After obtaining a PhD in chemistry from Ohio State University and serving on the faculty at the University of Houston, Dr. Madhav Chavan returned to India where he worked in the slums of Mumbai as part of the National Literacy Mission. In 1995, he co-founded Pratham as a result of a UNICEF initiative to address problems of universal primary education in Mumbai. Since then, Dr. Chavan has led the development of the organization, pioneering large-scale innovations to address literacy problems among India’s underserved children. Named a 2014 Asia Game Changer by the Asia Society, Dr. Chavan also received the 2012 WISE Prize instituted by the Qatar Foundation. Dr. Chavan combines his scientific training with his creativity (he has written songs about human rights and anchored television shows) to continually seek innovative ways of educating India’s underprivileged children.
Team Category: Directors
Deepak Raj
Deepak Raj is founder and managing director of the New Jersey-based private investment firm Raj Associates that has investments in real estate and public and private securities. He is currently the chairman of Pratham USA. He is also a CFA and, with his wife Neera, the founder of the Raj Center on Indian Economic Policies at the Columbia University. Mr. Raj has extensive experience as an equity analyst and an investment banker, including 24 years with Merrill Lynch. As director of Global Equity Research, he managed a staff of approximately 700 investment professionals located throughout the world. He graduated from IIT Kanpur with a BTech in electrical engineering and completed his MBA from Northeastern University.
Dinyar Devitre
Dinyar (Dinny) Devitre is an international business executive who has held leadership positions over a 45-year period in the consumer products and financial services industries in Asia, Australia, Japan, Europe, and the U.S. Mr. Devitre held several senior operating positions with Philip Morris Inc. and then with Altria Group Inc. where he had a 35-year career. He was Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Altria Group Inc., a role he held from 2002 to 2008 before retiring from the Company. Between 1998 and 2001, Mr. Devitre was Executive Vice President and Group Head of Citibank’s Global Consumer Bank for Europe, Middle East, Africa, and South Asia.