To be updated soon...

Dr. Sanjay Mishra heads the Global R&D activities for SABIC’s Specialties Group. Based out of the US and the Netherlands, he interacts with customers, suppliers, entrepreneurs, Universities and other institutions to drive cutting edge innovation in the world of Specialty chemicals and polymers. Dr. Mishra has worked in R&D, Marketing and Sales over his career working at L&T, GE Plastics and SABIC to introduce transformative innovations in plastics within Automotive, Consumer Electronics, Healthcare, Aerospace segments. He holds a Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from UDCT, Mumbai and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical and Polymer Engineering from Michigan State University, USA. With more than 50 industrial patents worldwide, Dr. Mishra is an avid student of innovation trends, philosophies and practices and enjoys free time with family and in traveling, reading, and meeting people. • how specialty chemicals industry can be an enabler for creating Circular economies in approximately 100 words The Specialty chemicals industry has a critical role to play in creating a sustainable environment and help shape the planet of the future. Building in bio sourced raw materials and eco-efficient processes to design solutions for multi-use, recyclability and / or controlled degradability to directly impact the environment has to be a focus of major innovations. Devising appropriate additives to promote eco-friendly flame retardancy, pigmentation, stabilization need to be enhanced. Upcycling of polymers back to monomers with an eye on overall life cycle assessment and design for de-assembly and segregation of components create numerous opportunities for the industry. • expectations from specialty chemicals conference. Share and learn the latest innovations in the industry that are focused on enhancing sustainability, leveraging digitization and big data analytics, and creating solutions that are focused on macro platforms of 5G, electrification, AI and the like that create immense opportunities for collaboration across the supply chain. Learn from each other on how we can use new technologies or tools to reduce time to market which is critical in technology era.

OMER DORMEN Vice President – India and South Asia, Castrol Omer Dormen is Vice President – India and South Asia at Castrol. Omer studied Business at North London University and following his graduation in 1985 joined Turkpetrol in Turkey and worked in various sales and marketing roles with a range responsibilities for lubricants, fuels and LPG businesses. In 1991 he became the Sales and Marketing Director of the Joint Venture of Castrol and Turkpetrol before becoming the Chief Executive of the newly established Castrol Company in Turkey and was responsible for setting up the business. Following BP’s acquisition of Castrol, he became the Performance Unit Leader for Turkey and managed the integration of the two businesses. In 2004 he was appointed as the BP Sales Director in Middle East Region, and was responsible for setting up the businesses in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. He served as the Castrol Cluster Director for Russia, Turkey, Central Asia and Nordics region between 2011 and 2015. Omer has over 30 years of experience in strategic planning and business management in a variety of international roles. Omer is married and has two daughters.

Ashish Dwivedi is President of Specialty Chemicals and Strategy for Chemicals business of Aditya Birla Group. He is responsible for downstream specialty chemicals business across multiple products as well as the Salt business.

He has been with the Group for over 18 years and has served in multiple Corporate roles across business sectors. He has been an integral part of several strategic initiatives including mergers and acquisitions, restructuring and corporate initiatives.

