New Delhi: GITAM (Deemed to be University) has announced the addition of three eminent members to its Board of Management as the Chancellor’s nominees. 

“We are thankful to have such exemplary individuals on our Board guiding the University in the right direction as we aspire to become a Global 100 University by 2040. Each member not only brings domain expertise in Engineering, Management and Social Sciences but all of them have been dedicated institution builders with impeccable integrity.” Bharat Mathukumilli, president, GITAM, said.

Dr Viswanathan Raghunathan, an academic, author and CEO, was formerly Director of Schulich School of Business Hyderabad, started by York University in Toronto; he was heading its Hyderabad campus. He has been President of ING Vysya bank, Managing Director at GMR Industries and the CEO of GMR Varalakshmi Foundation for close to two decades. Before this, he was a professor of Finance and Accounting at IIM Ahmedabad. Dr Raghunathan said, “I am excited about joining GITAM, especially because I consider GITAM to be one of the earliest successful private initiatives in higher academia in India, presenting a high benchmark in the Indian academic space.”

Dr Meenakshi Gopinath is currently the Founder and Honorary Director of WISCOMP (Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace), an initiative that seeks to promote the leadership of South Asian women in the areas of peace, security and regional cooperation. She is also Chair of the Board of Governors, Centre for Policy Research (CPR) and is Principal Emerita of Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi, where she served as Principal for 26 years from 1988-2014. She has been a member of the University Grants Commission (UGC) in India. Dr Gopinath was the first woman nominated to India’s National Security Advisory Board (NSAB). She is a member of multi-track peace initiatives and people-to-people dialogues in South Asia.