recruitment and temporary staffing, including Futurestep, Inc., Korn/Ferry International’s online subsidiary, and Talent Tree Staffing Services, a subsidiary of the service conglomerate BET, Plc.  He also held senior positions at various management consulting firms including Sibson & Co., LLP in Los Angeles, The Cast Group AG in Zurich, Switzerland and Los Angeles, and Cresap in Los Angeles.  He began his career at Nestle India. 

Professor Kumar received his B.Com. from Calcutta University (graduating first in a class of 5,251 students), his MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago (scoring a perfect 5.0 grade point average), and his PhD in marketing from Kellogg Graduate School of Management (winning the Marketing Science Institute's Alden G. Clayton Award for his PhD dissertation).

As an author, Nirmalya has written five books, four of which have been published by Harvard Business Press: Marketing as Strategy (2004), Private Label Strategy (2007), Value Merchants (2007), and India’s Global Powerhouses (2009).

As a consultant, coach, and conference speaker, Nirmalya has worked with more than 50 Fortune 500 companies in 50 different countries. He has served on several boards of directors, including two billion dollar plus companies and three companies included in India’s stock indices.

As a teacher, Nirmalya has written more than 40 cases and teaching notes including Amazon, Easyjet, Red Bull, Zara, and Wal-Mart.

Dr. Kumar is an outlier among marketing professors, having accomplished the rare feat of publishing five articles each in both the Journal of Marketing Research (the premier journal for marketing academics) and the Harvard Business Review (the premier journal for business practitioners). These, and other articles, have attracted more than 1500 citations.  

All of the above has led to more than 300 press appearances, five European case (ECCH) adoption awards, as well as several teaching, research, and lifetime achievement honors.

In his personal life, Nirmalya is a passionate supporter of the arts. He is the custodian of the largest private collection of paintings by Jamini Roy (1887-1972; the father of Indian modern art) and Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941; the first non-white person to win a Nobel Prize).

Madhukar joined Tata Elxsi in 1991 as Regional Manager for the Company. After a very successful stint in the Regional role, he moved to Bangalore to head the sales and support functions for domestic operations. Madhukar's contribution to the company, which was both strategic and financial in nature, led him to his current designation of Managing Director. Structuring the company into four Business Divisions of Product Design Services, Design and Engineering Services, System Integration & Services and Visual Computing Labs, the new positioning facilitated an aggressive marketing statement that Tata Elxsi adopted under his leadership.

In a career spanning more than 30 years, Madhukar has held positions in diverse corporations spread across industries like power electronics, computer systems and publishing.

Madhukar holds an MBA (IIM-B) in Finance & Marketing and an M.Sc (MS University of Baroda) in Nuclear Physics.

In 2005, he was appointed by the UK Government as ‘Dealmaker’: In that role he is responsible for searching for new technologies in India of exceptional potential and of strategic importance to the United Kingdom and facilitating deals to have the companies locate their global HQ to the UK.

He is also founder of AlpeshPatelSpreads.com – an online share betting company. He co-produced his own brand of investment software – Sharescope Alpesh Patel Special Edition with the UK’s largest private investor software company.Alpesh is a Board Member of the UK India Business Council and has been a Board Director since 2000 of TiE-UK promoting entrepreneurship globally. He was previously a member for five years of the UK India Roundtable appointed by the UK Foreign Secretary.

Alpesh was made a Visiting Fellow in Business & Industry, Corpus Christi College, Oxford University. He has won stock-picking competitions on Channel 4, Bloomberg TV and Financial Times and previously he sat on the Investment Advisory Committee of ICICI’s Private Banking Division. Alpesh started a weekly column in the Financial Times in 1999 and has had over 200 columns on investing published in the paper as well as being a regular markets commentator on CNBC Asia, CNN, BBC. Alpesh also co-hosted a weekly show for three years on Bloomberg TV.

Alpesh is the author of 11 investment and business books published by Financial Times and McMillan translated into 8 languages. Alpesh has a degree in Philosophy, Politics, Economics from Oxford University and in Law from King’s College, London. He is a non-practicing barrister. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts and Trustee of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House) sitting on their Investment Committee and a Governor of Bedfordshire University, sitting on their planning and finance committee.

Katra’s mission is to be a premier organisation to leverage the India arbitrage - to be the global bridge that delivers the India advantage in both the `from India’, and the `for India’ sectors.