Ajay Durrani is currently the Managing Director–Indian SubContinent for Covestro India Private Limited (Formerly known as Bayer MaterialScience Pvt. Ltd). He has over 23 years of experience in the chemical industry with a focus on achieving continuous and improved business performance.
Mr. Durrani joined Bayer in October 1997 as Regional Sales Manager to oversee the sales of speciality chemicals , coatings, polyurethanes, pigments and organic chemicals in Northern India. He then took over as Marketing Head for the Elastomers Division for the Indian Subcontinent in January 2001. During this phase of his career, Mr. Durrani successfully supervised the completion of the Polyurethanes Systems House building which is a major breakthrough in the business of Bayer MaterialScience in India.
Beginning 2005, Mr. Durrani took over as Country Head & General Manager for the Polyurethane Business Unit and BaySystems within the Indian Subcontinent. He was responsible for driving strategic growth and product visibility.
Mr. Durrani then relocated to Hong Kong as a Regional Marketing Director – Automotive, for the Asia-Pacific region in April 2009. His responsibilities included overseeing six country market leads cutting across units and functions, developing a vision for the region, providing strategic direction and building a strong leadership team.
In August 2011, Mr. Durrani took over as Head – Commercial Operations (Polyurethanes) for the Indian Subcontinent of Bayer MaterialScience. He was responsible for the overall business growth through strategic planning, management support and team development.
Mr. Durrani took over his current responsibility of Managing Director in March 2014.
Prior to Bayer, Mr. Durrani did assignments with Bush Boake Allen / IFF New Delhi, as Area Sales Manager for the Flavour, Fragrance and Aroma Chemicals business Mr. Durrani has done his Masters in Business Administration from Jiwaji University, Gwalior and has specialized in Marketing Management. He also did his Bachelors in Science from the same university. Besides his educational qualifications, he has attended professional training from Boston School of Business in Switzerland, INSEAD Singapore and Indian School of Business in Hyderabad.
Mr. Durrani lives in Noida and is married with two children.

Satish Cheeti is the CEO of Ramky Recycling & Reclamation Limited (RRRL), which is a subsidiary of Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd. RRRL is the largest diverse recycler in India with scope including paper, plastics, e-waste, solvents, oil, Construction & Demolition etc He comes with an exemplary record in a full range of leadership roles complemented by challenging consulting, manufacturing, general management and cross-functional exposure. Over 25 years experience in Consumer and Industrial Products industry and specifically in automotive.Led key successful transformational global corporate initiatives. He has worked both in the industry (Automotive) and consulting (Big five) in leadership roles in multinational companies including Delphi, GM, Fiat motor co, Arthur D. Little and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

Satish also co-founded Invati Insights, a data sciences company. This company used advanced data sciences, machine learning and big data tools and technologies to uncover insights. Customers include fortune 500 companies in environment, automotive, mining, oil and gas, aerospace and utilities industries This was subsequently acquired by Cyient.

Satish holds an MBA degree from University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University, College Station and Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Osmania University, India.

Name: Allwyn Crasto
Designation: Head-Transportation and Distribution Safety Emergency response and Fire prevention, South Asia
Company: BASF India Limited

Allwyn Crasto is an expert in Transportation and Distribution Safety, Emergency Response and Fire Prevention and is currently Head – Transportation and Distribution Safety, Fire Prevention and Emergency Response for BASF Group in South Asia. He has over 25 years of multi-functional work experience in EHS, Supply Chain, Production Planning, Finance, Human Resources and Administration. He is also well versed in the field of Chemical Regulations.

He is a member of the expert panel on Transportation Safety of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Sustainability Committee of the Indian Chemical Council (ICC). As a member of the sustainability expert committee he regularly represents ICC with the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Government of India. His interests are to improve the safety standards for transportation of chemicals in India and enhance the emergency response facilities for offsite chemical incident and accident management. As a co-Founder and officiating CEO, he leads Nicer Globe, a Responsible Care initiative of ICC for providing a technology platform to the Indian chemical industry for safe and secure transportation of chemicals and 24/7 Emergency Response Control Centre for level1 support for management of offsite chemical incidents and accident.

Also, for the past four years, he has been on the expert jury for the annual Mahindra Transport Excellence Awards supported by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and an expert jury member for the MPower War Room 2017, a program of Mahindra partnered with Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Radhakrishnan has completed Bachelors in Chemical Engineering with over fifteen years of specialized experience in Process Development, Process design, Technical safety and Process Hazard Analysis. He is currently working as Head-Safety Assurance, ensures safety is built into all Process Design Packages prepared in SRF and Chairs HAZOP of SRF processes for Chemical Business. He has worked extensively in developing and deploying system for systematic hazard evaluation of processes under various stages of development. He has worked with the companies like Dr. Reddy’s and Sanmar Specialty Chemicals in India and brought knowledge from Pharmaceutical Industries and batch plants. Some of his personal skills include strong organizational, analytical and leadership skills

Mr. Karol Kerrane is Business Development Director at EPC Group and based at the Head Offices of EPC GROUP in Germany.

