Smile Foundation is a people-driven organization – right from the people who started it with a vision, to the people who work with us to bring change at the grassroots, to the people who support our work, and most importantly the people who we serve on the ground through our work. Committed, responsible people who are passionate to make a difference to the world around them are the backbone of Smile Foundation.
A law graduate, an associate member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India, and an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A), Mr. Santanu Mishra specializes in strategic management, institution building, and enterprise transformation. Mr Mishra has been the Executive Trustee of Smile Foundation since 2005 and has actively led the scaling up and structuring of the organization for nearly two decades now.
A Chartered Accountant, Cost and Management Accountant and a Company Secretary, Mr. Manish Kumar specializes in Strategic Management Consulting, International Finance and Entrepreneurship Development. As an Investor and a Philanthropist he has multidimensional exposure spread across various sectors in India and abroad. He has been associated with various charitable organizations and social causes aimed at alleviating various social malaise and bridging the gap or disparity in the society through various initiatives on education, healthcare, livelihood and capacity building since last two decade.
A lawyer by profession with specialisation in economic laws. He practises in Delhi High Court and Supreme Court of India.
A Masters in Business & Economics (MBE) from Delhi University. He advises leading corporate houses in India on various strategic issues
A fellow member of ICAI. He specializes in strategic management and consulting. He gives strategic advices to companies.
An investor and a philanthropist, Ms. Poonam Chopra has multidimensional exposure spread across various sectors in India and abroad.
Working together towards humanity
An ex-Army officer, Vikram has held instructional appointments at the country’s premier institutions National Defence Academy and Indian Military Academy. After the Army he worked in the travel industry, before moving to the development sector as Head-Primary Education in Bharti Foundation. He later joined Smile Foundation as Executive Director.
A graduate from Bombay University, Mr. John has pursued Business Administration from the Krish Pennathur & Associates MT Program. He has over 38 years of experience working with both non-profit and for-profit organizations including Ummeed Child Development Centre (Chief Operating Officer), Habitat for Humanity India (National Director – Resource Development), Helpage India (Regional Director – West), Tass Inflight Systems (Group General Manager – Dubai), and Alcon Resorts & Condominiums (Corporate Marketing Manager). Mr. John has also conducted trainings at various management institutes and has participated as a Speaker in conventions at TISS, IIM-Ahmedabad and more.
Ms. Ray brings with her rich experience of over 25 years in Corporate, Government & Development Sector organisations such as Rural Communication & Marketing, Ogilvy, Mudra, United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Ministry of Health, Wish, Access Health International, Nasscom Foundation, PSI etc. In her past roles, she has worked in Internal & External Communication Strategy, Creating & Implementing Communication Plans and extensive work in these functions. In her role at Smile Foundation, she is leading the Communication Team.
A trained counsellor and post-graduate in clinical psychology, Seema is working from last three decades as a development professional. With versatile experience, ranging from working in education at NCERT to youth and women issues at different NGOs, she is leading the education and women empowerment programmes at Smile Foundation from last five years. At Smile Foundation she has been actively contributing towards strategic planning, programme management and designing along with team development.
Mr. Satnam Singh is working in the capacity of AGM – Programs handling portfolios of Health, Disaster Response and Engineering Scholarship from last 8 years in Smile Foundation. He comes with a social development background with Masters in Sociology and has over sixteen years of experience in primary healthcare (encompassing Maternal and Child Health, HIV/AIDS and gender issues), Micro Finance, Informal Education and Vocational training. Besides the technical knowledge base, he has expertise in strategy development, project design and management, evaluations and documentation. He has previously worked with Council of People Advancement and Rural Technology (MoRD), Navjyoti India Foundation, SHAPE India & Sukarya.
Mr. Saxena brings with him a rich experience of around 20 years of working with organisations like SOS Children’s Villages of India, Serco Global Services (American Express corporate cards), HDFC Bank Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd., CitiFinancial Consumer Finance India Limited, Indian Market Research Bureau, Standard Chartered Bank, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company. In his past roles, he has experience in marketing, Channel sales, acquisition and retention, Fundraising through Individual partnerships, digital Fundraising, Data analysis, Banking, Insurance, Business Development and Corporate Sales, generating revenue and new business opportunities. In his current role at Smile, he is leading the B2B nurturing and fundraising vertical.
