Dr. Sanjiv Phansalkar (Director)
Dr. Sanjiv Phansalkar completed his PGP (in 1979) and Fellowship Program from IIM Ahmedabad in 1989. He taught for about 11 years at the Institute of Rural Management, Anand. He led the IWMI-Tata Water Policy Program during 2005-7. He was Program Director at Tata Trusts during 2007-2018. He led the research team at Vikasanvesh Foundation from 2018 through 2024. Currently he works as Head Programs at Tata Trusts. He has published 10 books, over 3 dozen research articles and a large number of popular articles mostly dealing with rural livelihoods and rural development.
Mr. Raghavan R Shastri (Director)
Mr. Raghavan R Shastri, aged 71, holds a Master’s Degree in Commerce, a Degree in Law and the Associate Membership of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India. He served as Assistant Company Secretary in Tata Steel Ltd., as Deputy Company Secretary and General Manager – Legal in Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd. and as Vice President – Legal and Company Secretary in Tata Industries Ltd., a career spanning 37 years. After superannuating from Tata Industries in September 2012, he served Tata Sons as Legal Advisor until January 2018. In February 2018, he joined Tata Trusts and currently serves as Senior Advisor, Secretarial Compliance. Mr. Shastri serves as a Non-Executive Director on the Boards of Tata Cancer Care Foundation, Advanced Veterinary Care Foundation, Ratan Tata Endowment Foundation and Mumbai Mobile Creches. He is a Trustee of the Society for Rehabilitation of Crippled Children which set up the Children’s Hospital in Mumbai.
Mr. Ashish Deshpande (Director)
Mr. Ashish Deshpande is Secretary and Chief Financial Officer in Tata Trusts. He is primarily responsible for support to the program team in the overall management of grants along with collaboration with partners in formation joint program/SPV’s and negotiations in Trust Funded projects. He also facilitates cross-functional teams with Trusts wide scope to implement process improvements.
He has more than 27 years’ experience in building and leading finance teams with significant operating scale and complexity. Before joining Tata Trusts , Ashish worked in different capacities at Tata Communications, the erstwhile Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL) both in India and Overseas.
He served as Head of Finance at Tata Communications Lanka (TCLL), Colombo, Sri Lanka from 2005 to 2015. At TCLL, his key priorities included supporting the company’s growth, managing critical finance functions, and adhering to regulatory and compliance requirements. He led various projects in implementing automation systems and financial restructuring.