EPC GROUP is a German family-owned engineering company offering a wide range of technologies, as well as engineering and plant construction for industrial project.

Karol’s qualifications include BEng (Environmental Engineering) with Diploma in Industrial Studies as well as postgraduate and MSc qualifications in Renewable Energy and Energy Management.

As head of business development at ‘EPC Engineering & Technologies GmbH’, Karol has been involved with developing multiple downstream petrochemical projects around the globe.

• Ravi Kapoor is the Chairman and Managing Director of Heubach India a leading global producer of pigments and colorants which is part of the 600-year-old Heubach group of companies, located in Europe, USA, China and India
• He is the Immediate Past President of the Indian Chemical Council (ICC) and current Chairman of ICC, Gujarat . The ICC is the premier body representing Chemical manufacturers in India.
• He is the Past President of the “Ecological and Toxicological Association of Dyes and Organic Pigment Manufacturers” (ETAD); a global organization based in Basel for the leading Dye and pigment manufacturers of the world and currently continues to be Chairman of The Indian Operating Committee.
• He is at the forefront of the Responsible Care initiative propagated by ICC and is the Chairman- Sustainability and Responsible Care Committee.
• In his cultural and sports interests he is an avid Golfer, fond of Art and Paintings and a voracious reader in his spare time.

Profile
CHAIRMAN & MANAGING DIRECTOR
Godavari Biorefineries Ltd.
PRESIDENT
Somaiya Vidyavihar
CHAIRMAN
K. J. Somaiya Trust, K. J. Somaiya Medical Trust, K. J. Somaiya Institute of Applied Agriculture
Research and The Girivanvasi Pragati Mandal
CHAIRMAN
Research Innovation Incubation Design Laboratory (Riidl) (Technology Business Incubator)
OWNER
Kitabkhana
VISITING INSTRUCTOR & CURRENT ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER
School of Chemical Engineering - Cornell University
PAST OFFICES HELD
1. Indian Sugar Mills Association - President 2009 (Current Committee Member)
2. Indian Chemical Council - Chairman (W. Region) 2006-08 (Current Committee Member)
COMMITTEE MEMBER
1. Indian Merchants Chamber
2. Cornell University Council, USA
3. PAPSAC, Harvard University, USA
4. Council of Religious Leaders - Astana, Kazakhstan
Education
Harvard University: Master of Public Administration (2005), Cornell University: MBA, (93)
Master of Chemical Engineering (92) and Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering (90)
Awards
American Institute of Chemists Award (1990) and American Institute of Chemical Engineer’s
Award for Scholastic Achievement (1989)
About The Godavari Biorefineries Limited
This is a Biorefining company (http://www.somaiya.com/). The company is engaged in the manufacture of sugar, ethanol, renewable energy, chemicals, biogas, and compost - all from agricultural resources. The company also works extensively with 20,000 small farmers in over 200 villages to help improve productivity, yields, and standard of living. The company’s products find use in food, fuels, solvents, cosmetics, fragrances, pharmaceuticals, mining, agriculture, and a variety of different applications. The products are sold worldwide.
About The Somaiya Trust, Somaiya Vidyavihar and Ayurvihar
This is a trust involved in education, healthcare, and rural development (http://www.somaiya.edu/ ) in the States of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat. The Trust manages over 30 different educational institutions of learning extending from elementary to Ph. D. The education is imparted in diverse areas such as medicine, engineering, the arts and sciences, religion, vocational studies, education, languages, etc. There are over 39,000 students and 1,500 faculty. There is also a 600 bed urban teaching hospital.
Samir is married to Amrita, and has three children - Gayatri, Meera and Madhav. He lives in Mumbai, loves to play squash, do yoga, swim and has a 2nd dan black belt in Taekwondo.

