Board Of Directors

Mr. Vilas Lande:

Mr. Vilas Lande, Chairman Emeritus, is a founder promoter of the Company with long experience in Construction, Hospitality, Education and Transportation etc. 

Mr. Gopal Patwardhan

Executive Chairman holds a degree in electronics from the University of Pune (India) and a MBA with a concentration in entrepreneurship from Santa Clara University (California). He is Managing Partner of Duke Equity Partners - one of the leading cross-border private equity investment firms investing in India.
An entrepreneur with experience in technology commercialization, Mr. Patwardhan acted as director of NASA's technology transfer center in Silicon Valley and successfully spun off several companies from research labs run by NASA, and the US DoD. Earlier Mr. Gopal was vice president and Chief Operating Officer of the Girvan Institute of Technology, a technology development collaborative funded by NASA, the US Air force and department of energy. Mr. Gopal has also served as the Director of Venture Development at The Enterprise Network & Ames Technology Commercialization Center (TEN)-one of USA’s most successful technology-business incubators, which has successfully launched companies such as eBay, I Print and Xros Inc, among some twenty others, with a total market capitalization of $40 billion.

Mr. Shivaji Tukaram Akhade

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is founder promoter with long and varied experience in trading as well as manufacturing. He looks after the day to day operations of the Company.
Mr. Shivaji Tukaram Akhade aged 41 years, is a commerce graduate having long and varied experience in trading as well as manufacturing. He looks after the day to day operations of the Company and also provides guidance to the professionals who manage the marketing function. Mr. Akhade has been providing the vision and the direction to the company since inception. Although professionals have been recruited from the Automobile Industry for carrying out the various production activities, Mr. Akhade is fully conversant with the technicalities of the production process as a result of his experience in the early days of the firm when he himself looked after the responsibility of production.

Mr. M. Radhakrishnan

Mr. M. Radhakrishnan, aged 53 years, looks after Strategic Planning and Finance activities of the Company and works closely with the Managing  Director on a day-to-day basis. Mr. Radhakrishnan is B.Sc. (Stat), LLB, DBM and CAIIB and  has experience of around 23 years in the field of Development Banking and Finance having worked in various areas of project finance and  rehabilitation of Industries in Industrial Development Bank of India  (IDBI), and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). He has worked in senior positions at Mumbai, Kolkata, Imphal, Pune and Ahmedabad, where he was General Manager in charge of Gujarat Region, before quitting IDBI and joining the Company on full time basis in October, 2000.

Mr. Sudhir Vitthal Mungase:

Mr. Sudhir Vitthal Mungase aged 32 years has been associated with manufacturing operations in the company for the past 10 years and has acquired  experience in Sheet Metal Press Operations. He looks after the production and maintenance under the direct supervision and guidance of the Managing Director.

Mr. Prakash B. Nimbalkar:

Mr. Prakash B. Nimbalkar aged 63 years is a commerce graduate and also holds a law degree (B.Com, LLB) and is Certificated Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers (CAIIB). He has over 34 years of experience with Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI). He was ex- Chairman and Managing Director of SIDBI. Currently he is on the Board of SICOM Limited, Mumbai.
As Chairman of SIDBI Venture Capital Limited, Mr. Nimbalkar was looking after the policy formulation, sanctions and monitoring of venture capital projects. At RBI his responsibilities involved surveillance of commercial banks, branches of foreign banks and central /state co-operative banks engaged in agricultural finance. He participated in Annual Meetings of the Board of Governors of the World Bank Group, International Monetary Fund, Asian Development Bank and ADFIAP representing SIDBI. Currently he is on the Board of SICOM Limited, Mumbai and United Western Bank Limited.

CA Vijay K. Thanawala

Mr. Vijay K. Thanawala aged 59 years is a commerce graduate (B.Com) and is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (FCA). He is senior partner of M/s Tandon & Thanawala, Chartered Accountants. He also has his own proprietary concern in the name and style of M/s. Thanawala & Company. He has been a practicing Chartered Accountant for the past 32 years and has vast and varied experience in the field of Audit, Taxation and Management Consultancy. Areas of practice include corporate and personal taxation, appellate work, statutory audit and management and other internal audits.

