Panel Discussion To Evaluate Scope of Smart City Opportunities and Challenges in the State of Maharashtra, India

USINPAC Organizes Panel Discussion with Ms. Poonam Mahajan, MP from Mumbai, India 

 

Poonam Mahajan

Poonam Mahajan is a member of parliament from Mumbai’s North Central constituency and politician from Bharatiya Janta Party. Poonam held the post of General Secretary of the Maharashtra State Unit of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in April 2007 after which she was appointed as the National Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in August 2010. Poonam then went on to become one of the youngest National Secretaries of the BJP in 2013.

She credits her commitment to working with NGOs to her father who shared the same sense of empathy towards those less fortunate. Poonam has been actively involved in social work through NGOs like Pramod Mahajan Pratishthan and Tapasvi Public Charitable Trust. Another cause extremely close to her heart is the People for Animals Foundation where she is a trustee. Ms. Poonam is currently in the process of raising funds and support for People For Animals in Mumbai, for which land has already been granted by the Government of Maharashtra. The hospital will be the first of its kind in India and built along the lines of the ASPCA in New York.

Sanjay Puri

Sanjay Puri is a recognized authority on US-India relations. He serves as the Chairman of the US-India Political Action Committee (USINPAC), a national, bipartisan political action committee representing over 3.2 million Indian-Americans. USINPAC works closely with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, as well as with the administration, to ensure that the community’s concerns are addressed. USINPAC, through Mr. Puri’s leadership, played a key role in the passage of the US India Civil Nuclear Agreement which involved galvanizing the Indian American community to work with the US Congress.

Mr. Puri is also the founder, President and CEO of the Alliance for US India Business (AUSIB). AUSIB is dedicated to strengthening economic ties between the US and India.

Mr. Puri was the Founder of Optimos Inc. a very successful strategy and enterprise information technology company that was sold in 2014. Mr. Puri is a frequent public speaker and expert witness on US-India relations and the political impact of the Indian-American community. He has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Times, on National Public Radio (NPR), the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), CNN and Nightline.

Vik Chauhan

Vikram (Vik) Chauhan is a Technology Executive with over 30 years’ experience through leadership roles in several companies (including Deloitte, CSC, and Northrop Grumman)

Vik is a founding member of USINPAC and Chairman of DEFTIAC an advisory NGO for defense and security technology collaboration between US and India.

In addition to the US Public sector, Vik has advised a number of foreign governments – including those of India, the U.K., Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Philippines and others – on building Smart Cities, e-Governance and Public Security.

He is an acclaimed evangelist of Smart Cities, and has authored numerous articles detailing the building of Smart Cities and Command Centers, along with co-writing a book entitled Future Cities: Designing and Building A Smart City.

He has developed Smart City solutions and partnerships with IBM, SAP, Siemens, Microsoft, Motorola, and Cisco. Vik is Member Executive Technical Council, Chairman Healthcare of Network Centric Operations Industry Consortium (ncoic.org), a Global organization focused on industry neutral concepts with 55+ members and affiliates representing 12 countries and a Co-Founding member of Cyber Risk Marketplace (CRM), a pioneer in the Cyber insurance and breach protection.

Pedro B. Ortiz

Pedro B. Ortiz is currently a Visiting Professor at Milano Politecnico University (Italy) as well as Senior Urban Consultant for international governments and multilaterals, as the Inter-American Development Bank or the World Bank (Washington DC).

He has accumulated metropolitan management experience in the five continents. Previously, he was the founder and Director of the Masters Program of Town Planning of the University King Juan Carlos of Madrid, after being Director General for Regional Planning of Madrid Region and Deputy Major for Madrid in charge of Strategic Planning for the Capital of Spain. He made the Strategic Plan of Madrid in 1994 and the Metropolitan Plan in 1996. You can find out more about Pedro and his work here.

His work addresses metropolitan rapid growth all over the world, as does his new book ‘The Art of Shaping the Metropolis’. Pedro’s work expands on a methodology for smart metropolitan planning developed during his time as director of the Metropolitan Plan for Madrid with two models to restructure mega metropolises: the Metro–Matrix archetype at the metropolitan scale, and Balanced Urban Development unit for the city scale. Pedro’s vision is for a new city form that moves from the dominant monocentric model to polycentric cities, based on mass public transport, with a reticular grid pattern. If developed and designed well, it is argued that each center will have its own character, enhanced by designers of public space to create centers with a sense of place blending culture, heritage and modernity.

Dr.Indu Singh

Dr. Singh is VP and Head of Washington DC operations for Los Alamos Technical Associates (LATA) where he directs federal, international and cybersecurity business. Dr. Singh is world’s leading expert on Smart and Safe City and was responsible for the first Smart City conceptualization for Singapore (intelligent island) in the pre-Internet days. He has published numerous books and his articles have been featured in numerous journals on Smart Cities, his latest book in 2013 is a widely read book entitled The Safe City: Living Free in a Dangerous World

Dr. Singh has executed Smart City engineering, security and IT business in 49 countries and has traveled to 81 countries He is a hands-on executive with strategic thinking and business operations experience.

He has extensive business and technology management experience with proven P&L track record. He founded three mid-size high tech companies and served as President and CEO. His business and consulting experience includes management, security solution engineering, domestic and international business development, mergers and acquisition, turn-around, investment capital.

J. Jeffrey Craven

Jeff Craven is a member of the Thompson Coburn LLP Corporate and Securities practice group and co-chairs the firm’s Media and Internet group.  He advises clients on domestic and international mergers and acquisitions as well as Federal Communications Commission (FCC) licensing and regulatory matters. Jeff focuses principally in the telecom, satellite, technology and energy sectors, regularly providing advice and counsel on the formation and financing of domestic and international transactions, as well as strategic alliances.

He advises private equity groups, government contractors, foreign governments, bond holders and underwriters in regulatory, transactional and business due diligence associated with domestic and international transactions, including public-private partnerships (“PPPs”) and enhanced-use leases (“EULs”).

Jeff also counsels entrepreneurs and start-up businesses on formation, financing, structuring options and partnering strategies.

Scott McIntyre

Scott is the managing partner and PWC’s U.S. public sector leader; he was recently honored among consulting magazine’s list of the Top 25 Consultants for 2015.

Scott oversees professionals who help federal, state and local governments improve performance and output. Under his leadership, PwC’s public sector practice was recognized with the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for performance excellence through innovation, improvement and visionary leadership. This was the first time a large consulting firm has been recognized with this honor.Scott graduated from The John Hopkins University with an MS in Information Systems and received an MBA from the Willamette University Atkinson Graduate School of Management.  Dedicated to giving back, he is Chairman of the Prevent Cancer Foundation.