Prof.Ludo Diels, Dr.in chemistry& biotechnology, works at the University of Antwerp, and is research manager Sustainable Chemistry for the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) in Mol, Belgium. During 15 year he managed the Environment and Process Technology Business Unit and is now responsible for the transition toward sustainable chemistry and clean technology. He is responsible for the organisation of collaboration with the academic and industrial World and for co-financing projects. He coordinated and is involved in many international research projects. Ludo Diels is strongly involved in the set up of a biobased economy in Flanders. He is also responsible for the collaboration between VITO and India and he is managing the creation of a road map and Strategic Research Agenda for R&D on biomass and biowaste between India and Europe. He is a founding father of the Shared Research Centre on Bio-aromatics (BIORIZON) between the Netherlands and Flanders. He is also founder and Flanders coordinator of the BIG-C trilateral alliance between Flanders, the Netherlands and NordRheinWestfalia (Germany), focusing on a border denying collaboration for the chemical industry with focus on waste gases and biomass as renewable resources . He is case leader for bio-aromatics in the Vanguard Initiative, pilot Bio-economy, leading to smart specialisation of interregional collaboration. Process intensification and the partial replacement of fossil based resources by biomass-based and renewable resourceform the basis for the Sustainable Chemistry Development. The integration of waste (including also waste gases as CO2 and H2) and wastewater management and technologies are key in the development of a sustainable World. In this way he also was on the basis of the ANDICOS™ concept, a combined waste and wastewater treatment system leading to reduced energy consumption in water treatment and production. He is the chairman of the working group FEED in the Energy and Resources PPP-SPIRE between 8 industrial sectors and the European Commission) and member of the SPIRE-BBI working group.

As Head – Strategic Partnerships & Entrepreneurship Development at BIRAC is excited to nurture and empower the Biotech Innovation Ecosystem in India. At national level facilitatesdrivers for enabling and supporting startups, capacity building through bioincubators, creating investment opportunities through Angel & VC funding, co-funding, and scaling for global integration through a strategic network of national and international partnerships. Biotech BIRAC’s mandate to promote translation of innovative ideas to PoC, validation to commercialization innovative affordable products and technologies to address unmet needs.

He has about 25 years of global Industry & Academia R&D experience in Pharma/ Biotech sector from discovery research to product development,Leadership, Project Management and Administration.Contributed to several Clinical Drug Candidates for global drug development at Daiichi Sankyo (India), Daiichi Sankyo (Japan), Ranbaxy, Dabur and University of Alberta (Canada). Developed certain technologies that were transferred from academia during doctoral (ICGEB, NII) and post-doctoral studies (KAIST South Korea; University of Alberta) to industry. Trained in Pharmaceutics, Molecular Pharmacology, Immunology with hands-on in FIC and BIC Drug Discovery, Translational Preclinical Research and Early Clinical Development in therapeutic areas of Chronic Inflammation, Oncology, Infectious diseases, Autoimmune disorders and drug delivery. He serves on several national level committees and advisory boards, national and international forums.

Dr. Hueglin is Head of BASF Innovation Campus Mumbai, India. In his 30 years of research career he has held several senior management positions in Germany and Switzerland which includeGlobal Head of R&D of Segment Home & Personal Care in Grenzach, Germany and Head of Research CenterBasel, Switzerland. Examples for keyproductsfrom his own research work are new photo-polyimides for semiconductors(developed forOCG, Providence, Rhode Island, USA) and new cosmetic UV absorbers.For his contributions to progress in applied chemical sciences hereceived theSandmeyer Award of the Swiss Chemical Society (2004) and the BASF Innovation Award (2011). Dr. Hueglinholds a Diploma in Chemistry and a PhD in Natural Sciences, both from University Freiburg i.Br, Germany.

Ms. Anandi Iyer
Director, Fraunhofer Office India

Anandi Iyer is the Head of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, India Office since the last 9 years. She has more than 20 years of professional experience, playing a leading role in organizations such as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the German Agency of International Cooperation (GiZ) and the Federal Government for Education and Research (BMBF). Under her leadership, Fraunhofer has generated more than Euros 15 Million in contract research from India in the last 6 years.

