Expert Panel

Prof. Dr Jan Brouwer started his career as an anthropologist at the University of Leiden where he obtained his PhD. Later he was appointed Professor of Anthropology at central university NEHU, India and held a Visiting Professorship at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. The research projects he has been associated within India, and over his long tryst with anthropology encompass the width of structural anthropology and include the mentality component of culture, indigenous knowledge, the relationship between concept and practices and death as a social relation. He wishes to share his knowledge as trainer and translator with the goal of helping businesses and companies in a globalising economy.

 Ir Johan Leupen was MD of J. Leupen Consultancy and worked as consultant for multinationals as Philips, Shell, VMF Stork and for the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Infrastructure and The Ministry of Health in The Netherlands. He was teacher and Director at the HBO College for Quality Engineering Education in Utrecht, The Netherlands. He has training experience at several Mega projects. He is also writer on technical and scientific subjects.

Dr. Mark J. Avery has lived cross-culturally since the age of 4.  Born in England, raised first in Belgium then in North America, he has lived over a decade in Asia (Nepal, India) where he met his wife, Asen (NE Indian). He has worked at a director level in team management and project administration, as well as serving on various boards.  He has been a trainer and consultant with local and international non-profit organizations in the fields of community development, collaboration and strategy. He has taught on cross-cultural communication, intergroup collaboration and applications of design and systems thinking to complex social problems at both masters and doctoral levels.  He brings 11 years of international work experience, and a Ph. D. in the area of partnership development in an international, intergroup context.

Mr Kalpen Shukla BE, MBA, has 25+ years of experience in Sales & Marketing, Business Development, Brand Management, Strategy Planning and Implementation, Management Consultancy, Education and Mentoring etc.. Since 2013 he is President of the IIM Ahmedabad Alumni Association (Mumbai Chapter). As promoter of Transproz – a Translation & Transcription Bureau – he catered to very prestigious global clientele incl. TCS – under “Global Alliance Agreement”. He is Visiting faculty at SP Jain Institute of Management Research (SPJIMR), WE School, Indo German Technology Centre, Kohinoor Business School, FOSTIIMA.

Mr Vikram Shankar is an Indian Turnaround Expert, currently serving as a Tata Administrative Services Officer deputed in the UK. He has 8yrs of experience in handling cross-functional roles delivering Top-line results. Vikram holds an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Engineering, and an MBA from London Business School.

Sujata Banerjee has been working in the field of cross-cultural management since 1992. She was born in South Germany, has consistently maintained home bases in Germany and India, and benefited from work experience in both countries. Her working roles are Conceptualizing, Presenting, Training, Facilitating, Coaching and Consulting.