Subroto has done his BE (Civil) from National Institute of Technology followed by PGDM from Xavier Institute of Management. He has an experience of more than 24 years from organizations such as Development Alternatives, Educomp, GVKEMRI, Wish Foundation and Tara Livelihood Academy.
Sapna has done her Bachelors in Eng Literature from MG University, followed by MSW from Mahatma University & PG Diploma in Personnel Management from Annamalai University. She has an experience of more than 20 years from organizations such as Population Services International India, Child Fund International and Magic Bus.
A development professional with Masters in Social Work and NGO Management, Bipasha is committed to work for the underserved with 19 years of experience in Centre for Youth and Social Development, Butterflies and Concern India. She excels in project management, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and proposal development.
Sarita holds M.Phil. in Sociology from the Central University of Hyderabad and a post-Graduate Certificate in Business Management from Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar. Sarita comes to us with 23+ years of experience at the national & international levels with government & private sector consulting and with development sector organizations in providing image-building plans and advising the organizations for innovating social responsibility plans & exercises.
She has spearheaded initiatives for caring for the community, gender specialists, and contributing to the underprivileged communities by supporting a wide range of socio-economic, educational and gender equality initiatives. She holds expertise in designing and providing technical assistance to community-based & non-governmental organizations in program development, community assessment, evaluation and governance.
Sarita is an avid reader and loves reading autobiographies, romantic stories and thrillers. She loves travelling and exploring new places and loves watching movies. In her free time, she reads story books, and researches varied cuisines as she loves experimenting with new recipes. She likes to research places to travel.
A graduate in sociology, Charanjit has an experience of over 19 years in donor relations and servicing in the development sector. She has worked with CRY for over 12 years, and for the last six years has been heading the retention and servicing team for Individual Partnerships at Smile.
Rashmi is a business partnerships and strategic collaboration specialist with more than 16 years of work- experience in the Corporate and Development sector. She has worked extensively on developing long-term, high-impact partnerships with funding partners globally and in India. She is academically proficient with an MBA in Marketing and Diploma in Mass Communication. After having worked in the financial sector with Kotak Mahindra Bank & HSBC she made a paradigm shift to the development sector in 2011 and joined Save the Children. She sees corporate and civil society collaborations as first-hand facilitators of sustainable development and social equity, and we must take proactive steps towards it.
A graduate from Delhi University with PG diploma in Marketing, Mr Rajeev has 18 years plus experience as a strategist in generating resources for social welfare activities. He has worked with various organizations like Prayas, Khushii and ITC before joining Smile Foundation. With an expertise in fundraising events, brand alliances and campaigns, he has organized various successful fundraising events, both at national and international level. During his tenure at Prayas, he was leading charity fundraisers and also involved in marketing of various products created by beneficiaries that helped in raising funds. At Khushii, he was a member of the 5-member core fundraising group and worked closely with board members, artists and external organizations to conceptualize, organize and expand fundraising initiatives across India and Dubai. He was part of the main strategic team for “India on Canvas”, one of the biggest charity art auction in India. He worked as an Event Specialist during his tenure with ITC. Over his tenure of 7 years in Smile Foundation, he has been actively involved in creating event concepts and organizing many successful fundraising events at national level. Since last one year, he has been actively involved in establishing the US chapter of Smile Foundation and at present taking care of International Business Development in Smile Foundation with special focus in US market. He enjoys photography, travelling and meeting people from different cultures and backgrounds.
A graduate in Zoology Hons from Delhi University, Gargi has done her Masters in Social Work from Vidyasagar University, a Post Graduate Diploma in Public Relations from Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, and in Human Rights, International Humanitarian and Refugee Laws from Indian Society of International Law. She has 15+ years of experience in social development with specialization on grants management & donor relationship, and managing education and community based disaster management projects. She has worked with Bharti Foundation, SEEDS and Herbal Specialties Ltd and has been heading the Education vertical of Smile Foundation for over 7 years now.