The Katra Group has built a strategic presence across diverse sectors including wellness, technology, infrastructure & marine logistics, agri businesses, leisure and lifestyle products and services. The group is also building a platform in the real estate and financial services sectors. A US$ 500 mn enterprise, the group employs 5,000 people worldwide and supports a network of over 6,000 farmers in India.
Ramesh started his career with Procter & Gamble in Geneva, Switzerland and subsequently completed several operations and marketing assignments in Europe, the Middle East, Central America, the Caribbean and West Africa.
Ramesh was President, Asia Pacific for PepsiCo Foods and also a Member of PepsiCo’s Worldwide Executive Council. He led PepsiCo’s entry into India, an initiative that became the basis of a Harvard Business School case study and led to his being the first recipient of Pepsi-Cola International’s High Performance Leadership Award in 1992.
Ramesh was invited to serve on the Board of Infosys Technologies Ltd (www.infosys.com) as its first independent and overseas Director in 1997.
Prior to founding the Scandent Group, now Cambridge Solutions, Ramesh was the Chairman of Seagram Asia Pacific, (now Pernod Ricard) and part of its global executive board.
Ramesh and his spouse, Katharin founded and support The Asha Foundation (www.ashafoundation.org), which helps physically challenged (brain injured) children and is also building an education initiative for children suffering from autism and cerebral palsy.

With over 22 years of experience across diverse industries and geographies, Mukesh has proven track records of leading various international business giants including Universitas 21 Global, IBM Corporation, Ariba Inc, to name a few.  His expertise spans across – management of global consumer and corporate strategies, building and maintaining talents across geographies, profitable turnaround of operations through effective business strategies, management of global JVs and alliances, and building strong leadership teams. .

Prior to joining Steria, Mukesh was with Universitas 21 Global for five years as the CEO.  Mukesh has also played many key roles in IBM Corporation, Ariba Inc and J.D.Edwards & Co.     
An MBA from Andrews University, Mukesh holds a doctorate in internal relations from Claremont Graduate School and an advanced management diploma from Harvard.
Mukesh is also a member of Prime Ministers’ IT Task Force (India) and has won prestigious leadership awards including the Asian Leader Award and JRD Tata Leadership Award.
His hobbies include participating in international marathons.

This included offshoring of content operations, a global content transformation program, and setting up a television JV.

In Jan 2006, Amit started building Reuters Market Light (RML), a pioneering business that sells a personalized professional information service to the farming community. Within 18 months of launch, RML’s subscriptions were bought by over 80,000 farmers in over 10,000 villages in three states in India, and have benefitted nearly a million farmers.  The financial benefits to farmers due to RML have ranged from $10 to $8000 over only a few weeks or months of using RML.

Prior to Reuters, Amit worked with a German government funded organization in New Delhi, and helped Indian businesses grow in Germany, Malaysia, Czech Republic, and South Africa in industries ranging from handicrafts to engineering goods.  He also did a brief stint with Mitchell Madison Group (MMG) in Strategy Consulting in London.

Amit sat on Reuters Advisory Board for Corporate Responsibility, is a founding member of Pratham, Germany, and has been a member of the London Cartoon Art Trust. He is a frequent guest speaker at leading universities and business schools. He studied commerce and international marketing at Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) and Delhi School of Economics respectively, and holds a full-time MBA from London Business School.  

He has PhD and MBA degrees in Business from the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario, and a BSc (Hons) from the University of Durham. He has worked at the University of Toronto, the Stockholm School of Economics, Price Waterhouse and ICI.

Professor Birkinshaw's main area of expertise is in the strategy and management of large multinational corporations, and on such specific issues as corporate entrepreneurship, innovation, subsidiary-headquarters relationship, knowledge management, network organisations, and global customer management. He is the author of ten books, including Giant Steps in Management (2007), Inventuring: Why Big Companies Must Think Small (2003), Leadership the Sven-Goran Eriksson Way (2002) and Entrepreneurship in the Global Firm (2001), and over fifty articles. He is active as a consultant and executive educator to many large companies, including Rio Tinto, SAP, ABN AMRO, GSK, ABB, Ericsson, Kone, Exxon, WPP, Bombardier, Sara Lee, HSBC, Akzo Nobel, Roche, Thyssen Krupp, UBS, PWC, Coloplast, BBC and Novo Nordisk.