Ms. Iyer is a member of several Hi Level Expert committees with CII, FICCI and German Government. She was the Founder-Chairperson of the European Business Group (EBG), Bangalore Chapter for over 9 years and a National Council member of the Country Council of the EBG. Ms. Iyer is an MBA from Strathclyde Graduate Business School, UK specializing in Strategy and Business Communication, and has Masters in German Language. Ms. Iyer has won awards on leadership and excellence, including the Outstanding Woman Achiever Award 2013 by ISBR School of Management and Public Relations Council of India.

Biography Sandeep Sreekumar is the Global Head of Digital Operations for Henkel’s Adhesive Technologies business unit. He is responsible for strategizing and executing the Industry 4.0 program and the smart factory concept for Henkel’s 140 adhesives plants across 71 countries. Before taking over this portfolio, he was responsible for business process operations and the digitalization of 32 adhesives plants in Asia-Pacific. He is a core member of the Global Supply Chain Hub in Singapore, where he has been based since October 2016. Sandeep has had more than 14 years of experience in operational technology and processes, where he has held various leadership positions in IT and manufacturing operations.

Punit Krishna is the co-founder and CEO of Chemarc.com

Starting his career in the chemical industry, Punit took up leadership roles in all functions in the industry - manufacturing, supply chain, marketing, sales, strategy and business management at ICI and Atul over 15 years. Punit then moved to venture capital and subsequently investment management. He was based in Singapore for more than a decade during which he was involved in starting up, scaling and managing several businesses in India, China and other Asia Pacific countries.

Punit’s move to venture capital was inspired by a strong desire to work on harnessing the power of the internet for business, and where he worked on developing B2B models, bringing together his passion for new technologies, his deep domain expertise on all functions of business and his rich hands on experience of doing business. Punit relocated back to Mumbai from Singapore to pursue his vision to transform the chemical industry using digital and co-founded Chemarc.com with Dilip Raghavan, the MD of Colour Publications. Within a year of launch, Chemarc.com has become the No 1 digital platform for chemicals in the world attracting the largest chemical industry community on the platform. Having created this community, Chemarc.com is now enabling companies to network and engage with the community and customers to grow sales, save costs and build loyalty.

Punit is a seasoned chemical industry professional, a passionate entrepreneur and a thought leader on digital. He holds a B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT, Kanpur and has completed the Advanced Management program from the Harvard Business School.

Sharad Joshi
BASF 4.0 Roll out leader South Asia, South East Asia, East Asia and Australia & NZ.

Sharad is responsible for the implementation of Digitization initiatives across all BASF sites and projects in South Asia, South East Asia, East Asia and Australia & NZ. Sharad has over 24 years of diversified experience in various segments including O&M, Projects and Automation.

Professional Career
Since April 2018 BASF 4.0 Roll out leader South Asia, South East Asia, East Asia and Australia & NZ
2013-2018 Head – E&I and Head of Engineering at BASF Project hub in Mumbai
2007-2013 Engineering Manager at Automation industry viz Emerson Process Management and Invensys Operation Management
1996-2007 Various roles from engineer to team leader at DCL Polyesters and Reliance Industries Ltd in O&M and Projects.

Sharad started his career at Gujarat Ambuja Industries Ltd as a management trainee in 1995 and since then has worked on various industries.He pursued his engineering degree from University of Poona, Pune.

Ketan Karkhanis Head – IT, Clariant Chemicals, India Ketan Karkhanis possesses over 16 years of experience in IT operations and is currently the Head of Information Technology at Clariant Chemicals, India. Prior to Clariant he was associated with at Kale Consultants Ltd, Mumbai as a Sr. IT Manager. Since joining Clariant Chemicals, Ketan has successfully managed new sites/plants IT commissioning, implemented robust WAN and LAN network, cloud computing, & a healthy business continuity plan with disaster recovery (BCP DR). Ketan also manages IT financials for the India region and oversees security, audits etc. Ketan has completed his MBA from the Indo German Training Center (IGTC) and his Bachelor of Engineering in Electronics from D.Y. Patil College of Engineering, Pune. In his free time, Ketan loves travelling, writing and has an avid interest for photography.

