Trustees
Commodore H G Harsha
Commodore H G Harsha served the Indian Navy as a
Nuclear Submariner in various positions including Director, Naval Technical Group and DGM (Planning and IT), before
retiring as Commodore in 2008. Since then his contribution
to the mainstream society has been an eclectic mix of
responsibilities in the corporate realm as well as in the
social and developmental sector.
As Functional Domain Consultant with Tata Consultancy
Services from 2008-2018 he was instrumental in the design,
development, integration and testing of Control systems for complex underwater platforms on Mil-grade hardware.
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Actively involved in the Art of Living activities since 2001, he has held key positions in the operations, IT and administration in the Organisation for over a decade. He was instrumental in the design and implementation of mobile and web-based applications for national outreach being used by over 20,000+ Teachers. He is involved in numerous social projects including river rejuvenation; model villages in collaboration with various state governments; sanitation, natural resource management and education in rural India; women empowerment and campaigns on substance abuse. He was a member of the core committee at the historical Art of Living Silver Jubilee celebrations at Bangalore – 2006 and the landmark Art of Living World Culture Festival at Delhi – 2016. As Chairman & Managing Trustee, Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir Trust, Commodore H G Harsha brings his expertise and experience to strengthen the vision of taking the group of SSRVM Institutions to a new level of excellence.
Smt. Jaina Desai
Ms. Jaina Desai is a lawyer and a passionate advocate of spirituality, human values, and inner peace as catalysts for positive change in society. For several decades, she has been deeply involved with the Art of Living, founded by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, serving as a Director of the organisation.
Committed to education and social impact, she is a trustee of Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir Trust, overseeing 120 educational institutions across India, the Middle East, and Nepal which include schools and Higher Education Institutes.
She also serves on the Governing Board of Sri Sri University in Odisha, India. For 13 years, Ms. Desai headed the Secretariat of Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, focusing on International Affairs and Digital Media Communications.
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With extensive experience in global relations, Jaina continues to work towards fostering peace, education, and sustainable development worldwide. Ms. Desai has been part of the core team that organised the marquee celebrations of the Art of Living for close to over 2 decades which collectively saw over 8 million attendees. She has represented the Art of Living at various global fora including at Harvard University. Ms. Desai is an avid reader and a polyglot who believes that books and literature are an avenue to opening up one’s creative world. Beyond that, she believes that living is an art that can be enhanced with the tools of meditation and breath work.
Smt. Rajita Kulkarni
Smt. Rajita was the Trustee of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Vidya Mandir from 2009-13 and again from April 2017 to date. Smt. Rajita guides the strategy, academics and administration of these institutions ensuring value based, holistic and stress free education to children and young adults. She took over as the President of the prestigious Sri Sri University in India in April 2017. Before that, she served as a member of the Board of Governors of Sri Sri University from 2009. As a member of the Board of Art of Living Health and Education Trust – Washington, USA(AOLHET), she is involved in supporting the mandate of holistic education around the world.
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She has authored a book “The Gift of Life” an anthology of poems and co-authored two books “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – One World Family” and “The Great Women of India”. She is an educationist, a writer, a global leader and a leadership coach and a meditation teacher. Before committing her life to the full-time service of society in 2010, she was a banker for 18 years with Citi. She held many international leadership positions in her career, last of which was Asia Pacific Head of Customer Advocacy & Training for the Retail Assets Business of Citibank.
Sri. Sridharan Swaminathan
Sri. Sridharan Swaminathan is A Professional with a financial and legal outlook. Started his career as a member of the Madras Stock Exchange in 1992, Served for a term of 4 years as an elected Director of the governing council of the Madras Stock Exchange and Vice-President between 1996-97. In 1992 he ventured in the Development and Real Estate vertical, as a Director, M/s.Sabari Builders Private Limited with the on board experience took over the realm at M/s.Sonex Realty Private Limited (presently Newry Properties) a Hong Kong based group Promoted by Sri. Manu Makhija having global presence in varied fields, since its inception in 1997 till date and ensured steadfast growth for the company.
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He spearheads, manages and administers the entire Indian operations of the Company. As Trustee of Makhija Foundation – managed by the Newry Group, has been instrumental in establishing the two Schools under one banner “Shrishti Schools” Vellore viz. ShrishtiVidyashram with CBSE Syllabus &Shrishti Matriculation spread on a 30 acres campus with a total strength of about 2400 students, Actively involved in the INCEPTION AND MANAGING OF Manu Makhija Memorial Shrishti School, a school for the under privileged. Presently 400 children are benefited. A member of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (CREDAI – Chennai). Presently The Vice President of the Chennai Chapter.
Sri. Mehul Parikh
Sri. Mehul Parikh has specialized in Commerce and Law as his core subjects is a very senior faculty of the Art of Living teaching advanced level programs like the Art of Silence, Divya Samaj Nirman, APEX programs etc. He has been associated with the organization for the past 19 years and has travelled the length and breadth of India and abroad to disseminate knowledge and spread smiles amongst lakhs. He has served as a Trustee for 13 years for Ved Vignan MahaVidyapeeth (VVMVP) and also the Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidyamandir (SSRVM), Gujarat. Both the trusts are educational trusts involved in imparting education to the under priviledged sections of the society.