In 1998 the leading British Management magazine Management Today profiled Professor Birkinshaw as one of six of the “Next Generation of Management Gurus”. He is regularly quoted in international media outlets, including CNN, BBC, The Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and The Times. He speaks regularly at business conferences in the UK, Europe, North America and Australia.

Professor Birkinshaw speaks on a variety of issues concerned with the strategic management of multinational corporations. These include: Business level and Corporate Strategy; the Failure of Success (why great companies get into trouble); Knowledge Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Change; Managing the Global Firm; Headquarters-Subsidiary Relationships; and Management Innovation.

Recent Consulting Clients
UBS (Swiss Bank). 2005-6. I ran a series of “Innovation Masterclasses” for the executives leading the Global Wealth Management and Infrastructure businesses. This involved an analysis and diagnosis of their issues and then detailed discussion of changes to the systems and structures to further promote innovation.

Mars/Masterfoods (consumer products company). 2006-7. I advised the top management team of the Central and Eastern European business on how to improve their innovation process.

Guardian News and Media (UK newspaper). 2006-7. I led the top management team on a review and reformulation of the company’s strategy.

Rio Tinto (UK-based mining company). 2004-5. I directed an executive programme for two years to provide greater understanding of strategy to the managing directors of their businesses. Subsequently I led a one-day session with their Executive Committee to review the programme and propose changes to the company’s strategy.

Novo Nordisk (Danish pharmaceutical company). 2004. I led the European market region management team in a review and re-formulation of their strategy. This process involved approximately 10 days work over a 12-month period.

CSM (Dutch food products company). 2004. I led a 2-day off-site event for the corporate management group to seek ways of improving their level of innovation and organic growth.

Powergen (UK utility). 2003-4. I led two separate one-day session with top executives in the company to explore recent thinking in strategy and the implications for Powergen.

Direct Wines (UK wine company). 2003-4. I led the top management team through a strategy formulation and planning session. Subsequently, I undertook several more similar sessions on different topics.

Diageo (UK premium drinks company). 2002-3.I undertook a study of the “venture market” organisation to look for new sources of growth and innovation, and advised the top management group on changes to their organisation structures and systems to ehance their innovative capabilities.

Recent keynote speeches
2007 Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) annual conference (3000+ attendees). I spoke on The New Principles of Management to an audience of 400.

2005 Confederation of British Industry (CBI) annual conference (1000+ attendees). I spoke on Management Innovation, alongside leading business figures such as J.P. Garnier (GSK) and Jacques Nasser (Renault-Nissan).

2006 Innovation Exchange, Verona, sponsored by IBM and Motorola (50 selected industry participants). I gave a keynote address and hosted the event.

2006 European Summit meeting for Concours Group (50 senior executives). I spoke for half a day on aspects of management innovation.

2006 BBC Audio Music Festival (1000+ attendees). I spoke on an Innovation Panel. This event was broadcast live to all the BBC’s sites around the world.

2005 London Business School Global Summit (600 attendees). I gave a keynote speech alongside Gary Hamel on management innovation.

The Harvard Business School recently published a case study on the company’s success story.

Prior to Clutch Group, Mr. Shah led the sale of Mphasis, a global IT & Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services company with over 12,000 employees for $800 million. While at Mphasis, he spearheaded the strategy to integrate the acquisition of a leading US healthcare solutions provider. Previously, Mr. Shah was a Sr. Consultant at Accenture, where he led multiple client engagements at Fortune 100 companies in the telecommunications and pharmaceutical industries.

Mr. Shah is also the co-founder of the Alliance for US India Business (AUSIB) and the US India Political Action Committee (USINPAC). AUSIB promotes investment and trade between the US and India, and in conjunction with the House International Relations Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, launched the Congressional Task Force on US-India Investment and Trade Relations. USINPAC is the largest national bi-partisan advocacy organization representing over 2 million Indian Americans and works with members of Congress, as well as the White House, to ensure that the community's concerns are addressed. As part of his work with AUSIB and USINPAC, Mr. Shah has led Congressional, Gubernatorial, and CEO delegations to India for talks with the Prime Minister as well as with India's leading government and business leaders.

Mr. Shah holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an Honors BBA degree in Marketing from Texas A&M University. He has also completed the Eisenhower Leadership Development Program led by former US President George H. Bush.

Recently featured on CNBC, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, and Barron’s, Abhi is a recognized leader in the global business community.
He enjoys engaging with students on entrepreneurship, globalization and public service, and has recently spoken at Harvard, Yale, Columbia and a number of industry conferences.