Mr.Adnan Ahmad was appointed Vice – Chairman & Managing Director of Clariant Chemicals (India) Limited on June 1, 2017. He is also the Region President for Clariant in India.

He is a Chemical Engineer with 34 years of industry experience in leading companies such as BP and ICI, before joining Clariant.
Adnan started his career at ICI India as a Management Trainee, after completing his Masters in Chemical Engineering from Queens University, Canada. In a career spanning 19 years with ICI he worked in their explosives, specialty chemicals and paints businesses in a variety of manufacturing, supply chain and business roles across India. In 2004 he moved to BP Plc, initially in Mumbai as Executive Director on the Board of Castrol India Limited (a BP subsidiary in India). In 2008 he moved overseas to Singapore as Regional Supply Chain Director Asia Pacific and in 2010 he relocated to the UK as Regional Supply Chain Director for Europe & Africa.

Adnan brings with him a strong track record of business leadership and performance delivery in complex global organisations. He was awarded the Helios Award for Human Energy by Lord Brown, the erstwhile Chairman of BP plc, for leading transformational change in Road Safety for Castrol India. He received a National Energy Conservation award from the former Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh in 2004. He was also selected for the British Commonwealth’s Chevening Scholarship for Leadership in 1996.

Delegate Profile:

Name: Mr. Rajendra Gogri
Organization: Aarti Industries Ltd.
Designation: Chairman & Managing Director

Mr. Rajendra Gogri has been with the company since its inception and was appointed as Managing Director in 1993. He eventually became the Chairman & Managing Director in 2012. The total turnover of the Company as on 31-March-2018 is Rs.3700 Crores with Exports of Rs.1600 Crores.

He holds a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from USA and is a rank holder from UDCT, Mumbai. He worked along with Shri Chandrakant V. Gogri, Founder Chairman, Aarti Industries Ltd. to help the Company achieve its present stature. Mr. Gogri has played an instrumental role in expanding the company’s presence in International markets. In addition to his technical qualification, he has expertise in handling financial and commercial matters as well. He had been awarded the prestigious "Distinguished Alumnus Award" from UDCT in the year 1995 for his excellent performance as an entrepreneur in Chemical Industry.

Suyog Kotecha is a Partner with McKinsey & Company’s Mumbai office. He joined McKinsey in June 2010 in Mumbai office and co-leads McKinsey’s Chemicals Practice in India. His main focus is on Specialty chemicals, Petrochemicals and performance transformation topics.

Prior to joining McKinsey & Company, Suyog worked extensively in Chemicals and Oil & Gas sectors for 5 years. At Shell Global Solution in Netherlands, he worked on developing technology for large capacity LNG plants. At Sulzer Chemtech in Singapore, he covered refinery and petrochemicals client across Asia pacific region. He managed new product development for distillation column internals and business development support functions.

His recent client service experience at McKinsey includes
■ Engagement with one of leading chemicals players to deliver rapid performance improvement and improve EBITDA by 3-5%
■ Engagement with one of the India’s leading conglomerate on building multi-billion dollar specialty chemical business
■ Strategy engagement with major national oil company in SE Asia on building their petrochemical business; including joint venture formation for marketing of petrochemical products
■ Strategy engagement with major polyolefin producer in Europe to identify global growth options to achieve company's vision 2020
■ Strategy engagement with a major Oil & Gas PSU in India to develop the next 5 year's corporate strategy
■ Engagement with the Ministry of Chemicals & Petrochemicals on specialty chemical industry in India, where he identified areas of opportunity for India over next decade including key constraints and action plan

Suyog has published several reports and articles in partnership with Industry and Government relevant to chemical industry. Some of the recent knowledge publications includes