International Advisory Board — Somerville College Oxford

The Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt

Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt, who is Chair of the Advisory Board for the Oxford India Centre, has had a long and distinguished career in government, business and the not-for-profit sector.

Dr. Arindam Bhattacharya is Managing Director of The Boston Consulting Group, India and co-leader of Bruce Henderson Institute, BCG’s new research institution, with responsibility for Asia and Emerging Markets.

Her Excellency Mrs Ruchi Ghanashyam

Mrs Ruchi Ghanashyam is a career diplomat, who joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1982. Prior to her current assignment as High Commissioner to the UK, she was Secretary (West) in Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), New Delhi from April 2017 to November 2018.

Zerbanoo Gifford

Zerbanoo is an author; human rights campaigner; and the founder of the ASHA Centre, a British charity working for the empowerment of young people, sustainable development and peace & reconciliation worldwide. Zerbanoo Gifford holds the International Woman of the Year Award 2006 for her humanitarian work, which spans fifty years of grassroots and global activism.

Pheroza Godrej

Pheroza is an art historian, environmentalist and writer. She is the founder of the Cymroza art gallery, and was previously chairperson of the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Mumbai.

Kumar Iyer

Kumar Iyer is a Visiting Academic at Hertford College, University of Oxford and a Partner at Oliver Wyman, a leading management consulting firm. He was previously the British Deputy High Commissioner to India based in Mumbai and the Director General for Economics, Trade & Investment for South Asia with overall responsibility for the UK’s economic and commercial relationship with that region.

Nayan Patel

Nayan Patel is a Risk Management specialist with over 35 years of experience in international banking.

Professor The Lord Patel of Bradford

Professor The Lord Patel of Bradford OBE has extensive experience working at the highest levels, including government, on national and international developments in a wide range of policy areas impacting on education, health and social care, crime, community cohesion, extremism and equality and human rights.

Judith Unwin OBE

Judith Unwin read Philosophy Politics & Economics at Somerville College and subsequently spent 35+ years in international banking in the City. She was a founding member of the Indo British Partnership then Director and Chair of the Nominations Committee of the UK India Business Council (2008-2014).

Dr Nermeen Varawalla

With a background in academic clinical medicine Dr Nermeen Varawalla is a business leader who has founded, grown and exited from global life sciences businesses in entrepreneurial and corporate settings.

Sir Suma Chakrabarti

Sir Suma Chakrabarti is the former President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and former Permanent Secretary at the Department for International Development (2002-2007) and the Ministry of Justice (2007-2012).