Meet your extended team

Tapish, VP - IIMAvericks, leads university & early stage start-up initiatives at CIIE. He has a diverse experience in consulting, public policy & entrepreneurship. Prior to CIIE, he was part of the global IOT Strategy team at Schneider Electric. He has a keen interest in the intersection of business and policy and has spent time in the government as an aide to Prof. PJ Kurien, Deputy Chairman of the upper house of the Indian Parliament, assisting him on Legislative and policy matters. Tapish holds a degree in management from the University of Delhi, and a Masters in International Business (MIB) from the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, where he was designated an Emerging Markets Scholar.

Vipul Patel leads CIIE's Seed team and joined CIIE in 2012. He began his career at Aditya Birla Group as a Chemical Engineer in the fertilizer division based in Gujarat. Prior to joining CIIE in 2010, he also co-founded e-commerce startup. He holds an MBA from the NIRMA University, and a BE in Chemical Engineering from Sardar Patel University.

Yash works as an Associate - Startup Support in CIIE. He is responsible for developing different models of engagement to help startups scale. His areas of interests include human-centered design, go-to-market strategy for startups, financial modelling and has worked extensively with startups to gain market access and network support.

Prior to joining CIIE, Yash was worked with social enterprises and non-profits setting up their operations and partnerships. He is an alumnus of Institute of Rural Management, Anand.

Meera Siva is an independent consultant and co-founder of RaNa Investment Advisors. She has 16 years of engineering design experience in the US, over 10 patents to her name and over 6 years of financial analysis experience in US and Indian companies (private and public). She has covered US based education, tech/e-com start-ups for GSV Advisors; listed companies in realty, education, infra, entertainment, logistics and metals/mining in India. She was the CTO of an Indian hardware company (acquired). She is a columnist at The Hindu Business Line (real estate). She volunteers for the CFA Society, CEG Alumni Center and India Literacy Project. She is a CFA Charter holder and has a Masters in Computer Engineering (US).

Yatin Pandya born on 6th July, 1960, is an author, activist, academician, researcher as well as the practising architect, with his firm FOOTPRINTS E.A.R.T.H. (Environment Architecture Research Technology Housing). Graduate of CEPT University, Ahmedabad, he has availed Master of Architecture degree from McGill University, Montreal.

Yatin has been involved with city planning, urban design, mass housing, architecture, interior design, product design as well as conservation projects. He has written over two hundred articles in national and international journals. Several books authored by him on architecture, especially "Concepts of space in traditional Indian architecture", and "Elements of space making" have been published internationally.

He has also been involved in preparing over 30 video documentaries on architecture. He has been visiting faculty at National Institute of Design and CEPT University and guest lecturer/ critic to various universities in India and abroad. He has served as thesis guide to nearly 200 Graduate, Masters and PhD students. He has lectured in over fifteen countries in over hundred fora.

Yatin has won over twenty five national and international awards for architectural design, research as well as dissemination. Environmental sustainability, Socio-cultural appropriateness, Timeless aesthetics and Economic affordability are key principles of his work.

Dhaval Monani is the founder and CEO of First Home Realty Solutions (FHRS), one of the pioneers in the affordable housing space. FHRS has consistently delivered housing in the INR 300,000 to 1,000,000 segment. Dhaval had previously set up the vertical of Affordable Housing at the Indian School of Business. He worked in the India and South Africa offices of International Housing Solutions, a large private equity fund focused on affordable housing in the USA, Europe and Africa. His previous entrepreneurial ventures include Integrated Sourcing, an automotive supply chain optimizer in Spain and ADD.Ventures, a consultancy in India.

Dhaval holds an MBA from the IESE Business School in Barcelona, a Masters of Design from the Domus Academy in Milan where he was a scholarship student, an MA in Design from the University of Wales and a Post Graduate Diploma in Design from the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane.

He was a speaker at TED India, published a series of reports on housing business models, financial structures for the real estate industry and impact evaluation reports with the Indian School of Business - Hyderabad, the Rand Corporation - Washington and the Rockefeller Foundation. His graduate work has been published in some of the leading international publications.

Bijal Brahmbhatt is currently the Director of Mahila Housing SEWA Trust (MHT). She is a civil engineer by training and is a recognized expert in habitat improvement, community development and housing finance. She oversees the MHT's operations at the national level. She has proven experience in conceptualizing planning, managing and providing support for slum up gradation programmes across India. Her professional experience has focused on a range of poverty alleviation issues, particularly with women, entrepreneurship, slum upgradation, water and sanitation, housing and urban planning, housing finance, housing technology and renewable energy.

Rajesh Krishnan is the founder & CEO of Brick Eagle Group, a financial services platform focused on affordable housing. He started Brick Eagle in 2011 with a vision to deliver one million affordable homes by 2030. What started as a land banking company has transformed into an affordable housing ecosystem under his leadership. Till date, Brick Eagle has incubated 5 developers and 8 service providers in the affordable housing sector. Prior to Brick Eagle, he was an investment banker with Lehman Brothers, Nomura and Standard Chartered Bank. Rajesh holds a B.Tech degree from IIT Delhi and an M.BA from the Wharton School.