Mr. Abraham Koshy:  

Mr. Abraham Koshy aged 53 years is Professor of Marketing at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad. He is on the Board of Directors of selected companies and member of committees constituted by the Government of India as well as Industry associations. He is Consultant to national and international organizations and companies in the areas of marketing strategy, brand management, product strategy, and social marketing.
Mr. Koshy was a visiting scholar at INSEAD and Groupe ESSEC, France. He was also Visiting Professor at Groupe ESCP-EAP, Paris. Prior to this, he worked as an Officer in a nationalized bank and subsequently became a faculty member at Cochin University of Science and Technology and at Centre for Management Development.
He is on the Board of Directors of selected companies and member of committees constituted by the Government of India as well as Industry associations. He is Consultant to national and international organizations and companies in the areas of marketing strategy, brand management, product strategy, and social marketing. His areas of research interest include product strategy, brand management and strategic marketing.
He has co-edited two books and published several case studies, chapters in books and research papers in professional journals and presented papers in national and international seminars.

Mr. Ajit B. Karnik

Mr. Ajit B. Karnik aged 58 years is a Senior Aircraft Maintenance Engineer in category A, C, & X and has over 30 years of experience in the field of aircraft engineering and maintenance. Till recently he worked with The Bombay Flying Club, Air Works India, Helicopter Services Private Limited, Aero copter Services Private Limited. At Bombay Flying Club, he was responsible for the Engine Overhaul shop, maintenance and certification of the fleet aircraft, day to day maintenance and certification of customers’ airplanes and helicopters. While working with Air Works India he established a separate Helicopter Division from Scratch and extended specialized services to defense helicopters. He then became a member of the Board of Helicopter Services Private Limited in the year 1987and worked as Executive Director and Quality control Manager.
Currently he is holding the position of Chairman and Managing Director in Aero Turbines (India) Limited a Company promoted by him to establish a modern facility for undertaking Repairs and Overhaul of aircraft gas turbine engines fitted on commuter and executive airplanes as well as helicopters.

Cmde. N. Ravindranathan  IN (Retd)

CMDE. N. RAVINDRANATHAN  IN (RETD) aged54 years has done AMIE, MI Mar(E), PG Diploma in Systems Management, Bajaj Institute (Bombay University). He has attended courses on management development at Administrative Staff College, Hyderabad /CDM Sicunderabad. He got 30 years of experience as Marine Engineer with Indian Navy in various areas. He held a post of Chief engineer of INS Vikrant,   the Air Craft carrier, Joint Director of ship production, Fleet maintenance, warship projects & quality assurance, at Naval Head Quarters and  Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence. He has Experience with indigenization and Techno commercial negotiations with foreign firms for production and technology transfer and also has  Experience in the fields of Mercantile Marines, offshore rigs, Marine Insurance Surveys and Training.

Mr. J. Stanton Dodson

A financier and entrepreneur of technology companies around the globe, Mr. Stanton Dodson has over a decade's experience of leading public and private companies and has taken companies from start-up and growth stage to listing and IPO on stock exchanges in the US and Europe.
Former Chairman and Co-Founder of US Dataworks, a financial services company that provides payment processing solutions and processes more than 1 billion transactions annually for clients such as the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve Bank, American Express, Citibank, Chevron, Bank of America and others. Mr. Dodson is a former president of Global MediaNet Corporation, where he was responsible for developing the company’s joint venture to build simulation software for entrepreneurs with Harvard Business School’s HBS Publications. Was Co-founder and President of Transglobal Capital Corporation, a NASD-licensed securities Broker/Dealer which funded and launched several technology and media companies.
He is currently on the Board of Directors of India Co Ventures, a World Bank funded, India based private equity and research firm that has invested in over 50 privately held companies with a combined market cap of $300 million and on the Advisory Board of the New Zealand Innovation Fund, a $80 million fund established to capitalize on opportunities to invest in New Zealand.